Yesterday I flew from Honolulu to Los Angeles in Delta First Class, the first time I have flown Delta in four years.
Overall, the flight was excellent. Service was particularly outstanding: both attentive and friendly. Although I was never addressed by name, the crew was very kind and definitely a high point on the flight.
My flight was operated by an internationally-configured 767-300 with lie-flat seating up front. While Delta’s premium seats are not my favorite lie-flat variant, it is a very comfortable ride to go from Honolulu to the Mainland.
Gogo Wi-Fi worked well throughout the flight, though the “loose” power outlet nearly drove me crazy. My laptop cable kept falling out and I ended up propping it up with my water bottle.
Delta uses Westin-branded bedding and the pillow and blanket were very plush.
Kudos to Delta for a great lavatory configuration. I loved having move to room around and brush my teeth without spitting on myself, like so many congested airline lavatories. Delta also uses Malin & Goetz soap, which smells great.
I enjoyed a great selection of in-flight movies, though selection was no better than what a typical United flight offers.
Meal Service
Meal service was a surprise, and not in a good way. I was expecting menus and a sundae cart, but service was actually much simpler than my usual trip on United (and I’m not comparing it the special final 747 flight). Meal orders were taken prior to pushback, with a choice between salmon with potatoes or beef hoison with rice.
No warmed nuts were served prior to the meal, just a snack basket with cookies, pretzels, or almonds.
The meal itself was served on a single tray and contained only a salad, main course, and small container of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream.
It was a perfectly fine meal, but I was surprised there was no appetizer and dessert was so economy-esque.
FAs roamed the cabin often over the next few hours offering drink refills and additional selections from the snack basket.
We landed about 30 minutes early in Los Angeles.
CONCLUSION
That’s the mini-report. I’ll have more details in the full trip report, but I 1.) enjoyed flying Delta very much but 2.) will stick to United.
Par for the course on delta. Their non tcon domestic F meals leave lots to be desired. No nuts, sometimes no apps, no separate fresh desserts – just packaged cookies or the packaged ice cream. The entrees are usually pretty good however. Both AA and ua do a better domestic F meal offering across the board
This is considered a domestic first-class flight. If you were on a “premium” route such as ATL-HNL or MSP-HNL, you would’ve had an “upgraded” service. The fact that you got premium bedding for this flight is a pretty big deal because that’s not usually what’s offered on this route.
Regarding the loose power outlet – in my travel bag I always carry a small European outlet adapter (round prongs). Just attach it to your charger and plug in the outlet. Solves the issue every time.
@Dominik: I finally ended up doing this (always carry one also), but very annoying anyway.
Delta has always had the worst catering of the US3. Here is why DL is beyond over-rated and is not at all the premium carrier in our country.
1. Poor 1st class catering services as mentioned above
2. On most domestic routes, DL 1st class has much tighter pitch and less recline than the other carriers
3. Many flights that AA/Ua serve hot meals on , Delta just gives a snack basket. EX: LAX-DEN is one of MANY
4. Your meal was HNL-LAX, you should see how poor the tray looks form FLL-LGA. Mostly cold food, poor looking sandwiches that are without explanation worse than 7-11 quality. There is a ham sandwhih going around that is just nasty
5. Skyteam – enough said!
6. No 1st class on themselves or any partner allowed (so much for being a premium carrier, will not allow redemption on partners 1st class)
7. Poor catering in coach on BOB flights. Only cold options, not tasty
8. NO PROPER INTERNATIONAL DEPARTURE LOUNGES! While AA/UA are finishing up some nice refurbs of their lounges, DL just has the synthetic chicken and pastas in their over-rated Skyclubs ( OK, SFO, SEA, ATL B may be nice but none of the others are up to standards for Intl” Oh, and of course you may have aDL salad in the skyclub with some Class Hidden valley dressing.
Omg, really!? Be happy you have the financial ability to travel at all, let alone your 1st class accommodations. Oh…there’s no appetizer, cry me a river! Im happy to be able to afford to keep the heat on in the winter!
But why are you reading a frequent flyer blog with an emphasis on premium travel?
It’s about being worth the price point or not. Haven’t you seen the BuzzFeed show ‘Worth It’ where they take 3 of something at different prices and decide what was best at the different price points? If you’re paying $1.5K round-trip for a flight, then you better get damn good service.
If you can’t afford hot water, then this blog isn’t for you.
The main meal itself looks rather disappointing for business class and is probably something I would expect in economy class. I think the ice cream is fine for domestic business class. The best dessert I get in economy class when flying internationally is perhaps a packaged brownie or cookie, I would be happy with the ice cream. Did you use miles or cash for this flight?
Miles, though there is a story behind it that I’ll share next week.
Anyone who says “Delta has always had the worst catering of the US3”, has seriously never flown United. Wasn’t even close for a long time – maybe equivalent now.
I agree with the other posters: lower your expectations! Hawaii to mainland is considered domestic for every carrier (and also in reality for that matter). Most airlines have no meals in coach (even UA’s 11 hr HNL-EWR flight) so just be lucky you got a “snack” in UA parlance. Well actually, you got a snack + “snack.” I think the snack basket in lieu of warm nuts is nicer in a way (larger portion and variety). It stinks you didn’t get a separate dessert but even UA discontinued the ice cream/sorbet course domestically IIRC.
But DL’s 1-2-1 is much better than UA’s awful 772 HD configuration.
Agree.
I did LAX to HNL last nite first class had a chicken ok meal but no snacks passed..As we were deplaning the FA took out the snack basket for the family in front of us!!!!!
Riding first class on delta to hawaii, I expect 3 meal
A lie flat bed, and I hope I’m not disappointed
This will be my first trip to honolulu Hawai’i
I dont know if iOS felt or delta one plane. They just wo
Won’t let me know