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Back in April of this year, Delta confirmed that it would not be fitting its aging 767 aircraft with it’s new Delta One Business Class suites and, instead, it announced that a sub-set of its 767 fleet (the 767-400s) would be getting an entirely new (if not entirely different) Business Class seat.
Delta’s first reconfigured Boeing 767-400 took to the skies in July on the airline’s New York JFK – Los Angeles route but it’s not until November that we’re expecting to see more reconfigured aircraft appear.
Specifically, these are the international routes and flights on which the reconfigured 767-400s have, up until now, been scheduled to operate:
- Boston – London Heathrow (DL58/DL59) from 20 November 2019
- New York (JFK) – London Heathrow (DL1/DL2) from 16/17 November 2019
- New York (JFK) – London Heathrow (DL3/DL4) from 10/11 January 2020
Now we can and two more routes to that list.
Two New Reconfigured 767-400 Routes
From 10 April 2020 the 767-400 which currently operates Delta’s New York JFK – Nice route will be swapped out for a 767-400 with the new Delta One Business class seats.
DL412 JFK 20:00 – 10:20+1 day NCE
DL413 NCE 12:05 – 15:15 JFK
From 15/16 April 2020 the 767-400 which currently operates Delta’s Atlanta – Buenos Aires route will be swapped out for a 767-400 with the new Delta One Business class cabin.
DL101 ATL 22:23 – 09:20+1 day EZE
DL110 EZE 20:20 – 05:33+1 day ATL
[HT: Routes Online]
One of the easiest ways to tell the two aircraft apart is by the Business Class seat map – the reconfigured aircraft offers 6 fewer seats in the Business Class cabin than the aircraft with the older interior.
Delta’s New 767-400 Business Class Cabin
Delta’s 767s have been crying out for a refresh for quite some time but the fact is that the new Business Class seats (above) are not all that different to the existing Business Class seats (below).
Yes, there’s noticeably more privacy courtesy of a new screen that has been introduced and there’s a more noticeable divider between the center seats in the new configuration but, apart from that, there really isn’t too much difference between the seats themselves…and that’s a shame.
The biggest issue most travelers have with Delta’s existing 767 Business Class seats is that the footwell is too narrow. When seated upright this isn’t necessarily an issue but when it comes to lying flat it’s hard to find enough room in the footwell to get comfortable.
If you were hoping that the new Delta One Business Class seats in the reconfigured 767-400s would solve this issue you’re going to be disappointed as there’s no discernable difference between old and new seats in this respect.
All the reports I’ve read about the new aircraft say the same thing – the amount of room in the footwell is still a big issue.
Yes, the seats are newer and will be more comfortable and the IFE screens/system have been upgraded too, but with the key issue of the existing seats not having been addressed the upgrade passengers will see over the existing seats will be smaller than it should have been.
Premium Economy
It’s worth pointing out (briefly) that while the existing 767-400 offer just Business Class, Economy Comfort and regular Economy Class seating, Delta’s reconfigured 767-400s also come with the airline’s new Premium Economy cabin (Premium Select).
The Premium Economy seats in the reconfigured 767-400 are set out in a 2-2-2 layout but, other than that, they are pretty much identical to the Premium economy seats you’ll find on Delta’s A350’s and reconfigured 777 aircraft.
All seats come with a retractable leg/footrest, a USB port, and a power outlet and the seats themselves are 19″ wide and offer 38″ of legroom.
Bottom Line
Premium cabin passengers on Delta’s Atlanta – Buenos Aires and JFK – Nice routes will see a small improvement in the Business Class cabin but not a difference that’s big enough to warrant too much excitement.
The biggest bonus that premium cabin flyers will see on these two routes is that the introduction of the 767-400 gives them an option that wasn’t previously offered by Delta on these routes – a Premium Economy cabin – so when Business Class fares are high the remaining options are no longer confined to Economy Class.
Do you mean 2-4-2 in PE?
Also,the foot well in D1 is small but it’s the shoulder room that’s even worse. I’m a pretty generic 6′ tall and am kinda forced onto an angle to sleep. First world stuff for sure, but these seats are expensive(unless booked with Virgin miles:).
PE is 2-2-2 in Delta’s 767-400, with Delta Comfort+ and regular Economy Class 2-3-2. This a narrow wide-body aircraft.
Gotcha. Thx.
These pathetic seats used on so many USA to Europe flughta are wht I left DL for AA. The AA buz class seat is more comfortable, the footwell issue is not there, there is some storage space withinbarms reach, and the tray table has more sensible design.
You’ve overlooked one major benefit of the new seats vs. the old one – the tray table. In the old seat you had to clear off the entire surface next to your seat, jam a button, open a hatch, and extract the tray table. The new one appears to swing out from under the surface meaning phone, drink, laptop, really whatever you have sitting there, doesn’t have to move just to get to the tray table. It’s a major improvement for those trying to work on a laptop on a day flight back from Europe to the US.
The problem is that there aren’t that many good options for business class seats on a 767, unless you do a 1-1-1 layout like some Air Canada planes. Which would greatly reduce capacity.
Delta isn’t going to go through the trouble in developing a new seat either for a discontinued aircraft. So unfortunately a retrofit of the Thompson Vantage seats is the best we can get…
What is it with this privacy thing on planes now ? All these cubicles shielding you from others, wasting space. Well,it will probably attract more people to join the mile high club.