Delta CEO Richard Anderson said Wednesday the airline's different travel options have given the company a boost.
"We do see people buying up from 'basic economy' into 'economy plus,' [from] 'comfort plus' and into business class," Anderson told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "Our challenge is that we have to differentiate our product on the same airplane across the different segment of purchasers and that's been quite successful."
The airline retooled its fare classes earlier this year, which range from "basic economy" to "Delta One," the airline's top-tier fare class.
Anderson made his remarks after Delta posted earnings per share of $1.74 on revenue of $11.11 billion, beating analysts' expectations. Wall Street expected the company to post earnings per share of $1.71 on revenue of $11.09 billion.
The airline also forecast that passenger unit revenue would fall 2.5 percent to 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter and reported a 4.9 percent drop in the third quarter for passenger unit revenue, which measures sales relative to the capacity and distance of flights.
In the second quarter, passenger unit revenue declined 4.6 percent.
Delta's stock was up more than 2½ percent Wednesday morning.
—Reuters contributed to this report.