Flying business class to the US with Delta is about to look and taste different. The airline has confirmed its refreshed Delta One experience will roll out across Australasia within weeks, starting in Auckland on 24 October, Brisbane on 26 October, and Sydney and Melbourne on 3 November — all on flights to and from Los Angeles, where the new service debuts first.
The revamp is built around a simple insight from customer feedback: people flying long-haul business don't want fussy, experimental food. They want classics, done well. Hence a new in-flight Wagyu burger, mac and cheese, and a chicken Caesar salad available for the first time. The dessert cart keeps the sundae but adds dairy-free sorbet and a Californian fruit-and-cheese plate.
There's more flexibility too. Pre-selection now covers lighter meals, and the ordering window has stretched to 18 hours before departure. If you'd rather sleep through the service, you can skip dinner entirely; on long-haul flights you can also decline breakfast and just ask for coffee and a croissant before landing.
The drinks list has had a refresh as well. Delta's wine programme, shaped with Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson and input from SkyMiles members, leans on Napa Valley and international labels, backed by a wider Champagne Taittinger partnership. Blanton's bourbon joins the cabinet, and DASSAI 45 sake appears on Tokyo-Haneda routes. On the comfort side, expect new Missoni amenity kits and an upgraded bedding set-up — mattress pad included, plus a generous pillow count.
Just as significant for Australians heading stateside is what happens on the ground. Delta has launched Seamless Baggage Transfer on its Sydney–Los Angeles route: bags are screened in Sydney and pre-cleared with US Customs before the plane lands, so anyone connecting onwards in the US can walk straight to their next gate instead of collecting and rechecking luggage. Delta says customs interactions have dropped by more than 65 per cent, and tighter transit times should open up better connection options. It applies to travellers from other Australian cities too, as long as they connect through Sydney.
Rounding it out, Delta has finished rolling out fast, free wi-fi across its entire global network — the Pacific routes were the last piece, and every transpacific flight should have it within weeks. That makes it, by the airline's reckoning, the first carrier to offer this worldwide.
Why it matters: premium demand is no longer just corporate travellers — Delta says leisure passengers buying up front are driving much of the growth, and the airline is investing accordingly, including its growing network of Delta One lounges (two of them in LA). If you're weighing up US itineraries, the combination of a more relaxed in-flight experience, bag-free connections beyond Los Angeles and free wi-fi gives Delta a genuinely practical edge for anyone heading deeper into North America. Expect the full Delta One refresh to reach the rest of the global network by around the first quarter of next year.
