Delta’s Adding Lie-Flat Delta One Business Class to a Slew of Domestic Routes, Including Hawaii
Want to score a lie-flat seat between New York (JFK) and Las Vegas (LAS) or San Diego (SAN)? Well, you can book a flight in JetBlue Mint today, or, starting in the spring of 2018, you'll be able to fly those routes in Delta One as well. Yup — Delta's gearing up for a very big expansion of its lie-flat business-class product, offering international seats and service on select domestic routes.
Currently, Delta offers its premium business-class product on the following domestic routes:
- New York (JFK)-Los Angeles (LAX)
- New York (JFK)-San Francisco (SFO)
- Boston (BOS)-San Francisco (SFO)
- Washington, D.C. (DCA)-Los Angeles (LAX)
Beginning April 1, 2018, however, the airline will be adding lie-flat Delta One on select flights between the following airports. Note that while it seems like the rollout of the new Delta One flights isn't totally complete yet, we're seeing Delta One seat maps and branding for the routes below on Delta.com:
- New York (JFK)-San Diego (SAN)*
- New York (JFK)-Seattle (SEA)**
- Boston (BOS)-Los Angeles (LAX)**
Additionally, on the same date, the airline will add Delta One to one daily flight in each direction between the following city pairs:
- Atlanta (ATL)-Honolulu (HNL)*
- Minneapolis (MSP)-Honolulu (HNL)*
Finally, on May 1, 2018, the airline will launch its final Delta One domestic route — well, this time around, at least:
- New York (JFK)-Las Vegas (LAS)*
* One flight per day
** Two flights per day
Note that some of these routes are already served by aircraft with lie-flat seats — Atlanta to Honolulu can only be reached with a wide-body plane, for example, so you'll find an Airbus A330 or Boeing 767 with international seats there. Additionally, TPG's Nick Ellis flew between Seattle (SEA) and New York in a lie-flat last year, and that route already offers at least one lie-flat option each day.
However, in all of these cases Delta's been offering standard first-class service — with this shift, customers will receive Delta One service and amenities, including all of the following:
- Lie-flat beds with Westin Heavenly bedding
- Multi-course meals with chef-curated menus and Alessi serviceware
- TUMI amenity kits and LSTN noise-canceling headphones
- Delta Sky Club access, including prior to connecting flights (excluding Las Vegas, as there's no Sky Club there)
- Access to the Delta One check-in area at LAX
Note that it won't be possible to take advantage of Delta's same-day change policy to move from first class to Delta One, so if both products are offered on any given route, you'll only be able to fly in the cabin you originally booked. Additionally, there are no changes to the passenger experience in the main cabin, though these new routes (excluding Hawaii) will be operated by international 757-200s, which may offer an improved economy product from what's flying today.