I’m a little late to the party, but yesterday Delta announced a new business class product: Delta One Suites.
Delta says its new business class products will be the first all suite business class product around. They’re certainly the only domestic business class product I’ve seen with doors. But are they as innovative as Delta is claiming?
Comparing the Delta One Suites to the current Delta One product, you can see a lot of similarities. And it’s true, actually, they are almost the same seats. Both the old and new seats are of the staggered variety. The biggest differences are, of course, the different styling, a different feature set, and of course, the doors. There’s no doubt they’re an upgrade from the current product, especially on aircraft already fitted with a staggered Delta One product.
However, in my opinion, the Delta One Suites are kind of a downgrade from the reverse-herring bone seats they have on select aircraft. Reverse herring bone seats are fantastic for the privacy and space they provide. Plus, when you have staggered seats, not all “window seats” are actually window seats. Yeah the doors mean that the window seats that aren’t window seats are going to be private, I still wouldn’t care for that.
The only pitfall with reverse herring bone seats is the fact that you can’t really talk to your travel companion, even in the center seats. And guess what? The Delta One Suites have this same problem too. The new design totally negates that benefit of staggered business class seats. Plus the additional privacy brought on by the suites may not be so great either… I mean the walls and doors only go up to the top of the headrest.
To be fair, though, Japan Air’s business class suites have walls that only go up to the top of the headrest, too. Unlike Delta One Suites, the JAL seats aren’t suites in that they don’t have a door, but I think it might be the superior product. The aisle seats have very little privacy, but at least the window seats really are window seats. Ultimately, though, which type of business class seat you prefer is highly subjective. Delta’s new suites is definitely a compelling product with great features. Heck it’s a big upgrade from most of the stuff flying on domestic carriers.
It’s worth noting that Delta One Suites will only be deployed on wide-body aircraft beginning with the A350. Narrow body aircraft, like those that serve Hawaii, will likely keep their existing seats. We’ll see if they eventually put these seats into the A330s that serve the islands from the east coast.