Delta is launching a new service this summer called Early Valet, where special agents in the gate area will offer to place your baggage on the plane prior to boarding. I repeat your bags will be placed above your seat in the overhead bin, NOT gate checked.
Per this Yahoo Finance article, This summer travel season, Delta plans to preload carry-on bags above passengers’ seats on some flights.
Delta’s Early Valet service will offer to have airline employees take carry-on bags at the gate and put them in the bins above assigned seats. The airline wants to see if its own workers can load the bins faster than passengers.
The service began Monday on about two dozen flights, and that number is expected to rise steadily during June, Delta spokeswoman Morgan Durrant said.
Early Valet will be offered through August on some departures from Delta’s busiest airports — Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
It will be available only on flights that typically have a high number of vacationers. Presumably, business travelers know how to board a plane efficiently. Specially tagged bags will be stowed on the plane before boarding begins, Durrant said.
Bottom Line
It sounds like the goal of their Early Valet service is to speed up the boarding process, since flights that have this service, will have several bags already on the plane beforehand.
I think this is a great service and can’t wait to try it out in one of the current cities it’s being offered in. How do you feel about Early Valet, would you give it a try?
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Sounds like they are testing a new fee opportunity.
What Ed said. This is obviously a test to begin charging people on cheap fares for carryon bags, and as usual Delta is lying about their intentions.
i have to admit yes this could very well be Delta testing in leisure markets from their fortress hubs an up-charge to the cheapest E-fare or similar which are boarding group last anyhow (no overhead, purses under seat items only). if you combine this w/ the SW/UA style boarding zones Delta is experimenting, you really slice & dice the passengers into Skypriority (first, premium, Comfort+) and then yes by the time you board the last group when bins are fully anyhow you charge for or effectively don’t allow roller boards onboard then.