Delta One A350 Business Class: Best In The United States

Seems odd to have no mention of JetBlue. I would argue that specific seats are even better than what Delta offers on specific equipment types. United has the most consistent business product out of any US airline, Delta has a better product if you happen to be on an A350, and JetBlue has an even better seat if you happen to have a throne or studio.

Great initial review - it looked comfortable with good seats and bedding - I wasn’t impressed by the food but it looked ok and of course the obligatory US dessert - requiring zip prep and fast food ready

Pathetic but true - Delta One is probably as good as we’re gonna get in the states. Would almost be world class if they could provide food that is edible and drinks that don’t taste like *iss.

the WiFi situation is frustrating. They’ve equipped so many long haul planes with Viasat before the satellite coverage is there, so now instead of paid (or free) WiFi, there is no WiFi. Wish they would have left the Gogo (or whatever it’s called now) until the viasat satellites were launched

I haven’t ever tried p*ss, but if it is comparable to drinks on delta flights maybe p*as isn’t so bad?

Thought exactly the same thing.

I’m surprised to see the food get great marks. The TATL D1 flights I’ve been on have had some of the worst J food, not particularly edible. The only thing that came close was when UA didn’t load my allergy meal while flying W, and the flight attendant scrounged something up from Y (i suspect her own meal).

I did really enjoy VS’s UC equivalent seat on the A339. Though assume it would have been even better on a wider A350. One of the great advantages of the staggered seats is actually being closer to the window than in a reverse herringbone setup.

Flew this plane many times MSP-CDG and agree with your review. It is by far the best business class in the US. As for the food, the short rib Delta serves on Delta One is fantastic. Glad they are charging that amenity kit which is horrible and passengers leave at their seats after the flight.

D1 is a really good hard product, it is as good as it can get in US for the near future but the catering is definitely not cut above, it looks on par about average with all the other carriers and I would not really rave high about what was presented to you. I can say, arguably, I had better foods in premium economy in some carriers

The Delta One cabin on the A350 and the A330-900 is very competitive, when it comes to the seat and the service, though like it typically is on US carriers can vary from pleasant, efficient, and welcoming to robotic, cold, and overly familiar. The food standards on Delta are not what they once were and having flown this cabin on a few TATL and on TPAC flight this year, the standards of cabin cleanliness have fallen considerably.

The seats on the A330-300/200 and 767s are not good. The 763 in particular has to be the worst premium cabin on a US wide body.

The granola presentation does look better than what you would get on a fancy Asian carrier. But does anyone get bored with the usual croissants?! Why not some sourdough or for a U.S. airline, English muffins or bagels?

Agreed. Jetblue has way better food with actual chef partnerships. Service can be better than the other 3. Wi-fi has been great in my experience. And if you get the throne seat, I'd put it right behind Delta's suites.

Surprised not to see a comparison with JetBlue as well? They definitely have a very limited international network compared to Delta, and they use narrow bodies, but I feel like they should still be relevant to add to the benchmark.

United bedding might be good, but I've unfortunately yet to experience it. I flew in Polaris back in January, IAD-BRU, and not only did the senior flight attendant refuse to prepare my seat, pillow, and blanket for sleep while I was brushing my teeth and changing into pajamas, but they don't even offer the padding on a flight of 7 hours 50 minutes. I agree that the catering is also underwhelming.

Seeing that the flight was booked with just 75,000 miles iirc, is it even worth comparing to Mint?

Well - not sure Americans should have much say when it comes to a sophisticated taste palate considering the vast majority consider bud light and coors light to be beer…

“ On this flight, dinner was served after takeoff, and then breakfast was served before landing.”

Is this unique? 😉

I'm in agreement with Ben on the food, for better or worse, when we're comparing it with AA and UA. Unfortunately, AA's catering has slipped quite a bit as of late. On my transatlantic AA food last month, the food was definitely inferior to what I am accustomed to in domestic F on DL.

Is "best in the US" really saying much?

Absolutely not. JetBlue Mint is far and away better than this. Plus most of DL intl flights are on janky 767s

Oh right
Coors/bud light are just so awful compared to the omnipresent Heineken throughout Europe lol

@Ben
Tim Dunn must be dancing at home after reading this article. "DELTA"

Seems strange to say a business class is the best when there isn’t even WiFi but I obviously respect your expert opinion
Every other US3 has WiFi internationally

Without a doubt it is the best US Business product in the whole extent of the word, I have flown that route several times and that's my go to. The 2-2-2 configuration is definitively NOT the worst, I was very pleasantly surprised, yeah no suite or 100% aisle access, but I dare you to try it on this route sometime. I prefer it 700% than flying UA or AA soft, hard, and operationally product speaking

Let me tell you, nobody—and I mean nobody—does it like Delta, okay? Delta is the most premium airline in the world. Believe me, I’ve flown them all, I know. You step on a Delta plane, and it’s like stepping into a palace in the sky. The seats? Unbelievable, like sitting on a throne. So much legroom, folks, so much legroom, you could have a party down there! The pillows—so soft, like a cloud, like something out of a dream. The service? Out of this world! They treat you like you’re me, and let me tell you, that’s saying something. People get on a Delta flight, and they just lose it. They’re giddy, they’re overwhelmed with how tremendous it is. I know a guy—big guy, tough guy—he gets on Delta, and boom, it’s like he’s in paradise. And the meals? Better than some of the restaurants, believe me. You board Delta, and it’s like a first-class spa in the sky. Everyone's talking about it, folks. Wetting themselves with excitement, but I won’t get into that. Just the best. Nobody does it like Delta!

remarkable how delta has this and then they have… the 763. must screw with passenger expectations at least a little

to NO ONE's surprise, Ben's honest assessment results in a full scale meltdown by a whole bunch of people.

Delta is the ONLY US airline that current offers a widebody suite seat. They have about 5 dozen aircraft with it. If an inch here or there matters, then so does a door on a business class seat and DL started the process of adding them 7 years ago.

There is no other major global airline in the world that has the same business class seat in every widebody aircraft of its fleet except for UA. And they took 7 years to install Polaris and it wasn't class leading by the time it was first installed; Delta One Suites have been around for 7 years.

Delta is continuing to retire the 767-300ERs and use them in heavily leisure markets and as a supplement to other aircraft as well as in the domestic market - often where they are competing with other airline narrowbodies.
Food quality is subjective but Delta's category for every class including Premium Select is significant better than AA or UA's.

and the most important part of any airline is its service and Delta's is consistently at the top of the US industry. It is far more consistent in an industry where you can get parts or all of "the package" on AA or UA.

Considering that the US is the largest aviation market in the world and US carriers get more than half of the premium cabin demand - but less than half of the coach demand of international carriers that touch the US, DL offers a decent-enough product and service.

I don't know, Tim.
No one seems to be having a meltdown except the guy coming on to write a 6 paragraph diatribe over a positive Delta review.

Since nuance escapes you sometimes, I mean you.
Glad Ben had a great flight! I would've ranked lack of wifi a bit higher but Ben has certainly been on more international birds than me or you.

Unarguably, Heineken IS better than bud/coors light.

Now sure way you mean by us “Europeans.” Maybe Texans think Europe is a country. I am German. No one in Germany would respect you if you drank any of the above.

@luckyThere was a photo of Shawn Mendes in a commercial business cabin going to Rio this week .
That's a review that needs to happen one day. The one with Shawn across the aisle; not just a photo like on Etihad!

I've been a DL Platinum for several years but, I gotta say, my last experience on their A350 (ICN-MSP) was a disaster...so much so that it - and the airline's response to my concerns about it - are making me seriously reconsider where I spend my money. Granted, if this is the best of the US3, not sure where I'll look...but ooof, it was bad. Flight attendants, including the purser, chatting non-stop in the front galley while everyone in D1 was trying to sleep; an IFE screen that would not turn off or dim for the 13 hours of flight; terrible food. Perhaps this was a one off, but the responses I got from their customer service team about it was...snippy and unprofessional.

Seat, cabin comfort-wise for comfortable sleeping…how would this seven year old Delta One Suites A350 compare to all other airlines of same vintage?

You’re the only one melting down, loser.

Alas, they cater to the expected market. I remember a CNN interview a few years ago with the head chef of an airline catering company who said the American carriers are the easiest to supply: thanks to two generations of growing up on fast food and TV dinners, they’ll be impressed if you serve anything marginally nicer than a Big Mac.

Flying this next week! Looks great except too bad they still have those someone somewhere kits.. they are supposed to be Missoni by now!

LOL. Imagine thinking you were going to get a turndown service on United.

United is all about being the least proactive possible.

"the presentation of salmon was reasonably nice"???
While I usually agree with Ben on the food reviews, this one I do not get. The food does not look worthy of J class, based on the photos.
On the other hand, long haul I have never flown a US carrier, so I cannot compare.

Right?? And complaining about catering..

What else would you expect? Haha

DELTA IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD

Hope they provided you a box of tissues for the Shawn Mendes video

Calm Down Deutschland, nobody said anything about "europeans", I said Heineken is omnipresent in Europe which it is. I'm well aware it's Dutch but its presence in Germany also can't be denied.

And I'm glad you enjoy Heineken. It tastes awful to this American. Random Texan reference? I guess that's some kind of insult to you and you assume all Americans are Texans ?

It's a good bed except that I didn't like that you cannot lower the armrest and it's a short armrest so my arm kept falling down in the space in between when trying to sleep (on the window seats.)

I personally find the DL1 Suite to be uncomfortable in comparison to UA’s Polaris seat or AA’s various business class hard products.

Yes, the sheer number of people using anonymous user names that jumped in the comments section before I even jumped in is pretty indicative of a meltdown.

And you keep whipping on the WiFi issue even though you can't grasp that no other US carrier offers free high speed WiFi on 600 aircraft RIGHT NOW, AA isn't even trying to do that and UA will take years to achieve what DL has right now.

DL is turning on ViaSat on route after route over the Atlantic and to S. America this fall and will probably have most if not all of their network to those regions completed by the end of the year.
The Pacific is clearly the issue and that is clearly related to the new ViaSat Pacific satellite - in other words a supply chain issue.
Since AA and UA can't get close to the number of new aircraft they want and aren't growing their international operations much if at all, WiFi is clearly not the make or break issue you want to make it out to be.

Delta has a leading product for US carriers. NO one said it was the best in the world other than a few sarcastic wounded people that can't accept that DL has a product that beats AA and UA. While I disagree w/ Ben on some things, he generally is objective in his product reviews.

Given that DL will have a fleet of somewhere between 65 and 85 A350s in the next 5 years depending on how they exercise their options, the A350 will likely become the largest fleet type in DL's international fleet and will have comfort and economics that are unmatched by anything that any other US airline offers.

With the fixation on cabin width, it is worth noting that the A350 is wider than the 787 but not as much as the 777. The A350 has far more range and far better economics than either version of the 777.

The 339 is a very solid product - and despite the focus on business class is a far more comfortable aircraft in coach than the 787 or 777 for AA or UA.

and let's not forget that UA does not have a consistent product at all - they fly 757s on international flights over 8 hours that do not even have direct aisle access.

10 paragraph response to me all to say Delta doesn't have working wifi across the Pacific, South America, or Africa? Thanks Tim, I already knew that. They're the only US3 airline without wifi like that. AA and UA have wifi that works in those geographies. But you keep finding fun soundbites that make you happy. This was supposed to be such a great day for you, Tim! Why the sad face and extensive response on an article titled "Delta A350 J: Best in the United States"?
I'm not sure you'll ever be happy until every American takes an annual pilgrimage to Virginia Ave and bows down before Ed Bastian to kiss his feet in gratitude for what he gifts us. 😉

Wow. I do live in your head. Happy Friday, Timbuktu

Also Timoteo, let's not start down the route of "anonymous usernames". You're the king of it and have been for decades.

Great time to remind everyone of how you're banned at other websites under SEVERAL fake names but fired from Delta under your real one.

Ok. For real. Happy Friday, alTIMeter.

Just flew delta one jfk-brussels on the 767. It was awful—old ratty seat that was hard as a rock—nonworking ife—even the amenity kit was rock bottom—all it had was a toothbrush, earplugs and eyemask—no lotion or socks as pictured in this article (and it wasn’t a one off for me, my wife’s kit was the same way!). Worse than being qatar’d.

to absolutely no surprise, you turn to personal attacks because you can't accept the facts I raise.
Feel free to POST your government ID that has Max Power on it. You are the fraud.

It is an honor to not have to deal w/ the incessant arguing on a.net between children that they think they know what they are talking about - but clearly are not.

United really needs to turn around their food situation - the comparison to what Delta is serving is night and day. That has been a particularly bad issue for like 4 years now and they keep saying they're working on it yet all I've seen is marginal to non-existent improvements.

If you ever used facts, that would be one thing but misdirection and loquaciousness aren’t facts

letting people know the deceit you use and your own past are actually facts when you try to accuse others of your own pattern of behavior

I’ve never claimed my name is Max Power, you idiot lol
You do and everyone knows it isn’t. Feel free to post the ID, “Tim”

I’m glad it’s an honor not to post on a.net because you’re banned and not allowed to 😉

But look at you admitting your own fraudulent past
Must be a strange day for you
You usually try to deny that a.net past lol

Always fun to catch you in obvious lies

What about the soft product?

Normally your reviews including some sort of description and rating of the soft product, but none is presented here. Why not? How was the service provided by the Delta flight attendants? How was the boarding process handled? What was the business class lounge like at your departure point?

Also, are the 359 beds comfortable without any sort of mattress pad?

This review seems to have been a little more slap-dash than what we normally see.

@ NC gal -- Thanks for the feedback. I talk a lot about the soft product here, including the food, amenities, and more. This is intended to just be a brief summary with initial thoughts (just over 1,000 words), and then in the coming weeks I'll write a much detailed trip report, as I always do. I'll also have reviews of the lounges at Santiago Airport, including the LATAM Lounge and SkyTeam Lounge.

@nLikes-to-fly -- I think you answered your own question there, with not having flown a US carrier long haul. 😉 I was comparing this to Delta's competitive set, and not Qatar Airways or Singapore Airlines.

I never felt as claustrophobic in a Business Class seat, as I did on Delta a few years ago.

>>>Food quality is subjective but Delta's category for every class including Premium Select is significant better than AA or UA's.<<<

Last two times I flew premium select the food was the same as main cabin. I know because my sister in law was in main cabin.

regarding the mattress comment, DL is now putting mattress pads on many of its business class seats as a roll which the passenger can apply from my experience.
Ben can say what his experience with the seat was.

thank you, Ben.

people love to talk about how US carriers compare without realizing that US carriers operate half or more of the longhaul international flights into the US.

Anyone that understands aviation knows that US airlines pay the highest salaries and benefits costs in the world which is why they offer a middle of the road overall product.
You can argue all you want (not you necessarily) but that is what happens when you have a heavily unionized industry. Maintaining a job becomes much more important than delivering a high quality product.

The "highest quality" airlines do not have unions or if they do they have far less power than US unions.

Americans have outsourced their kitchen and their choice of drinks to the cheapest bidders. My friends are amazed that my wife and I actually cook fresh meals daily. Quantity over quality has always been the American way. Hence fast food, cheap ingredients and watery beer. I won’t deny that I think the colour of American beer is a marketing gimmick - same colour in and out. My observation is that Americans drink to get a buzz, not to enjoy the drink and the time.

you clearly haven't flown in a while.
On the flight in Premium Select in the past month I flew, DL had dedicated flight attendants and a menu that was closer to business class than coach. Portions were definitely larger and better.

Delta's Premium Select is the best of the big 3. too bad Ben doesn't do a side by side of those cabins because they are much closer aligned in price to what many people will pay for out of their own pocket in contrast to business class which is heavily tied to corporate spending.

Timbuktu is up late with no reply to his own loser past or his lies

Tim
Don’t tease. Post all these reviews of your delta experiences (that don’t exist)
No one thinks delta W food is equivalent to delta J. Only you

Only someone who doesn’t fly, at all, but lives to lie would say that
Post trip reviews complete with your “tim Dunn” ID

Fighting on the Internet is like the Special Olympics, gents. Win or lose, you're still retarded.

all of the people that are fixated by the 767 Delta One seat can't figure out that there are clearly routes that are being upgraded from 767s to other aircraft in order for Delta to be using 767s for new service - as is the case with several of these routes.
The number of 767s in Delta's fleet is shrinking. Current 767 routes are being replaced by larger aircraft.

The 767 does exactly what it is supposed to do - serve as a "starter" low cost aircraft for new routes and to maintain heavily leisure routes in the summer.

Part of the reason why AA got rid of its 767s is because it doesn't have enough places to use the 767 in the winter and airlines can't operate a plane for half of the year.
United demonstrated last year that it had to find places to fly a bunch of widebody capacity in the winter and dumped a bunch of flights into Asia/Pacific which performed badly - as evidenced by the fact that those routes aren't coming back.

DL uses the 767s for increased lift to Latin America and Hawaii in the winter which works well combined with Europe in the summer.

And it still comes down to the fact that Delta is adding flights that AA and UA cannot because DL is getting new aircraft in large enough numbers even as it retires 767s. AA and UA execs wake up every day guessing when they will get their Boeing aircraft orders

And yet, they still don't have the best food onboard...go figure.

@Ben I think there is something wrong in this sentence:

Delta’s A330-200s and A330-200s have rather tired reverse herringbone seats

business class in the US - who pays for it...Many companies are scaling back and most people that fly it are high status members who receive the upgrade. The price gap usually doesn’t make sense too restive to the domestic hard and soft experiences. Even on some of the cross country flights the business class seats don’t lie flat and are a bigger domestic first seat.

7 paragraphs at 230am stressing about delta
Who is surprised…
And no one at United or delta is stressed about the delta 763, especially United where their widebody count dwarfs Delta

Get a life

and yet United made less money on its international operations than Delta in 2023.
And don't start on "that data is all made up". United made $2 billion less profit than Delta someplace.

If you don't like talking about profits, then tell us why United or any other US airline exists and back it up w/ United's own documents and not your own opinions.

back to the topic.
The Delta One Suite made Polaris obsolete and both have been out for 7 years.

Delta can and will update other fleet types with newer business class products but there is no way that United will ever achieve fleet-wide unity for a new product before 125 of United's 767s and 777s are retired in the next 10 years. And if they aren't retired, then United's finances will fall trying to maintain and fuel those old aircraft.

I can't speak to DL J meals, since my only recent experience with them was in Y, flying ATH-JFK on the A333.

That said, the standard Y meal was a green curry with a caprese salad. The curry was quite edible (actually an excellent meal choice on a plane), and the caprese salad was delicious (Athens catering may have helped on that front, seeing the (excellent) quality of produce on offer in Greece).

I was very impressed by Delta on that trip. The food on Air France outbound was a bit better, but Delta was no slouch in economy.

The Delta A333 was certainly more comfortable than the AF 10-abreast 77W crossing the pond.

I fly Polaris to Sydney/Auckland and back 5 or 6 times a year and my summary is "nice but unnecessarily frantic". I never encounter a staff member who's mean or unprofessional, but they all seem to be extremely rushed trying to finish things... yet somehow not accomplishing a whole lot. Asked for a refill on my wine, and 4 different people came by trying to take my trash and refill my water but somehow the wine just couldn't make its way over to me no matter what I tried. The kind-but-frenetic energy of the FAs is oddly off-putting. It's a 16 hour flight, it's not like we're trying to rush through dinner on a NY-LON flight so people can a little sleep.

Anyway, yeah yeah yeah United sucks but I will say:
If you pre-order your food it's usually decent.
The seats all have gaspers (Asiana and Singapore didn't. Grr! at 28ºC cabins, Asia!)
The mattress pads and jammies are nice.
The FAs seem keep the J lavs clean now.
They have actual champagne on board now.
Wifi the whole way there (as I understand it, Delta does not).
I don't eat it, but the sundae cart makes grown-ass people giddy like kids and it's cute.
Decent upgrade opportunities if you look.
Amenity kit has a pen in it

If I could:
a little suite door would be nice
slightly larger footwell
seat-to-seat mahjong/poker app would be fun
the mattress pad needs a pocket to anchor itself to the top of the seat

Can somebody tell me if the middle paired suites have interior connecting doors? In other ways, can traveling companions create a double suite or at least see each other while munching their warm nuts?