{"id":244150,"date":"2025-05-16T22:41:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T22:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airline\/delta-gets-pedantic-united-gets-fancy-cranky-flier\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T22:41:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T22:41:31","slug":"delta-gets-pedantic-united-gets-fancy-cranky-flier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=244150","title":{"rendered":"Delta Gets Pedantic, United Gets Fancy \u2013 Cranky Flier"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Delta Moves the Deck Chairs Around<\/h3>\n

Everything you knew about flying on Delta is changing \u2014 except really nothing is changing at all\u2013 yet. If you read Delta\u2019s release<\/a>, you\u2019d see lots of words about a journey to \u201cDiscover Delta\u2019s new Travel Experiences,\u201d but if the airline were being really honest, it might read: \u201cDiscover Delta\u2019s new Travel Experiences which are Delta\u2019s old Travel Experiences with new names created by consultants.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s changing? The names of everything. What\u2019s not? Mostly everything else. Beginning October 1, Main Cabin becomes Delta Main. Comfort+? That\u2019s now Delta Comfort. (You were warned\u2026these are sweeping changes). First Class? Nope, now that\u2019s \u201cDelta First.\u201d Luckily Delta Premium Select and Delta One aren\u2019t changing, because how much can we take at one time?<\/p>\n

Basic Economy? It\u2019s gone. Well, no, of course it\u2019s not. It\u2019s just gone in name only \u2014 it\u2019s now a part of the Delta Main experience, with the clever name of Delta Main Basic. Then there\u2019s Delta Main Classic which was Main Cabin when you woke up this morning but it \u2014 just like Basic \u2014 is now part of the Delta Main Experience. And there\u2019s even Delta Main Extra \u2014 remember, it\u2019s a part of the Delta Main Experience \u2014 which is basically just recategorizing refundable fares into a new brand while throwing in a couple of minor benefits like Zone 5 boarding, 2x additional SkyPesos per dollar spent, same day confirmed changes instead of standby, and the ability to choose one Delta Main Basic passenger and deny him or her a seat belt.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the real meaning of this? It\u2019s likely a precursor to Delta unbundling everything, including Delta One and other premium offerings. Get ready for Delta One Basic and everything else, likely coming to a Delta ticket counter near you.<\/p>\n

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United Elevates Premium Offering<\/h3>\n

United Airlines unveiled a systemwide upgrade coming to its Polaris offerings to include incremental improvements to most seats in its Polaris cabin, while also introducing a new product in the first row, the minty-fresh Polaris Studio<\/a>. The new cabins will debut on its B787-9s in an \u00fcber-premium configuration featuring 64 premium seats \u2014 eight Polaris Studio seats and 56 peasant Polaris seats.<\/p>\n

Unlike what we thought yesterday<\/a>, the window seats in the business cabins will all be reverse herringbone facing the window while the center seats will face inward in one cabin and outward in the other. All seats will feature sliding doors (yours will never close properly and will be sure to rattle) while regular seats will have 19\u2033 4K monitors to watch that one episode of The Office for a three zillionth time, and four ways to charge your devices, but rarely will more than one work at a time.<\/p>\n

The front-row Studios will have 25% more space than the standard seats, a 27\u2033 TV to make Jim and Pam\u2019s love pop even more than usual, and a buddy seat. The studios will also come with a soft product upgrade including new noise-canceling headphones, exclusive pajamas, skincare products, and playing cards \u2014 all of which you\u2019ll be able to purchase on eBay days after the product launches. Polaris studio customers will also have access to upgraded champagne (3, 2, 1 for the first blogger headline \u201cI\u2019m a United 8K lifetime triple platinum member on a paid Polaris fare and I didn\u2019t get the fancy champagne the nonrev in the studio got\u201d and caviar. Oh boy.<\/p>\n

If you think this sounds great, you are not alone. The United FAs loved the press conference<\/a> and rollout of the new product.<\/p>\n

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Qatar Places Order for All the Airplanes<\/h3>\n

Qatar Airways announced the details<\/a> of a huge order from Boeing. Some are calling it a beautiful order of planes. The biggest and brightest order of airplanes anyone has ever seen. An order of airplanes so big you have to step back to appreciate it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the largest order in Qatar Airways\u2019s history and it consists of 160 firm orders plus options for another 50. The carrier is purchasing 130 Dreamliners (including both the -9 and -10 variant) and 30 777-9s. The additional option of 50 more are for either aircraft type. QR currently has a fleet of about 220 airplanes with another 163 (not including this order) on the way.<\/p>\n

As far as a delivery timeline, there isn\u2019t one yet. But there will be one. And it will be tremendous.<\/p>\n

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Spirit Moves Some Deck Chairs Around Also<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s not just Delta that\u2019s refreshing its customer experience, as Spirit announced its plan<\/a> for extra legroom seating and a revamped upgrade program for loyalty members.<\/p>\n

Beginning May 15, Guests will be able to pre-select the carrier\u2019s extra legroom seats for travel beginning July 9. The approximately 40 seats in the first several rows come with two more inches of pitch and are expected to be available on Spirit\u2019s full fleet by next year. These \u2018Go Comfy\u2019 seats also come with a carry-on bag, no change fees, priority boarding, a snack, and a non-alcoholic drink. The downside? The blocked middle seat offering is going away.<\/p>\n

Spirit is also enhancing its Free Spirit loyalty scheme<\/del> program, offering those with status or the Spirit MasterCard complimentary upgrades to both the Big Front and the Go Comfy extra legroom seats. In addition to elite members of the loyalty program, Spirit shared plans to hold a Buzzball chugging contest in the gatehouse prior to all flights. The passenger who chugs the most buzzballs in three minutes \u2014 without throwing up \u2014 will also be eligible for an upgrade so they can be closer to the lav. The second through fourth place finishers will be given a consolation prize of exit row seating.<\/p>\n

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February Lufthansa Flight Had No Pilot for 10 Minutes<\/h3>\n

Lufthansa Flight 1140 from Frankfurt to Seville had 199 passengers and was flying about 35,000 feet above Spain when the captain stepped out of the flight deck to use the restroom. In the few minutes he was away, it is being reported that the first officer suffered a seizure<\/a>, leaving him incapacitated. That means if Otto deflated<\/a>, there would be nobody to fly the plane.<\/p>\n

The captain was eventually able to successfully return to the flight deck, divert to Madrid, and land safely without incident. The black box from the flight says the first office made several inputs into the controls, causing a caution alarm to go off and leading the captain to attempt to return immediately. The captain was unable to reenter the cockpit initially as he punched in the code to open the door, but the code simply signals to the person(s) in the flight deck that someone is trying to enter.<\/p>\n

The first officer eventually came to and was able to open the door, and let the captain in so he could safely divert and land the plane. The FO was taken to a local hospital and eventually discharged. EASA recommends that its carriers always have two people in the flight deck at all times \u2014 in contrast with the U.S. FAA which requires it during flight \u2014 for reasons just like this.<\/p>\n

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