A sample of fares for flights from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale for July showed economy fares for $248.60 and basic economy fares for $229.60

So it saves 20 bucks, which since they plan on charging for carry ons, will be gone the moment you get the first "extra"

Who wouldn't want in on something that awesome.

Why call it testing when it's a roll out? Soon every ticket will have this level of service.

As an advanced level member of Skymiles, this amuses me.

Have they found a way to remove all the seats so they can cram more people in like a flying subway car?

Fukuzawa: A sample of fares for flights from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale for July showed economy fares for $248.60 and basic economy fares for $229.60

So it saves 20 bucks, which since they plan on charging for carry ons, will be gone the moment you get the first "extra"

Just the "absolutely no changes" part makes it not worth the $20. I'd have to save 25% minimum to see that value here. Unless it was a last-minute flight with no bags, etc.

Fukuzawa: A sample of fares for flights from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale for July showed economy fares for $248.60 and basic economy fares for $229.60

So it saves 20 bucks, which since they plan on charging for carry ons, will be gone the moment you get the first "extra"

Who wouldn't want in on something that awesome.

The only difference in the fares is you can't change it and you can't pick your own seat.

this is what the flying public demands. I can't fault delta for answering demand. If you want 60s style service, you need to pay 60s level prices.

Fun Dumpster: Have they found a way to remove all the seats so they can cram more people in like a flying subway car?

Did you mean "flying cattle car"?

Next up, they put the poor people out on the wings and make them flap their arms feverishly.

6655321: Fun Dumpster: Have they found a way to remove all the seats so they can cram more people in like a flying subway car?

Did you mean "flying cattle car"?

Cattle get feed. That would be an extra charge.

So the flight attendants won't be bothering me while I contemplate my most recent fondling.

Other airlines have sold fares in tiers for a number of years, including Air Canada and Denver-based Frontier Airlines.

And carriers like Delta will be "dipping their toes into it to see if it's a model that works for them," Snyder said, "and I think it's going to be something that people should expect to see more of."

Oh look up to Air Canada? Way to shoot for the sewers....

The basic idea is to get people to pay for what they want, instead of the previous one-size-fits-all type of fare," Snyder said. "Before, there was always this assumption that if you were flying, you wanted to check bags and you wanted to eat on the airplane and you wanted a seat assignment. What the airlines have done is they've started peeling that back.

Everybody wants that. Hardly anybody wants to pay for it.

JorgiX: I understand why airlines engage in price discrimination but holy fark that industry is running itself down FAST. As long as as the cuts are not being made on safety (as in plane maintenance, not as in the TSA's definition) I am reasonably ok with this.

That said, every time I look up flight prices Delta and Virgin America always seem to have very similar prices with Virgin being even cheaper sometimes. There is no possible way you can compare Delta's crappy service with Virgin's in-flight experience and even when Virgin is a little more expensive I find myself paying a really small premium for an infinitely better service.

The purple makes me queasy.

I am calling a seat near the CLEAN end of the sewage trough.

SuperT: this is what the flying public demands. I can't fault delta for answering demand. If you want 60s style service, you need to pay 60s level prices.

When airlines were regulated there was no fare competition, they all cost the same, so they had to compete on service. This was anathema to the free market. Rich people aren't getting value for their money unless other people are being treated worse than them.

Representative of the unwashed masses: [0.tqn.com image 500x302]

I am calling a seat near the CLEAN end of the sewage trough.

At least they got to lie down!

Where are all the Southwest fanboys? Because that's basically what they're trying to emulate. Take a trip on SWA from CA to FL and see if you ever get served a meal.

My mother was a Delta flight attendant for 34 years. It always amazes me when she describes the changes that she observed in those 34 years. When I was small, she would claim she had the best job on the planet. By the time she retired around 2006, going to work was something she dreaded.

Wait, has Delta ever offered a higher level of service?

Flew Delay once. They DID get me of the tarmac, but after overbooking, connected me to a flight that landed two hours by car from where I was doing. Once getting me there they told me to fark off, when I asked how I was supposed to get to my destination- the one , ya know, that I paid for?
Then, when I finally got to my destination on my own dime, I actually went to the airport to make sure there would not be a problem getting back.
"there's a triathlon in town, there's bound to be over booking." Was the bored response I got from the helpful Delta agent. Because it's Delta, the earliest you could check in was 3 hours pre-flight. So I showed up three hours pre-flight only to discover that they CANCELED my reservation, we'll, because I never arrived at the original destination.

Never have, and pending some bizarre emergency, never will fly Delta again.
/csb

You get a gold-plated Rolls Royce if you pay for it.

Why is this hard to understand?

insano: SuperT: this is what the flying public demands. I can't fault delta for answering demand. If you want 60s style service, you need to pay 60s level prices.

60's level prices? So like 50 bucks a flight? That sounds good.

That's about $387 after inflation. A quick Google search shows that one-way Cleveland-Baltimore was $75, so that would be $580. Delta is showing first/business class round trip tickets for that flight as $657.

So we're pretty well cheaper than 1960, even if you want to pay for all that stuff. Taking into account the fact that you don't get hot stewardesses in skimpy outfits as much, but you do get wifi.

tho$e day$ are clearly over... IN AMERICA. cuz the only thing that matter$ is keeping maximum profit for the $hareholders and CEO$. anywhere else you go in the world you can expect to have a great flight with decent amenities.

I would pay an extra $20 for a polite, attractive stewardess that will not try to get you charged for 'interfering with a flight crew' the first time you don't listen to their 'request'.

BMFPitt: So we're pretty well cheaper than 1960, even if you want to pay for all that stuff.

Also keep in mind certain stuff that goes with first class is actually cheaper now when adjusted for inflation than it used to. Today a first class meal can be prepared more cheaply than it could be back then just because the people who do it can crank them out at a rate unimagined way back when. I have a friend who works in the corporate offices of an airline and he said providing a full meal every passenger would eat at most $5 of the price of a ticket. Problem is the major airlines are seriously top heavy, they have huge numbers of people who have nothing to do with flying planes, fixing them or any other operational issue.

I would willingly deal with any and all of these type of cuts, and more, if the seats were about 3" wider. I am an averaged sized woman and in no way burly, yet my shoulders are wider than the seat backs. There is no way for 3 people to sit back in their seats without someone having to curl their shoulders forward. A seat sized for the average human means that it is too small for 50% of all people and ~75% of Americans. I'd really like to come off a flight without a sore back.

SpikeStrip: it's never been a very profitable industry

It used to be quite profitable. Back in the days when they treated people well.

WhyteRaven74: I have a friend who works in the corporate offices of an airline and he said providing a full meal every passenger would eat at most $5 of the price of a ticket.

I'd probably rather have the $5 than the crappy airline meal.

FTA:
"It's all about providing options," Delta spokesman Paul Skrbec said.


No, you insufferable twat. it's about raping the customer so bad they'll pay you just to use KY.

WhyteRaven74: It used to be quite profitable. Back in the days when they treated people well. had legally enforced price fixing

BMFPitt: I'd probably rather have the $5 than the crappy airline meal.

Actually they can get really good food, they just have to order it. People will rave about the food on a flight on Lufthansa going from O'Hare to Frankfurt, but biatch about the food on a United flight from O'Hare to London. You'd think the food was coming from different places, but it's not.

I don't mind paying extra for better service, but that's not what you're getting. I still do the small fees like skipping the lines or being in the first boarding group or whatever, but you really aren't getting much out of it. I wouldn't even mind paying double the price for first class tickets, but whenever I book they're always at least triple the price where ever I want to fly. I just can't justify paying over $1000 for a 3 hour flight.

BMFPitt: had legally enforced price fixing

They were quite profitable even after that disappeared.

I've flown close to two million miles, over the years. About 1.5 on American, most of the rest on UsAir, and a few on other airlines.
I've had two situations where I actually felt in danger. Both were on Delta.
After the second incident, I vowed never to fly them again.
Won't bore you with the details.

The company I work for operates it's own small jet shuttle fleet. I have been ruined for public air travel.

ScotterOtter: Where are all the Southwest fanboys? Because that's basically what they're trying to emulate. Take a trip on SWA from CA to FL and see if you ever get served a meal.

SWA is going to eat Delta's lunch when they get fully oprational in ATL.

pueblonative: FTA:
"It's all about providing options," Delta spokesman Paul Skrbec said.

No, you insufferable twat. it's about raping the customer so bad they'll pay you just to use KY.

Put slightly less bluntly (but equally truthfully), it's about hiding the true cost of a flight altogether, so that you can't price-compare. That is the only reason for this bullshiat, no matter what the airlines tell you. They're in a contest to get themselves into first place in the booking engines based on price, by simply lying about the price and then adding unavoidable (or near-unavoidable) fees that most people won't find out about until well after the booking is made. It's a form of search-engine optimization in the real world, where the product is made intentionally worse merely because the provider knows that if they don't appear in the first handful of search results, they probably won't be purchased at all.

The whole thing could be solved simply by requiring that all fees be stated upfront, and paid at the time of booking. Want to charge for headphones? Time of booking. Want to charge for a shiatty stale sandwich? Time of booking. Charge for checked bags? Time of booking. Let the customer select desired options prior to the flight, then present the customer with a *real* list of the fees, and the airlines would stop paying silly buggers. They'd quickly return to one flat rate for the ticket.

These fees cost the airlines money to implement, as well, and they would prefer not to have them either. Problem is, lying about the cost and tacking on a bunch of fees makes them more money in not losing customers to cheaper airlines and/or other forms of transport, than it costs them to implement, and hence they'll continue to do it (and the situation will continue to get worse and worse.)

who cares? i just want a ride, i don't have to get blown by the stewardess while i sip on a jack Daniels and watch pay per view. Just get me there safe.

T.M.S.: You get a gold-plated Rolls Royce if you pay for it.

Why is this hard to understand?

When people buy a car, they generally expect to get certain bells and whistles for free, such as the "engine," "steering wheel" and "gas pedal."

Likewise, when people purchase an airline ticket, they tend to expect to receive certain amenities without having to pay extra, such as "decent customer service," "the ability to transport a few days' worth of underwear and toiletries while maintaining positive control of the same" and "access to the lavatories as needed, complete with bathroom tissue that is softer than steel wool."

/we all know that last one is on the chopping block, and will be available for first-class customers only by the end of the decade

King Something: T.M.S.: You get a gold-plated Rolls Royce if you pay for it.

Why is this hard to understand?

When people buy a car, they generally expect to get certain bells and whistles for free, such as the "engine," "steering wheel" and "gas pedal."

Likewise, when people purchase an airline ticket, they tend to expect to receive certain amenities without having to pay extra, such as "decent customer service," "the ability to transport a few days' worth of underwear and toiletries while maintaining positive control of the same" and "access to the lavatories as needed, complete with bathroom tissue that is softer than steel wool."

/we all know that last one is on the chopping block, and will be available for first-class customers only by the end of the decade

King Something: T.M.S.: You get a gold-plated Rolls Royce if you pay for it.

Why is this hard to understand?

When people buy a car, they generally expect to get certain bells and whistles for free, such as the "engine," "steering wheel" and "gas pedal."

Likewise, when people purchase an airline ticket, they tend to expect to receive certain amenities without having to pay extra, such as "decent customer service," "the ability to transport a few days' worth of underwear and toiletries while maintaining positive control of the same" and "access to the lavatories as needed, complete with bathroom tissue that is softer than steel wool."

/we all know that last one is on the chopping block, and will be available for first-class customers only by the end of the decade

i just can't wait until they start tranking all the passengers and stacking them in the cabin like boards. save alot of space and prevent 'turrurism' at the same time! :-)