In the coming weeks, Delta Air Lines will be rolling out upgrades to its long haul business class experience. While this was initially going to be delayed significantly due to tariffs, Delta has seemingly figured out a creative way to avoid them, much like with Airbus planes, as reported by @xJonNYC. 😉
Delta’s plans to improve business class bedding
We know that Delta is trying to make improvements to its long haul business class experience, marketed as Delta One. This comes as the airline has seen plunging net promoter scores (NPS) among Delta One passengers traveling across the Atlantic in recent years.
Of course we’re seeing Delta One Lounges open, which are incredible. On top of that, we’ve seen Delta launch a partnership with Taittinger, and introduce amenity kits from Missoni.
The next step in these improvements consists of business class bedding from Missoni, including cuddle pillows and mattress pads.
and, yes, mattress pads– expansion to all of Delta One is on the to-do list (which could certainly change) for middle of 2025– right around the time the Missoni-branded. bedding is introduced
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) November 29, 2024 at 11:52 PM
This will obviously be viewed as a significant improvement to the business class soft product, given that Delta currently doesn’t have mattress pads on a vast majority of Delta One flights (with the exception of ultra long haul ones), and also has unbranded bedding.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that branded bedding is automatically better than unbranded bedding. However, there’s no denying that people perceive something from a luxury brand to be better. I mean, just take a look at how much people talk about the Missoni amenity kits.
Delta will roll out new bedding while avoiding tariffs
A couple of weeks ago, @xJonNYC leaked that Delta was delaying the rollout of its new business class amenities due to “tariff exposure.” After all, Missoni products are from Europe, and Delta didn’t want to pay tariffs on those products, especially given the quantity being imported.
Narrator: "..everything did -not- go according to plan.." New D1 bedding, mattress pad expansion delayed till ,TBD — at earliest 2H of 2025, but TBD, really. Tariff exposure explicitly mentioned.
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) April 24, 2025 at 10:39 PM
[image or embed]
However, Delta has now figured out a workaround for rolling out this bedding without paying tariffs. @xJonNYC reports that Delta will roll out new bedding as of early June 2025, initially on flights from four European stations, before expanding to more routes later in June 2025.
Here’s the funny part — Delta will do this without actually importing the bedding. So the bedding will be placed onboard aircraft at European hub stations, and then eventually cycled throughout the system, without ever being an import in the US.
and, it aint just the planes 🙂 New DL One bedding, that "was placed on hold due to Tariff exposure" will now go ahead "by importing it through Europe hub stations" Missoni bedding will launch early June from 4 European stations, expanding to more routes late June. Mattress pads will roll out too
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 12:36 PM
I’m so confused. I thought these trade deals were supposed to make us so much money, and we were going to replace the Internal Revenue Service with the External Revenue Service. How are we supposed to fund our government if companies like Delta just keep finding workarounds?!?
Bottom line
New bedding and mattress pads are coming to Delta One business class. These have been delayed a bit due to “tariff exposure.” However, Delta has figured out a creative workaround. The airline will roll out this new bedding as of early June 2025, initially on flights out of select European stations. So rather than having the new bedding shipped to the US, the airline will instead just gradually introduce it, by loading it onto aircraft, and never importing it.
What do you make of Delta’s plan for new bedding and mattress pads?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.