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Delta Airlines has a huge range of seats, but which seat in Premium Economy, Business Class & First Domestic is best on Delta? We answer this question so that next time you fly, you fly in the very best seat possible!
Delta’s Best Business Class Seat: Delta One Suite
Launched in late 2017, the Delta One Suite is the best seat offered by Delta Airlines, and it is easily one of the best seats to fly transatlantic.
If you fly on Delta One, you immediately get airport club lounge access where you can eat or drink, work or relax. Travelling Delta One gives you complimentary access to Delta Sky Club® and SkyTeam® partner lounges worldwide.
Why We Like Delta
Better food than American Airlines.
Decent’s schedule and reliability.
Better bedding (Westin Heavenly bedding) is very much as good as Americans’ Casper bedding and United’s Saks Fifth Avenue offering.
No B737Max planes, so no worries when they come back into circulation. United, Southwest Airlines, and American Airlines all fly the Max, Boeing’s newest plane. I can’t think of a better reason to choose to fly on Delta airlines with its old but reliable fleet. This way, if you are worried (justified or not), you can be sure to avoid these Boeing 737 Max planes altogether.
If it’s good enough for former US President, it’s good enough for us.
Delta One Business Class Suite
The Facts:
- 1-2-1 configuration
- 180-degree flatbed seat
- 76″-82″ flatbed
- Tumi Amenity Kit
- Westion Heavenly bedding
- Chef curated meals
- Top Shelf Liquor
- Sommelier-Select Wine
- Up to 15.4″ TV screen
- Noise-canceling headphones
- Delta Sky Club access
Delta Air Lines is the first American airline to offer an all-suite Business Class product. The suite is a smaller and less luxury (but more affordable) version of the popular Etihad A380 First apartments, but is exceptionally spacious and are extremely private because of a sliding door.
You can book the Delta One Suite seats on their A350 planes and their retrofitted 777. These planes are also new and great for combatting jetlag. Currently, the A350 only flies on certain routes. Find out the latest Delta A350 routes to try Delta One Business Class.
Qatar Airways’ QSuite is the most direct competitor to the Delta One Suite, but bearing in mind that both airlines tend to fly on different routes, you usually don’t have to choose between these two Business Class offerings.
Which Routes Can I Fly The Refitted B777?
Minneapolis/St Paul to Tokyo Haneda, Minneapolis/St Paul to Paris, Minneapolis/St Paul to Seoul, Atlanta to Tokyo Narita and Atlanta to Paris and Los Angeles to Sydney.
Which Routes Can I Fly The New A350?
Atlanta to Seoul currently offers its flagship Delta One Suite and Premium Select on its A350 aircraft.
Delta already flies its Airbus A350 daily between Detroit (DTW) and Tokyo Narita (NRT). Delta also flies daily between Detroit (DTW) and Seoul (ICN) and Beijing flights from Detroit (DTW).
Delta has launched its A350 on the Detroit to Amsterdam route. This is the first transatlantic route for the Delta One Suite and their Premium Select offering. The flight will operate numbers 132, 133, respectively, and will be one of the best ways to fly between the US and Europe.
Starting last April, Delta launched its daily A350 service from Detroit to Shanghai, and in July, Delta launched its A350 from the West Coast (LAX) to Shanghai.
You can also catch this plane on the Seattle (SEA) to Tokyo Narita (NRT) and Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) routes.
Delta currently operates eight 777-200ERs and ten 777-200LRs in its fleet. 18 will have been retrofitted by the end of 2019. This makes Delta’s Boeing 777’s a great choice both when considering who to fly with. Delta is already a great choice, but you can be sure of the newest seats and a great experience by choosing specific aircraft.
These retrofitted Boeing 777 planes have an updated cabin and new seats with four separate classes, including, First, the enclosed Delta One Business Class Suites (a great choice), a new Premium Economy seat named Delta Premium Select, and a new, if unexciting, Economy class seat. The new Delta One Suite and Premium Economy can also be experienced on its Airbus A350-900s.
Do check the actual plane you are flying on before assuming that you will experience Delta One on these routes, as planes do chop and change.
Delta One Suites are brilliant Business Class Seats. They recline to offer fully flat beds and are far better than United’s Polaris seats and are marginally better than American Airlines’ variety of Business Class seats. You can book the Delta One Suite seats on their B777 and A350 planes.
Delta’s Second Best Business Class Seats: Delta One Without The Doors!
The new Delta One Seats are pretty good, but Delta is about to start retrofitting their 767 planes with new Delta One seats without the door!
Currently, Delta’s 767s have ‘Thompson Vantage’ seats. This new, doorless version of the Delta One seat is a lie-flat seat that gives you aisle access, but it’s a little narrow and can be uncomfortable for sleeping. That said, this new Delta One seat looks to be a substantial upgrade from the current seat, adding more privacy (with privacy dividers between middle seats), modern design and customizable ambient lighting, and an 18 inch high-resolution inflight entertainment screen.
Crucially, this new lie-flat seat offers 20 inches of width, a 1 inch loss from the seat being replaced, and the high walls make it feel like you are lying in a coffin. For those who want to upgrade using a Global Upgrade Certificate (a benefit option reserved for top-tier Diamond Medallion members), there are only 34 Business Class seats on the retrofitted 764 (compared to 40 on the current planes), so there will be more competition to snag an upgrade.
The Delta seat does look to be better than United’s Polaris seats, which they fit in Boeing 767s, but it’s not a patch on the American Airlines seats that run on the equivalent routes.
Delta says they’re going to use 767-400s for all of their New York and Boston to London flights starting Autumn 2019, so they will directly compete against British Airways’ new Business Class suites in the future, which are better Super Diamond seats with doors.
And it means they’ll be using 767s without suites to compete against American Airlines, whose worst seat into London Heathrow will be their ‘concept D’ lie flat, suggesting that all of American’s seats will beat Delta’s.
Delta’s schedule and reliability from New York and Boston to London is strong compared to American, but I’d choose American in Business to London because of the more comfortable and spacious seat and eventually, British Airways once they finally roll out their new seat.
Delta’s Third Best Business Class Seats: Reverse Herringbone
Delta’s reverse herringbone seat remains a great flatbed seat option Delta currently has in the sky. It’s private with loads of space and storage, and seats are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration. It is probably the best domestic transcon seat, although you are more likely to get the Thompson Vantage. Both are lie flat, and both are decent.
Fly these seats on Delta’s A330-200 or A330-300. You can find these . on international routes and even on some transcontinental routes from Atlanta (ATL) to Los Angeles (LAX).
In At Number Four Thompson Vantage
This is definitely one of the older lie-flat seats in circulation of the oldest lie-flat seats around and is the same as the American Airlines Thompson Vantage seat.
This seat is configured 1-2-1 configuration, is not very private, and is very low but has direct-aisle access for every seat. This seat can be found on around 80 planes, and so you are very likely to get this seat if you fly Delta in Business Class. Expect to fly these to and from Europe and transcon from New York JFK to San Francisco (SFO) and LAX.
Transcontinental Domestic 757
With its 2-2 layout, Delta’s transcontinental 757 seat is a fully flat bed and is not particularly private, and obviously, with the 2-2 configuration, not all have direct aisle access. Find this one on Domestic transcontinental routes. Occasionally you also find these on International routes, which is not what you want. Beware if you are allocated a 757 plane.
Delta’s Herringbone Business Class Seat
Easily Delta’s worst long-haul product Delta flies long-haul found on the 777. Hopefully, you won’t have to experience this one as it is being replaced with the Delta One Suite. Seats face toward the aisle in a 1-2-1 configuration. Sitting in these seats is like sitting in a Business Class sardine can.
Delta Premium Select premium Economy
Delta’s premium economy Premium Select seat is a lovely product at a much more affordable price than Business Class.
Each seat comes with its own footrest, power port, adjustable headrest, and a large IFE screen. These seats are set up in a dense 2-4-2 configuration — to compare, the American Airlines 787 is set up in a 2-3-2 configuration, and the A350 and 787 have an almost identical cabin width. One interesting thing to note: When you’re redeeming miles for a Premium Select seat, your domestic connection will be in first-class rather than coach.
Fly these on the A350 planes and retrofitted 777 planes. On these refurbished 777s, the Premium Economy layout is a 2-4-2 configuration, and seats have a pitch of 38 inches and a width of 18.5 inches, plus you get an amenity kit in Delta Premium Select.
Bottom: Delta Domestic First Class
At the bottom Is Delta’s Domestic First Class. You fly this one most routes within the US as well as some short international.
How About Fly Delta In Economy?
The seats on the refurbished 777s are probably your best choice in Economy. The layout is nine across in the 777 economy class instead of the usual ten across that other airlines operate, so these are a good choice when flying in Economy. These planes also offer the largest seat-back screens in the airline’s fleet.
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