Delta Adding Premium Select On San Francisco Route

Intro

Roughly 12 months ago, Delta added premium economy, or as the airline likes to call it, 'Premium Select', on select routes from New York to Los Angeles. Well, it seems that the decision has been fruitful, and Delta will now be serving a second transcon destination with this product.

The Details

In the past few years, we have seen Delta aggressively installing premium economy fleetwide, and this came with the 767s finally getting a decently luxurious 2-2-2 product. While these certainly aren't the most modern jets, with a very dated business class product, the premium select cabins are on the better end of what to expect.

Well, with almost all of the 767s now having this premium economy cabin, and Delta flying select frequencies using these 767s from New York to San Francisco, the airline has decided to start selling these seats properly with elevated service, instead of solely an economy comfort+ seat.

Delta Premium Select

While these cabins will officially be sold as of November 9th, keep in mind that Delta runs a mix of 757s and 767s on this route, so premium select will only be sold on the 767s since the 757s don't have these cabins....

The Amazing Pricing

For starters, I want to say that not only is the premium select seat a pleasure to fly with its sleekness, but it's also a happy medium between business and economy for those looking to splurge a little bit, without paying the high Delta One price...

Now, I am a United loyalist, but Delta seems to be undercutting the market severely for the time being. With fares on United sitting right around 900$ OW on the EWR-SFO route, Delta has fares starting as low as 400$ OW, and that is for the proper premium select, not the premium economy that is simply comfort+.

This pricing is ridiculous. I still remember grabbing a B6 Mint fare to San Diego last year for 441...

Keep in mind that I typically see more reasonable fares closer to departure on UA in the R bucket, while Delta tends to rise closer to departure. But at the end of the day, it is all based on demand...

Final Thoughts

It seems that Delta adding premium select on select routes from New York to Los Angeles seems to have been working, as the airline has decided to go head-on against United in the San Francisco market going forward. While I do think it will be more difficult for Delta in SF, it makes sense to sell this as a separate product, especially when routes are already being offered with this product...