Starting March 1 2015, Delta will launch five new fare classes — three economy options and two first-class options — which they’re breathlessly calling “innovative multi-cabin experiences.” Frequent flyers should start memorizing these terms: Delta One, First Class, Delta Comfort+, Main Cabin and Basic Economy. As you can see below, better names for the polar ends of these classes would be “Saudi Prince” and “Masochistic Hobo”.
When Delta first made the announcement last Monday, it had some frequent flyers going into hysteria, but the truth is, except for in the case of Basic Economy, the changes really aren’t really that big of a deal.
Delta has already been offering most of the new classes and services to some degree in their current system. The redefinition of these classes simply allows Delta to compete more effectively with comparable offerings on other carriers. For example, Delta Comfort+ will aim for the JetBlue and Virgin America sector, while Basic Economy will compete with the self-loathing Spirit Airlines demographic.
The expansion of Basic Economy had people asking whether the airline that loves to devalue its frequent flyer program has now created the worst cabin class ever. But the truth is that while it’s easy to imagine a not-too-distant future where Delta begins offering a “Subhuman Cheap Bum” class, where passengers are prodded into a windowless section of the cargo hold between the toilet tanks and the live animals, we’re not quite there yet.
Ultimately, the only notable change to Delta’s current offerings is Basic Economy, available on limited routes since March 2012, which will be expanding to more routes. This class allows no changes or refunds to tickets. Ever.
It also allows no advance seat selection and no additional guarantees beyond a seat. However, depending on the route and the caliber of aircraft, there’s the potential for a beverage and snack (usually), in-flight entertainment (maybe), and theoretically even power and Wi-Fi. And, let’s not forget, enjoying the miracle of flight.
Thankfully, Basic Economy will only be available on domestic flights, so any indignities suffered will be relatively brief. That said, those indignities might be suffered alone — lack of seat selection will stop a lot folks who want concrete assurances they can sit with their companions, spouses and/or small children.
For now, those of us without trust funds aren’t measurably worse off than we were before, however a hypothetical Subhuman Cheap Bum class just got a little bit more plausible.