Delta Economy to Europe Review: Same Screens as JetBlue, $278 Premium

I have flown Delta's economy cabin to Paris, and the photo lower down is from the last nine minutes of that flight. This is the second economy cabin this site scores, and it is the more useful of the two to score, because Delta does something JetBlue does not: it publishes the number.

Delta's aircraft pages list seat pitch and width for every cabin on every airframe. That means an economy Seat score can be computed here rather than withheld, it means the three aircraft Delta sends across the Atlantic can be told apart on facts, and it means the most important finding on this page is not about the seat at all. It is about the price, and about who else is charging exactly the same one.

The scores

Our score

6.0/10

Seat

7

IFE

10

Lounge

4

Value

3

Scored against our published rubric.

6 out of 10, on all four dimensions the data can score.

The seat and IFE scores describe the best of Delta's three transatlantic airframes. The Value score describes Delta's fares against every other airline on the same routes in the same week, and it is the number that drags the total down: a $278 median premium is the third-highest of the 31 carriers we rank.

Aircraft	Seat	IFE	Lounge & bags	Value	Product
A350-900 (Delta Main)	5	10	4	3	5.5
A330-900neo (Delta Main)	7	10	4	3	6
767-300ER (Delta Main)	7	10	4	3	6

Three aircraft, two seat scores, one fare

Economy is scored against economy here, on two published facts: how many seats share the row, and the pitch the carrier itself publishes. Delta publishes both, per aircraft, and the aircraft differ more than the marketing suggests.

Aircraft	Delta Main layout	Width	Pitch	Middle seats per row
767-300ER	2-3-2	18.1 in	31 to 32 in	1
A330-900neo	2-4-2	18 in	31 to 33 in	2
A350-900	3-3-3	17.4 in	31 to 32 in	3

All three are 31 inches at the floor, which is where we score them, because a published range is a promise about its lower bound and not its upper one. What separates them is the row. The 767 is the aircraft frequent economy flyers quietly hope for: seven seats across, one middle seat, and the widest cushion of the three. The A350 is the newest and the most photographed, and in economy it is the worst of Delta's transatlantic fleet: nine across at 17.4 inches, three middle seats in every row, on the same fare. The A330-900neo sits between them, eight across with a pair by each window.

That is why the seat scores split 7 and 5 rather than landing on one number. A Delta economy ticket to Amsterdam or Paris is a ticket on whichever of these operates your date, and the Delta One review makes the same point about the front of the aircraft: check the equipment before you decide, because the airline will not tell you in the fare.

Delta Comfort, the extra-legroom section, is published at 34 inches on all three aircraft, which would score two points higher on pitch. It is a paid upgrade from Main Classic and is not available to Main Basic at any price.

Screens, wifi, power

Delta's economy IFE scores 10 out of 10, the maximum, on the same facts as JetBlue's: a seatback screen at every seat, in-seat power, and wifi that Delta provides free to SkyMiles members, a program that costs nothing to join. Delta's aircraft pages list all three for every transatlantic airframe.

Only two carriers in our data pair a seatback screen with free wifi in any cabin, and both are American: Delta and JetBlue. Every European carrier we have verified charges for wifi or has no screen in the back, and that includes the joint-venture partners Delta prices identically to. If you are choosing between Delta and KLM to Amsterdam at the same fare, this is one of the two things that actually differs. The other is the aircraft.

What the fare includes

Delta renamed its fares in 2025. Basic Economy is now Delta Main Basic, the standard fare is Delta Main Classic, and the flexible one is Delta Main Extra. For a transatlantic economy trip the differences that matter are:

	Main Basic	Main Classic
Carry-on bag	Yes	Yes
First checked bag to Europe	Fee	Included
Seat assignment	After check-in, or paid	At booking
Miles and Medallion credit	No	Yes
Delta Comfort or Preferred seats	Not available	Paid
Change or cancel	$199 fee, credit	Free

The checked-bag line comes from Delta's own fee history, which records the first-bag fee on flights between the US and Europe as applying to Delta Main Basic only. The row in our cabin grid describes Main Classic and scores 4 out of 10 on lounge and bags: nothing for lounge access, which no economy fare includes, and the rubric's points for one checked bag and a carry-on.

Where Delta is cheap, and where it is not

Our carrier grid prices every airline that sells a route for one fixed travel week, so a gap between two fares is a gap between two airlines and nothing else. Delta appears on 268 routes, far more than any other US carrier, carries a $278 median premium, and tied for cheapest on 58 of them. That is a Value score of 3 and 29th place of 31.

The shape of those wins is the same shape we found for JetBlue, only larger. Fifty-seven of Delta's fifty-eight ties for cheapest are connections through its hubs from cities like Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Minneapolis and Charlotte. The one nonstop it won was Minneapolis to Dublin. Not one of the fifty-eight starts in New York, and only one, a connection to Edinburgh, starts in Boston. On its own nonstops the median premium was $421 against $239 on its connections. Delta is cheapest where it is feeding a hub and dearest where it is flying its flagship routes.

Route	Delta nonstop	Joint-venture partner nonstop	Cheapest any carrier
BOS → AMS	$1,226	KLM $1,226	$649, Icelandair via Keflavik
JFK → AMS	$1,181	KLM $1,181	$644, SAS via Copenhagen
BOS → LHR	$815	Virgin Atlantic $815	$636, SAS via Copenhagen
JFK → LHR	$815	Virgin Atlantic $815	$664, SAS via Copenhagen
BOS → CDG	$719	Air France $719	$594, Icelandair via Keflavik
JFK → CDG	$719	Air France $719	$682, SAS via Copenhagen

Read the middle two columns. On all six routes from Boston and New York where Delta and a joint-venture partner both fly nonstop, the two fares are identical to the dollar. That is what a transatlantic joint venture is: Delta, Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic sell each other's seats and share the revenue, so there is no such thing as Delta undercutting KLM to Amsterdam. Anyone comparing the two on price is comparing a number with itself.

Then read the last column. The joint venture does not set the market; the connecting Europeans do. Icelandair through Keflavik and SAS through Copenhagen sat below the joint venture on every one of these routes, by as little as $37 on New York to Paris and by more than $500 on Amsterdam, where Delta and KLM together held the nonstop at $1,226 from Boston while Icelandair sold the same city for $649. Paris and Dublin are where Delta's nonstops come closest to the floor; Amsterdam, Lisbon, Frankfurt and Zurich are where they are furthest from it.

Against JetBlue, the other carrier with the same screens

JetBlue is the only other airline in our data whose economy pairs a seatback screen with free wifi, and on the two routes both fly from the same airports, Boston to London and New York to Paris, the two were within $10 of each other. The differences are these. JetBlue publishes no pitch and so has no Seat score; Delta publishes 31 inches and scores 7 on its better aircraft. JetBlue flies a single-aisle 3-3 with one middle seat per row on every transatlantic flight; Delta flies one middle seat per row on the 767, two on the A330-900neo and three on the A350, and you do not choose. And JetBlue sold London and Paris only, while Delta reaches 268 routes and a median premium of $278 against JetBlue's $52.

Choose Delta over JetBlue for the network and, if you can land the 767, for the row. Choose JetBlue where it flies for the certainty of the row it flies.

The verdict

Delta's economy cabin is a good product with a published spec, a real screen and free wifi, sold at a joint-venture price that its partners match to the dollar and that the connecting Europeans undercut by hundreds of dollars on most of its flagship routes. From Boston or New York, pay it when the nonstop is worth the premium to you on that day, and pay it knowing that Air France, KLM and Virgin will not save you a cent on the same route. Check the aircraft before you check out: a 767 and an A350 are not the same product at the same fare.

From Portland, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis or San Diego, Delta through its hubs was as cheap as anything on the route in the week we priced, which is the version of Delta economy that earns its Value score. Book Main Classic if you have a bag to check; the Basic fare's first-bag fee to Europe removes most of the saving, and its seat is whatever is left at the gate.