Delta has been teasing that it would have some sort of “Basic Business” unbundled offering for a long time. We expected to see it at the airline’s last investor day, but that didn’t happen. Apparently the airline wasn’t ready. But now… it still hasn’t happened. But Delta has reorganized its fare brands in a way that sets the stage for an eventual Basic product in all cabins. That’s the only interesting bit of news in this whole shift.
I have received notes from several of you who find Delta’s new “Travel Experiences” structure to be confusing, but honestly, this isn’t much of a change at all. I think Delta is just making it more confusing than it needs to be.
On the surface, almost nothing has changed. The airline’s offerings are just being organized in a more consistent way across all cabins.
First, the airline has changed the names on its fare classes. It was:
- Basic Economy
- Main Cabin
- Comfort+
- Delta Premium Select
- First Class
- Delta One
Now, it is using the Delta One-styled naming convention to change everything to match:
- Delta Main (coach)
- Delta Comfort (extra legroom)
- Delta Premium Select (premium economy long-haul)
- Delta First (short-haul first class)
- Delta One (long-haul flat bed business class)
In case it wasn’t clear, all of these cabins are offered by Delta. You wouldn’t know this before, but now that it’s the first word in every cabin name, you can’t miss it. When it comes to codeshares, well, it uses the different cabins names for every airline that’s flying, so there is no false advertising here.
Please note that this new standard means you no longer have any + in your Comfort, so see if you notice a difference next time you fly. I’M KIDDING. Nothing onboard changes with any of this. I know, now I’m just trying to confuse you.
You will notice that Basic Economy is gone. That’s just because it has been folded into Delta Main. There are now three tiers of Delta Main available:
In short, Delta has taken Basic Economy and made it the bottom tier of Delta Main. The old Main Cabin is now the Classic tier of Delta Main. And the old fully refundable fares have now been converted into the Extra tier.
Right now, refundability is just about the only notable difference between Classic and Extra. Oh, sure, they have added some other sweeteners to make it feel more substantial. Instead of 5 SkyMiles per dollar, you earn 7… which on that $200 fare means you get an extra 400 SkyMiles. Just think of all the things you can do with that. I know, mind-blowing.
You also board earlier in Zone 5 instead of Zone 6 or 7… unless you have the credit card which boards in Zone 5 anyway. And on itineraries in the US and Canada, you get free same-day confirmed travel while in the Classic tier you only get same-day standby.
With that all being said, the booking flow isn’t really any different. If you look today on Delta.com, you’ll see this:
And if you look for travel beginning in October when this new brand rolls out, you’ll see this:
See, it’s really not a big change by any stretch. But what will be a big change is what is likely to happen in other cabins eventually.
As of now, there is no Basic tier in any of the other cabins, but there is Classic and there is Extra. The attributes are exactly the same as in Delta Main except that there is no priority boarding in any other cabin. None of this is particularly interesting or exciting.
What is interesting about this, however, is that it clearly sets the stage for a Basic tier to exist in every cabin, and that will be an enormous change when it finally happens.
This feels like just laying the groundwork for future change. Considering how many people have reached out to me to ask about what’s going on, it seems like Delta may have failed in its job to simplify initially. Eventually, this will not be an issue.
It really feels like someone in marketing just decided the reorganization and standardization was necessry for what comes next. It’s what is likely to come next that will be far more notable.
