Changes to "Basic Economy" fares effective 02/01/2015

[737823]

Wow no Medallion UGs is pretty harsh. Can't say I have ever purchased one of these or seen them available, but I guess DL would rather see the seat go out empty, to a non-rev or a less valuable Medallion.

http://pointsmilesandmartinis.boardingarea.com/2014/10/delta-removing-medallion-upgrades-basic-economy-fares/

Josh

 

[WorldTraveler]

these fares are competitive with the ULCCs. All of the routes are high density routes where ULCCs operate.

I can assure you that there will be no shortage of Medallions on the standby list who have paid higher class fares.

 

[737823]

these fares are competitive with the ULCCs. All of the routes are high density routes where ULCCs operate.I can assure you that there will be no shortage of Medallions on the standby list who have paid higher class fares.

Maybe but just wait until DL changes their inventory and introduces them in more markets. I've seen them MCO-BOS; didn't realize B6 is now considered a ULCC. And I know your feeling that DL is in a position of strength and has to give away less sh*t today than a few years ago but I assure if DL limits Medallion upgrades on a wide scale there will be considerable push back and defection. It's just so funny hearing that over and over again when for years DL has more or less sold their Medallion program to Amex who gives away status like candy, seems every man and his brother had DL status unlike AA and UA. And they do the Choice Benefit nominations that people regularly give away or sell online (against T&Cs).

Josh

 

[WorldTraveler]

they aren't limiting anything on a systemwide basis... but by the same token, the vast majority of Medallions that clear on all but very offpeak flights are Diamond or Platinum.

DL's RASM still has outperformed AA for yet another quarter. UA has yet to report but it is doubtful they will match DL's RASM growth.

DL is carrying the premium revenue in the industry better than any other carrier.

 

[737823]

I'm PM and get upgraded on the vast majority of my domestic DL flights. SLC-BOS during the winter is a tough one because of DLs "A" fares to points on the west coast that are much cheaper than fares in the local market. Many GMs and SMs don't get upgraded simply because there are so many of them-again between Choice Benefits and Skymiles reserve card plenty of people who rarely or never fly DL have status.

Josh

 

[eolesen]

It's a reasonable change at the surface.

The cynic in me says that DL wouldn't have bothered with this change unless they were seeing enough evidence of top tiers buying the deeply discounted fares.

As with some of the other changes implemented, I could see this running into some problems with the TMC's and top tiers whose corporate travel policies demand buying the lowest fare available.

 

[737823]

True E but I also wonder if this is the beginning of a larger scale unbundling effort. With IATA NDC coming online in a few years the possibilities are endless.

Josh

 

[WorldTraveler]

It's a reasonable change at the surface.

The cynic in me says that DL wouldn't have bothered with this change unless they were seeing enough evidence of top tiers buying the deeply discounted fares.

As with some of the other changes implemented, I could see this running into some problems with the TMC's and top tiers whose corporate travel policies demand buying the lowest fare available.

or simply that DL is continuing its trend of providing incentives commensurate with the revenue received from them.

Deeply discounted fares simply do not generate the revenue that higher tier fares do and DL isn't going to incentivize the users of them, regardless of their status.

it's worth noting that DL had the largest increase in capacity of the big 3 for the most recent month, managed to retake the title of world's largest airline if even for one month based on RPMs, and also beat AA on RASM growth. Since UA doesn't report monthly RASM, it's hard to know what they will do but they have underperformed DL and AA for months.

If DL can add as much capacity as they do and still lead their peers in RASM growth, DL simply does not need to throw the amount of incentives out there that a lot of people think.