On a recent work trip, I had to fly to New York City. JetBlue, American and Delta Airlines offer lie-flat seats to JFK airport. Since I’m a Diamond Medallion with Delta, I chose to fly Delta to earn more MQM’s and mileage. I also had some Regional Upgrades Certificates (RUC) which bumped me up on the waitlist for Delta ONE.
In This Post
Delta ONE 767-300 LAX to JFK
The plane I flew on was a Boeing 767-300 with Delta ONE configured in a 1-2-1 seating.
Pre-Boarding Service
I was served my pre-boarding champagne and the flight attendant handed me the new Tumi amenity kit. Delta started rolling out their new amenity kits on Delta ONE last August. I was surprised how many items were in the new amenity kit. It offered a hand sanitizer, mouthwash, TUMI eyemask, Kiehl’s lip balm, hand lotion, Crest toothpaste, tissues, and ear plugs. For international Delta ONE passengers, Delta offers a hard case Tumi amenity kit.
Delta ONE 767-300 Meal Service
I love trying new beer when I travel. Delta Airlines always offer great regional beers depending on the route you fly. I decided to try the Brooklyn Lager for the first time. The beer was too hoppy for my liking. Even though I’m a big Pilsner and Lager guy.
For starters, I was served maple-glazed smoked salmon with farro salad and green apple mignonette.
I chose the goat cheese and chive ravioli. It came with farro risotto, walnuts, roasted grapes and marsala cream sauce. This dish was absolutely delicious, unlike my penne pasta I had on my Delta ONE LAX to Tokyo flight.
I had to get two scoops of their rich and creamy vanilla ice-cream. I’m more of a strawberry topping type of guy but I can’t complain too much.
The Bald Thoughts
There are a few options for transcontinental flights you can choose from LAX but it comes down to personal preference. From what I read and heard from friends, Jetblue MINT is probably the best option when it comes to overall experience. I have yet to fly JetBlue to really experience it. Hopefully this year I can try it out. In the past few years, Delta Airlines has been pushing very aggressively to take over the LA market away from United and American. I would like to see what the three major airlines do 2018 to differentiate from one another for transcontinental flights.
I guess Delta is putting their best 767s on that domestic route. I flew a 767-400ER JFK-FCO three days ago and it was probably the worst business class flight I can recall. Boarding was chaotic, even after a P.A. request for the gate lice to step aside for the Delta Ones. My mild mannered spouse commented on how “sorry” (a southern expression as we live near ATL) the interior looked, with broken plastic pieces on the bulkhead, chipped and worn pieces on the arm rests and cracks in the leather seats. While the cabin crew was attentive, they seemed to struggle dealing with the full cabin. While it was too warm as is usual, I came prepared and removed my cotton quarter-zip pullover and wore my some sort of logo t-shirt while not complaining. After twenty minutes the IFE malfunctioned and had to be rebooted which was expected to take twenty minutes. Just over an hour later it came back and I fast forwarded to where I’d left off. Oh yeah, the inane movie was the only on that the IFE would let me select. The dinner meal of the normal over-cooked beef was served more than ninety minutes after take off so any sleep time was delayed. Those not warned off the omelet option for breakfast were disappointed, some vocally. I can eat almost anything after five years in the army and plenty of time in a combat zone but this was inedible after a couple bites. One of our seats refused to work and wasn’t made functional again until after the meal service. Should I contact Delta for some compensation, maybe a a couple thousand Skymiles? No, why bother. I’ll continue to fly them domestically for convenience sake, but go out of my way to avoid them internationally.
What a shameful experience. I would definitely complain and request some SkyPesos as compensation. Even though you’re avoiding flying with Delta internationally, you can always try to use those miles on one of their partners. Let us know what they say.