inside airlines

Are All Those Airline Fees Finally Starting to Pay Off for Passengers?

Courtesy Delta Airlines

Westin Heavenly bedding

It has been a rough, oh, 30 years for the airline industry. Every time the airlines thought they were going to make money, the economy tanked, terrorists attacked, or fuel prices shot through the roof (or all three). In order to stay afloat, that meant higher fares and the widespread introduction of fees—of course, many travelers have hated the shift.  But we're now at a point where some airlines are stringing together a few good years, much of that thanks to those fees. And now those fee revenues have allowed airlines to start investing in their products again. None is showing this newfound ability better than Delta.

This week, Delta announced a partnership with Westin Hotels to bring the hotel chain's Heavenly bedding into business class cabins. This isn't a new idea—when my wife and I worked at United a decade ago, she spearheaded a similar effort, but the difference now is that Delta has more money to do this correctly. What's more, this luxury is a nice cherry on top of Delta's overall business-class strategy. Over the past few years, Delta has committed to putting fully flat beds with direct aisle access into business class cabins on all planes that fly long-haul, and it's now expanding that program to include longer flights within the U.S. between New York and L.A., San Francisco, and Seattle.

Speaking of New York, Delta has poured money into making that airport experience far better than it has been. The decrepit Terminal 3 at JFK (formerly the Pan Am Worldport) will mercifully stop serving passengers in just a few short months, and in its place, Delta has worked with the airport to add a brand new concourse extension in Terminal 4 for a much better experience. Travelers can expect more room in the terminal, more security lines, better baggage carousels, more customs/immigration processing, better food, shorter aircraft taxi times, and a new Delta lounge, among other things.

And at LaGuardia, Delta has taken over the former US Airways terminal, connected it with another and put a large investment into that to make it a good experience as well. The investments are not being made just in New York; Atlanta's new international concourse will be getting an outdoor deck.

Onboard the aircraft, Delta has put a lot of money into expanding Wi-Fi availability, adding Economy Comfort seats with extra legroom, and more. The airline says it is investing more than $3 billion in "enhanced global products." That's the kind of thing only a profitable airline can do, and Delta isn't alone. United is still digesting its merger partner in Continental, but it has already started investing in improvements with lounge renovations, an accelerated installation of new business class seats, and the first installation of what will become Wi-Fi on all aircraft, among others. When financial results improve, I would expect more. American has made a lot of announcements, ranging from flat beds in business class to Wi-Fi and in-seat video on new aircraft, but we haven't seen any real improvements yet. That will change over time as well.

It's a good thing when the industry's airlines are making money because they can plow some of that back into making things better for travelers.