I was pleasantly surprised not to see those cheap over the ear headphones. Image Credit: Greg Stone More Spacious Seat Elizabeth and I were seated in 1A & 1B for our flight to Los Angeles. Depending on the type of aircraft that you are flying on (737, 787, 777, etc. Despite this, the first class cabin is better than coach, and Delta’s soft product for domestic first is consistency good. No amenity kits were available. They also have some of the newest and nicest lounges right now (though the others are trying to catch up it seems) and Virgin FF’s with the right Tier can enjoy these. I ordered a vodka-cranberry, just for a change. The price of this first class experience was $410, which makes Delta Airlines one of the most preferable U.S airliners. I won’t be reviewing the OMA to MSP segment since it was only long enough for Elizabeth and I to share a glass of orange juice. Delta Air Lines | SkyMiles - Delta Domestic First Class.... any good? We touched down at LAX just a tad bit ahead of schedule. Thanks Matt, worthwhile review of an underwhelming experience. The staff were friendly, and the cabin was comfortable, but what I loved most was the fact that the meal-offering ex Seattle was all sourced from the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Even though there is a separate Sky Priority lane, it merges with the non-priority line fairly early. Follow his journey here! Delta First Class Benefits in Detail. Since our flight departed at 9:00 AM we were scheduled to be served breakfast. The booking was made two weeks before the flight with a corporate American Express card, for a relatively standard one-way economy fare of $86.92 (£70). Available on domestic flights, you’ll find the things you want to help make the hours fly by in First Class. Delta operates a business class seat known as Delta One. Introduction: San Diego to Minneapolis on Delta Airlines 02. The seats are also 21 inches wide, compared to the 17-inch seats in economy. Delta, JetBlue, and Spirit, all fly nonstop from Boston to Tampa. You’ll have room to stretch out, an outlet to stay powered up and, of course, the signature service of a Delta flight attendant for the First Class cabin. What are your thoughts on domestic first class? However, it seems that Velocity charges between $9 and $13 AUD in taxes per segment. Review: Delta First Class (Domestic) 757 Minneapolis to Los Angeles, I’d already booked my award ticket from Los Anglese (LAX) to Sydney (SYD). Searches and bookings can be done online on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website. Velocity points can also be used for Virgin America First Class redemptions and the airline generally releases a lot more award space to both its own Elevate members and its partners, but do note that under Velocity’s partner changes announced in July 2017, one can no longer redeem their Velocity points on Virgin America from 30 September 2017 and all travel must be completed by 15 January 2018. In my opinion, redeeming for Delta domestic First Class flights is not one of the best uses of Velocity points. The only reason I booked this flight was that I had $300 USD worth of Delta vouchers to use, otherwise I would have just flown Economy (and you’ll see why soon.). The best guides, deals and tips for more frequent flyer points in Australia. Being based in Miami, I always struggle with the prospect of completely switching my loyalty to them, though. This was my first time experiencing Delta’s short haul domestic first class product. It can be really hard to find award availability and, given that you usually will not be given lounge access prior to your flight or between connecting ones (and the US has a lot more connecting flights than we do in Australia), I think it best to save your points for a higher-value redemption. Departure: Minneapolis, Minnesota (MSP) 9:00 AM. free checked bags in your ticket. Normally I don’t fly domestic first class due to the outrageous prices and pretty lackluster products. Your email address will not be published. Delta Airlines first class San Diego to Minneapolis 03. One-way first class bought outright, not upgraded, would have cost about double on the same route in cash. Was this flight enough to convince me to purchase it more often, probably not, but if you can find a cheap fare I don’t see why not. Platinums first, then gold and the rest. I chose the omelet and Elizabeth chose the oatmeal. The first flight departed late with no delay announcement, the purser served me straight vodka instead of the sparkling water I requested, the cabin crew picked up customers’ empty cups whilst simultaneously performing the safety demonstration (definitely a feat) and, speaking of feet, literally had them up on the galley counter for the entire flight from Detroit to Toronto whilst using their mobile phones. Your email address will not be published. Recently I tried Delta Connections CRJ 900 & 700 to experience their Domestic First Class and Comfort Plus product. Delta's First Class Experience. * Delta’s First Class customers will enjoy: Premium seats with ample legroom; New quilted seat covers and updated headrests I would recommend bringing your own noise-cancelling headphones instead of using the cheaper ones provided by the airline. While waiting for the boarding to finish, a little child clogged the aisle bringing the boarding to a halt for a minute. No, the iPhone wasn't a part of the snack basket. Delta Airlines MD-88 first class West Palm Beach to Atlanta 05. Traffic at Tom Bradley International Terminal. Delta A220 First Class Delta Airbus A220 First Class Row 3. Follow his journey here! It can be very difficult to find Saver award availability in premium cabins on most US airlines, including Delta, especially on lucrative transcontinental flights, which is when you want the extra comfort. Los Angeles to Boston, you’ll get breakfast or lunch from 5am to 1:30pm or dinner from 4 to 8pm. Here is how my seat looked after the incoming flight had landed and the aircraft been ‘cleaned’: On the second flight from Toronto to Denver, the crew deserves more praise for being friendly, attentive and professional, especially in comparison to the SkyWest crew. The omelet was a little too buttery/salty for my liking but I still ate it for experimental purposes. As you can see the leg room was abundant in the bulkhead. Being domestic first, the seat was comfortable but nothing to write home about. 8. Normally I don’t fly domestic first class due to the … I went with a banana and a granola bar. What can I say about starting yet another trip on Delta … Supplementary images courtesy Delta Air Lines. I have found good value in redeeming points in US domestic economy, when going to non hub airports. Flight attendants then passed out headphones for the flight. After boarding, we turned right into the first class cabin. Service: First Class (Domestic) Aircraft: Boeing 757-200. Westin Heavenly blanket & cheap domestic pillow, Coffee & airplane flights, one of my all time favorite combos. However, when my boarding pass was scanned at the gate, there was no seat change. The most common hubs Australia-based travellers will pass through are: but other important hubs include Seattle-Tacoma, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Salt Lake City and Boston, as well as overseas ones like Tokyo Narita and Amsterdam. Review, photos and rating of Delta Air Lines DL1283 Los Angeles (LAX) → Honolulu (HNL) by Esteban . Los Angeles/San Francisco to New York/Boston. Delta now has meal pre-ordering on flights that serve meals, and I chose the beef and mustard sandwich on rye. Delta seem to do it better then the others, as you’ve noted, and they tend to look after Virgin FF’s (especially Gold and above) well, which is welcome. About an hour out of Los Angeles we were offed a selection from the snack basket. After breakfast was served I continued to watch the rest of my Allen Iverson documentary. In "Reviews" in this trip report, we review our flight in a Delta One Business Class Suite on their A350, Detroit To Tokyo. ), the experience could be drastically different. Enter your email below to receive the weekly Passenger Poldberg newsletter. As to be expected, regardless of status, you will get access to Sky Priority check-in, boarding and baggage handling. Required fields are marked *. Awaiting us were a Westin Heavenly blanket, a pillow, and Dasani water bottles. We ended up flying Delta, given their reasonable first class fares. Distance: 1,535 miles. My general advice for domestic US flights is to purchase an Economy ticket and save your points for trips outside the US. Of the “big three” US carriers, Delta is my favorite airline to fly with. Once through the security, I enjoyed some lounge hopping. Elizabeth and I both opted for the coffee. An important thing to note is that in the US, airlines tend to call their Business Class products ‘First Class’ but they are essentially the same offering as we enjoy on Qantas and Virgin Australia’s 737 fleet. My favorite part was taxiing past the Tom Bradley International Terminal. You can probably guess what I thought of this attempt at a pillow on the first flight: and how much better the pillow and blanket from The Westin was on the longer flight: The bathrooms were modern and clean on both flights: Velocity points are the main currency Australia-based travellers can use for Delta flights. First I went to two … A full five days before the flight, Delta emailed me with the subject line “Your Upgraded Se… This inaugural flight of Delta’s new international… Read More. As such, I headed down to my Economy Comfort seat which has increased leg room over standard economy, and sat down. Here are some more pictures of the seat. Deric "Passenger" Poldberg is the Midwest's leading expert in credit cards, miles & points. Flight in Domestic First Boeing 767-300/ER. These seats are actually better than the first class seats, which are typically flown on shorter routes. Arrival: Los Angeles, California (LAX) 11:00 AM. I tried to board as one of the last, hoping that the first two people on the list rejected the upgrade. Delta Airlines 757-200 first class San Diego to Atlanta 03. It’s often not THAT much more expensive, includes free baggage (which with 2 bags each was sometimes $60 US per person) and my preference is for connections that mean you have two legs over 750 miles at least. I took the first shuttle from my hotelat 5AM. In domestic first class, a meal is provided on longer flights, along with drinks. We were greeted by our flight attendant and offered a pre-departure beverage. Anyways, returning to the review. We watched the safety video as we began our pushback from the gate. At the early morning hour, there were not many people in the non-priority line, and as such being in the Sky Priority lane made no difference. The review of Delta First Class showed the overall average performance. Delta Air Lines first Airbus A350 departed from Detroit, bound for Tokyo-Narita. It was also my first time flying on Bombardier's workhorse, which I was very excited about it. SkyTeam alliance member Delta Air Lines is the second-largest airline in the US by passenger numbers (after American Airlines), operating a hub-and-spoke model to over 320 destinations worldwide and a huge amount of flights in the US: You can access route maps for other regions here. In between I had three hours to get acquainted with the seat. Finally, try to avoid flying on a ‘Delta flight operated by SkyWest’ or another affiliate, as the much lower pay that the cabin crew receive may be reflected in their generally poorer service standards. Delta operates over 20 types of aircraft, from the Boeing 717 carrying just 110 passengers for short domestic hops right up to the larger Airbus A350 and Boeing 747 aircraft on international routes. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Departure: Minneapolis, Minnesota (MSP) 9:00 AM, Arrival: Los Angeles, California (LAX) 11:00 AM. I was growing up around the same time AI was reaching the height of his popularity so a lot of his antics went unnoticed in my early years. Chicago to New York, you’ll get a snack and alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage: On longer flights, e.g. Elizabeth didn’t realize it at the time, but the oatmeal does come with sliced almonds on top. These Billboard headphones weren’t Bose quality by any means, but they served their purpose on this flight. Delta Airbus A220 first class cabin. I found the touchscreen inflight entertainment system on the 757 to above-average in terms of responsiveness and clarity, with a wide selection of options: You can also download the Gogo Entertainment app before your flight to stream content. A modest recline, combined with a pillow and blanket, were enough to enable a quick power nap. Beyond that, I fly Virgin main cabin Note that JetBlue usually offers the most legroom in Economy and Southwest is the only airline that includes two (or any!) between the West and East Coasts, then you’ll probably get a lie-flat seat (called Delta One) in a 2-2 configuration on a single-aisle aircraft like the 757: or, if you are lucky, a (preferred) staggered 1-2-1 setup on a widebody jet like the 767: The standard is a 2-2 configuration, like on most of Qantas and Virgin Australia‘s domestic flights: but on smaller planes there may be a narrower 1-2 configuration, which is better for solo travellers: The minimum amount of rows in First Class will be three and can extend to five on longer aircraft. Staggered priority boarding is where Australia is headed I think. Booking Delta first class. I have flown American Airlines domestic first about 3 years ago and it was a pleasant experience. 4. In keeping with other US carrier policies, First Class passengers on domestic flights in the US generally do not get lounge access prior to their flight. First Class is a premium cabin offering on domestic routes (within the 50 U.S. and between the 50 U.S. and Canada). Depart: New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Terminal C, Gate 24, 12:21, on-time Having lived in the US for the best part of the past three years, and given recent negative customer service episodes, I can say that anecdotally Delta seems to have the best reputation of the three legacy carriers (the others are American Airlines and United.). Delta Airlines 757-200 first class Atlanta to San Diego. Waiting at my seat 1D was a standard domestic First Class pillow and blanket. Delta Air Lines: Forget domestic first class on Delta. Once that was resolved, there was a passenger whose seat was occupied by someone else. Service began with a hot towel. Yes, in general the US domestic experience, even for ‘elite’ FF members, is underwhelming. Of the “big three” US carriers, Delta offers the most consistently pleasant domestic first class experience, in my opinion — service is consistently friendly, all seats have outlets and most have personal televisions, they have pillows, blankets, and bottled water at … After checking in at the nearly empty Sky Priority lane, I went through the security. First — For domestic flights, first class entails the SkyPriority service, a larger seat, priority boarding, pre-departure beverages and meal service based on the length of your flight. They didn't distribute menus, but asked us whether we wanted the omelet or the oatmeal. I find Delta First Class tickets are the best way to earn whopping VA Status Credits at a much cheaper rate than back home. Our 757 had 20 recliner First seats in a 2-2 configuration. Delta Domestic First Class First class seating aboard Delta’s A220 (Photo by Darren Murph/The Points Guy) While Delta’s domestic first class is nothing to write home about, it’s perfectly acceptable on short hops. As such, I arrived at the airport over two hours before the 8AM departure. Matt is a Senior Content Producer for Point Hacks, joining the team in 2016. Baggage size must not exceed 62 inches (157 cm) when you total LENGTH + WIDTH + HEIGHT; Visit Carry-On Baggage to find sizing and requirements for carry-on baggage; For Delta SkyMiles Medallion Members and Delta SkyMiles® American Express Card Members, your first standard checked bag flies free; Checked baggage allowance each way price varies by route and fare class The Delta Airbus 320 is one of my lesser favored aircraft as I find the plane to be a little noisy and seating is also a little tight with the 36” pitch. One-way fares from Omaha were relatively cheap if we connected in Minneapolis. Since she can’t eat almonds due to a nut allergy I had to take one for the team and eat both dishes…. Like most frequent flyers would agree, there’s something special about being in seat 1A. Copyright © 2016 Passenger Poldberg, All rights reserved. In this case I’d already booked my award ticket from Los Anglese (LAX) to Sydney (SYD), but I still needed one more positioning flight to get from Omaha (OMA) to LA. If you are as lucky as I was, you’ll get mushy vegetables on stale white bread: In terms of the customer service, my two flights could not have been more different. Flight Review: Delta One Business Class Suite A350 Detroit To Tokyo. While you may see business class mentioned on Delta’s website, this is mainly to do with the different fare types Delta sells. Delta’s domestic fleet is sizable, with everything from Boeing 717s to the new Airbus A220. Wifi has been progressively rolled out to the majority of Delta’s fleet: I clocked download speeds of 0.4-1.2 Mbps and upload speeds of 0.2-0.4 Mbps on my two flights, which is poor. Since this was the only ticket I was paying for out of pocket I decided to splurge. Overall, it was a pretty standard Delta First configuration for a short or medium-haul flight. I’m a big fan of documentaries so I decided to watch the Allen Iverson one. Chances are that if you are flying domestically within the US, you’ll be on an aircraft like the Boeing 737 or 757 with recliner seats in a 2-2 configuration: If you are flying on a transcontinental route, i.e. No problems with the meal service or other comfort were noticed. In my opinion, redeeming for Delta domestic First Class flights is not one of the best uses of Velocity points. In June 2016, I had the chance to try out Delta’s premium domestic product for the first time, flying a tiny Bombardier CRJ-900 for the very short half-hour hop from Toronto Pearson to Detroit on SkyWest (a Delta affiliate) and onto Denver on a more common Boeing 757 operated by the mainline Delta fleet and crew. Airline: Delta. On… The Delta domestic first class seat on the 737 offers 37 inches of pitch, which is about 7 more than regular economy and 3 more than Comfort+. Boarding started with premium cabin customers and Diamond Medallion members. Booking closer to the departure date would have been considerably more expensive. Delta First Class Bottom Line. Originally from Sydney, he won the Diversity Visa Lottery and now bases himself in Austin, Texas. It was fun to give domestic first class a try. There were 3 rows of first class in a 2-2 configuration. We do an annual trip to the States and I’m always booking First Class domestic travel. Delta Air Lines First Class - DL4023/DL1854 Toronto Pearson to Denver, Point Hacks® is published by Point Hacks Australia Pty Ltd (ACN 622 987 160), a corporate authorised credit representative (Number: 504786) of MSC Advisory Pty Ltd ACN 607 459 441 (Australian Credit License: 480649), Read the Point Hacks guide to SkyTeam Alliance in Australia, Read the Point Hacks guide on how to choose the best seat for your flight, check the wifi access prices on the Delta website, Start your Velocity award space research with Virgin Australia here, Read the Point Hacks guide on when frequent flyer programs release award space for redemptions, Velocity’s partner changes announced in July 2017, Read the Point Hacks guide to maximising Velocity Points for US domestic flights, Read the Point Hacks overview of Alaska Airlines First Class, Read the Point Hacks review of Virgin America First Class, Read the full Point Hacks guide to earning points with the Amex Platinum Charge, Check out the Point Hacks’ ranking of domestic US airlines, Review of the Pudong Shangri-La, Shanghai, Qantas Boeing 737-800 Economy Class overview, MSC Advisory Pty Ltd ACN 607 459 441 (Australian Credit License: 480649), American Express Membership Rewards Guide, Virgin Australia bonus point credit cards, American Airlines AAdvantage buy miles guide, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan buy miles guide, United Airlines Mileage Plus buy miles guide, All Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer Guides, Loyalty Program Points Conversion Calculator, Use Frequent Flyer Points or a Paid Ticket Calculator, Delta One passengers travelling on transcontinental routes, e.g. Upon boarding first and stowing my backpack in the overhead bins as 1A is a bulkhead, I sat down in my window seat. Deric "Passenger" Poldberg is the Midwest's leading expert in credit cards, miles and points.