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Is Delta Air Lines Beginning the 'Enshitification' of International Business Class with New Basic Fares?
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this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026
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To be fair, most of the business lounges I have been to are a bit 'meh'. What I really want from business is a seat that goes flat so I can sleep on the flight. I would probably take the cheaper ticket.
I've always been mystified as to why early boarding was an advantage, too ... I'm about to be sat for a whole lot of time, I'd rather be stood up and moving around beforehand!
I usually don't care if I gate-check a carry on, especially on international flights where I know customs will take longer than baggage delivery. So that means I usually wander around, regardless of boarding group. I've been last to board a number of times, despite being group 2. The only issue is I usually have a window seat, but all the traffic is past my row anyway and the shuffle isn't bad. Not everyone wants to give up their bag like that (for both good and selfish reasons) and a full flight's overhead bins fill by the halfway mark. Plus, some people like to be selfish and throw their underseat bag in the overhead bin, reducing the carry on space, whether they have their own carry on or not. If they board first, they can sneak those up (or "uphold their right" to overhead space with no carry on).
My conclusion is that they want to associate boarding status with social status and make you strive to be a higher boarding group. Airline loyalty, upgraded seats, airline credit card, shit like that. It ties in with the selfish reasons to board first that go with people just being selfish all around.
My airline seems to have first-come basis upgrades. The better the boarding group and the earlier you scan to board, the better chance for a seat upgrade. So if you have some status and an earlier boarding group, it makes sense. I usually buy midgrade seats so getting bumped to business is rare, but it'd probably be worth the risk to book economy and plan for a bump to mid if you scan earlier than other eligible passengers - if it was my money. I fly for work so I'm not playing that game.
But the biggest bullshit is loading planes front to back and nearly all that boarding group status is tied to the front. I see selfish and uncoordinated traffic jams just all the time. Genuinely pisses me off when business class pax get up and block the flow to get their toys from the overhead. Give it 5 minutes and there won't be anyone up there to block while 20 people are still queued in the tail!
I find that sort of social status engineering (for want of a better phrase) cringe-inducing at best.
I'm amazed that it works, that some people are that shallow. It must be another indicator of how stupid humans are as a whole.
We're agreed that getting on late is a much nicer experience, lol
That's true for economy seats (but you want to get in early for the overhead bin space), but in business you have plenty of leg room and you get served a glass of wine and a snack. Its mostly OK.
Mostly ok, isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, lol
Its about as comfy as sitting in a bar, certainly not 'my knees are under my chin and the guy next to me smells of cheese'
lol, I guess I've been lucky not to fly on an American airline then
If you really only care about the lie flat and nothing else, check out Zip Air