Agremeister

I fully agree on the Emirates point, but as for the new DL suite, I see lots of nickel looking finish on the walls of the suite and brushed metal consoles. I certainly don't see any beige plastic

Supposedly the Suites were done by factorydesign who also did the lovely Etihad interiors and the new SAS business class.

DLGrkItalNY

Actually, I think the bird I was on Saturday N866DA has them.

G

JayTeaBee

One of the best things about this is it appears it will be "travel with companion friendly" given the partition that can be open/closed for the middle seats. That's a big improvement over the existing 777's which most people seem to agree are not companion travelling friendly.

Disclaimer, I've never flown D1 on a 777, have to wait until next year for that!

heckler

I hope these forthcoming suites aren't any sort of bolt on facades to the existing D1 lie flat seats.. i'm 6'4", and i can't fit the seats very well (777 or 764 style seats - sorry forgot the manufacturer/name). The storage sucks too, and on the current D1 777 setup the swing out TV won't ever latch without slamming it (which I don't do, but others do), and the design of the popup table is horrible.

Basically it seems the layout of these seats need to really be tweaked, I get the feeling that DL would buy the cheapest bidder type of seat.. while the middle east carriers appear to have much better product..

DiverDave

Thanks!!

Agreed!

I'd bet money that DL will take the T7s to 10 across in coach when they install the new D1 seats. Most airlines are doing this, so it's basically easy money.

David

Agremeister

Have you read any of this thread? Its been stated many times these are new Vantage XL seats which are 24 inches wide and 79 inches long in bed mode.

Also, how on earth would these seats, which all face forward and are staggered, possibly bolt on to the herringbone seats in the 777?

jimrpa

Actually, the would be even friendlier if the center seats were staggered in such a way that every other row were "together" and the divider between the seats could be completely dropped creating a "double".

jimrpa

Of course, it is hard to judge by that 1980s-era computer rendering as an earlier poster kept pointing out

jimrpa

Why is EVERYONE convinced that the 777 will be refit to be 10 across in coach? Delta has had the aircraft as 9 across in coach ever since it entered service (and I'll point our that was even during the Leo Mullen years!)

Remember, the other airlines who've crammed in 10 across seating have to because they have 3 or 4 or 5 class cabins and have to really maximize the efficiency of their coach product (and make it as unattractive as possible - see BA and meals). Delta has 2 cabins D1 and coach (and no, I do NOT consider C- to be a separate "cabin". It's an area of the coach cabin with slightly more leg room that Delta has chosen to charge more for!)

There's no reason for Delta to turn coach into a complete misery class, and it becomes a bit of a product discriminator for them if they don't.

Agremeister

Easy: because every other airline including United and American are doing it. It would be silly of them to keep them 9 abreast, especially when Delta are introducing a seperate premium economy cabin as well. (And I'm not talking about Comfort+, they've announced a real premium economy product is being introduced on the A350 and will be added to all longhaul aircraft).

DA201

A big issue I have with DL's announcement is their lack of planes. DL only has 18 777s and 25 A359s on order. That's only 43 planes getting the new seats. For comparison, UA is putting Polaris on 55 772s, 14 77Ws, 35 A35Ks, 35 763s, and 14 787-10s. That's 153 aircraft. UA is putting Polaris on almost their entire wide body fleet while DL is not.

Agremeister

Sure, but delta also have 40ish A330s which have reverse-herringbone seats, which wile not as flashy as Polaris, are very similar in terms of space and amenities. The 767s are really the only issue, and I'm very curious how Polaris will look on the 767 because its certainly not going to be able to fit the same seats that UA is putting on the 777s. As of right now, the Vantage seats that DL use are about the best you can get on a 767.

I'll be surprised if we don't get an announcement in the near future about updates to D1 in the 767s, especially since the 764s are due for a cabin refurbishment in the near future.

pvn

Delta didn't say they're never putting this in any other plane. Plus, they already have "Delta One" on the 767s and A333s. There isn't a door, but it's already way ahead of UA's current J product.

ATOBTTR

New product looks pretty nice. Looking forward to these A350s rolling into service and hoping I can make the inaugural flight, whenever and wherever that is, hopefully in PE or in J.

I know these birds will be used for mostly international segments, but if they inaugurate service similarly to the 777s with domestic runs first, I wonder how the premium economy seats will be handled (as well as any positioning flights). I wonder if these seats will be "Comfort Plus" or if it will still be its own cabin/fare still.

jimrpa

All the more reason for Delta NOT to do so. Where has Delta actually said that they're going to an actual 3-cabin configuration on their international aircraft? It would be difficult for them to introduce a true separate "Premium Economy" class, like many foreign carriers have, since many US companies which do allow international travel in classes other than coach have "one class above coach" rules, not "business class" rules. That means many business travelers are going to be stuck in the "premium economy" seats, not the profitable Delta One cabin (and that's why Delta and some other US airlines got rid of International First Class a long time ago).