Travelers spend years hoarding SkyMiles (or cash) to fly Delta One Suites across the world. You'll generally have to fly eight hours or more to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS) – or, more likely, as long as 15 hours to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) or Sydney (SYD) – for a chance at sitting in Delta's swankiest business class seat.
Not me, though. I just took my first (and likely only) flight in Delta One Suites for 8,500 SkyMiles … on a 528-mile, 1-hour and 20-minute flight. I barely had enough time to recline to a lie-flat bed and close the door before it was time to land.
While ultra-long-haul flights abroad are where you'll find the most flights with Delta's premier business class cabins, the airline occasionally operates its flagship Airbus A350-900s on a handful of quick domestic routes. And that includes the laughably short flight between Detroit (DTW) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP).
It's the shortest and certainly cheapest way to fly Delta One you'll find today. So I took it myself and found that while the seat was definitely Delta One, the in-flight experience fell short.
Read more: All the Routes You Can Fly Delta One Suites
How to Book this Delta One Suites Flight
A few months ago, we rounded up all of the ways to fly lie-flat within the United States as well as the full list of routes where Delta offers its flagship business class seats equipped with closing doors.
Those lists include this weird, short Delta One route from Detroit to Minneapolis and back, which Delta currently operates once a day. As of publication, it's the shortest route by far – though Delta has previously flown its A350 between Atlanta (ATL) and Orlando (MCO).
Here are all the domestic Delta One Suites routes currently scheduled to operate after October, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company:
- Atlanta (ATL) to Los Angeles (LAX), through April
- Atlanta (ATL) to New York (JFK), December – January
- New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX), year-round
The key for scoring a suite between Detroit and Minneapolis is to find the one of five daily flights each way where Delta is currently flying the A350: The early morning departure from Detroit to Minneapolis (DL1746) and the late night flight back to Detroit (DL1484).
To book this funky, one-off flight, I had a few options.
For one, I could have purchased it as normal. It's simply labeled as a “First Class” flight in Google Flights and on Delta's website. But expand the details of your Google Flights search, and you'll see just one is on an Airbus A350 … in an “Individual Suite.”
These prices are right on par with other regular first class flights, too, so I wouldn't have paid a premium to fly in a lie-flat suite equipped with closing doors instead of a standard recliner on a Boeing 737.
But you can do much better than paying more than $600 for a one-hour flight.
I booked a standard economy seat for a trip from Minneapolis to Lansing (LAN) in Michigan, with a pitstop in Detroit, and back for 17,000 Delta SkyMiles roundtrip. I almost accidentally wound up on this Airbus A350 flight on the way home – I didn't realize it until just a week or so before departure.
And with a whopping 32 business class suites onboard (compared to just 12 to 20 first class recliners on most Delta domestic jets), travelers with Delta Medallion Status have a good shot at an upgrade. That's just what happened: With my Platinum status, I got a notification I had been bumped up to the front of the plane a few days before departure.
Of course, you can also use SkyMiles to book these fares outright. For today's flight, you can book it for 50,000 SkyMiles each way. That is … not a good deal, please don't book this!
If you book more than a few days in advance, you might be able to employ a workaround to book these Delta One flights for far fewer points.
Your best bet is Air France/KLM Flying Blue, which charges as low as 17,000 miles each way to book a Delta first class seat on this route. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any availability to actually book at those low rates as of publication.
Once the best way to book virtually any Delta flight using points, Virgin Atlantic will also sell you this seat … for a whopping 41,000 points each way. Several devaluations over the years have made this sweet spot go sour.
Unfortunately, the clock is ticking on this route. Schedules show Delta will stop using the Airbus A350 with suites onboard later this week. Fingers crossed another short, fun route in Delta One Suites crops up on the airline's schedule soon!
Flying in a Suite for 80 Minutes
Let's be clear: These Delta One flights aren't really Delta One flights. You won't get a fancy meal or amenities. You can't even get into the Delta Sky Club before your trip with this ticket.
But when you're getting a lie-flat suite with a privacy door for the price of a standard first class seat, who cares?
My flight was onboard a six-year-old A350-900 that had flown back to the U.S. from Seoul (ICN) the day prior, then connecting over to Detroit (DTW) the night before.
This flight was too short for any white table cloth dining, the famous Delta One dessert cart, or … really any special service at all. You do, however, get the vaunted Delta One suite suite in all its glory.
Instead of the full long-haul experience, Delta treats this seat as a domestic first class flight in every way. It sells the ticket at first class prices and treats its customers like any other first class customer. Even the boarding pass shows it: “First.”
Like most domestic first class flights, I got a pre-departure drink during boarding: My coffee was served in a paper Starbucks cup. There was also a teeny, tiny water bottle waiting in my suite, too. No, I did not opt for the sparkling wine on this pre-dawn Sunday morning flight. In retrospect, maybe I should have – just for the vibes…
Once airborne, I got a choice of snacks, another drink (a coffee served in a proper mug this time!), and … that's it. This flight was far too short to offer a full meal service.
But the fun part is the seat itself. These comfortable suites are fun to explore – even if there's barely enough time to get the seat fully reclined before starting our descent into Minneapolis.
The suite is lovely. It's relatively spacious – with ample storage on the seat-side table and in the cubby below it. Plus, the screen is large and Delta's inflight entertainment is typically chock full of new releases and some old favorites, too.
It's not the most spacious or fanciest business class seat I've ever flown – that distinction goes to ANA's “The Room” business class). But I can imagine it's a fantastic way to cross an ocean if you have the SkyMiles, Flying Blue miles, or Virgin Atlantic points to book it.
Read more: A Full Review of Delta One Suites on the A350
Bottom Line
Flying Delta One Suites on a sub-90-minute flight between Detroit (DTW) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) was an amusing oddity.
Don't expect the same style and service you'd be treated to flying long-haul in Delta's fanciest seats. Still, it was cool to fly the swanky suites for just a few minutes … practically on accident.
