Thread: Two questions

Hi, z. We are veterans of DL 82 & 83 (JFK-NCE-JFK), both during our paying years and lately as non-revers. We feel very lucky to have that option; it's the only durable (others flights, like LYS, come and go) flight from North America to a France destination other than Paris, has been for at least 20 years; PAN AM for years flew it before DL bought them. Why do we feel so lucky? (1) Because we have been going to the coastal town about 150 KM west of Nice where my wife was born once or twice a year for the last 35 years (2) because JFK is fairly easy for us to get to, from coastal Connecticut and (3) because Delta at JFK is ALWAYS so nice to us, and AF in NCE (who handle flt 83) also pretty nice.

OK, OK, what does all this have to do with your question? Not much, I just thought I should express my gratitude to Delta. Now to your question: we just came back from 6 weeks in said town. We took 82 over (see my comments in Checking Loads), even though Delta's phone line said our chances were very poor. We tooled on down to JFK, planning to do JFK-BRU-NCE on DL, listed on 82 just in case, and lo and behold we got on 82!

For the return trip on 1 July, I shared your apprehension about 83, and so I bought confirmed on a low-cost NCE-AMS, because my carrier NW has lots of options outta there, incuding to near our front door, BDL (to be discontinued, boo-hoo). But before we left, I checked DL 83 on Delta's Travelline, and there were 4 in business, 18 in coach. Pretty good for July 1. Because 83 left later then our AMS flight, we decided not to gamble and stuck with plan A.

So..your chances may be OK in August, who knows. When in August do you want to go on DL 83? If you post the exact date in Checking Loads, I will be happy to look up the loads for you closer to the date. Someone actually with delta will no doubt also be able to help. As a NW parent, I only got access to DL Travelline very recently, and I haven't yet built up the same confidence level with it that I have with the NW load-checking process.

Good luck!