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.
Continue reading: Delta Comfort Basic: The Premium Unbundling Begins, Pay More For Less
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
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
Who has the energy for all these rules and restrictions, especially on a short flight!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Guarantee "Comfort Basic" baseline price will be the same as the current standard comfort price as well
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!
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.
They definitely are charging more for tickets than UAL. So one has to wonder where all the money is going
Nothing screams "PREMIUM" like having to sort through 12 fare classes that are designed to confuse you into paying more for less
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.
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.
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.
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).
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
@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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
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
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.
I’m really starting to hate every single thing that comes out of this company.
If you love all of this, or you are thick!..fly Delta.
If you saw the writing on the wall years ago, you steered clear of Delta. You know who they are, and you know what they are about!
We all have a choice...unless you are hub captive, or under corporate policy....OR desperate.
Friends who love them, love them! SMH. My issue is not with their awful, faded, old-fashioned livery or service, it's what lies beneath!
Overly complicated, a bit like Air Canada, I think. And apparently none of the Comfort fares come with a single checked bag included? For those of us who only fly DL occasionally and don't have one of their branded credit cards, that is lame. With other airlines, checked baggage is often an incentive to buy the next higher fare.
Tim, I never thought I would see the day, but credit where it is due. You said something where you are critical of something being done by Delta. I don’t think I have ever seen it before. Keep it up where appropriate, so I’ll be able to take what you write more seriously! (Which I’d like since I do learn things sometimes from your posts, but have trained myself to take them with many grains of salt.)
I used to only consider Delta. But since Alaska has such convenient nonstops and incredible Premium and First service with great crews, to the West Coast from Florida; gosh obvious choice for me. Sadly I see Delta creating confusion and ultimately consumer dissatisfaction with the un-bundles of service products.
This is basically a guaranteed middle seat, so I wouldn't be so sure that pricing it below standard economy is just a teaser move. I don't really fly Delta (out of SFO, so I am on United 95% of the time), but when I have an option of middle economy+ or an aisle in regular economy for the same price (given status), I take the aisle every time. Maybe I'd feel differently if I were 6'5" (I'm 6'1"), but there aren't that many 6'5" people on the average flight.
Last time I took Delta for corp travel was last century. Some people don’t get a choice, of course.
That's true for YTD, but the annualized returns are
Years/DAL/UAL
1 year/+2%/+21%
5 year/+14%/+23%
Nothing premium about this whatsoever. Watch that temporary margin edge dissipate quickly. DL had a good(ish) run.
Except this has already existed for a good long while on AA. MCE isn't a separate class, so you can buy a Basic fare and then pay for a seat assignment in MCE (or book it for free if you're Plat or above) if you really want to. What's the incentive to change that? If anything, if the suits in Fort Worth could ever get out of their own way, they'd market that as a positive differentiator to encourage people to book with AA instead.
you probably should read more of what I write then, Ivan.
but I can guarantee you that other airlines will follow DL on unbundling.
When you generate the most revenue of any airline in the world, other airlines try to copy what you do.
but DL is also very strategic. They do many things for their own benefit but they also do things knowing that copying strategies will hurt other airlines as much or more than DL. That is exactly what has happened w/ DL leading the industry in increasing pay post covid.
well, no.
DL's margins are likely going to keep rising as it manages capacity across the Atlantic more carefully and adds more new international service.
You did hear them say how much they are now focusing on what cardholders and Amex along w/ corporate travel dictates what they add?
It is UA who will have to spend hundreds of millions on increased wages as they settle labor contracts that will watch its margins fall. And it is UA that has seen that dumping capacity into the market has depressed their yields that will be forced to retire more older aircraft which means they will be spending much more on fleet replacement rather than growth.
and AS stock is the worst performing of the big US airlines as their merger hits turbulence as I said would be the case.
AA and WN are the two that might see positive results but might also just continue to skim above the surface.
and I can guarantee you that UA will copy this strategy just as they have done on most of their strategies over the past 10 years.
IOW, UAL stock did well in the 2nd half of 2024 but that hasn't been the case for 2025.
GO ahead and live in the past when it helps you avoid reality.
NO US airline stock is doing well this year and UAL is only a couple percent less worse off than DL - and yet UAL is worth just 85% of DAL despite flying 10% more capacity - and having a half billion dollar plus labor cost advantage.
It is UAL whose stock momentum will fall esp. as DL grows in the Pacific.
Just no thank you!
It is getting more complicated and we need to go back to a simple fare structure!
probably because the DOT has still managed to produce data during the shutdown that shows that DL is #2 in the US YTD just behind HA in on-time (and HA Is going away soon)
DAL's rate of baggage mishandling is HALF of UAL and AAL (UAL was the worst US airline for baggage mishandling in July)
and DL had fewer complaints than AA or UA even though DL boarded more domestic passengers than any other airline except WN.
DL is consistently running a higher quality operation than any of its competitors
you are free to make whatever statements you want but when they are contrary to fact, you look like a fool
I hope UA doesn't copy this one, but you're probably right. DL wisely copied UA's no change fees and they're getting there on clubs. Do you think DL will copy UA in ordering enough mainline planes especially wide bodies, renovating/standardizing aircraft interiors in a timely manner or Starlink Wifi?
DL had more lounge space long before UA did.
UA implemented no change fees because WN was eating UA's lunch. Now WN has dialed back change fees and so is the rest of the industry.
The notion that DL is or will be short of airplanes is a fantasy of UA fan kids.
DL has demonstrated that it has enough airplanes to grow - all of this international growth is coming even as DL retires 767s, a fleet which UA says it will overhaul one more time and keep to fly well past 35 years.
and DL has been renovating airplanes long before UA thought of it.
the only part of UA's strategy that DL is copying is TPAC flights deep into Asia nonstop from the US rather than via a NRT hub; DL tried to do that from PDX but failed.
and, more significantly, there isn't a thing that DL or UA are copying from each other than the other can't duplicate so it comes down to who is executing to a better degree.
DL made $1 billion more in net profits YTD through the 3rd quarter even though UA has a huge labor cost advantage and flies 10% more capacity.
instead of incessantly believing that UA is on top, look at actual facts which shows that the only thing that UA does more of than DL is fly a bunch of planes further but make less money and revenue.
You should be asking why - and admitting - that UA really does not run as good of a business as DL.
and DOT stats show that they run a much worse airline. Being last in the industry in baggage handling is the definition of non-premium.
Well, since my degree was not in economics, I'll pass on Delta. Got a headache reading you explaining it. Say no to taco seats.
How's that ATL D1 lounge coming? Did DL follow UA with no change fees? Yep. 5 year lead time for wide bodies and engines? Who knows? Get in line.
Mainline fleets
2016: DL: 832, UA: 737
2025: DL: 992 (19%). UA: 1,054 (43%)
UA: 1,054 aircraft, (228 WB), 186 WB/485 NB on order (15.5 average fleet age)
DA: 992 aircraft, (177 WB), 28 WB/240 NB on order (14.9 average fleet age)
100% of UA int'l wide body fleet with Polaris suites, Premium Plus & Economy +
45% of much smaller DL wide body fleet with D1 suites.
UA has almost twice as many lie flat suites and premium seats than DL.
TATL destinations:
2016/2025
UA: 22/42
DL: 32/34
AA: 21/20
TPAC destinations
2016/2025
UA: 23/32
DL: 15/8
AA: 8/7
Latin Am Destinations
2016/2025
AA: 92/97
UA: 57/66
DL: 58/52
Yikes!
Other airlines are going to follow suit unless DL loses profitable business. I'm imaging not before too long any premium cabin either cash upgrade or complimentary upgrade (the latter to the extent they exist) won't include a free seat assignment, no meal for routes with meal service and no free bag, if applicable. That all will be a la carte, if at all.
I priced out comfort+ flights on 11/5 before the changes went live. Booked the seats on cash on 11/6 after the changes went live. I was not offered comfort basic, only classic and plus. The comfort classic price was the same as the day before when it was comfort+
What a complicated nightmare for customers. Now we have 10 levels of seats in3 sections! Nuts. Delta
The model in most of the world is to have an unbundled fare and sell every element and to then offer a max of 3 options of fare bundles TOTAL because decision logic says more than 3 choices makes people freak out a bit.
This is too much.
Yep. And amazing that HA can do a simple juice, water or coffee service on a 30 minute flight for main cabin, but Delta won't.
Far too many choices! Delta has always been our preferred airline and we always upgrade our seats for more leg room. Three choices of seat type should be sufficient. Keep it simple!!!
Having just flown Delta where I paid for extra legroom, yet found my left leg bent with _less_ room with the awful 737 Max 8 plane (Never again!) and then reading your email, I think Delta is trying to shoot itself in the foot and chase flyers off to another airline. Completely stupid confusing and time wasting - pure liability no asset for the customer - that is what I think.