Review: Delta Air Lines A330-900neo Business Class

My trip to Europe began with a Delta Air Lines flight in “Delta One” business class onboard the Airbus A330-900neo from Los Angeles to London. No, the Delta One Suite is not my favorite business class seat, but the service and meals onboard were outstanding.

Delta Air Lines A330-900neo Business Class Review

The Delta One check-in experience on the lower level of LAX Terminal 3 is outstanding, as is the Sky Club lounge. About an hour before scheduled departure, I headed down to the gate, hoping to be the first aboard so I could get some pictures (and succeeding).

I don’t fly much on Delta and quite liked the refurbished departure gates in LAX Terminal 3. I think anyone who can remember what Terminal 3 used to look like will agree…

Delta 186
Los Angeles (LAX) – London (LHR)
Monday, February 19
Depart: 07:00 PM
Arrive: 01:40 PM+1
Duration: 10hr, 40min
Distance: 5,456 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A330-900neo
Seat: 3J (“Delta One” Business Class)

Onboard, I was welcomed warmly by Tony, the purser, and shown to my seat by the lovely Michelle. more on them below.

Seat

Delta One business class on the “339” has 29 seats arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration in a single cabin. I was seated in 3J, which was a mistake in that it is an “aisle” seat rather than a “window” seat (due to the position of the side console). On United Airlines, my usual carrier, the odd-numbered seats are “true” windows while on Delta the opposite is true. It did not really matter, but I would choose an even-numbered A or J seat next time to make it even easier to look out the window.

I loved the mood lighting and bedding (pillow and duvet), but I do think the Thompson Aero Vantage seats are not as comfortable as others in the upright position (though by no means bad) because it feels like there is less padding at shoulder level. The seat also rocked slightly when I leaned back in a way that felt like it could have been screwed in tighter.

But in the lie-flat position, this seat does have plenty of room for your feet and I  slept well for about five hours (not quite as long as I would have liked because both meal services took longer). Delta’s bedding gets the job done well and there are individual air nozzles which I turned on when I went to sleep.

Each seat has a closing door:

Another thing the seat has going for it is easy access to power ports (at shoulder level on the adjacent console). Plugs include a universal power outlet, USB-A outlet, and USB-C outlet. I used all three at once with no issue.

There’s plenty of personal storage as well:

And even a coat hook:

Finally, I appreciated the suite lighting options available. Lights could be turned on and off, but also placed in an ambient position that provided backlight, giving the suite a nice glow.

Food + Drink

A glass of sparkling wine was offered during boarding (in a “real” glass…something American and United do not offer).

Menus were waiting on the seat, but I had pre-ordered dinner from an expanded pre-order menu.

The pre-order availability was never emailed to me (perhaps because I booked via Air France-KLM Flying Blue), but I found it when pulling up my reservation on the Delta app. Sadly, there was no lamb on the menu, but I ordered salmon, one of the two pre-order-only choices.

(as an aside, I’ve had the meatballs before and loved them – it did cross my mind to ask for a second meal, but by the time I had finished the tacos in the lounge and my own multi-course meal, I was quite full)

Dinner

Dinner service began after takeoff with a hot towel followed by a beverage and warm mixed nuts. I loved that the nut mix included pecans and pistachios…two of my favorites. I also loved the attractive cocktail napkin (it almost looked like a cloth napkin) with the Delta logo on it. The nuts were served warm.

The appetizers were served as a separate course on a tray and included four elements:

• Chilled Shrimp
  • creamy tarragon, lemon
• Charred Onion Soup
  • Gruyere crostini
• Baby spinach
  • shaved red onion, blue cheese, pepitas, balsamic vinaigrette
• Rosemary Focaccia
  • Banner Butter or extra virgin olive oil

Then came the main course and I must give Delta great credit for the delicious roasted salmon dish (with borlotti beans, braised fennel, and lemon-thyme vinaigrette). Once again, the main course on Delta One was one of the best dishes I have ever had on an airplane: the flavors were perfect.

I had a glass of Gerard Bertrand Cote Des Roses, a crisp and refreshing French Rosé that paired perfectly with the fish.

A cheese course followed (unlike the Brits, I prefer my cheese before my sweets) with Roth Aged Gouda, Grand Cru Gruyere, grapes, and very nice sourdough flatbread crackers with olive oil and sea salt (crackers matter greatly…this was very appreciated).

Finally, the meal concluded with an ice cream sundae with a Lotus Biscoff cookie crumble on top. Delicious! I had a cup of decaf coffee with it.

I enjoyed every element of this meal: great shrimp, great soup, great salad, really great fish, great cheese, and great ice cream. Delta does a wonderful job with catering.

Brunch

About two hours before landing, brunch was served…a choice between eggs or pizza.

Cheddar Scrambled Eggs
chicken date sausage, hash brown casserole

or

Mushroom French Bread Pizza
chopped salad, balsamic vinaigrette

Since our landing time was in the afternoon in London, offering a “lunch” choice made sense.

But I was in the mood for breakfast and the scrambled eggs were a very simple yet nice dish (good sausage too). I appreciated the espresso with it, though I switched to Delta’s “regular” Starbucks coffee and prefer it. In fact, it even tasted stronger to me and was much warmer than the espresso shot…

Out of curiosity, I asked about the pizza and apparently, it was not a popular choice, because I was offered one (“one or more”).  I tried it…and thought it was a soggy mess. Definitely order the eggs!

Before landing, a dark chocolate square from Valhorna was offered.

Wi-Fi + IFE

Wi-Fi was available for purchase, with a flight pass costing $9.95 (and oddly, a three-hour pass costing the same).

It was nice to stay connected, though I always complete essential work before a long flight, preparing for the worst (the internet not working at all). As a result, I rarely “need” wi-fi on an overnight flight.

A library of hundreds of movies (617 to be precise) and TV series (106) were available, along with games and music (131 albums). I did not watch a movie on this flight, but did have the flight map on while awake.

It was a rainy night outside in LA:

Noise-cancelling headphones were provided and while American Airlines offers better headphones to its business class guests, at least these Delta ones were not collected before landing.

Amenity Kit

Slippers were proactively placed on each seat, as was an amenity kit (identical to the amenity kit I received on my domestic Delta One flight from Washington to Los Angeles last year).

Delta has transitioned away from Tumi (I still use an old one as my travel toiletry bag) and now uses Someone Somewhere for its Delta One amenity kits. I found the bag to be quite practical (my son uses it now to keep his colored pencils in) and the contents were useful, including:

• Toothbrush + toothpaste from The Thumble Co.
• Lip balm + hand creme from Grown Alchemist
• Delta-branded pen
• Eyeshade
• Earplugs

Lavatory

In the Delta One cabin, there is one lavatory in the front (on the port side) and one in the rear (on the starboard side). The lavatory included hand wash from Grown Alchemist.

Despite being a brand-new aircraft, the lavatory did appear a bit battered:

Service

Great service onboard this flight, particularly from Tony, Michelle, and Kirk. Kudos to Tony for going around the cabin to introduce himself to every passenger before takeoff and then to thank everyone before landing.

Michelle and Kirk worked my side of the cabin and provided charming and professional service. Here’s Michelle:

I appreciated that the cabin crew was so friendly. Everyone was in a very good mood. Furthermore, the meal service was fairly efficient considering the cabin filled up.

My only complaint was that the pre-arrival service began before we even reached Ireland, over two hours prior to landing, which is about an hour too early as far as I am concerned.

CONCLUSION

We landed in London an hour ahead of schedule…not something I enjoy on an overnight flight when I am trying to sleep. But the early arrival did make my onward connection far less tight. There still wasn’t time to visit the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in Terminal 3, unfortunately, since my connection departed from Terminal 4.

This was a great flight on Delta with good service and nice food. The seat is excellent too…not my favorite, but very spacious and I slept well.

Delta very recently canceled this route, ceding all its Los Angeles – London service to joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic. However, you can still catch the A330-900neo in business class out of LA on other routes.

I look forward to flying Delta again.

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