The Extra Mile, Oct. 14: Delta One’s Biggest Upgrade in Years, Starlux Premium Economy Review & More

🌟 Delta One Glow-Up: New Menus, Drinks, Amenities & More

Delta is overhauling its Delta One business class experience with new menu items, drinks, amenity kits, and a reworked meal service. The Atlanta-based airline claims it’s the biggest investment in the onboard experience it’s made in years.

The changes debut this fall on transoceanic Delta One flights from Los Angeles (LAX). That’s no accident: LAX is one of the most competitive premium markets in the country, with United, American, and a long list of foreign carriers all fighting for high-dollar business class flyers. The rollout will make its way to the rest of Delta’s global network in early 2027.

What’s on the Menu

The new menu includes a Delta One Wagyu burger, Hong Kong-style sea bass, braised lamb, short rib, seasonal risotto dishes, and more. Delta brought in a Michelin-starred chef to help develop the menu, and it should be a meaningful step up.

Perhaps the most useful change is a less flashy one: You can now pre-select your entrée up to 18 hours before departure – six hours longer than the old 24-hour cutoff. That might seem minor, but it means more travelers will lock in the meal they actually want instead of finding out at check-in that the window has closed.

Pre-select options are also expanding to include gluten-free meals and lighter fare. On overnight flights, you can skip the breakfast service entirely and get coffee and a croissant before landing, which buys you more sleep (and saves the airline money 😉).

To cap things off, Delta’s dessert cart with a build-your-own ice cream sundae option isn’t going anywhere – and it arguably gets even better with a new chocolate sauce, Amarena cherries, and a doughnut garnish. There’s also a new dairy-free sorbet you can top with Champagne Taittinger, plus an upgraded cheese plate.

The Drinks

• Blanton’s bourbon arrives Dec. 1. Delta says it’s the first airline to serve the hard-to-find single-barrel bourbon.
• A new wine list, including Silver Oak (a $200-plus bottle), developed with Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson and input from SkyMiles members. Champagne Taittinger is now poured on domestic Delta One flights, too.
• DASSAI 45 sake on all flights to and from Tokyo-Haneda (HND) starting Nov. 3.
• New cocktails and mocktails are coming as well, but not until March 2027 on international routes and April on domestic flights.

Amenities & Extras

New “Winter Elsewhere collection” Missoni amenity kits launch Nov. 3 with Grown Alchemist skincare, a Marvis dental kit, and a wrist strap meant to make this pouch something travelers take with them and use long after their flight lands. Plus, Delta One flyers are also getting a second Missoni cuddle pillow.

A sneaky-popular souvenir – Bombas socks – are back, too. The limited-edition pairs are stamped with “Fly Delta Jets” and handed out on select Delta One flights from the U.S.

Smaller service changes include a hot towel, warm nuts, and your drink of choice waiting at your seat after boarding, fresh-cracked pepper with the first course, and sauces served on the side.

And if you’re really fancy, Delta’s fleet of Porsche vehicles will nearly double across 15 airports by 2028, offering tarmac transfers to customers booking VIP Select service.

The Elephant in the Cabin

There’s one thing a Wagyu burger can’t fix, though: Delta’s practically ancient business class cabins that service many of these routes.

Today’s announcement impacts all of what the airline industry calls the “soft product”: food, drinks, amenities, and service. But it doesn’t change the “hard product,” meaning the actual seat you’ll spend 10-plus hours in.

On many long-haul routes, Delta is still flying woefully outdated planes with worn business class cabins. The worst offenders are the Boeing 767-300s, whose seats many loyal flyers affectionately refer to as “coffin class” – and Delta hasn’t announced any plans to retrofit them.

If you’re looking for a glimmer of light on the horizon, Delta’s new Delta One Suites are slated to debut on Airbus A350-1000 deliveries in early 2027, and the airline’s older A330s will be retrofitted with a similar setup in the coming years. Even so, Delta’s estimated timeline (by 2030) leaves several more years of rolling the dice to see what kind of Delta One seat you’ll actually get.

So yes, this is a genuine upgrade, and some (likely) excellent food and drink options are coming … just don’t let it distract you from the seat. A Blanton’s pour in an outdated 767 is still a Blanton’s pour in an outdated 767.

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🤝 Deal of the Day: Fly Nonstop to Savannah, GA from $174 RT

Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥🔥

Why we love it: Flight prices to Savannah, Georgia (SAV) just went down!

Fly nonstop to Savannah this December or January for less than $238 roundtrip from several U.S. cities, including rare low fares from cities in the Upper Midwest, too!

Sign up now to get all the details on this deal & don’t miss the next flight deal alert.

Already a member? Log in to see all your deals.

– Gunnar Olson, Thrifty Traveler Premium deal analyst

📖 Gettin’ Booksy: Les is Going to Denmark in Premium Econ.

Welcome to Gettin’ Booksy, a celebration of our favorite feeling: Booking something awesome! Book something lately? Let us know at [email protected]!

What Did Les Book?

Les used partner points to book an Air France Premium Economy from D.C. to Denmark next summer for just 34,000 miles!

How’d They Book It?

Les transferred Capital One Venture miles he earned with his Capital One Venture X card to Virgin Atlantic to snag the seats for a trip next July.

What Makes it So Awesome?

When Les first checked, Air France/KLM Flying Blue wanted 50,000 miles and $255 for the same flight. But by going through Air France’s partner, Virgin Atlantic, he got it for just 34,000 and $180 in taxes and fees instead!

From Les:

I used my Capital One Venture X and transferred the miles instantly. Had to pay Air France $102 for a seat assignment, but still a good deal.

You’re going to love Copenhagen, Les! And thanks to your smart booking, you’re going to enjoy the ride across the pond, too. Congrats on the booking!

– Gunnar Olson, flight deal analyst and travel reporter

🏨 Amex May Be Making Its Best Platinum Perk Harder to Use

One of the easiest ways to get value from the American Express Platinum Card® might be on borrowed time.

Right now, the card comes with up to $600 a year in hotel credits – $300 from January through June and another $300 from July through December – on prepaid stays booked through Amex’s Fine Hotels + Resorts (FHR) program or its cheaper sibling, The Hotel Collection.

The beauty of FHR is that a single night counts. Book one night at a $450 luxury hotel, and the credit knocks it down to $150, and you still get the FHR perks like free breakfast for two, a $100 property credit, a room upgrade when available, and late checkout.

That may not last. According to language spotted on Amex’s internal test website, first reported by US Credit Card Guide, starting Jan. 1, 2027, FHR stays would require a two-night minimum stay to trigger the credit.

That’s a big deal, and it means that the same $450 hotel becomes a $900 commitment, and the credit only covers a third of it.

The leak hints at a consolation prize: The perk would be rebranded as a “Lodging Credit” and expanded to cover Airbnb Luxe, Airbnb’s high-end rental collection, plus a new $250 Airbnb Experiences credit you’d unlock by booking a Luxe stay first.

The catch? Luxe homes generally start around $1,000 a night, so for most cardholders, that’s not much of a consolation.

Nothing is official yet, but changes that appear on this Amex test site have a track record of being pretty bulletproof.

If you’ve got a Platinum Card, my advice is simple: Burn your July-through-December credit on a one-night stay before Dec. 31. It may be the last easy $300 hotel credit this card hands you.

– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder

🎙️ A New Tool to Save on Flights & Other Travel News

📰 This week, the guys break down all the travel news that’s fit to podcast … and there’s a lot of it. That includes a brand-new (and free) tool to save on flights when fares drop, new big card bonus offers, 11 (!) transfer bonuses, and a deep dive on what the heck has happened with World of Hyatt.

Watch it now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

🤩 Mini Review: Starlux Premium Economy

Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Seat: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premium economy is the sweet spot in the middle of the plane: a roomier cabin, more recline, and better service than regular economy, for a fraction of what business class costs.

Sometimes it’s also the easier seat to book. That was true on my recent Starlux flight from Taipei (TPE) to Phoenix (PHX), where business class seats on my date never opened up. So, in the end, premium economy saved me some points, and it was a far more comfortable ride than coach.

I’ve now flown premium economy on a handful of airlines, from Delta to Iberia and American to Air France. Starlux is the best of the bunch … at least in my experience.

Most premium economy seats are basically the same – aside from the finishing touches – but what set Starlux apart was the service and the attention to detail.

One caveat before we really get into it: I’m grading my experience against other premium economy cabins and the value for the points, not against business class. A lie-flat seat will beat even the best premium economy nine times out of 10 – you just can’t beat a bed in the sky.

✅ What I liked: Is it cheating to say all of it?

The cabin. Starlux packs just 36 premium economy seats into five rows directly behind business class, in a 2-4-2 layout. It felt both spacious and relatively private. If you’re traveling as a pair, the window seats (A/C and H/K) will be best, and even if you’re alone, you’ll only have one neighbor.

The seat. You get about 8 inches of recline, roughly 40 inches of pitch, and an adjustable leg rest and footrest. I got a solid six hours of sleep on the 14-hour flight across the Pacific. If I’m honest, that’s about what I’d have managed in a lie-flat seat.

The entertainment. The 15.6-inch screens are big, and the library had plenty to choose from. You can also pair your own Bluetooth headphones.

One thing to know: my wife and I sat in bulkhead seats 20H/K. In that row, the screens are mounted on the wall in front of you, a bit farther away. We happily accepted that (there’s a handy remote you can use to control the screen), plus a little extra galley noise, in exchange for more legroom and nobody reclining into our laps. For some travelers, though, it could be a dealbreaker.

The extras. Starlux hands premium economy passengers a surprisingly robust (and relatively stylish) amenity kit designed in collaboration with the Smiley Company. It includes lip balm, hand lotion, earplugs, a dental kit, socks, and an eye mask. You also get slippers, a small pillow, and a plush blanket.

The service. It was excellent from start to finish. Drinks came out shortly after takeoff, followed by a full meal on a single tray, and the crew kept offering refills. They checked on us often enough that we never felt forgotten, but not so often that it was disruptive. Every interaction felt warm and genuine.

❌ Where it fell short: The food was just OK.

It wasn’t bad by any stretch. But neither meal wowed me, and neither came close to what I’d had in Starlux business class on the short hop from Tokyo-Narita (NRT) to Taipei a few days earlier.

With an expanded menu and real dinnerware, it was probably a step above coach, and that’s about it.

💰 How I booked it: Alaska Atmos Rewards is your best bet for booking Starlux with points. My flight cost 55,000 Atmos points plus $63 in taxes and fees per person.

For the second seat, I used the 25K Global Companion Award from my Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® credit card, which brought the total for my wife and me to 85,000 points (55K points x 2 – the 25K Companion Award). As a Summit cardholder, I also got a $20 break on the partner award booking fee, which lowered the cash cost a little more.

Starlux’s shorter routes to the West Coast are even cheaper. Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), and Seattle (SEA) start at just 50,000 points with the same taxes and fees.

📝 Bottom line: If business class is sold out, or you’d rather save some points, Starlux premium economy is about as good as flying gets … without a bed.

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

✈️ Other Travel Tidbits

• 🗽 The FAA has cleared JetBlue to buy Spirit’s 22 takeoff and landing slots at LaGuardia, on the condition that JetBlue can’t lease or trade them to another airline until after April 2028. (Federal Register)
• 🌏 Delta will begin rolling out free Wi-Fi on its trans-Pacific flights later this month, which the airline says will make it the only U.S. global carrier with free Wi-Fi across its entire network. (Delta)
• 😴 Singapore Airlines will start giving business class passengers sleeper suits for the first time in November, along with new Byredo amenity kits, on long-haul flights. (Singapore Airlines)
• 🛍️ Some Amex Platinum cardholders are reporting that Lululemon gift cards bought in stores no longer trigger the card’s $75 quarterly Lululemon credit, a change that appears to have started around Oct. 5. (Doctor of Credit)
• 🇵🇹 Lufthansa is buying a 44.9% stake in TAP Air Portugal for 1.2 billion euros, with the deal expected to close in early 2028. (LoyaltyLobby)