Delta Annouces "New BusinessElite" Sevices Between JFK - LAX & SFO
 

Before this annoucement, I noticed that 757-200s with business elite seats began to appear in schedule starting September 09...I thought something was up.

Now, the real question is, what kind of "New BusinessElite" service will Delta provide on this route?

Will meals be enhanced even further with appetizer/soup/salad like true business elite? Will amenity kits, large pillows, and duvets be given on all flights? Or, is this just a publicity stunt with no true enhancement except for the businesselite seats?

And does the "New BusinessElite" service still qualify for complimentary upgrades?

I guess this is more than just a seasonal upgrade in aircraft. Now DL's on par with Virgin America in terms of type of seat.

I don't think they are doing this to compete with Virgin ;) Someone else with the initials p.s. comes to mind ;)

^ Great competitive move. Sounds like the cut-back in international service this Fall has freed up the BE equipped aircraft for this service. Delta has, from time to time, flown BE equipped aircraft on these routes; but, the service was not marketed or sold as BE. That they are now marketing the flights as "new" and "BusinessElite" implies a real service enhancement on these flights, IMHO. I would anticipate the full BE treatment...large pillows, duvets, noise cancelling head sets, enhanced meal service, etc.

As previously mentioned in other threads UA and really AA dominate the corporate contracts on SFO-JFK and LAX-JFK respectively. UA and AA offer 3-class service and DL still won't. The DL BE seat is identical to the VX seat. This is a nice upgrade compared to the regular F seats but DL is still inferior to AA and UA.

I would say this is an important point as well.

Further, its about time DL!

This could explain the confusing wording surrounding the new day-of-departure upgrade policy WRT the new SWUs.

In a dummy DL.com booking, upgrades still show as request only...though that could change. I have a feeling this will be nothing more than BE seats, with standard domestic F servie.

There is already a slight difference in the meal service.

http://www.delta.com/traveling_check....../dining.jsp

Exactly, that's why DL wants a piece of the pie. As I stated in my original post, DL's move to improve the service isn't to compete with VX, but with UA and AA.

Actually, as an UA1K, I have flown countless p.s. flights as well as AA transcon. AA's product sucks. It's hardly premium service. They use those OLLLLLLLD 767s and their meal services don't even come close to p.s. If DL enhances their meal service on this route, it will be better than UA p.s.

That's not really an enhancement. The ice cream is the only thing extra. Most people on this board already know this slight difference as well as the ability to access Skyclub.

The real question is if DL will upgrade to meal to true business elite.

Mods might want to merge with this thread as today's press release is confirmation.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...lax-route.html

I have a feeling that will be the case as well. But, they really need to raise the bar. CO and UA serve int'l style meals on this route. We will see.

Delta used to fly BE-equipped 767s between JFK-LAX/SFO years ago, and it was marketed as domestic bizelite. Medallion upgrades were allowed (it used to be only on K-fare and higher though and required points), and I would expect they will allow them this time too of course. The service was better than domestic F but still nowhere near as nice as full BE. I remember having a brilliant risotto and champagne on one flight to SFO. Those were the good old days, because not only were there tons of BE seats in the 767s but they also devoted the mini-cabin to BE versus coach as it is today.

Of course, on the 757s today the upgrade rates should go down for Medallions because there are 16 F seats versus the 26 we've become used to with the ex-song planes...