Classic: Delta Rebrands Each of Its Fare Options with “Extra” Features

We’ve known for months that Delta Air Lines planned to “unbundle” its premium cabins, meaning passengers could purchase experiences without bells and whistles — and pay less than those who want the whole kit and caboodle.

The airline announced Thursday that their entire airfare selection — including coach — is now somewhat “unbundled” for flights purchased today and departing October 1 and later.

And Medallion Members who want complimentary upgrades from Main Cabin should expect to pay more.

There’s a slight boarding upgrade for certain Main Cabin passengers (which adds insult to injury for the Delta 360s). But other hard product items such as legroom, seat width, meals, lounge access, snack baskets, free adult beverages (where available), and stuff like that, are not impacted.

How Many Airfares?!

Remember the good ole days (you know, yesterday) when Delta Air Lines sold as many as five fare types for some flights, depending on an aircraft’s size and what was being marketed. There was (and still is, for a while) Basic Economy, Main Cabin, Comfort+, Premium Select, and Delta One. But those were for the large planes and “prestige” (our word) routes like international flights and transcontinental hops.

Most domestic routes offered Basic, Main, Comfort+, and First Class.

Easy peasy.

Brace yourself: there are now a grand total of 11 different options — including three for Main Cabin.

Each fare cabin now offers a “Classic” and “Extra” option:

• Delta One Extra
• Delta One Classic
• Premium Select Extra
• Premium Select Classic
• Delta First Extra
• Delta First Classic
• Delta Comfort Extra
• Delta Comfort Classic
• Main Cabin Extra
• Main Cabin Classic
• Main Cabin Basic

Here are the main differences:

• Extra airfares are fully refundable with changes allowed through the day of departure
  • Classic airfares can be canceled for an eCredit. Changes are allowed until day of depature.
  • Extra airfares can make same-day confirmed changes for free. Classic fares bear a fee.
• Extra airfares earn an extra redeemable SkyMile per dollar spent over their Classic counterparts.
• Medallion members flying on Extra fares get higher upgrade priority over those purchasing Classic options.
  • Applies only to Main, Comfort, and Premium Select fares

Branding Changes

Main Cabin is now divided into three options:

• Main Cabin Basic
  • Basic economy. Nothing more, nothing less.
• Main Cabin Classic (which Delta already says is its “Most Popular” option of the three, even though it’s been on sale for just a few hours)
• Main Cabin Extra
  • Extra passengers are entitled to Zone 5 boarding, which is what Silver Medallion and Delta SkyMiles® American Express Card members receive.

Similarly:

• Comfort+ becomes “Delta Comfort” with Classic and Extra options.
• Premium Select becomes “Delta Premium Select” with Classic and Extra options.
• First Class becomes “Delta First” with Classic and Extra options.
• Delta One stays Delta One but — wait for it — with Classic and Extra options.

Here are examples of each new “brand” and their highlighted features. I selected a Los Angeles (LAX) to New York-Kennedy (JFK) roundtrip from November 1-3 and LAX to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) roundtrip on the same dates for our examples. (There’s nothing special about these dates — they’re just random.)

Note this selling point between Main Basic and the other “Mains. Basic has “restrictions” versus the other two, which come with “features.”

Here are the Main restrictions and features. I highlighted the differences between Classic and Extra.

Here are Delta Comfort, Premium Select, First, and Delta One.

I’m genuinely surprised that Delta One’s lounge access, baggage allowances, and boarding zones aren’t affected by this update. I was tipped off that unbundling was coming today — and thought that would be the big announcement.

Alas, no.

The “Extra” options are nickel-and-diming, at best. I’m not going to pay extra cash to earn more SkyMiles. It’s clear Delta wants to sell upgrades before even attempting to give away upgrades, so I’m not too concerned about the changes.

I’ll have more thoughts in a bit. In the meantime, what do you think of the news?