Delta has spent most of the last decade putting doors on its business class seats. On 14 October 2026 it announced what goes on the table in front of them: the first full rebuild of the Delta One service since the cabin launched in 2017, with new menus developed with a Michelin-starred British chef, a wine list cut from 1,600 candidates to 13 by a Master Sommelier, Taittinger champagne extended to domestic flights, a bourbon no other airline pours, a redesigned Missoni amenity kit and 60 new pieces of tableware. The new Delta One service starts on transoceanic flights out of Los Angeles this autumn and reaches the whole long-haul network in 2027.
It lands in a year when every large airline has been announcing seats — British Airways’ new A380 First, United’s Polaris Studio, Alaska’s Aurora Suites, Delta’s own A350-1000 suite due in 2027 — and it is a reminder that the half of a business class flight passengers remember is usually the half with a fork in it. Here is what Delta announced, what it costs, and how it compares.
New Delta One Service: Key Facts
- Announced: 14 October 2026, Delta News Hub; described by Delta as its largest customer-experience investment to date, on top of more than US$1 billion spent on the fleet
- Launch: transoceanic Delta One flights departing Los Angeles (LAX) in autumn 2026; full global network in 2027
- Chefs and sommelier: Simon Hulstone, whose restaurant held a Michelin star for 20 years, refined the menus; chefs Norio Ueno and Jereme Leung consult on regional dishes; Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson built the wine programme with Delta’s in-house team
- Mains: Delta One Wagyu beef burger (caramelised onions, cheddar, cornichons, brioche), roasted sea bass with tomato-tarragon sauce, braised lamb with red-wine demi-glace and lyonnaise potatoes, beef short rib with potato gratin, a seasonal risotto (currently wild mushroom and parmesan), macaroni and cheddar with garlic breadcrumbs, a chicken Caesar; a ginger-soy grilled salmon joins US–Tokyo Haneda flights from February 2027
- Mid-flight: chicken-salad croissant, hummus and crudité, protein salads, and a coffee-and-croissant option for passengers who sleep through dinner
- Dessert cart: the Classic sundae returns with a new chocolate sauce, Amarena cherries, pecan-praline crumble and a doughnut; dairy-free sorbet with an optional Taittinger float; a Napa cheese plate with Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam, Humboldt Fog and Rustic Bakery crisps
- Pre-select: entrée pre-ordering now opens 18 hours before departure, six hours later than before — the closest window of any US carrier
- Wines: 13 wines from 11 wineries, selected from 1,600 with input from SkyMiles members, featured October 2026 to September 2027 in two rotations instead of four; Silver Oak among the Napa labels
- Champagne: Taittinger, now also on domestic Delta One flights
- Spirits and sake: Blanton’s Single Barrel bourbon from 1 December — Delta says it is the only airline to serve it; Dassai 45 sake on all Tokyo Haneda flights from 3 November
- Cocktails: Hugo Spritz and Paloma, alcoholic and zero-proof, on international routes from March 2027 and domestic from April 2027
- Service: “Sip and Settle” — hot towel, warm nuts and a drink on the console before dining; tableside cracked pepper; sauces served in saucières; a new 60-piece tableware collection carrying Delta’s widget logo, replacing the 2017 Alessi range
- Amenities: Missoni “Winter Elsewhere” kit from 3 November with Grown Alchemist skincare, a Marvis dental kit and a wrist strap; a Missoni mini pillow on every transoceanic route; mattress pad, slippers and eye mask continue; limited-edition Delta x Bombas socks on selected flights
- Ground: Porsche transfer fleet growing from 40 to 70 hybrids across 15 airports by 2028, for Delta One customers booked on VIP Select
- Crew input: more than 200 flight attendants, 14 months, four test phases and 36 trial flights
- Fares: unchanged; see below
Why the Menu Is the Headline
Delta’s business class hardware has been uneven for years: a doored suite on the A350-900 and A330neo, open 2-2-2 seats on older A330s and 767s, and a long retrofit programme that only started putting doors on the A330 fleet in September. A soft-product overhaul is the one upgrade that reaches every Delta One seat on the same day, whatever aircraft it is bolted to. That is why the airline has led with food and drink rather than waiting for the A350-1000 and its second-generation suite next year.
The choices are also unusually specific. Simon Hulstone is a chef from a small restaurant in Torquay, not a television name; Andrea Robinson is one of a handful of female Master Sommeliers in the world and has built airline lists before; Blanton’s is a bourbon that sells out in shops, let alone at 35,000 feet. Pulling the pre-select window to 18 hours is the detail frequent flyers will feel most — it means a dinner chosen the evening before a morning departure, rather than the day before that.
What Changes, and When
The sequencing matters if you are booking. The new menus and tableware appear first on Los Angeles transoceanic routes this autumn, so a Delta One seat from LAX to London, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo or Seoul is where the full service can be found first. Dassai sake arrives on Haneda flights on 3 November, the Missoni kit and mini pillow on the same day across transoceanic routes, Blanton’s on 1 December, and the cocktails in March and April 2027. Everything else — the rest of the long-haul network, domestic Delta One, the Porsche expansion — follows through 2027 and 2028. Taittinger on a transcontinental flight is the one upgrade that applies domestically now.
What has not changed is the seat. The doored Delta One Suite on the A350-900 remains the 2017 product; the A330s are being retrofitted with doors through the end of the decade; and the new reverse-herringbone suite arrives only on the A350-1000 from early 2027. If the seat is what matters most to you, the aircraft type still decides the experience more than the menu does.
Tip: the 18-hour pre-select window is the practical win. Set a reminder the evening before a long-haul departure and choose the sea bass or the short rib before the cabin sells out of either.
How It Compares With the Competition
The soft-product race has become a Michelin arms race. Qatar has just put Australian chef Ross Lusted‘s menus on its Australian flights, Singapore Airlines is rolling out more than 100 new dishes on Christofle tableware, and British Airways relaunched its First Class dining on 1 October with Bollinger La Grande Année in the glass. Against those, Delta’s package is the broadest — it covers champagne, spirits, wine, cocktails, tableware, bedding, amenity kits and ground transport in one announcement — and the most American: a Wagyu burger as a signature main, a bourbon exclusive and a dessert sundae tell you exactly who the customer is.
The weak spot is still consistency. The Gulf carriers and Singapore Airlines deliver the same meal on the same china on every long-haul flight; Delta’s rollout runs from autumn 2026 to 2028 across a fleet with four different business class seats, and the first passengers to see the new Sip and Settle service in Los Angeles may not find it on a 767 out of Atlanta for another year.
Delta One, First-Hand Context
I have not flown Delta One and this is a preview of an announcement, not a review of a meal. My references for business class catering on a long overnight are Etihad’s 787-9, an excellent seat I rated 3.5 out of 5 and marked down for the wine, and Emirates’ 777 from Malé, where good food carried a dated cabin. Delta’s decision to lead with a Master Sommelier and a curated 13-bottle list goes straight at the wine problem; whether a Napa-heavy list travels well to London and Tokyo is the question I would want to answer in the seat. I previewed Delta’s Atlanta–Riyadh launch and A330 retrofit earlier this month; this announcement is the other half of that story.
How Much Does It Cost?
Nothing changes on the fare: the new menus, wines, Taittinger, Blanton’s, the Missoni kit and the Sip and Settle service are included in every Delta One ticket on the routes where they have rolled out, and Porsche transfers remain tied to VIP Select bookings rather than sold separately. Delta One fares are dynamic and vary by route and season; SkyMiles award pricing is also dynamic. The Los Angeles routes carry the new service first, so a LAX departure is the one to book if you want the full experience before 2027.
Flight prices do move between platforms. The same business class seat on the same date is not always the same price on the airline’s own site, Trip.com and Expedia: point-of-sale currency, consolidator fares and what is bundled into the ticket can shift the fare by a few percent — and occasionally by much more on premium cabins. So before I pay I run the same dates through Aviasales, which scans dozens of booking sites at once, then check Trip.com (often the sharpest on long-haul fares) and Expedia (strongest when you add a hotel to the same booking). One caveat: a ticket bought through a booking site is changed or refunded through that site, not the airline, so read the fare rules before you buy.
A Michelin chef, a Master Sommelier, an exclusive bourbon and a sundae — Delta’s new service is the most complete soft-product relaunch of the year, and Los Angeles gets it first.
Photos © Delta Air Lines
This preview is based on official announcements — I haven’t flown the new Delta One service yet. Read more about how I review or visit my Work With Me page.
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