rather_be_on_a_griffin Looks like my awful time CDG-JFK last week. Horrible food, terrible service (two things I have never had an issue with on Delta before), and drunk guy with feet on bulkhead entire time. It was not a fun time. Those chicken 'spring rolls' are an abomination.

Adding a data point from my PS ATL-EZE red eye (767-400) a couple of days ago.

My travel companion and I both wanted the pasta but they only had one of the PS meals left so we got one PS pasta and one MC pasta. They were definitely different beyond just the PS label on top. The PS meal was in a pretty good cream sauce with cherry tomatoes, while the coach meal was in what tasted like a canned tomato sauce with broccoli. As others have reported, we were given a table cloth and real cutlery and glassware, but the food was served in the cardboard container from the cart that continued into MC. A weird mix of premium and steerage that didn’t make sense to me at all. Breakfast was the same egg and cheese McMuffin and fruit salad served in MC.

Service from the FAs started out ok but declined considerably as the flight went on. We were offered a choice of sparkling wine or sparkling water shortly after take off, albeit in plastic cups. After dinner, they only did one round of trash collection. My companion and I hadn’t finished our wine so we turned in our plates but kept our wine glasses. We were never offered a refill and when I tried to get the empty glasses taken away, multiple FAs either ignored me or refused to take the glasses. I ended up putting them on the floor behind my seat (we were in the last row of PS) so we could go to sleep without risking knocking them over. I put them on my tray to be cleared after breakfast, which noticeably annoyed the FA.

The seat was much more comfortable than coach, especially for sleeping, and I was much more rested when we landed than I have been on overnight flights when I flew in coach. But I’m short, so the leg rest fit me well. I could see it not being all that comfortable for someone taller.

Overall I was not impressed with PS beyond the seat itself and the nicer blanket/pillow/headphones and I would only consider paying for it on a redeye. But I’m PM and have flown F, D1, etc. so I have an idea of what “premium” service should look like. My travel companion doesn’t fly much and was pretty impressed by it. So people like her may continue to buy PS even if DL never improves the product.

We flew PS a couple weeks ago (first time TATL eastbound - overnight) and my wife and I both had aisles across from each other. The person behind my wife actually asked if she could not recline her seat (my wife did not recline until after the meal..) - wife politely says "sorry, these are SUPPOSED to be semi-recliner" seats and this is overnight TATL flight and I am going to try and sleep". Person calls FA who I see whispering to her later but nothing else said... So my point is that the seats are STILL crowded - I see people referring them to a "Domestic FC seat" - but I will point out a couple of reasons that they are not - and in my opinion are inferior to domestic FC seats.. 1) PS seats are much more "slimline" in the back section (that reclines) than domestic FC seats which seem much plusher and fuller on the back especially - the headrests are also much better domestically in FC. 2) The area between the seats (shared armrest area) is MUCH larger/wider in domestic FC seats - there often is a slide out drink holder too which would allow more surface space and spacing between seatmates' arms. 3) I find the footrests to be cumbersome as a taller person. If you extend it properly (which is totally mechanical and manual - not electric like D1 seats), you will find your legs bunched up in order to have your feet properly on the footrest. Felt awkward and uncomfortable to me, in all positions... All in all, this seat is no wonderful improvement over a normal comfort + coach seat that is worth paying 10 cents more for. Save your money and use it for something nice wherever you are going - you will get more benefit out of it that way.. I certainly won't pay my own money for this "upgraded experience" - I will either get into D1 somehow, stay in comfort + in the back, or just take another airline which offers a better overall value proposition. In short, this class of service sucks!

PS seats are designed (just like every other airline seat) for average height people (call it up to 5'11"?). This is true in coach, PS, and even D1. 6'6" here, and the PS foot rest (and to some extent the headrest) is useless to me. For these seats to be truly comfortable they would need one more inch of pitch so I can stretch my legs w/o having to bend them under the seat in front. Nevertheless, I'll pay a pretty penny (up to a point, and the spread seems to be getting larger every day) over C+ as they are much better seats (aside from pitch, shoulder room matters a lot to me as well) but if I was 6 inches shorter I probably would not. D1 seats are not much better for tall people in that sense. There is not a D1 seat in DL's fleet that I can sleep comfortably in (there's always some part of me wedged in somewhere).

I had all but purchased a PS fare for my TATL flight at the end of the month, but after reading this thread, I decided to wait and take my chances for a possible cheaper last minute upgrade offer.

At the time of my MC purchase, difference in fare was $600 RT for the TATLs. Currently, changing my seat to PS in the seatmap for the outbound TATL shows $499 for PS (pass) and $4,080 for D1 (lol). Think I'd bite at $200 since it's overnight... [FWIW the load on CVG-CDG seems WAAYYY light and EF is showing J9 C9 D9 I9 Z9 P9 A9 G9 W9 S9 ]

I have to add to your comments -- we flew LAX to PPT RT and the redeye flight was awful. It's funny that you put your glass behind your seat (we too were in last row of PS). I put the entire two trays of completed meals behind the seats on the floor because it took them forever to come around and take the completed meals away. Ridiculous, poor service. The seats weren't as comfortable as I had hoped and I got very little sleep. It wasn't worth the extra $300 per ticket IMO.

It was shocking how quickly it devolved. Glad I got to fly it in its glory days a bunch, but knew the writing was on the wall when they cut out domestic F connections (which I was surprised they even had to begin with)!

It astounds me as Delta is supposed to be the premium American airline. You'd think with this cabin being the big battleground like J was in the 90s, they'd have kept the enhanced service. Instead, see the meal thread for premium economy on the UA forum for how the meals are there.

It seems pretty clear from real world experiences that there is no longer an airline amongst the US3 that is more “premium” compared to the other 2… each has its own pluses and minuses in different areas now.

But as far as Premium Economy is concerned… comparing international airlines, it’s all over the place with some having J light catering to some just serving the exact same thing as coach

BOS -> FCO Experience
 

Just wanted to share my PS experience from BOS to FCO and return. I normally fly DL for work in domestic F and have amassed a good amount of points but redemptions on the nonstop to FCO were $$$ so we went PS (A) instead. (Flying to FCO is kind of a pain from BOS, it turns out. Delta has one nonstop and ITA has the other, but the days seem quite random.) The aircraft was one of the refitted A330-300s with PS, same on the return.

Seat: Outbound we were in seats 20J and 20H, bulkhead seats in the front row of the PS cabin to the right side. They are basically DL F seats, with 18.5 inches of width and about 7 more inches of pitch than E. I'm 5'4" so I stow away in most spaces just fine, and I was able to sleep comfortably, But these seats aren't exactly capacious. The footrest is absolutely useless though the extra legroom was welcome for my partner, who is pushing six feet. On the return, we were in separate rows in aisle seats, I think he was in 20G and I in 22C. Same seats but the bulkhead row felt much roomier. Overall, just fine, better than economy, but certainly no replacement for a lie-flat seat, nor are they intended to be. Bulkhead is worth it.

Service: Outbound service was utterly bizarre. We had a Boston-based crew who seemed rushed and harried the entire time, despite the plane not being terribly full and takeoff being on time. I was offered a PDB but my partner, sitting next to me, was not because he was momentarily searching for the outlet (the FA just skipped right over him!). At mealtime, I was never given table linens or silverware, and the FA plunked my meal tray down without noticing and moved right along. When I flagged down another FA for silverware to eat my meal, she looked frustrated and fetched me disposable cutlery and a cocktail napkin from economy and said "No tablecloths, sorry." Whatever, I'm not too proud to eat with a cocktail napkin, but it was a bit strange when everyone around me had a tablecloth and proper silverware. Then our finished trays sat uncollected for an hour after we were done eating, and trash really started to pile up (plastic wrapping from the pillow/blanket, plastic PDB cups, cutlery, trays, water bottles, snack packaging). The crew didn't come by to pick up for hours. I fell asleep at one point clutching a plastic cup because it had nowhere to live. Just a very economy experience, and everyone seemed really grumpy for a fairly early redeye with plenty of time for meal service.

Return to BOS was completely different, however. Our crew had just done an AMS-FCO leg and were mostly Dutch, and terribly attractive. They were very pleasant, prompt, and professional. Individual greetings, presentation of the menu, and offer of a PDB and a refill were standard before we even took off. Maybe they were on loan from KLM? :P

Meals: It was interesting to see that the meal choices in A are the same as DL One, with the elimination of, I think, the fish option, and of course the nicer plating and additional courses. In PS, everything was served on a single tray, without bread (!!) This is a surprise -- not that in-flight bread is some delicious treat but it's a cheap and easy carb to throw on a plate, and it really does add some bulk to a main meal. I can't imagine what the reasoning is, and without it, the meal sizes were meager. Surprisingly meager. Doll-sized, really.

Outbound was the March menu, which I didn't take a picture of and can no longer search for, so going by memory here. It consisted of some sort of farro-and-pea salad (bland and dry, with no greenery or dressing whatsoever) and a choice of chicken with sweetcorn mousseline and a grab bag of sauteed vegetables, or a mezzaluna pasta with pumpkin, or perhaps it was butternut squash. The pasta was sugary-sweet and the portion was quite small, especially without bread, cheese, crackers, or fruit. Dessert was some sort of tasty banana mousse, no offer of another drink. Maybe 90 minutes before arrival, an egg-and-cheese sandwich in a greasy cardboard box was plopped on my tray table, and the less said about that the better. I was starving for most of this flight, and the only edible thing was that mousse. I have absolutely had more food (and more snack offers) in economy.

Return meal, much like return service, was much improved but also not great. A nice nicoise-ish potato and green bean salad was followed by a choice of roti chicken curry with mango chutney or a yummy spelt risotto with morels and asparagus. Yes, it was an airplane risotto so it won't be on Top Chef any time soon, but it was simple and flavorful and actually quite comforting. My partner's chicken curry looked tasty and had a decent amount of rice, and he said it did the job. The dessert, a small cup of salted caramel ice cream, was rock hard. I hate ice cream so I'm not the one to ask if this was good. Our pre-arrival meal of a spinach-feta pastry or chicken "spring roll" was utterly disgusting. The pastry in both cases was squishy bread, and both fillings smelled like cheap dried oregano and grease. I left mine unfinished and ate two packages of shortbread cookies from the snack basket instead. I really can't say enough bad things about this pre-arrival meal. How much more expensive could it possibly be to offer the D1 meal, even a dumbed-down version of it?! I would rather have eaten a United economy sandwich than that culinary disaster. Hell, just give me some Cheez-Itz.

Thoughts: Was it worth it? Eh. Price-wise, it wasn't much more expensive than economy. I would certainly not waste SkyMiles on it, nor would I be too bummed if my economy upgrade didn't clear. The seat is marginally more comfortable. There is a cute amenity kit and Delta socks. But the meals are insufficient, and if the service is as off-kilter as ours was, it definitely doesn't feel worth it. If you need the legroom, consider it, but have a meal in the lounge before boarding.

Thanks for sharing recent experiences. It’s really disappointing to see how poor the soft product is on DL premium select. KLM does a really nice job of distinguishing from economy. Hell, even United has a nice distinction from economy, and UA has the worst food in the skies if you ask me…

For me it’s all about the seat and comfort, as I’m 6’3”. The seat is worth a little extra in my mind, but it would be worth a lot extra if they’d invest a bit more in the experience. That said, Delta has also really cut the meal offering in business class too, which is still a disappointment (i.e., still no appetizer, and they drop everything except the dessert on one tray).

My new normal for the time being is D1 on overnights redeyes to Europe, but PS on the daylight flights to the US. The service level has fallen in D1 so for me it’s not worth the splurge anymore for a daytime flight. PS while not perfect, is at least €500 cheaper than D1, and the extra comfort is worth the €200-300 more than economy that I typically see. I’m going to keep giving DL feedback about the meal presentation and quantity though, as this really needs to change.

Flew DTW-AMS RT last month in PS.

Being a fat dude, the seat to me is worth it 100%. Didn't feel as spacious and cushy as F, but million miles ahead of economy.
Food was gross, but I attribute this to Delta's desire to go "cuisine". What happened to regular good ole pasta?! Plane food is never the highlight of my day, so it doesn't matter anyways.
FAs were attentive enough, no complaints. (As a side note, I'm not sure why people seem to be afraid to use the call button??).

Bottom line, just as expected, you are paying for the seat (same goes for D1).
If you can fly TATL in economy without having to visit a chiropractor (or a proctologist) afterwards, there is no reason to upgrade to any other class.

the idea that premium economy is "the big battleground" is pretty antiquated, this was definitely what everyone was thinking before covid but the current market is completely different

I'd say it is even more true today. Very few businesses pay for J (they view J as the old F). Plus, the more well do do leisure travelers are not wanting to sit in Y any longer, but may not want to spring for J.

Was a thread on the UA forum describing how they are overselling O, resulting in op ups into J. Too small O cabins are making J the new upgrade class (similar to F from before)

The fact that O is overselling is proof that it's not a battleground. The demand is outstripping supply, even at these inflated prices. If you're selling out all the time why would you need to invest in better food???