Link/Source: https://www.inc.com/chris-matyszczyk/ar ... urope.html


"You see, Delta Air Lines has just decided to eliminate another archaic concept that passengers might have appreciated."
"You won't be able to enjoy a free checked bag on flights to Europe. "
Instead, that'll be $60, please. "

"As One Mile At A Time reports, this fine imposition is being exclusively placed on those who book in Sub-Cattle Class."
"Or, as Delta prefers to call it, Basic Economy. "
"Yes, the lovable -- and allegedly cheaper -- fare that doesn't allow you to book a seat in advance, doesn't offer refunds, doesn't allow you to change the flight and doesn't let you upgrade."
"So to make the experience more complete, it now comes with a checked baggage fee of $60 for the first bag and $100 for the second."

Obviously being done to compete with the likes of Norwegian Airlines, Wow Air and other airline which are starting new Trans Atlantic flights with cheap fare and no frills.

But how soon till this concept is seen on flights in Brazil and other South American countries with the exceptions so far being Colombia (JetBlue, Spirit and Viva Aerobus and Lima (JetBlue, Spirit), and will this concept work on Trans Pacific routes.

AirbusMDCFAN wrote:

Obviously being done to compete with the likes of Norwegian Airlines, Wow Air and other airline which are starting new Trans Atlantic flights with cheap fare and no frills.

But is Delta really going to drop its Trans Atlantic fares to match Norwegian, Wow Air, et al? This could be a plan to eliminate checked bags on its existing TATL fares, and force customers to pay more.

well..someone that doesn't need to check a bag in might enjoy the cheaper Y- product. Nothing wrong with having options.

People clamor for the likes of WOW and other undeseriable airlines to serve the market. Yet they want to travel on a legacy for the price of WOW and the traditional legacy benefits. Unfortunately it doesn’t happen that way. The likes of Norwegian scrapping the bottom of the barrel will continue to for the legacy carriers to compete appropriately.

If you want more you will have to pay more. At Norwegian they wear that mantra as a badge of honor. When the legacy carriers speak of the same they are vilified.

mcdu wrote:

People clamor for the likes of WOW and other undeseriable airlines to serve the market. Yet they want to travel on a legacy for the price of WOW and the traditional legacy benefits. Unfortunately it doesn’t happen that way. The likes of Norwegian scrapping the bottom of the barrel will continue to for the legacy carriers to compete appropriately.

If you want more you will have to pay more. At Norwegian they wear that mantra as a badge of honor. When the legacy carriers speak of the same they are vilified.

I think the issue people have with the legacies doing this (at least on aviation boards) are that they aren't really lowering prices, in most cases, to match the ULCC competitors. DL in most cases is still the same pricing as they were before E fares and now they just give you less and have a few different bundles you can buy. If DL is pricing similar to WOW or Norwegian then it makes sense, but in my experience they don't.

These are the options customers want! Amiright??

Osubuckeyes wrote:

mcdu wrote:

People clamor for the likes of WOW and other undeseriable airlines to serve the market. Yet they want to travel on a legacy for the price of WOW and the traditional legacy benefits. Unfortunately it doesn’t happen that way. The likes of Norwegian scrapping the bottom of the barrel will continue to for the legacy carriers to compete appropriately.

If you want more you will have to pay more. At Norwegian they wear that mantra as a badge of honor. When the legacy carriers speak of the same they are vilified.

I think the issue people have with the legacies doing this (at least on aviation boards) are that they aren't really lowering prices, in most cases, to match the ULCC competitors. DL in most cases is still the same pricing as they were before E fares and now they just give you less and have a few different bundles you can buy. If DL is pricing similar to WOW or Norwegian then it makes sense, but in my experience they don't.

Agree, this is just them looking to squeeze additional revenue where they can. Not bad or good, just blurring the lines for non-J/PY passengers between legacies and new breed.

Osubuckeyes wrote:

I think the issue people have with the legacies doing this (at least on aviation boards) are that they aren't really lowering prices, in most cases, to match the ULCC competitors. DL in most cases is still the same pricing as they were before E fares and now they just give you less and have a few different bundles you can buy. If DL is pricing similar to WOW or Norwegian then it makes sense, but in my experience they don't.

Basic Economy on DL still isn't an apples-to-apples comparison to the ULCCs. The Basic Economy passenger still gets a meal, adult beverages and amenity kit (I assume), and probably more leg room. The fare should reflect that.

It is reasonable and makes total sense for DL to do this if the basic Y fare is competitive and comparable to Norwegian, WOW, etc.

If not, customers booking this fare are being shafted...

I have to say, at least the ME3 forced legacies to UP their game... hahaha

AirbusMDCFAN wrote:

Link/Source: https://www.inc.com/chris-matyszczyk/ar ... urope.html


"You see, Delta Air Lines has just decided to eliminate another archaic concept that passengers might have appreciated."
"You won't be able to enjoy a free checked bag on flights to Europe. "
Instead, that'll be $60, please. "

"As One Mile At A Time reports, this fine imposition is being exclusively placed on those who book in Sub-Cattle Class."
"Or, as Delta prefers to call it, Basic Economy. "
"Yes, the lovable -- and allegedly cheaper -- fare that doesn't allow you to book a seat in advance, doesn't offer refunds, doesn't allow you to change the flight and doesn't let you upgrade."
"So to make the experience more complete, it now comes with a checked baggage fee of $60 for the first bag and $100 for the second."

Obviously being done to compete with the likes of Norwegian Airlines, Wow Air and other airline which are starting new Trans Atlantic flights with cheap fare and no frills.

But how soon till this concept is seen on flights in Brazil and other South American countries with the exceptions so far being Colombia (JetBlue, Spirit and Viva Aerobus and Lima (JetBlue, Spirit), and will this concept work on Trans Pacific routes.

My question is perhaps we are looking at this wrong is this possibly a move to drum up more business for American Express. Let me tell I have an AMEX card and the only reason I carry it is so I don't have to pat bag fees it's not my card of choice but to save money I carry it.

toobz wrote:

well..someone that doesn't need to check a bag in might enjoy the cheaper Y- product. Nothing wrong with having options.

My God man...do you just realize that you are now paying the same fare as before, but getting LESS for it? This isn't a savings...

DL hopes you're dumb enough to think it is, though!

Its a business. Its all about money.

By the way, Delta is doing this together with Air France-KLM and Alitalia.

I think it's good, it makes people question themselves if they really need a large suitcase on their trip. In the old situation there was no stimulation to travel light since it was free anyway so why bother? A bit more weight doesn't matter. However, for the airline and for the environment it does matter. Not having checked luggage saves the airline handling money and makes the plane lighter and thus burn less fuel.

MoKa777 wrote:

It is reasonable and makes total sense for DL to do this if the basic Y fare is competitive and comparable to Norwegian, WOW, etc.

If not, customers booking this fare are being shafted...

I have to say, at least the ME3 forced legacies to UP their game... hahaha

At this point I’m all for allowing ME3 to set up domestic subsidiaries in the US of A that will actually compete with this. The ME3 competes with the US3 for a teeny tiny number of the US3 passenger count, hence why I always laugh when Delta whines about it. The legacies need to pick a market, do they want the higher yielding traffic that expects to be treated as such, or do they want the low cost traffic that will probably swear off of the airline after one flight because they were treated like ULCC traffic on a legacy airline. If I know I’m only getting the bare minimum, I’ll fly on a true ULCC because it will be cheaper. But if the airlines are going to keep fares up while slashing benefits, they’re not going to get the ULCC pax and they’re going to start losing high yielding pax.

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I cant beleave that DL is once again ripping off the consumer and the DL BB's try and justify it. There should be a nation wide boycott of DL until they stop trying to take advantage of the people who pay their bills. Where is consumer protection and a Congressional hearing? They have no right to be in business.

I think what we all need here is a bit of...

TransFAREncy

In the sense that you understand you get what you’re paying for. I agree though it seems like fares are not that much cheaper with basic economy relative to main economy, seats aren’t crunched in and apparently there are still complimentary beverages (and maybe snacks), so it’s not completely a ULCC experience; maybe an ULCC plus.

I do think the main economy product has been cheapened, however, since presumably base fare is the new “economy” fare in terms of price (a basic fare from here to DFW should be like $20-30 bucks or cheaper but I don’t ever see that on American (from AUS). A basic economy fare is what an economy fare used to be.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

By the way, Delta is doing this together with Air France-KLM and Alitalia.

I think it's good, it makes people question themselves if they really need a large suitcase on their trip. In the old situation there was no stimulation to travel light since it was free anyway so why bother? A bit more weight doesn't matter. However, for the airline and for the environment it does matter. Not having checked luggage saves the airline handling money and makes the plane lighter and thus burn less fuel.

If you're worried about the environment, you shouldn't be blasting across the atlantic on a half a million pound jetliner.

You 40lb bag is inconsequential. More to that, the weight of the bag doesn't determine the price.

A shame that air travel has become so uncivilized. However, with the volume of people travelling, they will likely make a killing on the checked baggage. Unfortunately, this fee only encourages people to bring on more hand carry baggage, which has always - and will always be - a pain in the ass to enforce.

Not sure how I feel about this. I think I don't care. I'm a Gold Medallion on Delta, for another couple of months anyway (Silver next year). I've never once booked a Basic Economy flight. I looked over the rules and "no thanks."

AY104 wrote:

Unfortunately, this fee only encourages people to bring on more hand carry baggage, which has always - and will always be - a pain in the ass to enforce.

Unless you do as American Airlines does and have Airspace XL luggage racks installed. Here's a news article (in Dutch) with a picture.

https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/ ... handbagage

They should have done that much earlier, and not just American but every airline in the world. This way every passenger can bring a hand luggage suitcase on board and it all fits, nothing needs to be gate-loaded.

Not sure what the big deal is. People who book basic economy should know that it is literally only a seat and everything else costs extra. It's up to them to add up what services they want and what extra fees come with them. If it adds up to more than regular or premium economy they should make a wise decision. What Delta is counting on is that this is so complicated and the policies -- like this one -- change so frequently that passengers will be confused and make unwise decisions. If a passenger values simplicity or transparency their first Delta Basic Economy experience may be their last. As the saying goes, "let the buyer beware".