I had a very pleasant flight on a Delta A350-900 in “Delta One” business class from Los Angeles to Atlanta, a flight that felt like a longhaul international journey in many ways despite its short duration.

Delta Air Lines A350-900 “Delta One” Business Class Review

Delta is now branding its flights between Los Angeles and Atlanta that operate on a widebody jet as Delta One, similar to the way American Airlines brands its widebody service only between Los Angeles and Miami as Flagship.

I arrived at the airport 2.5 hours before my flight (typically I cut it very close and arrive about 45-60 minutes prior to departure), to utilize the posh Delta One check-in facility on the arrivals level of Terminal 3 and the Delta One Lounge. I enjoyed a delicious breakfast ahead of my flight and wish I had even longer in the lounge.

This flight departed from the Tom Bradley International Terminal, which was about a 10-minute walk from the lounge.

Boarding began 40 minutes prior to departure.

Delta Air Lines 327
Los Angeles (LAX) – Atlanta (ATL)
Saturday, May 9
Depart: 9:30 AM
Arrive: 4:26 PM
Duration: 03hr, 56min
Distance: 1,946 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Seat: 5A (“Delta One” Business Class)

Onboard, I found a refurbished cabin reflecting Delta’s latest color palette. The seats are darker, the blues are gone, but the cabin looks refined (it would have looked even more refined if the mood lights had been turned on).

Seats

Delta has two A350-900 configurations, one with 40 seats (including a mini-cabin of eight seats behind door 2) and a 32-seat cabin, which I flew on here.

Delta’s A350s have 32 seats in business class in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration. Each suite in business class has direct aisle access and a sliding door that offers additional privacy. All seats face forward. The modified Thompson Vantage XL seat can also be found on SAS and Qantas (among others), though without doors.

I prefer “true” window seats (which on this aircraft are odd numbered A and D seats), I chose 5A, which happened to still be available even though I booked this flight less than 24 hours prior to departure.

The seat is well-padded and features a wireless charging port for your mobile device, though like so many such devices, I could not get it to charge…

Seat controls include four pre-set modes plus manual adjustments and also control lighting.

On the side there’s a second set of controls that make it easier to recline or incline the seat while you are sleeping.

Each suite has a universal A/C outlet and a USB-C port (easily within reach), plus a dimmable lamp.

A lid at my armrest flips up, housing a control for the IFE and a mirror.

Finally, there’s a bit of storage on the side where the headphones are stored (and I found some trash there that the aircraft cleaners had missed, so even Delta struggles here).

Overhead, there are personal air vents, though the cabin never got warm during the flight:

The cabin remained dark for the entire flight (despite it being morning…):

Full bedding was offered including a mattress topper, pillow, and duvet.

Amenity Kit + Slippers

One thing that made this feel like an international flight was the full Missoni amenity kit. Unlike American and United, which offers very small amenity kits on their premium domestic flights, Delta offers the full Missoni kit, which includes products I find extremely useful like Marvis toothpaste (love it) and Grown Alchemy skin products.

Missoni-branded slippers were also offered:

Food + Drink

Meal service began after takeoff with a hot towel followed by a choice of beverage and mixed nuts.

The menu was elaborate, also like a longhaul flight:

Breakfast was served on a single tray with a yogurt appetizer, salmon side dish, main course, and a mini-scone. I chose:

Cheddar Scrambled Eggs
chicken date sausage, hashbrown casserole

The other breakfast choices were French Toast or a breakfast burrito and the scrambled eggs were excellent.

I had a cup of coffee (Starbucks) with breakfast, but espresso was also available (though no cappuccino…I was told there was no milk foamer available).

Later in the the flight a snack basket was offered and a warm chocolate chip cookies followed by a piece of chocolate were offered before landing. 

IFE + Wi-Fi

You never know about Wi-Fi and so I managed to complete all my essential work before the flight (at the expense of my sleep), but the Wi-Fi worked well and was free for SkyMiles members. Noise-cancelling headphones were offered and the IFE library included hundreds of TV shows, movies, games, and music, plus a moving flight map (but no tailcams on the Delta A350).

I watched a sci-fi movie I very much enjoyed on the interaction between AI and the way called Mercy. 

Lavatory

There are four lavatories, two in the front of the plane exclusively for Delta One passengers and two just behind the business class cabin that are shared with Comfort Plus (premium economy). The lavatories include Grown Alchemist soap.

Interestingly, the lavatories have no ashtrays…

Service

Finally, the service was pleasant on this flight, but not otherwise noteworthy. Flight attendants were not as proactive in offering refills as I’ve seen on other Delta flights, though I could have rang the call bell if I wanted something (and at one point, I did). Midway through the flight I asked if there were any mixed nuts left and was obliged with a second helping.

CONCLUSION

We landed in Atlanta late, but I was still able to make my connection.

It was a pleasure to fly on Delta One on a domestic flight and the upgraded amenities are noticeable. Certainly any widebody on a U.S. domestic flight is itself an upgrade, but the enchanted soft product on this flight was really nice. The true value-add, however, was the Delta One Lounge access.

I don’t think there will be much domestic travel this summer, but if there is I hope to do another Delta One segment…

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