The East Coast shuttle between major cities used to be an egalitarian affair, with VIPs forced to battle ordinary travelers for their choice of seats. Not any more.
Beginning on Dec. 1, Delta Air Lines plans to introduce first-class seats on its shuttle service from LaGuardia Airport, joining US Airways, which already offers first-class service.
Delta said on Friday that it was reconfiguring the MD-88 jets that it uses on the flights from all-coach to two classes of service. There will be 14 seats in first class, and 128 in coach.
Delta said it would retain open seating in coach. The airline offers 30 flights a day between LaGuardia and Logan Airport in Boston, and another 30 flights between Washington Reagan National and LaGuardia.
The move comes as airlines have been looking for ways to raise money in the face of volatile prices for jet fuel, which reached record highs over the summer and have recently been rising again.
Given that, and the fact that its main competition offers first class, “Why didn’t they do this sooner?” asked Tim Winship, an editor with SmarterTravel.com, a Web site that offers travel advice. “It makes perfect business sense for Delta to do it.”
A Delta spokeswoman, Betsy Talton, said the airline took the step primarily to make better use of its fleet of MD-88 planes. All except the shuttle jets were configured for two classes of service, she said.
Delta planned to begin selling first-class shuttle seats yesterday. Talton said those tickets would cost between US$100 and US$250 more than coach, on a one-way basis, depending on the day and time of travel. A ticket for last-minute travel on Friday on the Delta shuttle cost about US$329 each way, not including tax. (The airline offers discounts to some corporate customers.)
US Airways charges a similar price for a last-minute coach seat; its first-class tickets are US$600 each way, not including tax. Other airlines fly between the cities, including American Airlines and JetBlue Airways.
Delta said premium members of its SkyMiles program — those who earn at least 40,233km a year — would be eligible for complimentary upgrades on shuttle flights. It said it would offer an expanded selection of snacks and cocktails to first-class passengers.
Coach passengers will continue to be offered snacks and complimentary beverages, including beer and wine. The airline also said it would keep providing newspapers, coffee and bagels on the ground before its early morning flights.
Delta’s decision ends an era in which average fliers found themselves in the same cabin with famous figures in politics, diplomacy and the media on shuttle flights.
“It seems kind of sad, in a way,” Winship said.
He recalled taking the shuttle between Washington and New York and seeing the anchorman Dan Rather in a waiting area.
“This is kind of cool, when you really are all in this together,” he said. “There was something nicely democratic about not having a partition that there is on most aircraft, separating the people up front from the people in back.”
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