HWGeeks

I have flown on American Premium Economy, and the experience was fantastic. The seats were comfortable, the flight attendants were attentive, and the food, while typical airline food, was quite good overall. The attention to detail was unexpected but appreciated, and after several trips, I grew accustomed to the consistently high standard.

However, my recent experience with Delta left much to be desired. While the seat and legroom were excellent, as I was seated at the bulkhead, several aspects of the service fell short. Despite boarding early.I found the overhead bin space already filled, which was frustrating, especially considering my companion required wheelchair assistance, making us the first to board. Although flight attendants are entitled to use overhead bin space for their equipment, it was disappointing to see the premium cabin suffer, mainly since premium passengers are typically the first to disembark but now we have to fight our way to the back to get our stuff. But I guess that is a first world problem.

The seat itself was comfortable, and the entertainment options were decent. However, the food left much to be desired and the service was lacking. When asked if I wanted to eat, the flight attendant seemed annoyed, and the meal presentation was subpar. The hot portion of the meal was served in a paper/foil container, making it difficult to handle without burning myself, SHhe just handed it to me, and while the potato salad which was partially frozen was handed to me in a plate, at least I didn't get frost bite, and the chicken resembled a sponge the texture was just weird. While I understand that airline food has its limitations, having flown American's premium economy multiple times, I had come to expect a higher standard from Delta, I fly delta more than america 20 to 30 flights a year on delta as opposed to 2 or 3 on American.

Perhaps it was just an off day for the flight attendant, but something else that was bothersome was the constant opening and closing of overhead bins by the crew, rummaging through their belongings, was disruptive. Overall, my experience with Delta's premium economy fell short of my expectations, especially compared to my positive experiences with American Airlines.

The snack options were decent, full size candy bars, but disappointingly, they were only offered once during the entire flight and yes it was a night flight most people were snoreing but there were a few who waned seconds like the guy next to me. it appeared that you had to go to the back of the plane to get a drink or something to snack-on, no big deal I made the trek but my neighbor resorted to using the dreaded call button multiple times. Maybe I should have used it too.

On a separate note, a friend of mine was seated in Delta One; His TV didn't work, He was pissed to sa ythe leaset he wanted to see Openheimer and Mission Impossible figured he could knock those two movies out and something else on the 9 hour flight. He asked the Perser to reset his tv which they did a few times and it didn't work. In the end they moved a non rev to his seat and him to the non rev seat. He was 6D I think he was moved to 1C.

He also said his Delta One Experience wasn;t as good as the American Airlines lie flat seats on the MIA to GIG route.

xliioper

As noted in some other FT threads and on Delta website (Jan 31st announcement), PS is supposed to get dining improvements in March.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

Instead of writing on FT about your experience I would be writing Delta as that is the only way things will improve. Then once I heard back report to FT.

ty97

Delta PS is basically a hard product only. The soft product is effectively Y. I too was disappointed by this.

chipbennett

Agree with others:

1. This feedback should be going directly to Delta
2. The current PS offering is very much hard-product only. It is a possibly wider seat with more pitch and more recline. The soft product, in my experience, is sorely lacking - particularly for the price premium Delta charges for PS. (I basically look at it as a means to be UG eligible for D1, and a slightly better seat for a long haul in case of no UG.)
3. I think Delta might recognize #2, given their announced soft-product improvements coming later this year.

bennos

I think it's useful to also post here, since it gives the rest of us feedback to help us make future travel decisions.

xliioper

I would say it should just go in master thread where the issues have discussed many times already. None of this is exactly news with post-Covid changes.
Delta Premium Select

ChurnieEls

Flew it Friday, same sentiment tbh. Just very mid & not at all the premium brand that Ed keeps banging about being a key differentiator for DL.

The amenity kit is probably the best in its class and that's where it stops. Everything else is marginally enhanced C+ from a soft product perspective. Seats are the same as AA/UA (Collins MiQ) so nothing groundbreaking to report there, nor is it a differentiator.

I don't know, DL are not worth any kind of price premium from my experience. If you fly enough to get status, I think you'd be insane to choose DL out of NYC when you can get the C+ equivalent at booking & also get into the nicer JFK Lounges on international trips with Platinum on AA, whereas DL Gold gets you not a lot comparatively.

They must be doing something right because they're the only US airline making decent money, but the brand loyalty is mystifying to me.

SeaHawg

This shouldn’t be the case. I write in to DL as well as other US airlines asking them to have FA’s do what every other airline does and block Y pax from disembarking before F or J pax. It is annoying anytime PS pax aren’t blocked until J clears. DL doesn’t seem to care.

As far as PS, it’s an absolutely overpriced trash product designed to separate gullible flyers from their money or points. I would not recommend. C+ bulkhead way better value imo.

There is a very large thread dedicated to this product and the shortfalls- perhaps this could be merged.

Sorry for your experience- I agree with you. It’s subpar. It is a premium part of an economy experience but certainly not an economy part of a premium experience…

Cory6188

At the end of the day, if people are willing to pay for it (at whatever price DL sets), isn't the market paying what it's willing to bear?

Arguably, over time, enough people may feel that it's not worth the money and look elsewhere, but I have to wonder how much the average person paying for PS is really considering the soft vs. hard products when deciding to pay in cash for it, relative to all the other factors that go into choosing what to pick for flights. We can moan and groan as much as we want on FT, but when push comes to shove...I wonder how much it matters in practice.

AJNEDC

No matter how you dress it up - it is still economy. I therefore don't understand why the expectation for some superior service.

ChurnieEls

It's effectively marketed as a domestic F seat long haul, ergo one would expect catering and service to at least match up to that, and arguably advance it some given the pricing is generally > 2.5x a coach fare.

If I wanted an economy seat with economy service and amenities then I'd purchase that. This is a completely different fare class.

You can make an argument that maybe it is now in line with domestic F given the generally widespread abysmal 'turbulence' related service these days but we all hope for best case scenario.

Either way, it doesn't vibe well with Ed's notions of DL being a top shelf airline, as you can see in here there are plenty of us having a rail like experience.

Nice soft purples and glossy marketing materials are the veritable lipstick on a pig, particularly if you paid for this on one of the 767s.

Kerrirdh

Ok i feel i scored a "deal"
prices are crazy .

Am I wrong
JFK-FCO
i have main cabin booked both ways.

Managed to upgrade to premium select for $825
Feel a good deal🤦‍♀️?

Kevbeau

I think it depends on how much you value comfort. Are you taller/broader than the average person? I am, so the seat would be worth it to me. As mentioned the hard product is much better than regular Y but go in with no expectations on the service/food.

ty97

I'm based in NYC. AA's network here is, unfortunately, lacking. DL and UA simply beat them easily from that aspect.

(DL and UA also put some work into the passenger experience across their domestic planes whereas AA....well.....)

I'm going off-topic though I guess.

- former multi-year AA EXP