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New this week when you fly you will find an advertisement in your seat back pocket bragging up the new OFCMB “Your Time” experience.
And that Delta is committed to your satisfaction and how proud they are about winning some awards (not so much at the Freddie’s 2015 and I wish they cared at all about the frequent flyer program 1/10th as much as they do about selling stuff).
And inside the glossy 3 panel ad they brag up 1st class (not 1st class but domestic business class, then the same coach seats but C+ with perks and then the rest of coach).
The first part is plenty of space regarding 1st class seats. I wanted to take issue with this as I have, for the past 6 weeks, spent a LOT of time on Delta jets and in many different seats. And I have a quiz question for you. Ready?
Just what Delta seat is the same width in 1st class as another Delta jet has in coach (that is C+ and the rest of coach?)? Do you know the answer?
Yep, one of the work horses of Delta, the domestic wide body 767-300 has the same 18.5″ width in 1st class as the international (primarily) flown 777. That is saying something about “1st class” space right?
I have also been spending more time on the 737-900 and the luster of my review from the first EVER revenue flight Delta had for the bird. The 1st class seats are fine other than all of row 1 that has NO leg room and CD row 5 that reclines into the coat closet. Oh and the C+ row 10 DEF also has NO leg room also due to said closet. The rest of coach is not all that great. Clearly give me the old 767-300 any day when I have to be in coach!
My point of today’s post is more of the same from Delta. They are trying to sell the flight experience but they are NOT winning in the eyes of the public as we can see from Brian’s post at “The Gate”. He goes on to comment:
“…it still would seem to me that it is not a good idea to negatively alter a frequent flier loyalty program to the point that its members consider renouncing their loyalty. Good economic times will not last forever…” – The Gate
Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner! Now Delta does a good job in what they are “selling” for the most part. The product Delta has is solid but nothing remarkable. The food is good compared to any of the domestic airlines. Wifi is slow but it is rare you don’t find it on a jet. The whole OFCMB coach thing is more lipstick on a pig to me and just to sell the masses that this is something special.
To me, it is time Delta started to get that they have gone so far as to begin to push frequent flyers away with the draconian efforts to destroy the award program. Delta, seats matter, yes. You know when Delta seats REALLY matter? When we are trying to find one of them with our hard earned Delta award points! – René
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Your use of acronyms created and understood only by yourself is annoying and alienates new readers
@Emory University Reader – All you have to do is click on the link for OFCMB and you will see what the term means.
To Emory’s point, I’ve clicked through three links and it takes me deeper and deeper into articles, none of which define OFCMB. I am not a frequent flyer, but read your blog regularly. Maybe Dick & Jane it for my crowd, starting with defining what OFCMB is.
@JP – 3rd on the list is exhaustive description: http://deltapoints.boardingarea.com/2014/12/27/whoever-came-ofcmb-seats-delta-get-p-n-k-slip/
Rene, I completely agree with Emory University Reader. I have been subscribed to your blog for a long time and I still never can remember what OFCMB means when you use it. I have to go dig for it each time. You use a lot of other abbreviations as well.
I disagree that clicking the link let’s you see what the term means. Try it yourself. Click the link and the first thing that appears is this same post which obviously doesn’t help.
You then can scroll through the list and see several articles. If you read the second post, that one doesn’t help either. So now we’re at the third post from December 27, 2014 titled “Whoever came up with OFCMB seats at Delta should get a P-I-N-K slip!”. If you read that post, then you can finally figure out what you mean by OFCMB.
Yes, it’s your blog and you can do what you want, but surely you can see what this can be quite frustrating to some people. Your readers shouldn’t have to dig through a bunch of old posts to try figure out what OFCMB means.
@David R- There is a fine line between repeating over and over terms. It is a balance and endless discussion about abbreviations. Heck, some even still yell about using FO for Silver Medallion or if I make it “simple” and use SM for Silver (as most think that is the correct term) then others yell SM is for SkyMiles etc etc etc. Txs for feedback.
Wall Street Journal today reports a study that Delta is next to last in seats available for using miles.
@Catherine Light – I am SHOCKED (said no one clearly) 😉
I’m one long time ffer who has been driven away by delta’s arrogance. On the 737-900 the luggage bins seem to be smaller than other mainline aircraft. If not in first, my favorite seats on that aircraft are 21A or F, exit row seats with no seat in front.
I get that. You can’t please everyone, but I do find it hard to keep with all of the abbreviations sometimes.
Perhaps if you had an abbreviations or terms page “menu” item at the top that you could refer to in your posts for the items that you know a lot of people won’t know what it means. I didn’t search, but I was thinking that you actually did a post on abbreviations at one point.
It’s funny that you mentioned FO. That is one that I have finally, after more than a year, have stopped having to do a double take to know what it means. I guess you could always thrown in “Ag” for silver once in a while and make things even more fun. 🙂
Thanks for the blog and information you provide. I do find it quite useful.
@David R – That would be E15 🙂 http://deltapoints.boardingarea.com/essentials/
I agree with other posters above. Your use of abbreviations is incredibly complicated and arcane. Even as I click through other links, I’m still struggling to figure out what OFCMB means…
@James – Here you are: http://deltapoints.boardingarea.com/2015/05/14/lets-have-some-fun-with-ofcmb-seat-names-shall-we-what-it-all-means-in-real-life/
Okay, folks, it’s obvious [now]
This discussion on OFCMB is silly and even further illustrates the point that if you can’t recognize the acronym (after as much as it has been used and the branding it abbreviated has been discussed) than you certainly aren’t familiar with the “massive” marketing redefinition of the Delta product offering. And Delta clearly haa communicated far less effectively than this blog has. You simply can’t blame anyone else for your ignorance in any environment, let alone be as pejorative to label it arrogance. That’s as insulting to those who have learned, as you feel slighted in your unfamiliarity on the topic.
So to wrap that all up…I purchased my first WN ticket in over 5 years, this week. Sad but true.