In recent times, we’ve seen airlines increasingly introduce “business class plus” products. The concept here is simple — with most latest generation business class seats, there’s typically a bit of extra space at the bulkheads, so airlines introduce a product with a little more room and some extra services, and charge extra for it, above and beyond business class. It’s part of the airline industry’s continued trend of segmenting the market.
Looking at the “big three” carriers, we’ve seen both American and United introduce this — American has Flagship Suite Preferred, while United has Polaris Studio. Delta has now also confirmed plans to introduce such a product, which comes as a bit of a surprise.
Delta confirms plans for Delta One “business class plus” product
Delta One is how Delta brands its international and premium transcontinental business class product. The airline plans to introduce a new Delta One product on its upcoming flagship Airbus A350-1000s. On top of that, we also know that the airline plans to retrofit many of its A330s with new Delta One cabins.
When Delta unveiled its new business class seat, one thing that was noticeably missing was a business class product. That surprised me a bit, since it feels like leaving revenue on the table.
While several people claimed that Delta wasn’t planning on introducing a business class plus product, it seems like that was more stated out of a lack of confirmation to the contrary, rather than anything else.
So that’s why it’s interesting to note a recent Business Traveller interview with Joe Esposito, Delta’s Chief Commercial Officer (thanks to JonNYC for flagging this):
Would a “mini first class” seat make sense in Delta One?
We’re going to do that! We haven’t announced it yet, but those will be on future airplanes… but we haven’t announced it yet. It’ll be where you get a little bit more space at the front seats. It’s the ones that are in the bulkhead — you’ll get some more space.
So there you have it, as Delta has confirmed that it plans to offer a premium business class product on upcoming planes, but it hasn’t been announced yet (well, other than this).
What can we expect from Delta’s special business class seats?
Delta will be the launch customer for the new Thompson Aero VantageNOVA product, which will be available on upcoming Airbus A350-1000 deliveries. Thompson Aero literally promotes how there can be a VantageNOVA First product, without taking up much additional space.
So it’s not at all surprising that Delta would introduce this. I think what threw many people off is the renderings Delta released of its new business class. Typically a front row business class product would have slightly different visuals, have a bigger entertainment screen, etc. In Delta’s renderings, the front row looks the same as all the others, at least at first glance.
So are these renderings accurate, or did the airline intentionally not reveal the full details yet, including incorporating a special design in the first row?
I suspect we’ll also see the special front row business class product on the retrofitted Airbus A330-200/300s, and that’s easy enough to do as well. On those planes, Delta is introducing the Thompson Aero Vantage XL product, which is the same product you’ll find on Delta’s A330-900neos.
I assume the idea is that Delta will introduce something similar to Virgin Atlantic’s A330-900neo Upper Class product, where the first row is a “Retreat Suite.”
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see what premium services Delta bundles into this product, so we’ll have to stay tuned for more.
Bottom line
A senior Delta executive has confirmed that the airline will introduce a special “business class plus” product on upcoming aircraft, as it introduces new Delta One cabins. We’re increasingly seeing airlines introduce special seats at bulkhead rows in order to maximize revenue, so this makes sense. It’s just confusing that Delta’s A350-1000 cabin renderings sure suggested there wouldn’t be a special product.
What do you make of Delta’s business class plus plans?