Wow: Delta May Ditch Its New Business Class Seat Over Certification Issues?

We’ll have to mark this as “developing” for now, but if this turns out to be true, it would be the ultimate reflection of just how much of a headache aircraft seat certification issues have become as we’ve seen the continued evolution of seats…

Delta may swap out A321neo business class seats

Delta has a large fleet of Airbus A321neos, which are primarily used as the new domestic workhorse for fairly high demand routes. However, the airline also plans to introduce a subfleet of A321neos with a special configuration, intended specifically for premium transcontinental flights. These planes will feature flat bed business class, premium economy, and economy, so they’ll be pretty swanky planes.

While both American and United are introducing herringbone seats in business class on these types of aircraft, Delta’s plan has been to install reverse herringbone seats. Reverse herringbone seats are better than herringbone seats, plain and simple, so that’s good… well, if it actually happens.

We know that Delta has been having major issues with getting its new business class seats certified. The airline actually took delivery of its first plane with the new cabins in 2024, and immediately put it into storage. With no end to these issues in sight, Delta decided to just reconfigure with these planes with an astronomical 44 domestic first class seats, and fly them on domestic routes out of Atlanta (ATL).

Recently, the belief has been that certification would take a couple of years, and that these planes would be in service with their intended configurations in 2028. However, that might not be the case anymore. The always reliable JonNYC reports on a rumor. He has great sources, so when he says something, odds are very good it’s true.

If this rumor is to be believed, Delta will abandon the the Safran Vue seat for their A321neos, and go with the Thompson Aero VantageSOLO seat, which is the same seat you’ll find on JetBlue A321LRs and Iberia A321XLRs, and very similar to what you’ll find on American A321XLRs.

Again, we’ll see if this rumor turns out to be true, but given the insane issues that Delta has had with getting these seats certified, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is.

This would be a rather unfortunate outcome for Delta

Someone much smarter than me has long been claiming that while these planes will be delayed quite a bit, this will give Delta a massive advantage over competitors, over the roughly decade-long seat cycle, so it’s worth the wait. If this rumor turns out to be true, it’s the worst of both worlds — Delta delayed a new fleet type by several years, only to end up with the same seat as everyone else.

We’ll see how this all plays out, as I imagine we’ll learn more soon. I’ve written about how aircraft seat certification has become such a process. I recommend checking out that post, but the idea is that many seats just don’t meet the FAA’s standards in crash tests, meaning updates have to be made.

This is something that FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford even addressed in a recent interview, talking about how many new premium cabins are failing human factors tests, causing delays in safety certifications.

What’s kind of wild to me is the disconnect between regulators and aircraft seating manufacturers. Safran is a very well regarded aircraft manufacturer with a lot of experience, so I find it interesting how they can invest so much in designing a new seat, only for regulators to not give it their seal of approval.

Bottom line

Delta is having serious certification issues with its new A321neo flat bed business class seats. The first plane that was supposed to get these seats was delivered in 2024, and it spent well over a year in storage, before Delta decided to just install temporary cabins, and fly the plane on other domestic routes.

The claim has been that it’ll be 2028 when these planes are actually flying with their intended cabins. However, a rumor from JonNYC now suggests that these cabins might not get certified at all, and now Delta may just ditch the seats altogether.

This would mean that Delta would go from its planned reverse herringbone seats to herringbone seats, which is quite a downgrade. But when you can’t actually get the seats certified otherwise… well…

What do you make of the prospect of Delta switching its new business class seat concept?