I had to make a very quick trip to Seattle last week for work. I was on the ground all of 23 hours. I was very fortunate that the weather in both Atlanta and Seattle (and most of the country) was very nice so I had no delays. In fact, both flights landed about 1/2 hour early.
I booked a round-trip through Delta on a fairly expensive cash fare (as it was getting reimbursed) and managed to apply Regional Upgrade Certificates at the time of booking to ensure a First Class seat both ways. These days, in or out of Atlanta, it is basically almost impossible to get upgraded as a Delta Platinum because Delta often sells most of the First Class seats at fairly competitive prices. For both flights there were around 50 people on the upgrade list for the one F seat remaining at the 24-hour mark.
My outbound flight was on a 737-900. On this flight, a predeparture beverage was offered and since it was early afternoon and I didn’t have any work obligations for the rest of that day, I had a Woodford and ginger ale. You can see there is also a bottle of water that was at my seat when I arrived.
The legroom was pretty good even with my backpack down at my feet. I stuck my bag toward the middle and I had room on the left for my feet.
Before takeoff, the flight attendant confirmed my pre-booked meal order. These were the options:
After we took off, drinks and snacks were served first. I had some pretzels (not pictured) and a second Woodford and ginger ale.
Next, meals were served. I had preordered the curry and it was served about 45 minutes after takeoff.
It was fine. Nothing special. The sauce wasn’t very spicy, but I’ve had worse meals on Delta. The tiramisu dessert was tasty. For the rest of the flight, the flight attendants were around and offered drink refills and another round of snacks an hour or so before landing.
This is the longest domestic flight from Atlanta within the continental US at around five and a half hours (although it was only five for me this time). I wish there was a chance of a wide-body with lay flat seats on this flight, but the market probably can’t support that much capacity without sacrificing frequency. I managed to do a bit of work and watched several episodes of a show I had downloaded to my iPad, but couldn’t fall asleep sitting up when I tried to nap a bit.
For the return flight, I was on an A321neo, one of the newer Delta domestic aircraft. They redesigned First Class for these planes to provide (supposedly) more comfort, privacy and technology. They got it mostly right.
While the tech is good (multiple USB chargers, Bluetooth headphone connections), the weird storage space in the middle that is supposedly for laptops or tablets make it very hard to get out from the window seat (as my seatmate struggled with this). Some people also have complained online about the firmness of the seat but I actually found it fine for this four hour plus flight.
On this flight, despite boarding being completed early and the flight not being at all full in main cabin, no predeparture beverage was served. We just got a bottle of water and post-departure drink orders were taken. My pre-order was also confirmed. Here are the options:
Note that I had selected the short rib when I took this screenshot, but changed my mind to the pasta salad as I realized I would probably eat a more substantial meal in the SkyClub before the flight.
About 1/2 hour after takeoff, drinks and snacks were served. I had my now standard Woodford and ginger ale, but just one this time as I was driving home after landing.
My meal was brought out soon after.
The chicken was actually sliced even though the picture looks like a whole breast. The dish was light and tasty as was the lemon meringue dessert. As it was approaching 8pm Eastern time by the time I ate, I think the short rib would have been too heavy.
I finally remembered to redeem my “premium snack” on this flight. If you are a Delta Amex cardholder and log in to the wifi, you can show the flight attendant the screen and they will bring you one of three premium snacks. I chose the Nerds gummy one to snack on later in the flight for a bit of an energy boost before my drive home.
We landed early and I said goodbye to my seatmate and her furry friend.
Flying across the country and back in two days is not a great deal of fun, but being able to upgrade both ways made it bearable. Delta has fairly consistent standards in First Class and both flights had pleasant crews and decent food and drink to help pass the time. The Wi-Fi worked pretty well both ways and suffered very few drops. The only inconsistency was in pre-departure beverage service.
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