For many years, I refused to fly Delta. My re discovery of them has been a great experience and this recent almost perfect flight was confirmation that Delta have a lot to offer these days.
Booking 10 out of 10
The Delta.com web site is very straightforward and gave fare options for both First Class and Coach. The booking engine flows well, is logical and a pleasure to use. When making my seat selection, I chose 1C being the only seat left in the front row of First Class.
Check in: 10 out of 10
Delta has a great online check in system. It was a pleasure to use. Delta provided a range of fare options across their coach and First Class cabins.
During the check in process, when I looked at my seat options, I found 1D, the window seat in Row 1 was available so shifted across.I do like my window seat!
Boarding: 8 out of 10
Security lines were quite okay at this time of day at Columbus. With my First Class access, Boarding was a breeze. Within minutes, I was settled in my seat and watching the rest of the plane board.
On Board: 10 out of 10
Jeff, the flight attendant in charge of First Class, welcomed us to the cabin soon after takeoff and took our meal orders. He was friendly for the flight and I appreciated bis hospitality.
I am not normally a fan of the 737 but up front was very pleasant. My seat was very comfortable. The whole cabin was fresh and clean. Effectively there were, three types of seating:
- First Class: 16 seats with a pitch if 38″ and a width of 20.5″ arranged 2-2
- Economy Comfort Class: 18 seats with a pitch if 35-36″ and a width of 17″ arranged 3-3
- Economy Class: 90 seats with 31″-32″ and a width of 17″ arranged 3-3
Take off: 10 out of 10
We pushed back a little later than the 750 departure time at 755pm. We taxied very quickly to the runway and were off with no great fuss.
Entertainment: 8 out of 10
Delta have AVOD (Audio and Video on Demand) with TV, Movies and radio as well as the flight tracker. i enjoyed watching Modern Family and How I met your mother as I munched through dinner but thought that selections were a little limited and a regular flyer may get sick of the same episodes! The AVOD system worked smoothly.
On board wifi was also available and worked well.
Meals: 8 out of 10
Having eaten First Class domestic meal offerings on American (lousy), United (abysmal) and US Airways (simply packets of snacks), Delta’s First Class meal was an amazing pleasure. The airline seems to still consider First Class as a real place. The first surprise was that any drink from the bar is available before the plane has left the ground. The second was that the airline used real table clothes and knives and forks!
When the actual meal arrived, we started with a tasty fresh salad. This was followed by an acceptable lasagne and finally a nice slice of chocolate cake.
Landing 10 out of 10
We landed at 2141, a minute later than planned. Disembarkation was very quick for me!
The Verdict
My Flight Rating: Overall 93% (5 out of 5).
My Overall rating of Delta Airlines: 4.1 out of 5 (based on my 20 Delta flights)
Skytrax Rating of Delta : 3 star
Positives: Staff, wifi, punctuality
Negatives: Entertainment system
Would I fly them again? Yes – very impressed. Keep this up!
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Love my Delta! 🙂
I’m surprised you consider AA’s dom. F meals as “lousy”. Personally, I believe they provide the best meals in dom. F.
Welcome to the new Delta. The domestic in-flight product is impressive for domestic hops.
Good review, although I would second Jim’s statement. AA F meals > Delta F meals by a long shot, except maybe LAX/SFO – JFK
Are you serious about Delta’s booking engine? It might be fine for a paid ticket, but is useless when it comes to trying to you use your skypesos for good redemptions? I agree that their in flight product is better than AA or UA or UA(doesn’t take much), but they really need to work on their website.
what a surprise! the AA flights I have most been on are JFK-LAX. My experience has been tired AA planes with grumpy staff and wilted food.
I have found the Delta booking engine great for my redemptions. Just think Delta need more skypeso seats!
agreed…I had given up in delta…
Maybe we have been on different flights? I have not had any good experience of AA for some years now
Just remember that Delta (which I love — dont’ get me wrong) only gives hot meals on flights over 1500 miles. So your fun looking meal is a bit of a rarity
@James You are correct up to some extent. They do have a distance or time limit and only on flights that crossed that threshold, they serve hot meals. It certainly is not 1500 miles as they served hot meals every time on flights of 1400 miles. I don’t know what the threshold is though.
You’re comparing an almost transcon flight with us short haul for meal service, not really fair.
No I am comparing like for like. A large number of my US flights are trans con. I usually fly into LAX and have to fly PHL, PIT, NYC. I have flown on American and United the most for these followed by Delta, US and latterly Virgin.