The first photo of Delta Air Lines’ new Airbus A321neo narrowbody aircraft in a high-density domestic First Class configuration with a staggering 44 recliners has just leaked, and it’s just as bad as you might think.
Not that this super-sized domestic First Class cabin was ever the intention for the Atlanta-based carrier. Rather, Delta is trying to make the best of a bad situation, because these brand new aircraft are actually meant to have lie-flat seats at the front of the plane.
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“Sometimes the supply chain throws us a curve,” explains Delta’s VP of Customer Experience Design, Mauricio Parise, as to why the airline decided to configure these aircraft, at least temporarily, with so many domestic First Class seats.
Like many airlines, Delta is facing difficulties with the manufacturer of its narrowbody lie-flat seats, and while the planes are built and ready to fly, the lie-flat seats most definitely aren’t.
“Rather than wait, we chose to implement a creative solution to ensure our customers had access to some of our newest aircraft in time for the summer travel season,” Parise added.
Delta’s long-term plan for these new A321neos is to configure them in a three-class layout with just 16 lie-flat Business Class seats, 12 Premium Economy seats, 54 Extra Legroom Economy seats, and 66 Economy seats.
The airline has had several of these aircraft sitting idle on the ground in storage in the hope that the supply chain issues with its Business Class seat manufacturer would be resolved.
Unfortunately, that’s still not the case, so starting later this month, Delta will press seven of these A321neos with the temporary high-density domestic First Class configuration into action.
The aircraft will operate on some of Delta’s most premium domestic routes from its home hub at Atlanta Hartsfield to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego, so there shouldn’t be too many issues filling this supersized First Class cabin.
Stretching between Row 1 and Row 11, you can probably imagine just how strange this cabin looks, although with the first of these aircraft set to enter into service very soon, the first real-life photo of the cabin has been leaked on Reddit.
“This is such a wild sight to see. I would hate to be the FA [Flight Attendant] having to put 44 first class meals out of the tiny forward galley,” one commentator wrote on the Reddit post.
Compared to Delta’s other narrowbody aircraft equipped with domestic First Class recliners, the airline will double the number of flight attendants assigned to work the cabin from one to two, although this is still a lot of passengers for just the crew to serve.
It will be interesting to see how Delta plans to adapt its domestic service on these aircraft to ensure passengers aren’t neglected for long periods.
How do Delta’s A321neos compare?
| Delta’s standard Airbus A321neo | Delta’s high-density domestic First Class A321 | Delta’s planned A321neo with lie-flat seats | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total capacity | 194 | 164 | 148 |
| First Class / Business Class | 20 domestic First Class recliners | 44 domestic First Class recliners | 16 lie-flat suites |
| Premium Economy | ❌ Not featured | ❌ Not featured | 12 Premium Economy Recliners |
| Delta Comfort | 60 extra legroom Economy seats | 54 extra legroom Economy seats | 54 extra legroom Economy seats |
| Main Cabin | 114 standard Economy seats | 66 standard Economy seats | 66 standard economy seats |
It’s not only the in-flight service that First Class passengers could end up waiting a long time for, though. Delta has just one bathroom at the very front of the aircraft for all 44 First Class passengers.
With just three lavatories onboard the entire aircraft and a total ofm 164 seats, that equates to a passenger-to-bathroom ratio of 54.7:1.
At least that compares favorably to Australian flag carrier Qantas, which took delivery of several new A321XLR aircraft with a passenger-to-bathroom ratio of 67:1. The airline has since realized it made an error and is now installing an additional bathroom on these aircraft.
How long the Delta A321neos remain in service with the high-density domestic First Class configuration remains a mystery, as the airline fights to get its new lie-flat Business Class seats certified and manufactured.
The airline has indicated that the seven jets with this configuration will be used for the remainder of the summer at least.
In a statement, Delta said that it would still offer lie-flat Business Class seats on flights between Atlanta and Los Angeles on existing planes with these seats, and that these would be timed for departures during peak hours.
