It's my understanding that as part of the VIP Select experience, you are offered the choice of boarding first or boarding last. If you choose to board last, how does that work with a carry-on bag?

Do you leave your carry-on with the agent while you're in the lounge and they place it in the overhead so that it's waiting for you on the plane when you board, do you take it with you in the lounge and they reserve overhead space for you to use, or are you simply stuck trying to find the last remaining overhead space as the final person to board?

I'm looking to schedule this during a 1h 3m connection in JFK if it makes a difference.

The one time I boarded last they said they keep space in the overhead since I only had a leather carryon, they ended up putting it in the coat closet thing cause someone forgot.

I wanted to share my experience with VIP select in the form of a vicarious trip report.

Mrs. tardyturtle had a stressful trip scheduled, so I booked her in paid F on the return to help her relax, but felt that wasn’t enough. The price for VIP Select was about $100 more than I wanted to spend, but I figured she couldn’t be mad about the expense if I spent it to spoil her for the connection service. Here goes…

I called the VIP select number (on a weekend) and was somewhat disappointed to have a 20 minute wait, but someone answered the phone as “VIP select” ready to book the reservation. I presume they only have a handful of phone agents who handle these requests. One thing that was helpful to know was that they assign a “booking contact” who is separate from the passenger to receive all booking-related communications. This allowed me to maintain the surprise for Mrs. tardyturtle. They also take the passenger’s phone number in case they need to get in touch.

A very professional confirmation email confirmed the details:

VIP clients can expect:

• Personal escort through the airport
• Car service coordination
• Assistance with check-in, including pre-printing of boarding documents
• Access to the Delta Sky Club
• Escort to streamline the customs and immigration process (if permitted by Customs and Border Protection)
• Ability to pre-board or board last
• Assistance with real-time, 24/7 flight monitoring and rebooking

They also confirm the details mentioned by others
PRICING PER AIRPORT MEET: One Person: $350 | Each Additional Person: $100

Areas of Travel: VIP Select service is offered at Atlanta – ATL, New York–JFK, New York-LGA, Los Angeles–LAX, Detroit–DTW, Minneapolis –MSP, San Francisco–SFO, Seattle–SEA and Salt Lake City-SLC on Delta and Delta Connection®-operated flights.

As others have mentioned, you get to select the “Alias” listed on the name placard, but I didn’t do anything crazy—I just listed Mrs. tardyturtle

A few days prior to the trip, the name and phone number of the greeter is provided. This was where the magic really began.

Once Mrs. tardyturtle’s inbound flight had departed, I texted the greeter to share that I had booked the service for Mrs. tardyturtle as a surprise after a stressful trip. The greeter offered to pick up a special treat from the airport for her. Initially, I thought they would just steal a cookie from the SkyClub, but then they mentioned that they could get anything from the terminal. They seemed excited to make it a special experience for her.

Upon booking, I had two fears. One was that the arrival and departing gates would be adjacent, and the transfer would be a total waste. The other was that, having booked this as a surprise, Mrs. tardyturtle would walk right past the greeter when deplaning.

My first fear was allayed be reassurances that, even with a short layover if the gates were adjacent, there would be time for time at the SkyClub for a drink and she could board last (with coordination with the flight attendants to reserve overhead bin luggage space).

For my second fear, I was able to send a recent photo and a description so that the greeter could call her out upon deplaning. It was a good thing I did this, as she later mentioned she would have walked right past if the greeter had not called her out!

After being met on the jetbridge, she was escorted to the waiting Porsche, where there were flowers, a hand-written card and a special treat purchased from the airport terminal (which I wasn’t charged separately for). I was very impressed with the effort to make it special by shopping for treats in the airport. The first text I got from the Mrs. was “How much is this costing us!?” After she found out the real cost, she noted she thought it would have been more.

She was whisked to the SkyClub where she was escorted in without needing to check in at the front desk. Her greeter stated they would wait outside and be ready whenever she wanted to leave for the departing flight. She made the mistake of requesting to be first to board, as no PDBs were served. Prior to bidding farewell, she got the customary photo outside of the Porsche planeside.

The greeter kept me up to date the whole time, and I really loved following along vicariously on the experience.

The big elephant in the room here is the price. I’d say this falls on the MasterCard cost spectrum of “Priceless”. If you have the financial means and are looking to impress someone, or to feel like a ...... for a day, have at it. Definitely not something you can do all the time, but may be good to do once or twice. The economics really get interesting as you add more passengers for $100 each, as the service includes SkyClub entry (a $50 value). While it can help with making tight connections, I’m not sure the value is particularly good in that use case, given the limited time to enjoy what the service has to offer. They advertise that they closely follow flights, but I’m not sure to what extent they may hold a connecting flight if your inbound is delayed. While others have mentioned that you are annotated as “VIP” on the flight manifest, Mrs. tardyturtle didn’t notice any special treatment on board.

Hello! Thanks to everyone for a really informative thread - I spent this morning reading the whole thing twice lol

My girlfriend and I have an upcoming trip to Spain. This is our first time traveling internationally together and in an effort to make things as smooth as possible I have booked us in D1 (thanks to another thread here that helped me find some really low fares) and am considering VIP Select at either our outbound connection - domestic to international at ATL, or inbound international to domestic at DTW. All legs are on DL metal.

Having to pick just one, which would make more sense? Neither connection is tight (we have 3 hours in ATL, and 5 (gross) in DTW). I am leaning towards the returning connection at DTW because we have to go through customs and re-check our bags and that will be in the middle of a very long travel day. On the outbound trip I am expecting our bags to be checked through our final stop and we won't have to deal with them at ATL at all, but ATL is a larger airport.

Any comments or opinions would be appreciated.

Save your money and buy a couple of amazing dinners on your trip. As a D1 pax, you are spending $450 on an airport chaperone and a ride on the tarmac in a Porsche.

Thanks for actually some very nice perspective. The VIP Select service on its own is a very cool thing but it is probably hard to argue that it is a good value (I think unless it helps you make a connection you might otherwise miss). I am remembering now at the Porsche complex in ATL you can also pay $450, and for that you actually get to drive the Porsche. for an hour and a half lol

If you might miss your connection that means you've had a schedule change that has put you below MCT, and if your flight is far enough in the future that you can order this service (it requires 36 hours advance purchase IIRC) then you almost certainly have rerouting options that are free.

this service is explicitly NOT designed to help you make otherwise unmakable connections.

On International to Domestic, they meet you after immigration, walk you over to re-check your bags, then walk you through security, then take you down and outside to Porsche transfer to the sky club of your choice. Then they come back and get you at the sky club and take you to your flight. But with five hours in Detroit, you might now want to sit in the club the whole time, depending on the sleep situation.

I'd probably do it for her on the outbound as a part of the wow factor - particularly if you keep it a surprise. It's a great way to get her excited about the trip. You'll walk out the plane and at the door of the plane see your host with a sign (you can have them put whatever you would like on it) and then they take you down for the Porsche transfer to the sky club, and then back to the plane to board either first or last. It's a pretty cool thing to do for someone traveling with you, particularly if they aren't used to the first class travel life.

If you just have money to burn, sure. However for a D1 passenger there's little of value for the heavy expense. For two, I believe $550 total. All to get a car ride for maybe five minutes, someone to walk with you, and ability to walk up stairs at jetbridge. Skyclub access comes with D1 already.

I was going to book this for our 1 1/2 hour layover in ATL for an LHR - ATL - TUL flight in Sept; however, Delta has completely screwed us and the 1 1/2 hour layover is now S E V E N. (Yes, I know I can change for free, but unless I bend the laws of physics or move to a city with more direct flights on DL, there are no other options. Believe me I "CSI" boarded it.) I am praying they add back the late afternoon/early evening flight we were originally on, but don't have high hopes. In any event, VIP Select seems like a huge waste on a 7 hour layover. We are in D1 and both have SC access anyway. So I wondered about our outbound JFK - LHR flight. We are flying into LGA on AA the day before and staying TWA. Our JFK - LHR flight does not leave until 10pm. Does anyone know if booking VIP select would get you into SC prior to the 3 hour mark? I anticipate the new club will be open by then, and with the rule we would not have access until 7pm and we'd probably want to head to our gate not much after 9pm. OK, I know Mr. Ostatekitty: We will head to the gate no later than 9pm. VIP Select would be worth it to me if we could access SC earlier and then hopefully have time to go check out Centurion Lounge (crowds not withstanding).

Arriving at DTW from AMS we were met at the plane door and escorted through immigration.

I see both 2h25m (via SLC) and 4h24m connection options on every day in early September. TUL may not be that well served by DL, but there are definitely shorter connections available.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9490327eb6.png

I should have specified that there are indeed shorter connections, but notice none of those options get us home before 11:52pm. I want to get home before 11:52pm. Our original itinerary got us home at 6pm. We’re spending more time somewhere that isn’t home no matter which flight we take. As of now we are flying LHR to ATL on the VS 351, which we decided is the most important aspect of this for us. If we’re getting home at the same time no matter what, we want to fly on the cool plane. Will there be an equipment swap to a 789 or, God forbid, a 333? Of course there will. And we’ll have a 7 hour layover in ATL after flying VS’s worst Upper Class product. But again, we’ll be getting home at the same time no matter which option we choose, so as AvGeeks we choose to roll the dice on flying the cool plane with the tail cam.

This came up in another thread, but thought it would be good to ask the question here - will VIP Select reserve seats for you in the lounge before you arrive during crowded times? Or reserve the "best seat" in non-crowded times?

I've never had them do that, or offer to. They will let you choose which lounge (and generally have a sense of which one is most crowded/least crowded). If there is a line to get into the lounge, you walk past them and straight in.