Airfare upgrade, I just can’t, but would you?

[FD1000]

Delta Air Lines offers varying seat measurements to Europe depending on the aircraft and cabin class, with Main Cabin seats averaging 17.4–18.1 inches wide and 31-32 inches in pitch. Comfort+ typically offers 17.4–18.1 inches in width and up to 35 inches of pitch. Delta One suites feature wider lie-flat beds, ranging from 19.7 to 22.5 inches in width.
Main Cabin (Economy)

• Width: ~17.4 – 18.1 inches
• Pitch: 31 – 32 inches
• Aircraft: Typically Airbus A350, A330, or Boeing 767 for transatlantic routes.

Delta Comfort+ (Extra Legroom)

• Width: ~17.4 – 18.1 inches
• Pitch: 34 – 35 inches

Delta Premium Select (Premium Economy)

• Width: ~18.5 inches
• Pitch: 38 inches
• Features: Wider seats, more recline, and adjustable leg/footrests.

Delta One (Business Class)

• Width: 19.7 – 22.5 inches
• Pitch: 76 – 80 inches (layflat bed)
• Layout: 1-2-1 configurations with direct aisle access on most long-haul flights to Europe.

 

[tutan]

While seat width is important, seat pitch is not so much. But seat recline is what contributes most to my comfort. Short of lie-flat, United and Delta seem to have ~7” recline according to Perplexity, which is best among US airlines. Unfortunately we fly Hawaiian the most which only have ~6” recline seats.

 

[RetiredHappy]

While seat width is important, seat pitch is not so much. But seat recline is what contributes most to my comfort. Short of lie-flat, United and Delta seem to have ~7” recline according to Perplexity, which is best among US airlines. Unfortunately we fly Hawaiian the most which only have ~6” recline seats.

We fly United Polaris and Delta One exclusively to Europe and Asia. I used to fly Singapore Airlines when I lived in Asia and megacorp paid for business class so it was pretty sweet.

 

[NoiseBoy]

Norse Premium seats are 19.5" wide, a tiny bit more than SeatMaps says. Compared to coach, the seat configuration is 2-3-2 instead of 3-3-3, so the armrests between seats are also wider, giving more space between passengers, although this may be the same with other airlines. Next time, I will try to remember bringing a tape measure to check every seat dimension.

I've flown in PE class to Europe on 9 different airlines and on at least 9 different plane types. All true PE cabins have seats with dual armrests and cabins with 2-3-2 layouts. The exceptions were Lufthansa's 747-8 which was 2-4-2, Air Canada's 777-300ER which was also 2-4-2, and United's aging 767, which was 2-2-2. I'm going into this much detail only because some folks still confuse premium economy with economy plus type offerings. I have my preferences for the seats on some of these planes, but they mainly vary in small ways such as the nice water bottle holders on the 747-8. All true PE cabins have seats are that are roomier in every way from the seats at the back of the bus and dedicated over-head bins, which is a key reason that I like to fly in the PE cabin.

In my experience, the soft product varies much more among the airlines in premium economy. The best PE tickets let you board with business class, include at least one checked bag, and let you choose your seats. They also have better food and drink service with dedicated cabin attendants. Lesser offerings exclude some or all of those things and serve the same food in PE as they do in economy. Still, I tend to shop by price and flight connection times rather than service level or seat comfort, with convenient flight times being the primary factor when I book my tickets these days.

 

[ImaCheesehead]

Welp, Delta Revenue Enhancement got me.

After months of seeing the upgrade for the segment between LAX and AKL at stay at $4,300+, two days ago it dropped to $2,500 and I bit.

The Business Class fare for all three segment between Central WI and AKL dropped from $7,000+ to $4,700. Economy and premium stayed the same, only business class changed. Airline pricing is just crazy, but now I can spend my 8 hour layover in the new LAX Delta One Lounge, and I can have a nice lie flat sleep over the Pacific.

 

[NW-Bound]

Welp, Delta Revenue Enhancement got me.

After months of seeing the upgrade for the segment between LAX and AKL at stay at $4,300+, two days ago it dropped to $2,500 and I bit.

The Business Class fare for all three segment between Central WI and AKL dropped from $7,000+ to $4,700. Economy and premium stayed the same, only business class changed. Airline pricing is just crazy, but now I can spend my 8 hour layover in the new LAX Delta One Lounge, and I can have a nice lie flat sleep over the Pacific.

$4700 for round trip or one way? Either way, enjoy your flights.

About 25 years ago, my wife and I flew business class on Qantas on 3 legs: LAX-SYD, SYD-AKL, AKL-LAX. The planes were 747 for all 3 legs. On the SYD-AKL leg, we got upgraded to 1st class.

Back then, there were no lie-flat seats. The 1st class seats were the same as the biz class seats as I recall, only that the seats were far apart and one could walk between seats.

And no, we did not pay a dime for the airfares. Heh heh heh... My wife won a sweepstake from her megacorp.

 

[tulak]

Congrats on the upgrade!

 

[Fermion]

Wow if that is $4700 for round trip to New Zealand business class that seems cheap! I'd pay that.

 

[livingalmostlarge]

Welp, Delta Revenue Enhancement got me.

After months of seeing the upgrade for the segment between LAX and AKL at stay at $4,300+, two days ago it dropped to $2,500 and I bit.

The Business Class fare for all three segment between Central WI and AKL dropped from $7,000+ to $4,700. Economy and premium stayed the same, only business class changed. Airline pricing is just crazy, but now I can spend my 8 hour layover in the new LAX Delta One Lounge, and I can have a nice lie flat sleep over the Pacific.

so what changed? The price you had in your head or the rest of us egging you on?

 

[CO-guy]

Welp, Delta Revenue Enhancement got me.

After months of seeing the upgrade for the segment between LAX and AKL at stay at $4,300+, two days ago it dropped to $2,500 and I bit.

The Business Class fare for all three segment between Central WI and AKL dropped from $7,000+ to $4,700. Economy and premium stayed the same, only business class changed. Airline pricing is just crazy, but now I can spend my 8 hour layover in the new LAX Delta One Lounge, and I can have a nice lie flat sleep over the Pacific.

Nice! I can't resist a bargain either.

 

[audreyh1]

Welp, Delta Revenue Enhancement got me.

After months of seeing the upgrade for the segment between LAX and AKL at stay at $4,300+, two days ago it dropped to $2,500 and I bit.

The Business Class fare for all three segment between Central WI and AKL dropped from $7,000+ to $4,700. Economy and premium stayed the same, only business class changed. Airline pricing is just crazy, but now I can spend my 8 hour layover in the new LAX Delta One Lounge, and I can have a nice lie flat sleep over the Pacific.

That’s great that the price dropped so much. Sometimes it’s hard to wait for a price drop, but if you have an idea what the “full” fares are, and also when bargains might be had, it can pan out. I take it you were tracking the price?

 

[ImaCheesehead]

$4700 for round trip or one way? Either way, enjoy your flights.

About 25 years ago, my wife and I flew business class on Qantas on 3 legs: LAX-SYD, SYD-AKL, AKL-LAX. The planes were 747 for all 3 legs. On the SYD-AKL leg, we got upgraded to 1st class.

Back then, there were no lie-flat seats. The 1st class seats were the same as the biz class seats as I recall, only that the seats were far apart and one could walk between seats.

And no, we did not pay a dime for the airfares. Heh heh heh... My wife won a sweepstake from her megacorp.

The 4700 is for one way. It has been over 7k all along. I’m only upgrading for one leg, the 13 1/2 hour segment between LAX and AKL because I was already at premium economy.

My all in on this one way fare is now 4k with the one segment upgrade

 

[ImaCheesehead]

Wow if that is $4700 for round trip to New Zealand business class that seems cheap! I'd pay that.

Nope, one way from Central WI. I am going to be cruising back.

 

[ImaCheesehead]

so what changed? The price you had in your head or the rest of us egging you on?

LOL! The price seemed to become a real “bargain” when it dropped by $1800. Delta knows just how to reel me in.

I have to admit to also having a change of mind based on comments from this thread. Seriously, what am I saving it for? It truly is just ingrained habit.

I can just imagine the talking to I’m eventually going to get from my husband. I never let us fly more than economy in our lives, and then he passes away and suddenly I’m in the pointy part of the plane.

 

[hesperus]

No, I wouldn’t. At 10x the price, that’s not an upgrade, that’s a different product entirely, and the value just isn’t there for me.

 

[ImaCheesehead]

That’s great that the price dropped so much. Sometimes it’s hard to wait for a price drop, but if you have an idea what the “full” fares are, and also when bargains might be had, it can pan out. I take it you were tracking the price?

I do use Google flights for tracking, but since I was only upgrading one leg on an already existing booking, I didn’t have a way to get a notification for that price change. I checked it at 11:50 PM a couple of nights ago and saw a big drop. I have definitely checked upgrade prices daily on Deltas website for the last few months. The following day I got a Google notification about the price drop for the full three segment trip. By flying premium economy from Central Wisconsin to Minneapolis and then Minneapolis to LAX I am still saving $700 off the full business fare. Another bargain!

 

[hesperus]

That actually makes sense tbh. Some people won’t drop money on cars or eating out but will happily pay for experiences. If premium cabins make the trip feel like a vacation instead of a grind, I can see why you don’t hesitate.

 

[NoiseBoy]

How far out is are your flights? I'm wondering if there's a point in time when Delta puts the open seats at the pointy end of the plane on sale. I book a lot of Premium Economy tickets to Europe, and what I usually see are options to bid on an upgrade for business class. I will have to see if there is also a way to just pay for the upgrade and, if so, how to watch the price?

BTW, congrats on the nice score.

 

[NW-Bound]

Nope, one way from Central WI. I am going to be cruising back.

Nemo2, a poster who stopped frequenting here, used to take a repositioning transatlantic cruise to Europe, spend a few months wandering around, then take another repositioning cruise back to the US. Much cheaper than nice airplane seats. It worked for retirees who had a lot of time.

I tried doing one-way one year going from Florida to Lisbon. Got two nice stops, at Ponta Delgada and Funchal, out of this cruise. Still, my wife and I did not like the long at-sea days. We may try again later.

PS. Later, I found out that we were lucky for the ship to be able to make the above stops. On the Web, a traveler wrote that he had done 3 such transatlantic cruises, and only once got to visit the islands. Reason: rough seas prevented the ship from coming into port.

 

[ImaCheesehead]

How far out is are your flights? I'm wondering if there's a point in time when Delta puts the open seats at the pointy end of the plane on sale. I book a lot of Premium Economy tickets to Europe, and what I usually see are options to bid on an upgrade for business class. I will have to see if there is also a way to just pay for the upgrade and, if so, how to watch the price?

BTW, congrats on the nice score.

My flight is 3 weeks from tomorrow. The one way business class flights from my airport that week have jumped back up from $4600 to $7400.

Interestingly, according to the seatmap for my flight, I am the only additional business class seat that has been taken for the LAX to AKL segment. I swear they targeted that price drop directly at me as you would think when they dropped the price by almost 50% for 4 days someone else would have booked it as well.

 

[Tetto]

I’ve upgraded to business only when cheap enough. Once recently flying Iberia air, I upgraded to business for only $250. It was a bargain for an almost 10 hour flight home! I’d do that in a minute. But I won’t pay big $$&

 

[aaronc879]

I'm 6'6. If money wasn't an issue I would pay the extra money. If I was 5'8" or something like that then I would pay for the premium economy but that's it. Right now money is an issue so I just don't fly at all.

 

[TripleLindy]

After months of seeing the upgrade for the segment between LAX and AKL at stay at $4,300+, two days ago it dropped to $2,500 and I bit.

 

[Music Lover]

My flight is 3 weeks from tomorrow. The one way business class flights from my airport that week have jumped back up from $4600 to $7400.

Interestingly, according to the seatmap for my flight, I am the only additional business class seat that has been taken for the LAX to AKL segment. I swear they targeted that price drop directly at me as you would think when they dropped the price by almost 50% for 4 days someone else would have booked it as well.

I'm not sure why you're surprised that most people won't pay $4600 instead of $1500?

 

[livingalmostlarge]

LOL! The price seemed to become a real “bargain” when it dropped by $1800. Delta knows just how to reel me in.

I have to admit to also having a change of mind based on comments from this thread. Seriously, what am I saving it for? It truly is just ingrained habit.

I can just imagine the talking to I’m eventually going to get from my husband. I never let us fly more than economy in our lives, and then he passes away and suddenly I’m in the pointy part of the plane.

Nah he's going to give you a big kiss and said what were you waiting for? He'll say i was hoping you were enjoying it without me because I wanted to be sure you were comfortable while I waited for you. Glad you did it.

I know my dad said the same thing to my mom "save it for yourself don't spend it on me." So I figure that he'd be thrilled if she spent anything extra on herself. And I bet he'd adore the fact the fact she's flying on the pointy end of the plane.