Economy Class or What?

Rosalyn, I just booked an open-jaw flight last week on Delta, and I saw all fare classes available for those flights on the very first page that shows the flight options. I saw prices for each class in increasing cost, across the page. We selected one class, and the same page you describe popped up but disappeared. But it was irrelevant since the class and fare we requested was already selected for the outbound flight. The classes (I think) line up as: Economy, Main, Comfort, Premium Economy, and First Class. Dont be surprised if that low price has disappeared. We saw the fare we booked go up and down + and - 33% pp within a week.

Just one correction: in the main cabin you can choose Delta Comfort+, main cabin, basic economy. There is a new class, Premium Select which is a separate cabin, only available on some routes. You should be able to see all classes available when you book through the Delta website. Not sure what the issue is. We booked RT tickets to Italy for 2019 last week, booking Comfort+. Here are the FAQ’s from Delta regarding comfort+: https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/support/faqs/booking-your-trip/delta-comfort-plus-faqs.html

Here is a dummy booking I did on Delta's site. After selecting the flights I got to a 'nonsense' page, but got that to go away and give me the flight summary page by hitting the 'refresh' button. There were other flight choices.

Mixed-experience itinerary: You have selected a combination of experiences for this trip. Details.
Flights
Flight undefined
WED03APR
SFO 08:45 AM
to MAD 08:35 AMArrives Next Day
Flight Number DL 2706,
Flight Number DL 108
Travel Time 14h 50m 1 stop
Delta Comfort+® (W) |
Delta Comfort+® (W)
Changeable / Nonrefundable
Delta Air Lines Baggage Information opens in new window
View Details of DL 2706 DL 108
Seats
In-flight services amenities:

High Speed Wi-Fi
USB Power
110V AC Power
Delta Studio
Personal Entertainment

Advisory Plan ahead—your return trip departs or arrives at a different airport.
Flight undefined
WED17APR
CMN 10:10 AM
to SFO 6:20 PM
Flight Number DL 84751,
Flight Number DL 84031
Travel Time 16h 10m 1 stop
Economy (G) |
Premium Economy (G)
Changeable / Nonrefundable
Delta Air Lines Baggage Information opens in new window
View Details of DL 8475 DL 8403

Price Overview
Price per Passenger
$1,649.00
Taxes, Fees and Charges
$128.93
Total Price (USD)
$1,777.93

Rosalyn, whichever airline you choose. PLEASE don't fly basic economy.

On basic economy, you will be assigned seats last minute, will undoubtedly be seated apart from each other, and won't be allowed to use the overhead compartment so you will be further cramped in the middle seats with the space from the seat in front of you taken by your hand luggage. Plus you'll pay an expensive price for checked luggage.

If you can fly Delta Comfort, you will at least have a little more room than the the regular economy seats. I don't know about the comfort of seats on United but when looking at specific flights, check out www.seatguru.com to get info on seat measurements and how much pitch and legroom the seats on the aircraft have. Of course, an airline can change aircraft type last minute so there is always a chance but seatguru.com will give you an idea.

The Delta website should show you that the fares are either Main Cabin, Delta Comfort, and Delta One for SFO - MAD, CMN - SFO. Basic Economy isn't offered. I didn't see the $768 fare you saw unfortunately.

If you're starting from Delta's web site, click on 'Advanced Search' toward the top of the page just below where you can search for a simple round trip. This pulls up, among other things, a menu called 'Best fares for', which lets you select different ticket types and excludes Basic Economy if you select Main Cabin or higher.

A quick check makes it look like Delta doesn't sell Basic Economy on a Casablanca route for the days I pulled, possibly because of how that ticket involves a code share with Air France and things don't map to allow it.

Rosalyn, are you using a desktop computer or a mobile device? It may be better to use the former.

Thanks everyone for your help. The $768 fare did disappear. Maybe I dreamed it? I’m now looking at $1260 or thereabouts. I’ll keep watching. Also, the details on what basic economy entails reinforces my belief that it’s not for us.

For Delta, go to this page https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/onboard-experience/basic-economy.html and scroll down to the "Compare experiences" button - one chart with all the info about each type of fare class. I personally have never seen basic economy on a Delta international flight, but I understand they've added it on at least half their Europe routes.

Delta is supposedly upgrading their premium economy on some planes, but Delta Comfort is usually a seat with extra leg room but with the same size seats as regular economy. We try to fly Virgin, a Delta partner, when we fly premium economy because their seats are actually bigger.