Delta Porsche: Surprise and Delight or VIP Select

Seeing a Delta-branded Porsche waiting beside your aircraft with an agent waiting for you immediately raises one question: How do you get one?

The Delta Porsche transfer has become one of the airline’s more recognizable services, helped considerably by articles like this one creating extreme FOMO among passengers walking through the terminal like normal people.

Behind the scenes, these transfers are handled by a small Delta department calls VIP Select. The VIP Select team includes some of Delta’s most tenured employees and, in my experience, some of the genuinely nicest people working for the company.

VIP Select operates at many of Delta’s largest hubs and international gateways, currently including ATL, BNA, BOS, DTW, HND, JFK, LAX, LGA, MSP, SEA, SFO, and SLC (as of Jan 2026).

The service is essentially a personal airport escort. Depending on how you’re using VIP Select, a representative meets you at your aircraft or another designated location and handles getting you where you need to go. For eligible connections, that can include bypassing the terminal entirely and riding across the ramp in one of those increasingly famous Delta-branded Porsches.

Delta doesn’t exactly hand passengers a brochure titled How to Get the Porsche.

Fortunately, the reality is much simpler than the mythology surrounding it.

There are only two ways to get a Delta Porsche transfer: one involves being selected by Delta and requires a healthy amount of luck. The other lets you skip the waiting, take matters into your own hands, and arrange the experience yourself.

Here’s how both options work.

The first way to get a Delta Porsche transfer is also the least reliable: Delta simply decides that today is your day.

Delta occasionally provides complimentary Porsche transfers to Medallion members as part of its unofficial “Surprise & Delight” treatment. These transfers are specifically for connecting passengers, with the Porsche taking you directly from your arriving aircraft to the gate for your next flight.

Think of it as Delta occasionally saying thank you for your loyalty and your continued contribution toward supporting the CEO’s rather healthy salary and bonus.

There is no published qualification process, no checkbox in your SkyMiles account, and no secret number to call. Reservations doesn’t know you’re getting one. The flight crew doesn’t know. The ground crew generally doesn’t know. More importantly, you don’t know until you walk off the airplane and find someone holding a sign with your name on it.

While Delta doesn’t publicly document exactly how passengers are selected, these complimentary transfers appear to favor Delta 360° and Diamond Medallion members. That doesn’t mean they’re exclusive to those tiers. There are reports of Medallion members at other status levels receiving the same treatment.

If you’re selected, a Delta Elite Services representative typically meets you as you exit the aircraft. Instead of continuing through the jet bridge with everyone else, you’re escorted down to the ramp where a Delta-branded Porsche is waiting.

You then ride across the airport directly to your connecting gate, potentially never setting foot inside the terminal between flights.

For a few glorious minutes, air travel becomes considerably more civilized.

Delta may also select multiple Medallion members from the same arriving flight, with the Porsche shuttling passengers to their respective connecting gates.

The important part is that Surprise & Delight really is a surprise.

I’ve found no reliable way to request it, predict it, or improve your chances of being selected. Having a very tight connection doesn’t guarantee a Porsche. Neither does holding Diamond status, buying an expensive ticket, or staring hopefully out the window as you approach the gate.

If Delta picks you, enjoy the ride.

If it doesn’t, welcome back to the terminal with everyone else.

VIP Select offers several different services, and I’ve personally used all of them. While the Porsche is by far the most visible, that’s only one small part of what VIP Select actually does.

The service can assist at three different points in your trip: departure, connection, and arrival. Each works a little differently, but the basic idea is the same. A Delta VIP Select representative meets you, helps navigate the airport process, and gets you where you need to go with considerably less effort on your part.

Depending on the service, that might mean meeting you when you arrive at the airport, helping you make a connection, escorting you to your departure gate, or coordinating your arrival after landing.

But it’s important to understand exactly what you’re paying for, because VIP Select is a personal airport assistance service first and a fancy ride across the tarmac second.

Departure Service

Designed to make the trip from airport arrival to the departure gate easier.

• Personal VIP Select greeter
• Coordinated curbside meet-and-greet
• Coordination with a third-party car service or off-airport meeting (LAX only) when arranged in advance
• Assistance navigating the terminal and departure process
• Complimentary Delta Sky Club access when time permits
• Coordination getting you to the departure gate
• Delta Porsche transportation to the gate when available and provided at Delta’s discretion
• Assistance with boarding coordination

VIP Select doesn’t replace normal check-in, baggage, security, or ticketing requirements. You still have to do the normal airport things. You simply have someone helping make them considerably less annoying.

Connection Service

Designed to get you from your arriving flight to your connecting flight with considerably less wandering through the terminal.

• Plane-side personal greeter for your connection
• Meet-and-assist after your arriving flight
• Escort to your connecting flight
• Coordination between eligible connecting flights
• Delta Porsche transportation across the ramp when available
• Compliementary Delta Sky Club access when connection time permits
• Assistance when connecting between Delta and another airlines*
• International connection assistance beginning after Customs where required

This is the service most closely associated with the famous Delta Porsche transfer, although Delta specifically states that vehicle transportation is subject to availability and does not guarantee a particular vehicle type. In other words, you’re buying VIP Select, not renting a Porsche with an airplane attached

• VIP Select cannot transfer to/from JFK Terminal 1 for connecting international flights.

Arrival Service

Designed to assist you after your flight arrives and you’re finished flying for the day.

• Plane-side personal greeter upon arrival
• Escort through the arrival process
• Assistance navigating toward the terminal exit
• Limited assistance with international arrival and Customs procedures where permitted
• Coordination through secured arrival areas where the greeter is authorized
• Fast-track assistance only when the passenger independently qualifies for an eligible expedited program
• Coordination toward an onward meeting point or ground transportation where offered

There are important limits for international arrivals. VIP Select representatives generally can’t bypass immigration requirements, interact with Customs officers on your behalf, or magically make the federal government move faster because you paid for VIP service.

Service Rules

Delta VIP Select is first come, first served and subject to availability. There are also a few important rules worth understanding before you start planning your Porsche photo shoot.

• Book early. Delta recommends making VIP Select reservations at least 24 hours in advance. Availability is limited, so earlier is generally better.
• Six hours is the absolute cutoff. VIP Select will not accept a reservation less than six hours before your first scheduled meet. That means you can’t land, discover your connection is suddenly 37 minutes, and call VIP Select hoping a Porsche will materialize. You needed to arrange the service beforehand.
• VIP Select must be booked directly through VIP Select. Regular Delta Reservations, Medallion phone agents, and Delta’s messaging channels cannot book the service for you. You need to use the VIP Select booking methods listed above.
• The Porsche is not guaranteed. You’re purchasing VIP Select assistance, not a guaranteed Porsche transfer. Depending on your gates, vehicle availability, and airport operations, your representative may escort you through the terminal instead. I’ve had this happen several times, particularly when my arrival and departure gates were close together. That said, in my personal experience, more than 90% of my eligible transfers have been planeside Porsche transfers.

VIP Select is commonly used by executives, public figures, celebrities, and other travelers who want a more managed airport experience. I’ve personally flown next to some recognizable celebrities over the years, who used VIP Select.

You don’t need to be famous, run a Fortune 500 company, or have someone carry your sunglasses for you.

You just need a reservation and a willingness to pay for it.

Have you had a Delta Air Lines Porsche transfer? Tell us about your experience.