I'm pretty sure I've brought this up before, but I love that scene in the beginning of the Tom Cruise movie "Jerry Maguire" when Renee Zelllweger's character is peering into the first class cabin from her economy seat during a flight.
Her young son asks, "What's wrong Mommy?"
And Zellweger, as Dorothy Boyd, replies: "First class, that's what's wrong. It used to be a better meal, now it's a better life."
I was reminded of that the other day when Delta Air Lines announced a "rebranding" of its seat structure and classification. Ostensibly, it is to better define the options available to customers and the pricing structure. They range from Basic Economy, Main Cabin, Delta Comfort, First Class and Delta One, with varying degrees of amenities.
To me, however, it smacks of a caste system and a further separation of the haves and have-nots.
To be clear, I don't fault Delta. This is the way of the new world in the airline industry. The legacy carriers are more or less paying the price - no pun intended - for their big merger moves over the last decade or so that have resulted in just four major U.S. carriers, as they now have to compete with the low-cost airlines.
But there's a reason why some people choose to fly Delta, or American, or United, instead of Spirit, or Frontier, or Southwest. For many, it's for the extra creature comforts. It's for the peace of mind that you're not getting nickel-and-dimed if you don't want to be nickel-and-dimed.
Take Basic Economy, for instance. By purchasing this type of fare and seat on Delta when the new plan is put into place in March, passengers will not have the ability to select seats in advance, can't make any changes to their itinerary, can't fly stand-by, won't receive refunds for unused tickets, and are denied the chance to pay a fee to upgrade to Delta Comfort.
Now, just keeping that all together is trouble enough. Delta Comfort, Delta One … ugh. You need a scorecard for this. But in segmenting its seats, Delta is going for the whole gamut of travelers - economy lovers on up to the most premium of passengers. The problem is, it makes for a plane full of a economic status.
Delta is now creating an even wider gap of separation. Think about it. I've flown economy virtually all my life save for the few long-haul flights where I cashed in some frequent flier points to upgrade to business or first class. Boarding the plane, you walk past eight or 10 or 12 people already sitting in first class and drinking their Mimosas, while you shuffle back to coach. Then you have 20 to 30 to 40 rows of people JUST LIKE YOU.
Now?
Well, come March, you'll board a Delta flight with your Basic Economy ticket and, while no Delta flight will ever have all five seating tiers, you'll undoubtedly schlep past the uber-rich, the ultra-rich and just the plain-old rich at some point on your way to your worker-bee seat.
Or at least that's the perception.
But that's what Delta has created here. And you know what they say - perception is everything
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
