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Screen shot from Delta.com
This past Monday Delta updated the Pro.Delta.com page by announcing “BOOKING CLASS REALIGNMENT – DELTA ADDS ‘S’ CLASS“. Now before anyone says “S” has always been around as a fare and that “S and other letters” has been used for Comfort Plus award upgrades for a while now.
S fare class bookings (other 2 are S and SN)
Yes, and you can see a number of them on flights I have booked right now with Delta. But clearly Delta is making a change to the “S” fare designation as it will now become part of the Delta Comfort Plus fare group.
Delta has updated the wording on the Pro Delta page also to include the S Comfort Plus fare class designation.
Anytime Delta makes these kinds of changes it can impact us. Plus, there is always the learning curve for Delta reps to know the new rules. So I reached out to Delta and asked a few questions.
“Will the new-ish Comfort Plus S fare have all the Same Day Change rights that W has. Also, for upgrades, does S have an underlying fare basis it is build upon like W?”
The response was:
“We’ll decline to comment on your inquiry.” – Morgan Durrant Delta Corp
OK. So, like so much with Delta, we are left guessing or have to sleuth out the facts ourselves. First off, why this matters to you and me.
S fare not Comfort+ booking on Delta.com
“If you are traveling in Delta Comfort+, you may make a Same-Day Confirmed change as long as a seat is available in Delta Comfort+. If there is not a seat available in Delta Comfort+, you may be eligible to make a Same-Day Confirmed change in a Main Cabin seat, if available” – Delta.com
A great many buy Comfort Plus fares for one important factor, that is, Same Day Change (SDC) flexibly. Once you have a Comfort Plus fare you can change to another flight with any open Comfort Plus open seat (unlike coach where you have to have the same fare class or lower open to SDC). My guess is there will be some issues with doing this with an S fare for a while. Then again, Delta being Delta, may exclude S fares for the SDC perk that W fares have.
But wait… There is more….
We have proven that Delta this year has been having issues with the upgrade order i.e. the IT does not always work as published. Beyond that we have the never ending debate about if there is or is not an underlying coach basis fare class “under” a W fare. Now we have the same question about S fares and – as you can see – Delta is not talking. Sigh.
Anyway now you are alert to the next mess we have in front of us as Delta again sub-divides the sale of Comfort Plus fares. Also do notice that W fares (no matter what may or may not be under them) Delta says will be higher than S fares. – René
