Life before BE on Delta.
I actually liked it, although the current BE seats are better than the previous Business Class seats.
First Class seats were red leather and a 2-2-2 configuration on a MD 11 and I think 2-1-2 on 767s. Absolutely huge spacing between rows. The seat was quite wide and the footrest went all the way almost completely flat, but the seat back did not decline perfectly flat.
Food was better then, there was caviar service, an appetizer plate, a salad course, a soup course (two choices), a main course, cheese and fruit and desert (something better than a sundae). Other nice features in First were a nicer amenity kit, a kind of "smock/kimono" for trips to Japan. The china was set up with a decorative Japanese fan on the plate and flowers!
Also, they gave you a “gift” card, allowing you to select a Tiffany gift like a small vase or crystal candle holders, etc. You mailed the card in and the gift arrived in the mail when you got home. The gifts were not that expensive, say about $30 or so, but they were nice and really cool to get when you got home.
Delta had a few international first class lounges, squirreled away in a few of their crown rooms, nice, but nothing that great.
For those of us who traveled internationally on paid business class tickets, being able to upgrade to first class was a treat (and something you could do, now there is no where to upgrade to from a BE seat…).
It took them quite a while to change the seats to the BE configuration, so for a while, they were flying with the first seats, but selling only BE seats. You could get a FC seat with just an upgrade from coach! That was really nice!
I have so many good memories from flying Delta. I used to fly them to Asia all the time, even though it was more difficult from where I lived. I’ve accumulated over 3.3M miles (and more than 6M FF miles) and have been a top level flyer with them for 17+ years, but this year, I’m not booking a single paid flight. Since I can fly United and upgrade all the time when I book, and on Delta I can’t next year, it makes “good business sense” for me to switch loyalties. Good thing I was already 1K on United. Now since I’m “annual Gold” anyway, I just don’t see the reason to fly Delta anymore. Gone is my $10-20K of annual revenue to Delta. But the memories were great – love those Delta people, if not the management. It will be interesting reading a business case in the future about how Delta got rid of their best customers and the effect it had on its business.
Oh well,
Billy