Breaking News: Delta Data Completely Removed from Expert Flyer

In an email sent today to Expert Flyer members, Delta has removed all data and search functions from Expert Flyer. While in the past they had only removed upgrade searching and other smaller bits, the new change is major in that all schedules, fare class searches, etc. have also gone away.

Here is the email ExpertFlyer sent:

As a user of ExpertFlyer® with an Active Alert for Delta Air Lines®, we want you to know about a recent change. As of today, Delta has requested that we no longer offer to you any information on ExpertFlyer pertaining to Delta. As such, all of your Alerts for Delta will be set to Expired as to not count against your active alert limit.

Since our inception almost 10 years ago we have accessed Delta information through a GDS where they publish information for the benefit of various travel providers. We have always done this with the full knowledge and tacit approval of Delta. However, there now appears to be a change of thinking at Delta where this is no longer the case. As a result, we will no longer display Delta information in any of our Tools, including Flight Availability, Upgrades, Seat Maps, Fare Information, Flights Status, Flight Details, and Flight Timetables.

To be clear, this action is not unique to ExpertFlyer. Delta has recently been removing their data from many websites, both booking and non-booking, in an attempt to force as many travelers as possible to only use delta.com and their apps for Delta information. In our many conversations with Delta it was made clear to us that their new policy is that any service or website that is not explicitly authorized to show Delta data will be forced to stop, especially any that screen scrape data from Delta.com or any Delta partner or agency website.

Our many attempts to forge a new agreement for the display of this information on ExpertFlyer with Delta have been rejected. We believe, and have explained to them, that ExpertFlyer brought value to Delta’s best customers and by extension to Delta itself. We hope in the future Delta will come to see the net value that ExpertFlyer gives to them as you have already discovered. Should you wish to express your thoughts on this matter to Delta, you can reach customer support here:

Delta Email Feedback

You may also send a copy of any feedback you send to ExpertFlyer at testimonials@expertflyer.com and we can pass it along to our contacts at Delta.

On a positive note, we will be announcing the addition of a major new airline for Awards & Upgrade searching and alerting in the very near future. We will make the announcement at the time new airline award data has been added.

Thank you for your continued support of ExpertFlyer.

-The ExpertFlyer.com Team