Delta Air Lines accidentally created an A321neo with a massive 44-seat First Class cabin. Now passengers are buying those seats at such a high rate that Delta is reconsidering just how large its domestic First Class cabins should be.
Delta Is Rethinking How Big Domestic First Class Cabins Should Be
Earlier this year, Delta announced an unusual temporary configuration for seven new Airbus A321neos: 44 First Class seats, 54 Delta Comfort seats, and just 102 seats in Main Cabin.
That’s more than double the 20 First Class seats found on a standard Delta A321neo.
But this wasn’t originally some bold experiment in premium travel. Delta was waiting for the lie-flat suites that will eventually be installed on these aircraft and decided it made more sense to put the planes into service with a much larger conventional First Class cabin in the interim.
It turns out Delta may have stumbled onto something.
Zach Griff at From The Tray Table spoke with Delta Chief Commercial Officer Joe Esposito and obtained some fascinating details about what Delta is learning from these aircraft.
“We’re experimenting with how big a domestic premium cabin can be,” Esposito said.
And apparently it can be quite big.
> Read More: Delta Weighs Pragmatic Alternative To Swanky New A321neo Business Class Seat
Delta Is Selling 80% Of Those 44 First Class Seats
According to Esposito, Delta is seeing an 80% paid load factor in First Class on the 44-seat A321neos.
When Delta announced an A321neo with 44 First Class seats, my first thought was that this would be a wonderful aircraft for Medallion upgrades. After all, how many people are actually going to pay for 44 First Class seats on a domestic flight?
Apparently, quite a few.
“It’s a really nice surprise that we’ve got such high demand for our premium products,” Esposito told Griff.
I’m not sure Delta should be so surprised. U.S. airlines have spent years finding ways to sell seats they once routinely gave away to elite members, and Delta has been especially aggressive about monetizing its premium cabins. If Delta can consistently sell 80% of a 44-seat First Class cabin, the obvious question is no longer whether 44 seats is too many, but whether 20 seats is too few.
24 First Class Seats May Not Be Enough
Griff also reports a previously undisclosed detail about Delta’s forthcoming Boeing 737 MAX 10: it will have 24 First Class seats.
That’s already more than the 20 seats on the standard A321neo, but Esposito suggested Delta may ultimately want considerably more:
“I think somewhere between 24 and 44 is the sweet spot. We need to see how big our cabins need to be because the demand is very strong.”
24 seats is already a substantial domestic First Class cabin by historical standards for a narrowbody jet, yet Delta is openly considering whether the right number is closer to 30, 36, or perhaps even 40 seats on some aircraft.
For years, domestic First Class cabin size was shaped not only by how many people would pay for it, but also by an expectation that some portion of the cabin would be filled with complimentary elite upgrades. Delta is asking a different question: how many First Class seats can we actually sell?
If the answer is substantially more than 20, adding premium seats becomes an easy decision. A First Class seat consumes more floor space, but it also generates far more revenue when someone is willing to pay for it.
So if you were hoping for more upgrades on this aircraft, think again. If Delta keeps selling 80% of a 44-seat cabin, the airline may simply end up with much larger First Class cabins filled primarily with paying customers.
The good news is that more inventory is still more inventory. I’d certainly rather see 32 First Class seats than 20. Delta sees demand, and it sees money.
Maybe 20 First Class Seats Was Never Enough?
These 44-seat A321neos were supposed to be temporary. Delta still plans to install lie-flat seats on them eventually, although Esposito told Griff the current configuration could stick around longer than originally expected, both because of certification timing and because the First Class cabin is performing so well.
I don’t expect Delta to start configuring every A321neo with 44 recliners. That’s a very large cabin, and the economics will vary substantially by route. But I can absolutely imagine Delta concluding that 20 First Class seats is simply too few on many aircraft.
Maybe the 44-seat A321neo is an extreme. But if Delta can sell 80% of those seats, Esposito’s suggestion that the sweet spot lies somewhere between 24 and 44 sounds quite logical.
CONCLUSION
Delta’s strange 44-seat A321neo configuration has turned into a useful real-world experiment, and so far the lesson is clear: passengers are willing to pay for a lot more domestic First Class than Delta expected.
That should be good news if it results in larger premium cabins across the fleet. Just don’t start counting your complimentary upgrades…
“According to Esposito, Delta is seeing an 80% paid load factor in First Class on the 44-seat A321neos.”
How much did they pay? Minor details.
That’s certainly a fair question but it runs between LAX-ATL and I see sky-high fares.
Ha yeah. I see several of those flights going for around $600 one way LAX-ATL while coach is between $350 and $400 and first on other planes same day is $900, or even $1900.
If they’re happy with a small spread that will be good news, more first class capacity is a win.
Nice to see Delta copying UNITED with a high J intl plane almost a decade later, similar to their being behind the Polaris lounge rollout.
I’m glad you covered this, Matthew.
A whole lot of people who are loyal to that other airline were convinced that it was a mistake for DL to have 44 domestic FC seats.
I said then and say now that DL had an opportunity – whether they chose it or not – to try out a super premium domestic configured aircraft.
It has clearly been a success and the indications are that DL will have a whole lot more aircraft w/ large domestic first class cabins.
sometimes life hands you lemons and the smart people turn it into lemonade and, for frequent flyers, this is one of the sweetest glasses in recent memory.
of course, UA will be along to copy in a few months.
United has actually been planning for a while now to install 24 First class seats on their MAX 10 fleet.
Along the lines of how DL is copying UA by going with larger international business class cabins, adding (underperforming, for DL) flights to Asia from the west coast, and belatedly adding high speed inflight WiFi?