Delta: On April 22, Delta completed installation of flat-bed seats on international long-haul routes. Aircraft with the flat-bed: A330-200/300, B767-300ER/400ER, B747-400, and B777-200ER/LR. Beginning July 1, Delta starts three updated B757 aircraft with flat-bed seats on the LAX-New York-JFK transcon route. All transcon routes—Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle-New York-JFK—should have the flatbed by summer 2015. See Delta for more information.
My Take: If someone had told me five years ago that Delta would have all flat-bed seats before its SkyTeam partner Air France, I would have said, “you are crazy.” So good job, Delta. Plus, Delta offers EasyUp fares, domestic and international, so the deals are that much better now.
JetBlue: On Oct. 26, JetBlue introduces its new Business Class seat, Mint, on the San Francisco-New York (JFK) route; flights B6 916 and B6 415. Fares start at $1,198 round-trip and are bookable now.
My Take: Competition is great: I think JetBlue’s service will affect premium transcon fares considerably. In fact, we saw fares on United drop almost $800 and on Virgin America about $700 on the Los Angeles-JFK route. In part due to JetBlue’s presence. That said, I don’t expect JetBlue’s $1,200 fares to stay that low forever.
Lufthansa: The airline’s first two A380s with new flat-beds in Business Class will be in service soon. All of the airline’s international aircraft will have the new flat-bed seat by summer 2015. See Lufthansa link for more information.
My Take: Again, got to love competition, especially when it comes to airlines within the same alliance. United has flat-bed Business Class seats on its international aircraft. Lufthansa’s have been a long time coming and it can be difficult and time consuming to figure out if your booking a new or old seat, so many have shied away from Lufthansa for a long time now, costing the airline dearly for being late to the lie-flat show.