For those who have tried to book a flight on Delta in the last week, you’ve probably noticed that the layout of the booking process has changed. Delta is now showing amenities by flight all in the booking path. That’s a huge improvement and means you don’t have to hunt and peck to figure it out anymore. I still think there are a few more amenity logos that could be added, however.
If you go to book a flight, here’s what you’ll now see:
The top flight is what it looks like before you start clicking and mousing-over. The bottom is all the info that can be displayed. I do like the “More Price Options” on the left side so that you can see whether it’s worth it for a non-refundable or first class fare without re-searching. (Hint: If you really care about price, that will almost never be useful.) It would have been nice had Delta simply said, “for $xxx more, you can fly in biz” instead of making you mouseover, but that’s minor.
The meat of the improvement in my mind, however, is at the top right of the flight where you see amenity icons. If you mouse over them, it explains what they are. In this particular case, it shows that there is wifi and a personal screen at each seat. (If you’re wondering what the little red icon is, that just shows it being a redeye.) From what I can tell, Delta now has 10 icons. (I was told there was an 11th for food, but I haven’t seen it in the wild, so I refuse to believe it. Food does appear at the bottom of the flight info.) Here’s the list of all of them along with a few suggested additions of my own.
This system is a big improvement but it’s not perfect. For example, the icon will only show up when the fleet is completely outfitted with a technology. So while they’re adding wifi to the regional aircraft, it won’t show up. Only when the whole fleet is done will that happen. I suppose it’s better to underpromise here, but it would be nice if they could do more of a real-time display like American does.
It also gets a little confusing on connections. For example, you might see a personal screen and an overhead screen in the amenities area. That’s because the first flight might be on an airplane with a personal screen while the second is on an airplane with an overhead screen. Or you might just see the personal screen icon and realize that the second flight has nothing at all. If you mouse over the icon, it shows you which flight has which. And to be honest, I can’t really think of a better way to do it so I’m probably not in a place to say anything.
The one thing that absolutely needs to be fixed is that amenities aren’t available for codeshare flights. With Delta becoming increasingly close with Air France/KLM, those airlines’ results show up a lot. So to just have blank amenity information for those flights is a big deal, especially if you’re going to Europe where they consider their flights interchangeable. According to Delta, it would like to add codeshare flights but there isn’t a timeline for that yet.
I know it sounds like a lot of complaining here, but this really is a big improvement. And it’s actually going to get better next year. I’m told that Delta will soon have the ability for a customer to search for a flight by amenities. So if you want a personal screen, you can put that in as a requirement for the search. That’s huge, but this is a big step in the right direction as well.
35 comments on “Delta.com Now Shows Amenities by Flight”
Wow, this is great. Now if only Delta had the same ammenities on their entire domestic fleet.
Regarding TATL flights in AF/KLM, that is not the only problem. For instance the seat i request on DL is never the same i actually get on the AF/KLM operated flight. Say i want a window seat with extra legroom close to the front of the plane, odds are that i will get a cramped middle seat at the back of the plane. And apparently medallion status is disregarded, when i had to select a new seat at the airport a few days ago, they wanted me to pay an extra $64 for status reserved seats, which is just a no-no as a GM. So it is great that DL and AF get close but they really have to sort out these issues. Of course not everything is bad, i find FA much nicer and professional on AF. :)
How about an icon for ‘screaming baby in the seat behind you’ ? :-)
Here’s the list of all of them along with a few suggested additions of my own.
“proposed” additions?
Why make a silly remark like that in an otherwise informative, newsworthy post?
Because it’s funny??
funny?…NOT to posters IN the industry.
I’m in the industry… and I find it hilarious.
because we expect it and enjoy it from Cranky?
Agreed.
I dont. Nor enjoy it. I’ve been reading this site for long time. He’s very intelligent and DOESNT have to lower himself to Ma/Pa Kettle “remarks” common travel sites.
I thought it was one of the funniest additions to one of Cranky’s posts in a long time. I work for an airline and it made me laugh out loud.
Hence, WE have DIFFERENT OPINIONS. Whatever
Made me laugh out loud!
It wouldn’t be Cranky otherwise
Let’s review the blog name: CrankyFlier. Breaking that apart goes like so: Cranky means one who isn’t always polite but snarky. Flier means one who flies (usually on a plane.)
Brett is much better at snark than I am so thats a reason why he has the popular blog and not me.
What i like about his BLOG is that he is unique in his opinion, he’s critical, he’s informative and posts newsworthy articles. Cranky to me means he’s critical.
To me, his article was really good, until the “proposed additions” suggestion that I found silly in an otherwise well thought out intelligent post.
AND, I GET IT. Most of you didnt agree. You spent more time commenting on my comment rather then the article’s. Shame.
Wow. 12 years later and I’m just seeing this. Funny that you scold people for responding to the question you asked. Hilarious. If you had said “I didn’t think the suggested additions were necessary/helpful, but otherwise a great, informative article“, that would have been basically the same critique with a different delivery. But you asked kind of a snarky question. And people felt compelled to answer. It’s all about delivery. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I thought it was funny too. ?
Hopefully your ‘proposed additions’ will keep people from commenting that you are posting something positive about DL again because they gave you something. That is getting so old.
I would think one of the largest airlines in the world who also is a U.S. based carrier would be talked about a lot in your blogs since they are big and would always be doing things worth talking about. It’s almost like some people don’t want you to say nice or positive things about an airline, as they can’t moan and groan if you do.
But at least uniformity in services is much better across the fleet at Delta than it is on say, Continental-United. I was on a PMDL 737 and it had the Delta on Demand, but an A319 or A320 in peak hours out of DTW just has GoGo. On the other hand, you can’t expect TV’s on the DC-9’s.
But of course, Southwest is the king of uniformity just because they don’t have to fly to 300+ destinations on 6 continents.
“Only when the whole fleet is done will that happen. I suppose it’s better to underpromise here, but it would be nice if they could do more of a real-time display like American does.”
I think this is smart on Delta’s part. Since equipment subs can happen a lot it only makes sense to underpromise. Especially if/when they start rolling out AVOD or some other similar IFE product to the A319/320 fleet. It’s not like it will all happen overnight and it would be silly to promise a AVOD equipped aircraft 6 months into the future.
LMAO! Love the ‘proposed additions’ – you’re in top form.
Agreed. If only that existed, I would know how long to spend at the airport bar before the flight. . . .
Hmmmm, maybe “sauced seat-mate” should be one of them.
If only they had this amenity when I booked my DEN-JFK flight for next a week a couple months ago. The flights now on a A319/A320, just free Wi-Fi. I assumed I’d finally get to try their personal screen entertainment. A year ago flew this same route and it was on a 737, and next week seems like the first week it won’t be on a 737. On my last flight the screens were broken, I think someone clipped a cable but only within the ten rows I was sitting in. On a JetBlue flight the TV was working fine but the XM was broken and I even got a $15 cupon off a future flight!
You forgot “morbidly obese” seatmate in your list of proposed additions. Perhaps best symbolized with a seatbelt extender.
This is Bretts personal blog and he can write it anyway he wants. It’s not the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Washington Post, or CNN websites.
I thought it was funny and guess what, there are Surly F/A’s, seats next to toilets, no legroom, middle seats, and equipment that may not work. All things readers of this blog have posted about.
I really like the surly flight attendant icon. Just flew DL last week and on 3 segments, all nine atendants were the most unhappy bitter attendants I have ever seen on DL. I only fly DL because I really like their service, but this was horrid. I’m guessing they were bitter former NWA who didn’t get their labor vote. Overall, this icon improvement is pretty slick.
I agree that they should market it more. I’d like to see more “For only $xxx.xx or yy,yyy miles you can upgrade to business class, which offers these amenities…”, or “Want zz amenity? Choose this other flight option, for only $xx more…”
That said, if they’re showing these amenities at booking that need to essentially guarantee that the amenities will be there and working, and offer a small voucher (as JetBlue did for the commenter above) if the amenities are not working.
Other proposed icon additions:
* Stinky seatmate
* Seat does not recline
* No overhead bin space available- hope you like gate checking!
* Credit card application (will be shoved in your face by the FA free of charge)
* Seat has not been cleaned since the 80’s
Hrm if the seat hasn’t been cleaned since the 80s foes that mean they pulled them off NW’s DC9s?
Ahh Cranky, you always make me smile.
I’d think this is fine a few weeks out but what if you’re booking months in advance and you get a 737 for A320 swap? Delta is notorious for excessive schedule changes.
Also are they segregating this down to the -800 level or do all 737s have the same adminities?
Also my suggested code would be a toilet in blue and yellow to signify the Ikea designed restrooms on all the planes.
I believe this would go down to the series level. That would really only impact the 757 and 737 fleets domestically. Actually, it seems to me that they go into subfleets. For example, if you’re on a 757 with TV, that will show up on there because all 757s that are to get outfitted with the screens have them, I believe.
I’ve noticed CO has been doing this for a while. And they’ve got it down to the actual aircraft, as well. Some of the 738s are not outfitted with even the overhead screens, and when I book it shows me there are no inflight amenities if I am expected to fly on one of these aircraft. They also show whether the flight has DirecTV, food, etc. Seems like DL is playing catch up.
CO only lists this information under “flight status” which their website only allows 2 days in advanced of flight. It does NOT list it on the purchase page. If you dig deep, the website lists general a/c info under Travel Information > Onboard Amenities > Aircraft. On a positive note, they do list the tail# of the 757 a/c with flat bed seats. (777s 100% complete earlier this month)
LOVE Cranky’s Proposed Icons, it’s what makes Cranky Cranky (and he’s got cred because he know’s his stuff and is sincere)
Anyway, I second some of the additions:
* Seat-belt extender for obese pax
* Stinky seatmate
* Seat does not recline (seriously)
* No overhead bin space available (ie: CR900 left side)