Business Elite is Delta's intercontinental business class.

Confusingly, there are four different versions depending on the aircraft size and route.

For the next few years, most people will still encounter the current Business Elite seat, a traditional cradle-style seat with a 60" pitch and recline of 160°. The cabin configuration is such that there are no middle seats.

The second type of seat is Delta's new fully flat bed cabin, which comes in two different formats. Have a look at the picture to the right (slightly above) and the Virgin Atlantic-style herringbone format. This is found on Boeing 777 and 747s. This cabin offers a 1-2-1 layout and a fully flat bed.

These seats cannot be fitted on Boeing 767s as the cabin is too narrow, so a third type of business seat has been developed for these aircraft. Featuring on the B767-400ER and many of the B767-300ER aircraft fleet, these are a fully-flat forward-facing seat in a 1-2-1 configuration. The seat extends to a 81-inch length.

The fourth type of business seat appears on Delta's Boeing 757 fleet which fly some transatlantic routes, particularly to UK regional airports. These are cradle seats with a 2-2 layout and a 55-inch pitch.

As if all this isn't confusing enough, Delta's merger with Northwest means travellers will find yet more types of business cabins on Delta-branded flights for the foreseeable future.