Leaked: Delta Overhauling Business Class After Plunging Satisfaction—Stripped Fares, Cuddle Pillows, And Luxe Dining

Delta Air Lines is preparing to revamp their entire approach to business class. At the airline’s Investor Day a week ago they revealed plans to ‘unbundle’ the product so that customers paying the lowest business class fare won’t get as much as before – they’d have to pay more, in all likelihood, for things like seat assignments, flight changes, and lounge access.


Delta One Suite

Airline President Glen Hauenstein called the model ‘good/better/best’ where customers choose what level of investment they want to make in their travel – but the airline was scant with details. Aviation watchdog JonNYC says that this is currently slated for 2026.

DL:

Delta's 'good/better/best' unbundling of business class that Glen Hauenstein talked about at Investor Day is planned for 2026

— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) November 29, 2024 at 3:46 PM

JonNYC previously leaked that Delta had a plan to overhaul its business class means, wine, and service. This includes new bedding from Missoni, food from caterer Do&Co, along with servingware.


Current Missoni Amenity Kit

He’s now shared a great deal more of the specifics of what’s currently in the hopper. He identifiies:

  • elevated business class bedding and cuddle pillows (United currently has Delta beat by a wide margin with their Saks bedding)
  • an improved meals product and serviceware from caterer Do&Co
  • elevated beverage offerings (finally decent wines, it seems) and perhaps better headphones as well.
  • expanded pre-select meal offerings.

Delta One elevated bedding, improved meals and beverages, and headphones are in the works but don't yet have final signoff.

— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) November 29, 2024 at 3:46 PM

Soft product upgrades under development include cuddle pillows, tray linens, and expanded pre-select meal offerings
New beverage partnership/ new champagne

— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) November 29, 2024 at 3:47 PM

This is all likely to come with a round of flight attendant training on the new products and elevated service standards, and the impetus here appears to be that Delta’s transatlantic business class net promoter scores have fallen 28% compared to where they were before the pandemic – and indeed those scores were even worse last year.

The improved soft product and service sounds great in theory, but we’ll have to see what the actual new inflight product is like before rendering judgment. What I’ve heard whispers of though is a real improvement. More fundamentally, though, it may not move the needle on net promoter score the way that Delta hopes because of the hard product (seat).

  • while United has moved forward completing the retrofit of its full international business class fleet with Polaris seats (which are themselves lacking in storage space and doors), Delta is still flying largely ‘open’ old-style business seats on their workhouse fleet of Boeing 767s – with no plans in place to do anything about it.

  • As long as Delta is flying a substantial number of planes with business class hard product that lags both United and American, customers are going to be disappointed.

  • The airline is apparently introducing an improved version of its business class seat on the Airbus A350-1000 which should come in 2026 as well – and JonNYC says their first modified Airbus A330s after that in 2026 as well:

It’s possible that not everything in the planned business class refresh makes it into the final offering, since it seems not all of the details have been funded yet. However it’s clear that Delta intends to change a great deal about its business class soft product over the next 1-2 years at the same time they plan to

At the same time, it’s an odd way to improve net promoter score of their product to strip benefits from it on their lowest fares. In the future, you might buy a business class ticket from Delta and have to check in with economy passengers, get turned away at the lounge and pay for checked bags – unless you spend for a bundle (‘better’ or ‘best’) that includes those things.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Delta is upgrading the A333 so they have “true” windows seats alternating with not “true.” Then, they can charge an extra fee to get the former in their new pricing scheme.

  2. Delta’s business class product to Europe is pretty average. Seats are old, food is basically the same with little variation between flights, flight attendants don’t understand the meaning of service. On Asia flights it’s better but doesn’t to come anywhere to what the Asian carriers offer. And they are often cheaper, too.

  3. It’s no surprise that people paying $5,000-$7,000 for airfare would rate Delta One with its $5 wine badly in post-trip surveys. This is a no-brainer. And yet, Delta can’t replace wine or even napkins overnight? They could literally go to Total Wine and buy everything in-stock between $12 and $20 a bottle. And napkins? How long does it take to supply napkins? Oh yeah. what the f-uck are cuddle pillows?

  4. Delta One is quite average at best. While the Delta One seat on the A339 and A359 are above board, the majority of the cabins are on ancient 767-300ERs, A330-200s, and A330-300s (the renovations on the 767-400ER are a step up, but the seats are narrow). The food on Delta is also subpar and the entire experience lacks polish, finish, and any semblance of sophistication, something you will never find on a US carrier.

    Delta just isn’t a premium airline. It does some things better than UA and AA, yes, and it is more profitable because it screws its customers far more sustainably than its rivals, but overall, it is a US trunk carrier and marketing vs. reality live in two different orbits.

  5. Cuddle pillows I assume are for the feeling of security which would be preferable to a whiny mutt in first.

  6. It will be interesting to see if the unbundled lowest tier business class seat will allow passengers who have status to enjoy those benefits (e.g., lounge access, seat selection, baggage allowance, etc.).

    Would be quite the slap in the face if they didn’t, but nothing would surprise me with them.

  7. After reading this and reviewing “Delta’s ‘Premium’ Promise Falls Apart: First Class Passenger Told ‘You’re Entitled To A Seat, Not A Tray Table’”, I wonder what else is going to go missing. Will everything be available for extra dollars or will some of it just be missing?

  8. Delta has been resting on its laurels for some time now (as I have noted for much of the past year in prior reader comments as well as in my own LinkedIn posts).

    I guess more people are finally noticing it, especially as the rot now includes the premium cabins instead of the rear/main cabins.

    The earnings may be better than others, but not much else is better than other airlines, especially the product/paxex most flyers experience.

  9. Delta can’t read a room because of it’s self inflated ego. It touts itself as a Premium airline yet can’t come close to matching anyone in quality of both the hard and soft products neither domestically or internationally. They do however excel at overcharging for their inferior product. Online forums are brutal in their assessment of Delta these days, it’s past time when they pay attention to it’s customers, particularly their most loyal.

  10. I have flown D1 as both paid and on GUCs. As of today I would not pay for D1. I don’t have much room to complain when I am there on a GUC but the experience is very disappointing. The seats are not great, on the old 76-200s with the angled seats I would probably rather sit in main cabin. As a million mile Diamond I fully expect Delta to deny medallion benefits to those buying “basic” first the same as they do for “basic economy” fares. I flew first and premium economy on United this year international and while I had delays and trouble with both of those the product was better. Delta has lost a significant lead though and I have been stranded overnight by Delta more this past year than probably the preceeding 5 or 8 years combined. Once my rollover Diamond expires I expect to be more free agent.

  11. Guess the business class crowd has figured out that Delta’s aging legacy wide body fleet still comprises well over half (62%) of its long haul fleet:

    Airbus A330-200/300: 42 (25%)
    Airbus A330-900: 31 (18%)
    Airbus A350-900: 34 (20%)
    Boeing 767-300/400: 61 (37%)

    Total wide body fleet: 168 (Est)

    Even with the twenty recently ordered A350-1000s arriving in 2026, you still have a ~50/50 chance of flying in an outdated Delta business class seat with $10 wine but with a $10K fare.

  12. My recent “premium” Delta flight comprised a cup of water and a biscoff, because apparently it was too bumpy for the crew to be in the aisles, even though 10 minutes earlier the captain said it would be a smooth ride – and for the exception of 10 minutes of light chop it was. At least the flight landed “early” since Delta block a LGA to ATL flight longer than most carriers block NYC to MCO! The Jetblue flight back was far nicer with a fairly new A220 and better snacks and drinks and better legroom and WiFi. But in true JetBlue style it left slightly late, though landed within the 15 minutes DOT guidelines

  13. i used to travel extensively, world wide. mostly on business. i will never again board a US carrier unless my life depended on it and i was unconscious.

  14. Don’t get me started on the old , tired A330 delta takes to lagos , Nigeria . Probably the worst business/first class service in the world . Horrendously poor food , service and experience. All this for anywhere from $6k to $10k depending on how efficient they are at gauging you . Rumor has it it’s one of Delta’s most lucrative routes.

  15. I had been flying D1 to LHR from LAX (choosing to go through SEATAC to get the better seats and service, but after my last round trip, when the front toilet was blocked for the captains private use for the entire trip to the UK, and on the way back was through Salt Lake: I experienced extremely poor service at check-in at LHR, the entire (old) plane had no IFE for the entire flight (Delta knew ahead of time) and spotty WIFI. When I later complained to Delta, I was told that we weren’t guaranteed IFE – just transportation. The flight staff was not happy and it showed. With this new idea about “un-bundling” and my latest experience, it is obvious that I need to transfer my decades long loyalty to another airline as they have no loyalty to their customers.

  16. We only go business for leisure and through the judicious use of fare sales and credit card points have had a great chance to experience the competition in spite of my 2MM Delta status. Compared to both Asian and European carriers, DL is a joke with nearly inedible food and disappearing flight attendants after a perfunctory service, often uncleaned planes and poor international partnerships compared to Star and One World.
    Then there is the issue with Skymiles, a points currency useless to those seeking international upgrades and now even several times more costly than several other points currencies on a trip to Orlando a month from now.
    After countless Delta flights, I feel like I bet on the wrong horse. Premium Select is now priced like Business, how soon until a Full J fare without limits everywhere is in the 5 figures.

  17. Unbundled fares *in business class* are pretty much the opposite of what you need to improve customer satisfaction. If they want to improve satisfaction, retrofit those 767-300s ASAP. Something similar to what UA does on their 767s would be fine.

  18. I’m glad the scored “satisfaction” scores are finally matching the reality that is Delta One.

  19. It’s not just D1, it’s the lack of value for the butts in seat traveler. The value in Medallion status isn’t on Delta, it’s on all of the Skyteam partners that actually reward loyalty on behalf of Delta. Access to lounges on connecting intl trips is the real deal breaker for flying VS, AF, KLM or KE instead of Delta. And even Virgin has better service in the back of the plane

  20. After reading so many negative reviews of Delta (Business or One) I’ll stick with American across the Atlantic. It’s consistently good and the price is much less than DL’s, and I don’t have to see Atlanta . . . so that equals value in my opinion.

  21. Flew D1 to Milan and the FA completely forgot to offer my wife a meal. As others were being served, I had to flag down an FA and ask if my wife could be served. I have found the Delta D1 service far inferior to the first class FAs on KLM, Air France and Virgin. Flying to Stockholm next summer and booked SAS first class at nearly half the price of D1. As a 10+ year Diamond, my Delta loyalty is almost gone. Now I shop fares and routes, not automatically defaulting to Delta.

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