I think the reason that DL as well as UA/AA are behind most international carriers is a geography issue.

Other than US carriers it seems virtually every airline operates the vast majority of their flights out of one hub. That makes it easy to have a long haul fleet and a short haul fleet. It's not often you see international equipped wide-body planes flying inter-EU flights. But you see 777's or 330's making semi-regular appearances on domestic US flights


And DL/UA/AA have 7-10 hubs each necessitating some domestic flights for those wide-bodies that are probably not very profitable/efficient.

Plus with each having a merger in the last 8 years that none of the DL, NW, UA, CO, AA, US had PE made it far easier at that time to not add it.

Mmmmmm, premium select goodness!

http://www.pauladeensgeneralstore.co...-pet-food.html

This photo does indeed look more like nice domestic FC seating, including the tan-gold color which I think will coordinate very well with the new Westin heavenly blankets.

I suppose since it'll be "plated" I'll give it a try.

The NZ 772 isn't even their biggest W seat. The NZ hard product is probably among the best in the industry, along with perhaps JL. Everyone else is pretty similar, except for AF's hard shell seat (which people either love or hate).

I agree the lack of Y+ is going to be a major detriment for those forced to fly Y. If it were me, I'd switch to UA/AA instead. (I already stopped flying DL Y internationally due to the "third party" lounge situation -- that may end up being a disincentive for me from flying DL W when it finally debuts.)

Yeah, I didn't include the Spaceseat since it is bespoke, and it looks like NZ will not be installing it again.

We'll see if AA retaining Y+ on the 789 will put any pressure on DL. Lots of Elite+ customers writing to DL might (maybe...) add some pressure to do likewise. AA opted to make the Y+ a much smaller set of seats than in the 788, which also makes sense.

I think DL is taking some risk in trying to push elites into buying PE. Of course some will, but some may not be allowed to by corp policy and if that were me, I'd consider who to be loyal to starting in 2018 if i did much long-haul flying on DLs new-cabin routes. AA could do some poaching with targeted status matches then...

"...a wider seat..." Wow
 

It would be nice to know what they mean by "a wider seat". (Delta website FAQ language). It's only interesting to me if my "wider body" might have a bit of room.

The new First Class Westin blankets are fantastic. In fact, I'd bet they'd make great sofa throws. Of course, I don't know anything about interior design, so I could be totally wrong about that.

Why do you think Delta decided to implement a new cabin type/seat NOW? Are Y and J sales saturated? Do they see people clamoring for something between Y and J? What type of traveler Delta hopes to get into PS?

They've made their way out to the regionals (currently on CVG-MSP). DL definitely did a great job here. They're really nice.

I think it is basically domestic first class on international flights, not C+. The only significant difference will be a leg rest and nicer amenities. I would expect the food quality to be very similar to domestic first.

Perhaps this is just a cynical plow to thwart DMs from upgrading Y-to-J. Using a GUC, you will now ONLY be able to go Y-to-W. Or W-to-J, but no longer Y-to-J. ;)

With J turning into an F product and pricing out at stratospheric levels most of the time, there's a huge gap between Y and J. W fills that market (as demonstrated by the increasing number of airlines offering it).

In other words, I might be willing to spend more than the $1/rt for a typical EU flight to get more space and (somewhat) better service, but not the $5 - $7k required for J.

Except DL already announced GUCs are one transaction certificates, not one cabin certificates. You can still go from Y to J (bypassing W).

Basically domestic F.

there's no guarantee how long that policy will be in effect

For now. What would be really nice is if regional upgrades were rebranded and able to upgrade 1 class on 3 class flights.