Originally Posted by
lamont2718
The DL A330 DeltaOne cabin does not have a "weird" configuration. The cabin has reverse herringbone seating using the widely acclaimed Cirrus seat made by Sicma/Zodiac. This is the same J seat used on the DL 747 and adored by FTers here. As far as hard product goes, the Cirrus seat is the Rolls Royce of long-haul J seats, second only to the proprietary Singapore long-haul J seat. The same Cirrus seats are used by Cathay in its award-winning J cabins, by Air France in its new flagship business class product, and by AA in First class on its new 3-class A321 transcon fleet. See
http://www.ausbt.com.au/air-france-p...business-class for more background on this seat. Similar reverse herringbone seats are made by B/E Aerospace (the model is called "Super Diamond") and are used by none other than Qatar on its 787s and A380s.
TLDR: The DL A330 uses some of the best J seats in the industry, and the reverse herringbone configuration is most certainly not weird.
I was an unemployed grad student just having gotten a PhD 35 yrs ago when I was almost 30. I'd been flying Delta throughout my research trips to France as cheaply as possible, but always flew Delta. Now that I have tenure and am in fact near retirement (7 years if I work till 70) since I had relied on the Platinum status I gained many, many years ago for being loyal only to Delta I'm using up my miles. I have never paid for a business class seat in my whole life (impossible!). But because of all the changes I am burning my more than half a million accrued miles on business class flights.
As for the configuration being the gold standard, maybe for the young and the healthy. For someone with major arthritic problems, the seat was not good. Better than EC, but I'll take Alitalia's Magnifica any day.
Hang in there -- people like me will be retiring soon!