NEW YORK—Tim Stehly splurged on Delta’s top-of-the-line Delta One seats to Ireland this fall, influenced by friends who raved about the airline.

The retired International Business Machines executive was no business-class newbie, having traveled on Emirates and Singapore Airlines, among others.

He loved the Delta One lounge at JFK, but was disappointed by his outdated business-class seat as soon as he boarded.

The pod was drab, he said, and didn’t have one of those privacy doors that are all the rage. The screen was tiny and the seats were narrow and tough to move around in when trying to sleep.

»It was not comfortable by any stretch,« he says.

That’s surprising at a time when airlines are adding frills nonstop in the race to woo business travelers and big spending vacationers.

Delta showed off swank new suites with extra-long beds, thicker padding and nooks and crannies galore just this month. Alaska Airlines raved about business-class upgrades and swank new lounges in Seattle (a pizza oven!) and Honolulu.

American is bringing back seatback screens. And nearly every airline is hyping their new speedy Starlink Wi-Fi.

That doesn’t mean any of it is coming to an airplane or airport near you anytime soon.

The new products are teased early and often but the rollouts are slow given the size and complexity of their fleets and, for lounges, lengthy construction timetables.

The reality is that many of the new frills you’re hearing about today are two years away, longer in some cases if you’re not in a top-tier market. For travelers like Stehly this can mean inconsistency and frustration.

I feel it every time I board a plane with crappy Wi-Fi.