Unlike Ben, for whom international flights are a quotidian experience (although less so lately), I take maybe ten international flights per year. For me, each one is a big deal, and I still get really excited for them. (Heck, a Southwest flight from Milwaukee to DC still excites me.) A few weeks ago, I was…
Continue reading: My Delta One Suites Experience Didn’t Quite Go As Expected…
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still, 15k miles for a whole tray of drinks dunked on you seems a bit low... There are folks who got awarded 30k for a half-reclining reverse herringbone.
incidentally, 3 weeks ago on a HU flight a flight attendant in my J cabin also broke a champagne flute and she scurried around the cabin like a sad child the rest of the journey... what these folks had been through on the frontline of service industry is hard to imagine for me.
Shouldn't you use a more modern and gender neutral word 'partner' or 'theyfriend' instead of old fashioned and gender emphasizing 'boyfriend'?
You really need to get a better camera - some of the pictures of the menu were pretty blurry when zoomed in. Otherwise, great review!
I am still crying over the spilled champagne and haven’t been able to read the other paragraphs.
Couple of stupid comments here
@ Kevin It’s his boyfriend. There’s no problem hetro couples saying wife or girlfriend
@ beyounged it’s not just about compensation. It’s about how it was handled. It appears the crew were wonderful so why ask for anymore
No rev absolutely have to give up a seat for a revenue passenger I’m surprised you were embarrassed to accept the offer Likewise had it been at the gate it’s as if the nonrev was boarded and you refused
ONLY 10 international flights a year? Your poor under-privileged thing.
Excuse me as I go throw up in my mouth,
As a gay man in my 30s, I find the term "partner" annoying - it sounds so clinical and cold, like business partner or sexual partner. I understand the historical context for its use in the past, but I think using "partner" should be abandoned. Especially in the US, boyfriend/fiancee/husband should be sufficient. What's even worse is hetero couples appropriating "partner" - absolutely ridiculous.
By the way, @Kevin, regarding your views on gender, I can't tell if you're for real or a troll. Either way, ridiculous.
Rule #1 on a long haul. Make sure you seat goes down before you leave the gate. I’ve had this happen to me on 2 red eyes when sitting in 1st. They weren’t Int’l biz seats just domestic but still makes the flight frustrating. So I like to make sure it works before we leave the gate.
Guessing since the whole spilled drink fiasco you prob didn’t have any time to check.
Two years ago I was in First on a United 747 to London and there were several issues with the IFE system. The purser ended up arranging for several certificates worth a total of $175. I much prefer the idea of being compensated with coupons (essentially cash) as opposed to miles.
Whether or not the spilled champagne is something to cry about depends, of course, on the champagne 😉
Sounds like both you and the crew handled the situation appropriately. Although, if the seat were truly broken, I wouldn't have thought twice about displacing a non-rev. An upright business class seat is still better than economy and staff understand the conditions of flight privileges -- a paying customer comes first.
I really hope @Kevin was joking.
Do you think the seat issue could have been caused by liquid damage from the spilt drinks? Judging by the photos the controls seem to be covered in liquid.
Excellent review! Back in my college days, I worked as a waitress in a high end steak house and there is a real talent to balancing a tray of stem glasses and walking briskly through a crowded dining room. In this case, I’m sure it’s a bit more complicated onboard an aircraft in flight. The key is to never lean in near the customer with a tray, much better to have the try positioned low and away from the customer. The food looked great on your flight, much better than the offerings on my recent D1 Suites flight to CDG. As for your photography and your gender references, ignore the noise, your photos are good and the gender references neither offensive or old fashioned.
I usually carry a spare change of clothes in my carry-on, but I never thought of this as one of the reasons to do so! Dang. I'm glad everyone was good sports about it. I wonder if all of the champagne somehow shorted out the seat? Anyway, great review, but make Ben buy you an iPhone 10s so you can get better low-light pictures 😛
Andrew, please write more often. I love your reviews and your style and you have a great sense of humor. Ignore all the negative comments above, you’re the best.
As a Roman born Italian, that cacio & pepe version makes me want to erase Delta from the planet . More than the 10 hrs delay the last time I’ve Flown with them, some 10 years ago
Just a PSA: booking DeltaOne with Virgin is nearly impossible given the sparse availability. On a refurbished 772 maybe. A350 next to never. It is essentially nonexistent on ATL-ICN.
@Neil -- "I much prefer the idea of being compensated with coupons (essentially cash) as opposed to miles."
If you have a Delta credit card, miles are essentially cash. And sit there in your account with no worry about expiration dates.
----
@CJ "Just a PSA: booking DeltaOne with Virgin is nearly impossible given the sparse availability. On a refurbished 772 maybe. A350 next to never. It is essentially nonexistent on ATL-ICN."
Yes, but bloggers need to tout this hypothetical over and over because it's a 'good deal'.
@MACH81 - Agree! I just noticed that “Calcio e Pepe” abomination. The Roman people should sue Delta and it’s “chef” for the cold blooded murder of the Roman cuisine....
“bibimbap (the inspiration behind Hansen’s hit song)”
Classic! Turned a very good review into a fantastic review!
As others have said, ignore the negative comments. They add no value and only reflect the unhappiness of the posters.
Please write more reviews.
Mach81. A delay 10 years ago. Lol.
Following my last delay on them from Barcelona , I got my eu compensation of eur 600 within 72 hrs of submitting a claim as well as a eur300 voucher to use on delta Air France KLM and Virgin.
They put me in a nice hotel during the stay and were genuinely apologetic.
I was delayed on another US carrier and it took 5 weeks for a response , despite my elite status and despite a 6 hour delay they gave me a $100 voucher as it was not from the EU
There is no picture of the cacio Did you try it on board ?to be fair I would not expect “la cucina della nonna” on a flight given the limitations. Pasta can’t be fresh However the offering on delta is pretty good and they are really trying to improve their product
Great review. I get tired of reading about entitled bloggers (on other sites) who would have never forgiven the FA for spilling the drinks. Life happens. Your perspective makes the story more relatable and interesting.
Jesus Christ died a horrible death on a cross. To save sinners like you and me. Please repent of your homosexuality. He offers full forgiveness for you, and for Ben. I love you.
Am I the only one who thinks those glasses look inherently unstable, especially for a plane?
Wow. In April I took a Delta flight from JFK to Amsterdam. Not Delta One, but I did upgrade to Plus. One hour into the 7 hour flight, the guy next to me knocked over both his drinks (one apple juice, one water) on me. Not just splashed, I was soaked. Poured it out of my shoe.
The flight attendant gave me a wad of paper towels and that was it. I was sticky and cold the rest of the flight. Delta never did squat for me.
I'm impressed with how the crew handled both situations. When stuff goes wrong, service recovery matters, and it sounds like they were masterful at it. I'm particularly impressed by them CALLING maintenance to learn how to re-set the seat; I just have this feeling most other airlines would say "tough luck" after the FA pressed a few buttons.
I am also happy that Delta has a corporate policy that a non-rev should move to a malfunctioning seat if a revenue passenger's seat has a problem; while that stinks for the non-rev, it is the right policy. Finally, kudos to you for handling the drink tray situation gracefully. Nice post.
What a great review!, good natured, and in some places hilarious. I fly Delta internationally (out of LAX) several times a year, both transAtlantic and transPacific, and with rare exception always have a great experience. Disclaimer: I do have the AmEx Delta card, and usually have a decent elite status. I also like the partner airlines, especially KLM and Air France, not so much Alitalia. I also enjoy the laid-back style of most of the flight attendants on Delta itself, but they're rather stiff on some of the partners, especially Korean when the poor flight attendants, 99% women, are forced to have the same facial expression, smile constantly, and even fix their hair identically. Seems to plastic and insincere.
Time to lay down the rules:
It's a human right to call one's lover what one wants: if someone's identity freaks you out, that's both okay and your problem. So recognize it as your problem, don't beat yourself up, and find a way forward.
Stuff happens on airplanes. Years ago, during PDBs, I got Champagne spilled on me. FA gave me a bottle to take home. It's not about the amount; it's that they make things right. If y'all wanna write after the fact and get 50k miles, that's your call, but I put a premium on the people I'm with treating each other like human beings. When that doesn't happen, the claws come out. Do not make me quantify my discontent.
Non-revs: your call. Well, to be honest, it shouldn't have been. "We do have a free seat" should have been the end of it. They shouldn't have put the guilt or choice on you.
I applaud you Andrew, he is your boyfriend. Why do people want all these ridiculous letters or names. Two thumbs up, and great article.
The best things about D1 suites are the large high def video monitor and the color scheme. (No more 50 shades of gray.) After a flight or two, the novelty of a door on a business-class seat wears off. The reality that these seats are just plain cramped sets in.
I agree with Bubba on this. They should be trained to go to the non rev and explain and just come to you and say sir we have another seat at x. It shouldn’t be up to you to have a guilt trip placed. With that being said I’d move my butt over there no questions asked compared to a non rev.
Who gives a flying cr-p what he calls his friend. Why not just say the first name and be done with it. Why all the emphasizes he is gay to begin with.
Cry me a river...grow up! They have apologized, a lot, based on your comments. Stop whining.
And having to share menus? What a tragedy! I hope you get the sarcasm.
Nice review! A less than ideal flight, but it beats sitting in the back. And I agree with @simon: Boyfriend is a term of endearment; Partner sounds so cold.
I was on a AF flight from Montpellier (MPL) to CDG with VERY tight seating. There was a big husky guy on the aisle next to me. After we took off, I suggested that he recline his seat to give him more room. In English with a French accent he said, "that would make the passenger behind very uncomfortable, and the passengers come first." Turns out he was an AF 777 pilot. Yep, the passengers come before the non-revs. I returned my seat to the upright position.
As a retired Delta employee I often fly as a non-rev. And there have been a number of times over the years where the purser has asked me to switch seats with a revenue passenger because of seat or IFE issues. I always willingly agree to do this as revenue passengers always come first. Besides like John said the D1 suite is very cramped in bed mode so I end up sitting upright most of the time anyhow.
For your reference in the future, it usually is a good idea (and a courtesy) to try not include other people’s faces in reviews. Otherwise a good report
I'm not sure what this flight date was, but I think I may have been the Captain on his flight to Incheon. We had the same seat issue on a recent flight from Atlanta to Incheon and resolved it in the manner he is referring to. Sorry about the Champagne spill. Delta A350 Captain
Next month I am going to Barcelona but disappointed to find out my seats are the old Delta One! I hope my flight to Seoul in October will be in the new Delta One!
Excellent and highly entertaining review.
It's no one else's business what we choose to call our significant others.
I enjoyed the selfie!
This was a great review, however if you want a great flight in Business class try Qatar Airways, it is in a different class altogether. I was spoiled on such a flight and very disappointed by the other airlines since. If you try it you will see the difference.
@Kevin....I would use my lover or my boy friend. Partner seems to be used frequently in Canada and Europe. Though It sound likes as if we were in the same law firm
Thanks for the review, Andrew--alway enjoy your posts! I'm a big fan of the D1S, and find it great for sleeping and even lounging or sitting crosslegged while in bed mode watching TV (yes, I understand I look like a child watching TV on the floor), and quite like the additional privacy.
@ jose phillips
please take your god bothering nonsense elsewhere. It has ZERO to do with this review.
Homosexuals don't need your forgiveness. We don't need to repent.
We just need the same rights as straight people. You know like to marry, not get fired because of our sexuality and to not get assaulted because we hold hands and kiss in public.
Oh and Andrew can call his partner what ever he wants. He should just be consistent about it and not use his name (Stephen) sometimes and 'boyfriend' other times
Other than that a good review.
Wouldn’t kill you to learn to use the flash function on your phone buddy. Didn’t you notice that every food pic was a blurry blue blob? - that kids, is alliteration
Really nice review, but I think OMAAT needs to get you a proper camera! These photos look like they were taken with an original iPod Touch.
Kudos for being even more entitled and whiny than Lucky and providing a review with, miraculously, less substance. I'm a gay guy and I'm consistently amazed by the number of times you guys manage to needlessly highlight your identity.
You already enjoy those things, and I don't care if you cavort with trees, I'm just not interested. I am however interested in travel, to many places where you don't enjoy the freedom you have here.
As an airline employee and nonrev passenger myself I would have totally switched seats with you no questions or hard feelings. Any of my fellow airline colleauges would do the same. In fact, I would even feel terrible knowing a revenue passenger suffered an INOP seat while I enjoyed a working one.
I'm in total agreement that it's personal choice regarding what to call one's significant other.
With one exception : I have become increasingly annoyed with news stories describing "Bob, his fiancee Alice, and their children, ages 6, 4, and 1."
Come on. Step up. This is abuse of the term.
I work for American Airlines but my opinions do not reflect the company's.
They spilled a tray on you. Thats a big NO NO, but it happened...
It is the way they responded to it what it counts. And they did a fine job.
All in all they took care of you through a shitty situation in no small part because you, as a professional traveller, behave like a champ as well.
Beyond that i would have liked that your mention of the incident stopped there.
The bottom line is the crew went above and beyond to provide comfort and remedy to an awful situation and on top of that you were awarded 15k miles without you having to take action.
Most probably if you call them they will give you some more.
The bottom line is a new plane will have these seat glitches.
The crew most probably was very green on that metal.
This will not happen on the return flight, I'm certain of this.
Oh, I'm so freaking sorry that you had champagne spilled on you in your well-appointed, private airplane suite, where the electronic reclining seat didn't work at first.
Honestly, if more proles like me understood the stupid crap that people with too much money spend it on, the call for higher taxes would come a hell of a lot quicker.
@Jose Phillips - there is not a single shred of evidence that your jesus christ even existed. Your religion is bogus just like all the others. You should get help, there is medication out there that can help with your delusions. Us homosexuals don’t have to repent for anything but you certainly have to for being so narrow minded and judgemental.
Just took Delta One from SEA to AMS, food was pathetic, to put it mildly, bland, tasteless, 'marinated' chicken breast was like cardboard, and to top it off they offered a choice between bacon and pretty dry quiche and a micro croissant for breakfast. Had to ask for a special order of yogurt in order to be able to eat anything. Thank godess I ended up half hour later in lounge #25 in AMS, which was pretty amazing and fully stocked with two food and self serve drink stations.
“We had to share the menus, like animals” I don’t know why but that bit killed me!! Great writing.
I really like the new Delta One suites. I've flown them three times overseas and was able to score ATL to LAX a few times too. Delta's food is usually good, but the portions are too small! You can see the tiny, lone, flat little chicken breast with a few cherry tomatoes around it in your photo. That's supposed to be dinner after your "oh so filling" 2 shrimp appetizer. Ridiculous. I'm always hungry. I'm never hungry on any other carrier.
I too received 15K unsolicited mileage points on my last Delta One suite flight. Mine was only a transcon trip, but my entertainment system kept freezing. The FA must have reset it at least 5 times. Finally about 2 hours into the flight he came over and asked me if I was a Delta Skymiles member, and looked at my ticket for my membership number. After about a minute of typing he told me he'd given me the 15K points for my trouble. That was good enough for me! But it was very nice not to ask or made to feel like a begger. BTW, I've got zero status with Delta, so it wasn't based on that either.
Great reviews Andrew. I follow you on IG too. I wish you'd post more. 🙂
Obviously from the mountain of responses you've got a lot of fans here too.
After a luxury flight you waited around four two hours and took a bus? Oy! Have you ever heard of black car services?
Ok, it must be a technicality but unless Delta changed their mode of operation for this specific route I don't think they spilled champagne on you but sparkling wine. I fly Delta One once a month to Europe and the Delta FA's make very clear that the pre-departure beverage is sparkling wine and champagne will be served with dinner.
Old fashioned first-class was just fine! Can't tolerate sitting in those little boxes. Claustrophobic, and the seat was incredibly uncomfortable. They have a lot of nerve to charge extra for torturing you.
It is not true that there is no transportation to Seoul at 3am. The AREX train runs, there are a few night buses, and of course there are taxis. A number of flights arrive at that time.
One of the photos shows a couple of passengers---if they have not given permission, that is a no-no.
I have taken this trip (14 hours) and it's an ethereal experience. You can be as interactive or as private as you wish. Delta One Suites are the bomb and I love when it's what I am upgraded to. The staff are the same on all Delta flights, treating the rev customer accordingly. While there are sure to be one or two bad eggs I have yet to find them on my flights (~125-150K/annum). Kudos to them for the 15K but one wonders did they know who you were?
I am fairly certain that the flight attendant who dumped drinks on you did not do it intentionally and probably feels pretty bad about it. Nice job trying to make him or her feel as bad as possible by taking photos of it and plastering them on the internet. (Those photos are probably the best ones you took ironically.) We all make mistakes, and unless the flight attendant was a real jerk about it, I think it was low budget to put so much emphasis on that.
Also, the overall review is quite positive, and you conclude that it is a positive review, so I think the title of your review is a bit disingenuous, misleading and unnecessarily dramatic.
It’s so sad to read such a biased report. I get it the author is a public figure and must keep “appearances”, but not showing the appropriate unbiased review sure demonstrate some sort of commitment to the industry and not to readers of the blog. Despite the very unfortunate incident, being “rewarded” 15k miles, provided answering a survey to measure how qualified one would be to be “awarded”, is definitely not what a regular customer would expect. I would not refuse flying Delta because of anything that’s been mentioned here and would certainly not yell at any of these unfortunate events should they happen to me. But mostly, I would definitely not diminish what’s to be criticized on airlines for their lack of respect to their customer. After all, just like most of us, I don’t make a living out of doing otherwise...
My one experience of DL - steerage out, bizzo back - was excellent, thanks largely to friendly and funny cabin crew.
Can you imagine what would have happened to the poor FA if this had happened on the KAL ‘nuts’ flight? Probably strapped to the tailplane for the rest of the flight.
I have never been brave enough to try KAL’s bibimbap. After a good steak from London and a terrible one from Incheon last trip, I have learned my lesson. Next trip. Meantime, thanks for educating me there is also a breakfast version.
Interesting review. Sorry the mishap occurred as it did, certainly not ideal. And it sounds like they caught a break in that you were a passenger with a reasonable attitude. Had you overreacted like most people would have, that would not have been fun for anyone. So well done.
All things considered - it seems that the cabin crew did their best and then some to remedy the situation. Gave some miles, took extra care and the whole nine yards - I find the last sentence in the blog in poor taste. I guarantee the aforementioned cabin crew member beat himself up enough. It's like you keep pleading your case to the jury even though the judge has already ruled and case is closed. Really unnecessary and a cheap shot.
Aside from the obvious issue that happened which is why it is always a good reason to bring at least shorts and a T shirt just in case, the cabin looks a little underwhelming. Delta gets so much praise compared to the other two but their delta one is almost as bad as United’s old B/E Diamond seats. The delta one suites have a door but aside from that the cabin on American’s 777-2s look more stylish with a better color scheme. Delta also engaged in the anti gun shenanigans and almost look their Georgia tax breaks.
Take it easy there friend. Go live your life how you want but stop hating on others who don’t want your propaganda or bad attitude. We get enough of that on TPG.
Great writing and pics. I love your sense of humor. I did have to look up the word quotidian, so i'll consider this educational too.
The "survey" on the device to award the miles is not supposed to be customer-facing. The FA gave Andrew the device too early...
IIRC, it asks to scan the passenger's boarding pass, and then the system auto fills in status, frequent flyer number, seat, etc. Basically, if a customer has a problem on a flight over 4 hours and either has high status and/or in a premium cabin, the system will award them 15K miles.
It can vary depending on the nature of the problem - for example, as low as 5K miles for bathroom smells/problems, to 15K miles for INOP VOD, INOP seat, etc.
So, the FA is supposed to scan your BP, fill in what was wrong in the next few survey questions, then hand the device to the pax to fill in their email address to receive a compensation receipt.
If you have trouble on a DL flight, you can always ask a FA nicely to consider going through this process for you. As long as the complaint is legitimate, and the request is made professionally/nicely and not demanded, I have not had one decline.
You also are not required to use facial recognition to board.
They will announce it as "We are using this to board, this is how you use it" and not tell you about the opt out, but it's on the signs in fine print and on the website.
Basically, you don't look at the camera and tell the GA who is scanning boarding passes that you want to board the traditional way. No problem.
Nice review. I might pack a change of clothes in my carry on bag from now on. If this happened to me, the flight will have to deal with a naked man on board.
Really enjoyed reading your review. The spilled drinks reminded me of the time when Richard Branson dressed up as a flight attendant (he lost a bet to AirAsia’s Fernandes) and he, too, accidentally spilled a tray of drinks to a passenger (who just so happened to be Fernandes!)
As another commenter has said, I also work at an airline and would be more than happy to switch my J seat to allow a paying customer to get the seat they paid for. It's part of our standby policy.
Interesting that nobody mentioned the noise made from the doors all night long as passengers open them via the emergency latch as opposed to sliding them into the pocket as designed. Just one more privileged complainer :).
@jose phillips Homosexuals are no sinners, so they need neither yours nor Gods forgiveness. There is not one single word in the new testament that Jesus ever blamed or condemned homosexuality, so what?
(And don't refer to the old testament, which has nothing to do with Jesus and the new testament. The God in the old testament is a vindictive, unfair fighting old guy who cannot be compared with the loving "father" Jesus is preaching....
Take your fairy tales elsewhere. Besides, I'd Jesus had, in fact, died a horrible death on a cross like you say, I didn't ask for that anymore than I chose to be gay, but if he did it, it would be a horrible shame to waste that gift of forgiveness by not committing the ultimate sin. See how silly that loophole sounds?