Delta will soon begin flying their A350s, which will have their new Delta One Suites. These seats will feature doors, so understandably a lot of people are excited about them. However, aside from the doors I’m not too excited about the new seats, as these are just modified Vantage XL seats, which I don’t find nearly as spacious as the reverse herringbone seats they have on many of their other longhaul aircraft.
Delta’s first three international A350 destinations are Tokyo Narita, Beijing, and Seoul Incheon. Tokyo Narita will get the new suites out of Detroit as of October 30, 2017, while Beijing and Incheon will get the product in the following months.
Unfortunately we haven’t seen much saver level award availability on these flights. Quite to the contrary, Delta is adding a surcharge of $250-500 each way when booking a paid business class ticket that involves the A350.
However, at the moment Delta has wide open saver level business class award space between Atlanta and Seoul Incheon. The route launches March 24, 2018, and there’s a ton of availability on the flight in business class through the end of the schedule. At just 80,000 Delta SkyMiles one-way, this is a great opportunity.
For example, here’s award availability from Detroit to Seoul Incheon for next spring for the nonstop flight:
Best of all, plenty of dates even have multiple seats (some as many as nine), should you want to travel with others.
If you’re interested I’d recommend booking ASAP, as this availability likely won’t last. Up until now Delta has been very stingy with award availability on the new plane, so this is quite exciting. Personally I’m hoping to try this product before March (I’m still figuring out the “how” part), so I’m not booking anything here. If I were more patient in waiting, I’d book up this space in a heartbeat.
Anyone able to book an award in the new Delta One Suites?
(Tip of the hat to Don’t Call The Airline)
@Joel CI is cutting their JFK flight. I booked this as a replacement since I could only get to LAX or SFO on CI and there's no low level space back to the east coast from either.
"Sorry if there is an obvious answer, but why is DElta operating the a350 out of detroit? Isnt the entire city pretty much bankrupt? Why dont they operate these new planes out of ATL, BOS or SEA?"
Because DTW is an Asian gateway for DL? Your suggestion of BOS, in particular, is laughable. Since when does DL fly non-stop from BOS to Asia?
Availability seems gone even for diamond
The seats are cramped enough right now. Adding a door to the suite will just make it claustrophobic! And i'm not a big guy by any means....
Can't find any of the A350 seats for the decent redemption rates. All of them are 130,000 or even higher. Who on Earth would pay 240,000 miles for a 1-way in J? Absurd.
Fleet not flight
I really don't understand why Delta so dislikes NYC. Brand new plane with business "Suites" let's fly them out of Detroit and Atlanta! New Yorkers who want o fly Delta can just have a 3 hour lay over. I thought the point of upgrading your flight with long range fuel efficient jets is so that you could fly NYC to Beijing or Seoul or well anywhere in Asia?but no New Yorkers who fly felt get...
I really don't understand why Delta so dislikes NYC. Brand new plane with business "Suites" let's fly them out of Detroit and Atlanta! New Yorkers who want o fly Delta can just have a 3 hour lay over. I thought the point of upgrading your flight with long range fuel efficient jets is so that you could fly NYC to Beijing or Seoul or well anywhere in Asia?but no New Yorkers who fly felt get the pleasure and privilege of connecting in Detroit or Seattle or Atlanta richer bigger better cities than NYC that insignificant backwater. Certainly no one there will want to fly on our new expensive business suits and if they do they'll happily connect in Detroit. Thanks, I'll just fly either an Asian carrier direct or United who regardless of how down right horrible they can be at least fly non stop.
@Emirates4Ever -- good eye, I think you're totally right, haha. She is making some serious media rounds.
I will have to go from Asia to Atlanta sometime next year, and with the ability to try the new A350 product AND go direct to ATL for 80,000 miles -- sure. For 130,000 -- hell no. It's just a door and you still have no clue if you're going to get good service or not.
I'll try China Airlines in biz to JFK and then go to ATL.
That flight attendant in the cover photo looks like the one who narrated that Delta propaganda video lol.
Anyway for 80,000 SkyPesos that might have been a good value, but certainly not more than that. I wonder if I can transfer my leftover SkyPesos to some non-US airline in the SkyTeam alliance...
Dtw is not in Detroit. And the Auto industry has rebounded quite well
Yes, I was about to book and 160,000 SkyPesos now :-(
If you narrow the search to include only Nonstop flights and only DL operated flights, all of the 80,000 mile seats disappear. There are KL seats for 95,000...but all of the A350 on DL are listed at 130,000 now.
Same issue...so annoying. Watched all 80,000 point routes immediately jump to 130,000 while trying to book :-(.
I had the flight I was about to book for 80,000 skymiles, initiated the transfer from Amex MR points to skymiles and then the award cost jumped to 130,000 skymiles (for all dates and 80k miles no longer appears for any dates). Am I SOL? Is there any hope Delta would honor the 80k award?
Booked RSW-ATL-ICN-BKK for 80,000 Skymiles. Good value!
Just in case no other award space opens up, I suggest you book one leg (e.g. Atlanta to Seoul), before starting some other trip next March...
Just booked ATL-ICN for 2/28. Like others hoping to add on another stop in Asia like HKG onto the trip for better options back.
"For example, here’s award availability from Detroit to Seoul Incheon for next spring for the nonstop flight:"
do you mean Atlanta to Seoul since you mentioned availability from Atlanta in the paragraph above that?
@Gene, you can connect onward in the same zone for free. I just booked HKG-ICN-ATL. As long as the transpacific flight is on Delta metal, it'll still price out at 80k
@ Ben -- Booked ATL-ICN-ATL for May, but wondering if there are any attractive options for connecting onward to other Asian destinations in business at the same 160,000 miles? Or, does Delta use additive pricing when connecting to their partners at ICN? If not, I guess it would be easier to just book another award with whatever currency at a later date.
booked 2 round trips from JAX at 160 per.. $99.00 to txfr MR points is a bummer but locked and loaded..
Sorry if there is an obvious answer, but why is DElta operating the a350 out of detroit? Isnt the entire city pretty much bankrupt? Why dont they operate these new planes out of ATL, BOS or SEA?
Typo: March 24, 2018 (not 2017)
Ugh! Useless Skypesos!