Delta Air Lines is redefining its classes of travel. There will now be five cabin classes from which to choose but they won't all be available on the same flight and they won't always be in different cabins.
Delta is not the first carrier to do this. So why are we interested?
Business Travel iQ Insight
From 1 March Delta passengers will be able to choose among five classes of travel – Delta One, First Class, Delta Comfort +, Main Cabin and Basic Economy.
Now the five classes of travel are not available on any one service. Basic Economy and First Class are not available on long-haul routes but only on domestic flights. The benefits of First Class include priority boarding and dedicated overhead storage space in addition to the complimentary drinks and food. Basic Economy allows no advance seat allocation or changes or refunds to a booking.
Delta One is available only on long-haul international flights and flights between New York and Los Angeles or San Francisco and includes those components of a business class product that any frequent traveller would expect – priority boarding, lounge access, lie-flat beds and chef menus.
Delta Comfort and Main Cabin are available on both long haul and shorter flights. Delta Comfort is analogous to other carriers' premium economy; it offers four inches more legroom, priority boarding, etc. Main Cabin seats are located in the economy cabin but it offers seat selection and booking flexibility on domestic flights which Basic Economy does not.
Delta has become one of the first network carriers to define its class of travel by something more than the position of the seat. Both a Main Cabin and a Basic Economy passenger will travel in the back end of the aircraft but they will be accorded different benefits for that part of the service that happens outside of the cabin.
It's not common but it is familiar. On Germanwings travellers in both the Best and Smart classes can make changes to bookings. For those in Basic a change can be made for a surcharge, cancellations are not available. Best and Smart are entitled to preferred seating; seating in Basic is restricted to what is available. Purchasing an easyJet Flexi ticket allows you to choose your seat. That is also one of the benefits for easyJet Plus cardholders, the carrier's frequent flyer scheme which is available for an annual fee of £149.
Airline passengers and airlines' business models are both changing and that is being reflected in new ticket packages. Although there were different pre and post-trip benefits for different classes of travel in the past, those in different classes were not sitting in the same row of the aircraft.
As passengers' travel needs – and what they are willing to pay to achieve them – change, so too are the pricing models. Passengers that want flexibility see that as a valuable extra for which they're willing to pay and for which airlines are willing to charge.
And airlines are receiving value in ways other than the base fare. As Jeroen Hurkmans writes in one of Business Travel i-Q's expert insights, using KLM and its introduction of a baggage fee as an example, airlines will incentivise passengers with a discount off fees in exchange for some information and the potential to engage with them.
Delta's new prices are about more than a repacking exercise.