Delta To Add Premium Select Seats On All Widebody Flights To Europe - Yay?

Hey Steph,

Not that it makes a big difference, but you can also upgrade K fares with SkyMiles internationally.

Simple: don't fly Delta.

@Gabe - You're totally right (on both counts), just updated. Thanks!

I don't buy this explanation: "The move came in response to corporations limiting business travelers to coach seats, despite a willingness by travelers to pay more themselves."

I think what drives this is many corporate travel policies allowing Economy+ for longer flights. Mine allows this for flights greater than 6 hours. Airlines have just gone full circle and made the old "first class" into the new "business class" and the old business class into premium economy.

US airlines are too far behind on premium economy. While this is a nice change from Delta's perspective, it would have been nice to see it sooner.

Yet another reason why I refuse to fly Delta. Glad I’m Exec Plat with AA. Delta continues to give me absolutely no reason to choose them over the competito. And I live in Minneapolis!

While This might seem like a decent way to return from Europe(daytime flight), these seats will likely gobble up capacity. Knowing Delta, this change will not end well except, as you said, for shareholders. Given the stock price lately they need something.
By 2021 Delta One will likely price out at 125-150k one way(low level) while these new seats will take place of current D1 at 82k(low level). There will be no limit to how high they might go. Sadly.

And G fare is always upgradable (from PS to suite)

you now what's bananas, DL pricing SEA-LAX for an early august date at 100,000 and 175,000 for a oneway economy and first class booking, respectively.

I'm so sick of their ridiculous cat-and-mouse award pricing and their intentional, relentless obfuscation of the program that I'm considering burning all my miles on one final Pay-With-Miles ticket, canceling my Delta card, and then taking my business permanently elsewhere (Southwest, Norwegian?). Shame, since I'm only now beginning to understand Delta's oxymoronic class names: Comfort+, Premium Select...yeah, right.

I think most people agree that introduction of premium economy awards will simply lead to the increase in price (devaluation) of business class rewards. The only benefit premium select provides is for people who wanted a premium economy option they could pay for.

So what will happen when these internationally-configured 767s are doing domestic runs?

More like meh.

Adding PS is of course a good thing in and of itself. The problems adding PS creates, such as no C+, fewer operational upgrades from economy because elites and non elites will be tempted to use miles to get out of the horrible economy seats, and the devaluation of the PS experience far outweigh the benefit of adding PS. These changes may cause some victims (customers) to leave, but delta calculates that will be more than made up for by the additional blood it can suck from those who remain. That giant sucking sound grows ever louder and is music to delta's ears.

Personally, I value seat width over seat pitch

I’d rather sit in a 2-2 configuration with a wide seat and short pitch compared to a 3-3 configuration with 4 extra inches of leg room

Given that, Premium economy is more attractive to me than comfort plus

The problem, as always, is Delta pricing

Double the price for a few inches of width? Uh ok. Whatever

I'm confused -- is "Premium Select" the same as Comfort+ with a different name, or will it involve different seats and/or service? You wrote it will serve as a "replacement" for Comfort+.

I booked our colleague on Comfort+ a few months ago on NRT-ATL and he said he noticed no real service difference versus economy and it wasn't worth the money in his opinion.

I flew from Atlanta to South Korea in Delta's premium select cabin in June and absolutely loved it. For long overseas flights it's definitely worth it. Not only was the increased leg room and reclined seats more comfortable than comfort plus, but the food service and other comfort measures made the additional price worth it. For those of us who cannot afford to pay business class prices, this is it. Thank you Delta! Now I'm hoping that premium select will soon be offered for flights from Atlanta to Johannesburg. This is a 16 hour flight and we usually go there once or twice a year.