Greetings from Istanbul! We just arrived after a 9 1/2 hour flight from New York (not including the 2 1/2 hour sitting-on-the-plane delay-another story for another time!). We flew Delta's new Economy Comfort Class.

 

In February, 2011 Delta Airlines announced that it would be adding a new class of coach service on its long haul (think International) flights, Economy Comfort, their entry into the Premium Coach arena. While Premium Coach is more popular on foreign carriers, Delta decided to join its partners Air France-KLM and Alitalia, who offer similar products. So what does $80 - $160 buy you? You get 4", 4", new fabric on the headrest to denote "Economy Comfort",  preferential boarding, and a newspaper. I'll translate: we had 4 inches more legroom, 4 inches more pitch to the angle of seat recline; there were no visible stains on the newly upholostered headrests; we boarded after business class; and, we each could choose a newspaper from a selection of four.

 

Not to be indelicate, but inches matter---and 4 inches more legroom is huge. It's like the legroom we used to have in Coach years ago! The extra pitch transformed the back of the seat to something a little more bearable when trying to sleep.

 

At this point, I really want to whine about how airlines treat us like cattle unless we are willing to pay a sizable amount more for Business Class; however, that rant is old and has had no impact on the gods of airline seat design and the gods of airline money management. I still fantasize about the airline's engineer and number crucher being forced to sit in the seats they created on a long flight--but that will never be a reality. I'm sure they fly Business Class.

 

So, was the extra $$ worth it? Yes. I could almost stretch my legs and enjoyed sleeping in something other than an almost upright position. Business Class evolved when First Class pricing became inaccessable for most travelers. Is this the harbinger of yet another upgrade in service that will evolve into yet a more expensive option? Perhaps. Right now, the price is not obscene and I'll pay it....even though you'll hear me protesting that I'm paying more for what I used to get for free. I guess it's just another case of "Back to the Future."