Surprising: Delta Premium Economy Passengers Get First Class On Connecting Flights

China Airlines does the same. If flying Premium Econemy long-haul you get a business class seat on intra-asia flights.

Just an FYI that Alitalia also books long-haul Premium Y passengers into business on the connecting legs (i.e. TLV-FCO-JFK, TLV-FCO is in J). This is from first-hand experience.

I don't think this will last. I'm going to chalk this up to IT issues and assume eventually connecting passengers will get Comfort+. With all the effort they're putting in to make Comfort+ a separate class, it just doesn't make sense for premium economy passengers to get F

Does anyone know why Detroit is the first for the A350, surely there must be more premium heavy routes for this new aircraft. Or is it just the 747 replacement.

@james because DTW is awesome. suck it ATL

Same with TG who books PE from CPH/ARN into C on connecting flights from BKK and vice versa.

will lax to syd get the a350? Seems like it should. Would be amazing if you could get delta one from New York connecting in lax on the way to Sydney.

We can dream right?

@james Because detroit is huge for DL and because most if not all their asia flights leave from detroit

Asia market is quite competitive.... Delta is competing again Asian carries of O&D, so this is not surprising...
How many Asians you see around DTW? I think majority of passengers on these flights are connecting... Why should they choose Delta over fancy Asian carriers?

It's consistent with Business Class being the new First Class, and Premium Economy being the new Business Class.

Back when Business Class was still relatively new, confirmed upgrades to First Class on domestic connecting legs was a selling point.

Agree with @Skk, I think this is really smart given the number of connecting passengers Delta is clearly expecting (especially through DTW). If the choice for a transpacific PE itinerary was Delta via DTW and onwards in domestic first vs CX, JL or AA via ORD say, and onwards on AA economy the Delta option looks far more attractive. International PE is clearly becoming more competitive and taking an increasing share of (formerly) business class fliers, while the price point is already 1.5-2x economy so it always confused me that AA throws you back into economy or MCE on the domestic legs of a PE itinerary. Delta will need to work hard to advertise this feature though.

Makes sense to me because the same consumer they're targeting with premium economy is the one they're targeting with modest premiums for domestic first class. That and it helps the average traveler distinguish from the "extra legroom" seats vs the global definition of premium economy.

I fly DTW to NRT (thru to TPE) annually and it is always fully loaded. Ditto with DTW to PVG. The last few times there wasn't a single empty seat on the 747 they're still flying. Most people forget all the Japanese auto companies have a big footprint in the area and none of the Asia carriers fly into DTW, so it is highly profitable.

@Judy what about non-revs? 😉

@Terrence, have you tried booking a non-rev flight from DTW to any Asian city? It will cost you 120k skypesos just in basic economy. 350k in Delta First. So, probably not too many people using points is my guess. It is much more economical to fly from a major west coast city non-rev in Delta. I've always just paid cash. I will definitely be looking at the premium economy offering as it is unbearable to fly 20+ hours in cattle class.

When I priced out a PE flight on VS to the U.K., it did the same thing. ATL-JFK in DL F and onward in VS PE.

While I'm pessimistic this is an IT oversight, I hope I'm wrong. If it sticks, this is a nice little enhancement from Delta.

I've flown Turkish Airlines premium economy, and although the intra-Europe segments are booked in regular economy, I've never had a segment not get upgraded to business.

I doubt it's "free" i'm sure the incremental cost is baked into the overall cost of the premium economy cabin. Delta doesn't give anything away. Also, it feels like the reason delta increased the pricing of One is to make room in order to give PS the old redemption rates. More and more, business becomes first class from a decade ago and premium economy is becoming business of a decade ago, which has opened up the top of the spectrum for pretty spectacular first class cabins.

...but to/from Detroit? Really? pero like...why?

@Lucky. You made my day!!! After reading this post, I checked our seats for our January 2018 flight from DTW to ICN, and indeed, we have the new intl business class seats!!! I am very excited to try it.

Flying "F" on a Mad Dog is anything but a First Class experience.

Maybe they feel more comfortable testing on a smaller route, than initiating everything on a long-haul which might include international travelers. Sometime is best to test locally before going international

Great post, thanks for sharing

Not true. I am flying premium from Seoul to Atalanta and economy to West Palm Beach.