{"id":1312,"date":"2023-04-12T14:03:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T21:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/?p=1312"},"modified":"2023-04-14T10:37:47","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T17:37:47","slug":"airlines-seek-to-reduce-economy-seats-focus-more-on-high-priced-premium-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/2023\/04\/12\/airlines-seek-to-reduce-economy-seats-focus-more-on-high-priced-premium-seats\/","title":{"rendered":"Airlines seek to reduce economy seats, focus more on high priced premium seats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By next year, they [premium seats] will account for 30% of seats on Delta’s flights, up 2 percentage points from 2019. The mix is set to increase further when Boeing MAX 737-10 planes, which are scheduled for delivery starting in 2025 and will have around 35% premium seats, are part of the fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This growth is coming at the expense of low-fare basic economy seats, which now make up less than 5% of Delta’s seats. That opens up avenues for the carrier to grow revenue through non-ticket sources like loyalty credit card fees, checked bags and extra legroom.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Delta bets on premium travel as ‘shock absorber’ for economic downturn | Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delta is making these changes as a way of adapting to the post-Covid pandemic travel restrictions market. Prior to Covid, business travelers, who generally book at the last minute and pay full fare, were about 50% of air travelers. Post Covid, the % of business travelers has dropped significantly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make up that lost – high profit revenue – airlines are forcing consumers into higher tiers of seats. For example, it is impossible to buy a change-able or refundable air fare unless you pay for a higher class ticket which can run 50% to 100% more than economy. It is rather insane that U.S. business now prohibit cancellation and refunds, even months in advance for many services. This is anti-consumer behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, the “higher class” that costs 50% more is pretty much the same as economy – with the only noticeable added value being a change-able or refundable fare. Last year, I had hepatitis just weeks before a long planned trip, and then an emergency tooth extraction 2 days before departure. I didn’t get a medical okay to travel until 2 days before the trip. Fortunately, I was able to go on the trip although my energy levels were reduced (for 2 to 3 months after hepatitis, which is common). We did have a change-able fare so we could have canceled and changed to a future flight if necessary. After that experience we now always pay the extra fees to have a change-able or cancel-able fare or hotel accommodation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By next year, they [premium seats] will account for 30% of seats on Delta’s flights, up 2 percentage points from 2019. The mix is set to increase further when Boeing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}