Delta Finally Announces Its New Business Class Suites — But The Most Important Upgrade Is Actually In Coach

Delta Air Lines announced their new business class suite that will be equipped on board Airbus A350-1000 once those begin delivering next year, and that they’ll be adding suites with doors to their Airbus A330s as they refresh the interiors of those planes. Perhaps more importantly, they are making modest improvements to both premium economy and coach.

The new A350-1000 business class suite, still on the Thompson seat platform (VantageNova vs. VantageXL for their older Suites), will offer a bed that’s 3 inches longer than their current one, to provide over 6.5 feet of sleeping length. The seat adds a pillow-top layer over memory foam, plus dedicated storage for shoes (oddly no storage compartment that closes), a place to keep a phone within reach while in bed mode, and a hook for eyeglasses. That’s on top of its mattress pad and Missoni bedding.

Delta Business Class, Credit: Delta

Delta Business Class, Credit: Delta

I told you the new seat was coming last summer, and have even shared a photo. So in a way this feels anticlimactic.

The A350-1000 business cabin will use a reverse-herringbone layout, with window-adjacent seats will angled toward the windows, and the center pairs will have a movable divider that can be opened for companions or closed for privacy.

While not at quite the same level, Delta promises that many of the same design elements will also appear on the A330-200 and -300 suites even though it’ll use the current VantageXL seats, including the pillow-top seat layer, wireless charging, and USB-C power.

They’re promoting a skew towards premium seats (they’re not as premium-heavy as United), and this by the way is a good part of why Delta will follow United Airlines in introducing basic business class – they will often have excess seats to sell at their lowest business class fares, and they want to impose restrictions on those so that customers willing to pay more don’t get the product they’re after for less.

Delta Business Class, Credit: Delta

Delta Business Class, Credit: Delta

Somewhat oddly, they spend time promoting a new self-service snack area and it just seems odd to me they didn’t already have this. On the A350-1000 it will be at the main entryway and on the A330s it will be at the front of the aircraft.

Delta Business Class, Credit: Delta

Now, the announcement is full of the usual Delta embellishment. They go to great lengths to define their own categories while being technically accurate. (Some of the coverage I’ve read has been tricked into giving Delta more credit for ‘firsts’ than they are lawyerly claiming.)

• Delta says they offered the first all-suite business-class cabin among U.S. airlines. Qatar Airways had all suites in business class before Delta did. JetBlue had suites before Delta did, but it was a mix of seats with doors and those without. So “all-suite” and “U.S.” are doing the work here in a category where Delta came third.

• Delta says that by 2030 they plan for 90% of their business class seats to be suites with doors. In other words, even four years from now they’ll still be flying around some of the worst business class seats in the sky. Even today their 767 product is embarrassing.

Maybe what’s more important than the headline new business seat is that they’re saying every seat in every cabin will get its largest seatback entertainment screens, Bluetooth audio, USB-C, AC power, and memory foam cushioning.

Delta Premium Economy, Credit: Delta

Delta Premium Economy, Credit: Delta

Lack of seat cushioning is one of the real problems in economy, where airlines have skimped here both because it’s cheaper without it and because leaving it out creates the illusion of extra space between seats.

The biggest claim is that the seat design in coach adds 1 inch of legroom and a small seatback shelf for personal items.

Delta Coach, Credit: Delta

Delta Coach, Credit: Delta

Ultimately, most passengers travel in coach so even small touches matter here and in some ways matter more than up front – except that today, Delta’s business class on its Airbus A330s are falling behind and its 767s are worst in the industry. They need to update the A330s and retire the 767s.

These aircraft will use the broader onboard interior design aesthetic that Delta began rolling out last year, and that will extend to more than 800 aircraft within five years. They report that aircraft with the new design interior get a 25-point increase in customer satisfaction.