Tag Archives for delta.
Delta wants you to believe that they are making the cheapest awards more restrictive to help you. Apparently Delta customers have been telling the airline that they want the flexibility not to be allowed to get seat assignments in advance. And they’ve been saying that more rules and restrictions are both simpler and more intuitive. As a result this is an enhancement you should like.
Basic economy tickets aren’t a ‘new way to offer cheaper fares’. They are new restrictions on the cheapest fares, a way of making the product worse so that some passengers will pay more.
Now that United, Delta, and American all offer Basic Economy fares (no advance seat assignment, no cancel/changes, no upgrades or extra legroom seats, and in United’s case no full-sized carry on bag) it’s only been a matter of time before one of the carriers tried booking award tickets into Basic Economy.
I admit to being surprised that it’s happened so quickly, since it’s not in the best interests of the airline – it’s a bad business decision – but I’m not surprised that it appears to be Delta going first.
A disrupted relationship with Jet Airways — from the carrier’s own troubles, and the possibility that Etihad takes back control — could stymie Delta’s indeterminate and underspecified promise to serve the market.
All business class French airline La Compagnie flies from Newark to Paris-Orly airport and now is launching Newark to Nice, France seasonally. And pricing is an amazing $1199.23 roundtrip.
In contrast Delta generally charges over $1000 roundtrip for basic economy and pulling up business class on Delta for the same dates I picked as a La Compagnie example shows a price over $11,000.
American’s offer to let you buy back your elite status or buy a higher status launched a month ago. People used to mileage run. Airlines figured out they could charge more taking the money for the ticket plus even more money to save members’ time. Although I already have enough travel booked to requalify as an Executive Platinum they’ll let me lock in next year’s status for a fee right now. Delta’s offer is now live, too. SkyMiles buy ups seemed like they were more expensive at least at the top end — and more expensive than American. Three years ago a common offer for an existing Platinum member was, Buy 2,500 MQMs for $2,195 Buy 5,000 MQMs for $2,495 Buy 7,500 MQMs for $2,795 Buy 10,000 MQMs for $2,995 While someone with lower status…
Two months ago oil reached the level it had been at in November 2014 — which itself was one-third off its May 2011 high. However since then the price of oil has been falling — down about 20% in the past two months.
Oil prices began falling within days of US airlines raising checked bag fees claiming this was due to high fuel prices.
In the spring American Airlines started offering free alcoholic beverages to passengers seated in their extra legroom Main Cabin Extra seats, copying Delta (although Delta offers snacks too). American’s flight attendants have expressed frustration.
They’ll say they’re concerned about customers drinking too much, but the real concern appears to be having to do more work.
I really want on a domestic flight is to get where I’m going safely with enough space to work and functional internet. Once I’ve hit that basic I’d like to be treated like a human being rather than self-loading cargo.
Other passengers have different priorities.
Delta announced restrictions on accessing their airport lounges, limiting use to passengers flying the airline or one of its partners same day. Club members could no longer use their club unless also paying Delta or its partners additional money to travel.
So American announced that same restriction. And a couple of weeks later, surprising no one in the known universe, United followed. American also announced an increase in club prices.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
