We know that airlines are increasingly looking to unbundle their fare products, in order to maximize the amount of revenue they can extract from each customer. Historically, we’ve seen this come in the form of basic economy, though airlines are getting more creative with this strategy.
We know that Delta is looking to unbundle all of its classes of service, including rolling out a basic business class. The airline recently rebranded its fare products to facilitate that, and we’re now starting to see this take effect.
In this post:
Delta unbundles extra legroom economy seating
Comfort (formerly Comfort+) is the name of Delta’s extra legroom economy seating, and the airline will now roll out Delta Comfort Basic, which is an unbundled version of this product. This is available for purchase as of today, for flights as of November 19, 2025.
For now, this is only available in a very limited number of (undisclosed) domestic markets. Furthermore, Comfort Basic is only available on revenue tickets, and not on award tickets. I imagine the airline is testing this for now to determine optimal pricing, and that the goal is to expand this concept in the future.
Here’s how Delta describes the logic for this new product:
Delta Comfort Basic is a new travel experience within the Delta Comfort product line, designed for customers who want the extra legroom and premium onboard experience of Delta Comfort—but at a lower price point, and with a few familiar restrictions. This new option provides customers with more choice to prioritize how they want to travel.
Delta Comfort Basic gives you a way to invest in a more premium journey, without needing the greater flexibility and benefits provided by higher-tier Comfort fares.
With this update, Delta Comfort has three fare bundles — Comfort Basic, Comfort Classic, and Comfort Extra. Regardless of which bundle you book, you receive more legroom, dedicated overhead bin space, Zone 3 boarding, and complimentary beer, wine, and spirits, on most flights.
However, if booking a Comfort Basic fare, you’re subjected to some extra restrictions compared to Comfort Classic:
- You can only assign seats at check-in
- You aren’t eligible for complimentary upgrades
- You aren’t eligible for same day confirmed changes
- You’re ineligible to purchase upgrades
- You’re eligible to earn Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs), though only earn 2x SkyMiles per dollar spent (rather than 5x SkyMiles)
- You can only cancel your ticket for a partial credit, and changes are only allowed for a fee
To contrast this to Main Basic (Delta’s basic economy product), Comfort Basic offers more legroom, Zone 3 boarding (vs. Zone 8 boarding), eligibility for Delta Sky Club access (with valid credentials), the ability to earn MQDs and miles, complimentary alcoholic drinks, and dedicated overhead bin space.
My take on Delta’s premium product unbundling
We’ve known that Delta planned on unbundling its premium products, so it’s not surprising to see the airline start slow. I imagine that Comfort Basic is first, and then in the future we’ll see the unbundling of premium economy, domestic first class, and international business class.
All of these bundle concepts aren’t really intended to give consumers more choice or better value, but instead, they’re intended to get people to pay more for the same product, in order to avoid punitive restrictions. The goal in the long run (once people get used to the concept) is presumably to make the previous Comfort Classic fare the new Comfort Basic fare, and to be able to charge more for what was previously included.
However, initially there do appear to be some deals, presumably to get people used to these fares. For example, take a flight from Washington (DCA) to Miami (MIA). Below are the Delta Main fare bundles…
…and below are the Delta Comfort fare bundles.
Interestingly, Comfort Basic is cheaper than Main Classic, so that presents an interesting opportunity. I have to imagine that in the long run pricing will be higher, though I guess this isn’t a terribly illogical way to go about it, to get people to lock into buying tickets that lack flexibility, where they’re likely to end up in middle seats.
I do wonder how much appeal this will have, though. Sure, having extra legroom is nice, but if you book one of these fares, you’ll almost certainly end up in a middle seat. Maybe if you’re super tall, that’s something you don’t mind, but for others, is this really a product you’d want to purchase?
I also can’t help but wonder about how much consumer confusion there will be in the long run with all of these fare bundles. If Delta has three tiers of fares for each product type, you’ll have 12 or more fare bundles on a particular flight, all presented during the booking process. Is that good for consumer choice, or just unnecessarily complicated? 
Bottom line
Delta Comfort Basic is Delta’s new unbundled extra legroom economy fare class. It includes the same onboard perks you’d otherwise get with Comfort Classic, but with less flexibility, fewer miles, no advance seat assignments, no same day changes, and no upgrades.
Ultimately these tiered fare options are intended to be able to get customers to pay more to avoid these restrictions, in order to “buy out” of the basic experience. In the short run there appear to be some decent deals, though I suspect that will evolve over time, as this goes beyond the test phase.
What do you make of Delta unbundling its extra legroom economy seating?
Friends don't let friends fly Delta.
and yet Delta carries more corporate traffic than any other US airline.
Makes you wonder why AA and UA can't win that business.
and, btw, I am with Ben that I am not a fan of these unbundling moves.
So we can now (theoretically) see a situation where Diamond will march right past Silver who cleared upgrade into F and go to his 11B middle basic comfort seat?
The smug cloud must be extra thick over Hapeville today…
…and complimentary beer, wine, and spirits, on most flights. no spirits on flights sub-500 miles, and nothing for anyone on flights sub-250 miles. If the crew feels like doing a service at all. Fly one direction on a 400-mile flight and you’ll have a totally different experience going back the other direction.
I don’t drink alcohol, but the inconsistency with which service is provided even...
The smug cloud must be extra thick over Hapeville today…
…and complimentary beer, wine, and spirits, on most flights. no spirits on flights sub-500 miles, and nothing for anyone on flights sub-250 miles. If the crew feels like doing a service at all. Fly one direction on a 400-mile flight and you’ll have a totally different experience going back the other direction.
I don’t drink alcohol, but the inconsistency with which service is provided even within DL boggles my mind when AA, WN, DL, UA, B6 all provide a full beverage service in Y even on flights of ~250mi, and sometimes even on shorter flights like LAX-LAS.
Yeah, I think overall it’s ok, but I always require a seat assignment in advance. That would kill comfort basic for me. So I’m comparing comfort classic pricing against AA MCE and UA lowest main cabin fare (UA1MM). So again, price and schedule across like products. Makes me think DL will have some headwinds until UA/AA adopt. Opportunity, but also penalty for being first.
THANK YOU Delta!!!! I have been wanting this even before I started flying. I always felt, why would I want free upgrades or get my money back when I cancel my ticket. How dare I inconvenience the world's greatest airline by booking and then canceling my ticket. Of course, I must be punished for that disrespect. In fact, I think Delta is being too generous by giving me some money back, if I were the...
THANK YOU Delta!!!! I have been wanting this even before I started flying. I always felt, why would I want free upgrades or get my money back when I cancel my ticket. How dare I inconvenience the world's greatest airline by booking and then canceling my ticket. Of course, I must be punished for that disrespect. In fact, I think Delta is being too generous by giving me some money back, if I were the CEO, I would not give any thing back rather I'd charge customers to cancel their tickets. How dare they. I am so glad. The world is now a better place.
So this is a way to charge for seat selection and force all their frequent fliers to pay more. And this is where it gets interesting to me. I just don’t fly often now that I have a kid, so I’d pay whatever it was to make sure we all got seated together. But if I flew 20 times a year, and now they want $70 more rt to keep my status benefits, that middle seat starts looking more comfortable.
SUCKS!! Money grab. I’m not falling for it.
WTF is actually the "premium onboard experience of Delta Comfort"?
@Eskimo If you don't know it, then you don't deserve it. I summon the one who shall not be named, to educate all of us mere mortals.
Too much of a good thing, product segmentation?
This does feel like an odd "class" to unbundle as Ben mentions, because the value is a mix of the extra legroom but also the seat selection, etc.
Sure, price-sensitive tall folks with no status may still purchase this basic product even if they'll risk a middle seat because they really just care about the legroom but I would be shocked if there's real material adoption.
And to the pricing point, while I...
This does feel like an odd "class" to unbundle as Ben mentions, because the value is a mix of the extra legroom but also the seat selection, etc.
Sure, price-sensitive tall folks with no status may still purchase this basic product even if they'll risk a middle seat because they really just care about the legroom but I would be shocked if there's real material adoption.
And to the pricing point, while I understand the human psychology and benefit for a company of being able to list 3 fares, with a bunch of punitive policies in the lowest one so they'll pay $20-100 more and not feel as much of the sticker shock, at some point doing this for every pricing decision gets to diminishing returns vs. the complexity you add to the business. Basic economy makes sense for this idea. I think unbundled business class does as well given the high price point and greater price differences between bundle options. However, doing this to the nth degree, like with Comfort fares, may cause enough people to just opt not to upgrade vs. booking the Basic or Classic option that it makes the overall benefit questionable (not to mention the brand perception).
Meh, airlines elsewhere around the world have been doing this for years. We just check the choices available (reading thru the restrictions literally takes 20 seconds) and then make our selection.
The problem with all these ideas is that the airlines are making you pay more for something that is essentially made up by them (points, flexibility, right to choose a seat). Next an airline could just say basic fares don't provide bathroom access to make "regular" fares more "appealing". It feels scammy and kind of a lazy way to drive incremental revenue.
They create a “premium” product not by adding anything to it but instead by removing it. Dishonest and sleazy as you well said.
I mean, you could say this for a lot of consumer pricing tactics in the world. I agree that many of these things are arbitrary 'benefits' that they are ascribing value to, but lots of industries do this (just maybe to a far lesser degree).
It reminds me of these restaurant surcharges now. In Chicago a lot of places are adding a 3%+ surcharge at the end of the bill. Some of them are...
I mean, you could say this for a lot of consumer pricing tactics in the world. I agree that many of these things are arbitrary 'benefits' that they are ascribing value to, but lots of industries do this (just maybe to a far lesser degree).
It reminds me of these restaurant surcharges now. In Chicago a lot of places are adding a 3%+ surcharge at the end of the bill. Some of them are even semi-transparent ("we've added a 3.5% surcharge to offset rising costs") which really just means they don't want to increase menu prices but want to collect the cash from increasing menu prices. It's incredibly sleazy / lazy and the worst part of that is some patrons will reduce their tip by a commensurate amount even though the restaurant does not pass on the 3% surcharge to the wait staff.
Nothing screams "PREMIUM" like having to sort through 12 fare classes that are designed to confuse you into paying more for less
What they're really doing is killing the goose that laid the golden egg. I am not trying to even make Gold Medallion this year where I might have stretched in years past (as I did for Plat a few years ago). I am also no longer spending anything on my Delta Amex (except a few coupon book items) for the MQDs and will downgrade the card further (if not outright cancel).
I get virtually...
What they're really doing is killing the goose that laid the golden egg. I am not trying to even make Gold Medallion this year where I might have stretched in years past (as I did for Plat a few years ago). I am also no longer spending anything on my Delta Amex (except a few coupon book items) for the MQDs and will downgrade the card further (if not outright cancel).
I get virtually no upgrades anymore (and choose not to be upgraded to a Delta Comfort middle seat, yuck). This new class will make upgrades even rarer. Delta has pulled its customers so hard in the last few years and that rubber band has snapped for many of us!
Same boat. Almost off the hamster wheel after 20 years.
Same here. I barely clawed my way to 1MM through leisure travel alone - made it all the way to DM for a few years, and now ending with PM before dropping down to annual GM.
But with status matched Platinum Pro on AA along with OWS through RJ, my priority order is now:
1) AA
2) DL vs direct on ULCC
Next: First Basic, First Classic and First Extra.
I mean, they've literally been saying that for a while.
Guarantee "Comfort Basic" baseline price will be the same as the current standard comfort price as well
For sure. This is also an attempt at gaining prominence on travel search websites. Searches for premium economy fares on google flights will display the low basic fare, baiting people to book with Delta, only to find out throughout the booking process that the fare does not grant the premium economy benefits they had in mind and expected. Sleazy is the word.
Someone got some ideas from Ryanair. Not sure why the airline is called the most premium US carrier. This is not premium, this is nickel and diming.
I get it but it's unnecessarily confusing for the average domestic flyer to have a 9x8 matrix (when including economy & first) for a two cabin aircraft. Also you buy 'comfort basic' and can end up in a middle seat or separated from your party? Wouldn't you rather get a free guaranteed aisle or window? This also diminishes the value of 'comfort classic' as they won't be able to see a 'true' seat map until everyone checks in.
This suggests an unintentional consequence of seat-swapping in C+. Some of the Comfort Basic folks might be able to score an aisle/window because a couple would rather sit together.
On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised to see shouting matches over "forced" upgrades if more folks get split up, etc., but it might at least get folks out of "Middle Class" upgrades.
Whether planes, trains, or automobiles, "unbundling" makes mr feel nickel and dimed, and negatively impacts my perception of the brand even if I'm ultimately paying the same price at the end.
Delta is desperately hurting for cash. Their 2025 stock price has only increased a third of United's increase. They need to come up with more ways to nickle and dime if they want to survive. Their self-imposed 'premium' label is now a joke. If they aren't careful Elliott Investments will make a play and merge them with Southwest.
They definitely are charging more for tickets than UAL. So one has to wonder where all the money is going
Mlloyd,
DL is paying its people far more than UA employees - which makes you ask the question as to where UA is spending all of its money and why it is flowing so much "junk" capacity to not get higher fares.
Apparently flying to every nook and cranny of the world really isn't a revenue maximizing strategy
that is simply false.
DAL's stock price for 2025 is down 4.5%, UAL's is down 1.8%. LUV is down 5.9%.
in contrast, AAL is down 24% and ALK is down 37%.
if stock price is any measure, 2025 has been a terrible year for airlines and the vaunted UAL is not exempt from losing value.
Elliott might still sell WN to DL esp. if UA makes any play for B6 - and maybe even...
that is simply false.
DAL's stock price for 2025 is down 4.5%, UAL's is down 1.8%. LUV is down 5.9%.
in contrast, AAL is down 24% and ALK is down 37%.
if stock price is any measure, 2025 has been a terrible year for airlines and the vaunted UAL is not exempt from losing value.
Elliott might still sell WN to DL esp. if UA makes any play for B6 - and maybe even if they don't. If a single railroad can own 40% or more of the railroad capacity in the US, then the roughly 20% that each of the big 4 controls should hardly prohibit big 4 consolidation.
DL and WN are the only 2 combinations of the big 4 that could remotely not involve massive overlap in major markets.
It feels more like a Spirit move than one by an airline that bills itself as the most premium of US airlines. It cheapens Delta's image and comes off as nothing more than a money grab.
Except… Spirit only has 3 fare categories and the implications of each are clearly laid out. The big 3 already had a more complicated fare structure and now Delta’s is the most segmented.
I guarantee you that AA, AS and UA will follow in full or in part.
Curious if complementary upgrades for Medallion members will route to this or to Comfort Classic/Extra? Most of the restrictions wouldn't seem to matter for upgrade purposes, but the cancellation policy is a red flag if this is the new upgrade route.
I have to presume that you would upgrade into the same "tier" you purchased. If you got "upgraded" into a more restricted fare (imagine paying for SDC rights and losing those on an involuntary upgrade), I can already see the lawsuits.
Who has the energy for all these rules and restrictions, especially on a short flight!
Might as well rename the entire airline as Basic.
The most premium Basic Air Lines.
Basic services at premium prices.
How many more fare "bundles" can airlines create? They've already done a nice job confusing people with the fare classes they have now, and this is only going to create more unnecessary fare fatigue.
"I don’t want more choices, I just want nicer things!"
-Edina Monsoon