Even worse: more cabin/fare bucket fragmentation

Today, Delta — probably the airline I fly most domestically — announced what is ultimately a rebranding of its current hard product offerings. Disappointing, I know — I was hoping for a true premium economy product to match the offerings of LH, AF, QF, VS, VA, and so on, but no such luck. Here’s what’s “new”:

• BusinessElite renamed to Delta One (with new seat covers!)
• First Class remains First Class (with new seat covers!), albeit with increased in-seat power availability
• Economy Comfort renamed to Comfort+ (with new seat covers!)
• Economy renamed to Main Cabin, a la VX (with new seat covers!)

Yes, new seat covers! Check them out below, courtesy of Delta.com:

Now, here’s what’s actually new: the addition of Basic Economy, which they should’ve probably branded “Economy-“. Same seats (with new seat covers!) as Main Cabin, but the fare class will impose quite a few restrictions in order to lower costs. Worthy of note for frequent flyers are the following restrictions:

• Limited Medallion benefits: no upgrades whatsoever, but you’ll still get waived baggage fees & Sky Priority access
• No upgrades
• No changes
• No refunds
• Seats assigned at check in only, even for elites.

As happens with pretty much everything DL does (beefy award devaluations, switch to revenue-based mileage accrual), I expect UA to follow with a similar E- fare bucket offering in the next 2-6 months, and maybe AA will make the move as well. It’s the smart thing to do, if in fact the fares will be low enough to take even a fraction of market share away from the low cost carriers.

If you’re looking to book one of these new Delta One cabins on points, it’s worth checking out the various branded and non-branded American Express rewards cards out there.

Read more about Economy Minus I mean Basic Economy here, or view the press release here.