Christmas in Germany: Detroit to Seattle in Delta First Class

I'll let you get away with saying "Delta is the airline of the 'business traveler'" since Virgin America doesn't have a large network of destinations ... ;D

well in all fairness to UACO, Continental does have in-seat power and directv on most of its planes. They need to work on the WiFi though...

Welcome to the dark side... 🙂

If you can forget about the value of SkyPesos for a moment, the in-flight experience for domestic business travelers is top-notch. The live TV is also great depending on what time of day you're flying.

I also like channel 9 but find that the airshow is a decent substitute. And I don't miss the frequent high pitched whine while listening to channel 9.

It's important to keep in mind that these "pimped out" 738s are a *very* rare treat on Delta (same with the AVOD-equipped 752s). I suppose the anticipation of having AVOD keeps you hoping and makes it special. As you have said throughout this trip report series, when you're too spoiled you stop appreciating the nice stuff as much.

Excuse my ignorance, but does United not have powerports in F on most/all of their planes? I know wifi and AVOD is not standard but I assumed that powerports would be.

I'm an AA flier and while wifi is still somewhat hit or miss, I always have a powerport to plug my stuff into. Just curious if the same is not true on UA.

@Chris: Nope. Only select UA planes have regular 110volt electrical outlets (such as p.s. planes). Many have empower ports. And many have nothing at all.

Ben, I have to disagree on Delta, their stand-by policy makes business travel with them really dicey because if you miss a connection you have to do a same-day confirm (at a cost) and its pretty ugly. I missed an LAX-ATL-JFK flight once very early on a Saturday morning and wasn't able to get out till 4p the NEXT day due to no stand-by (plenty of seats to ATL, nothing confirmable to NY) and I had to pay $300 to make up the difference. I will avoid Delta, and not just because I'm a United loyalist now.

@Seth you can now tell whether your aircraft is planned to have the nice entertainment on delta.com's booking screens. But on the longer domestic flights (where it's more important IMHO) it's pretty common in my experience.

And wi-fi is fleet-wide now on DL so that's always an option. They're even going to add wi-fi to some of the CRJ-700's and 900's IIRC
.

Despite your pretentious comments in the beginning of the post (no lime, first class uncomfortable), glad you liked DL's entertainment options. They have converted me from being a pretty loyal CO guy.

@Ra - I find the United same day travel changes to be much inferior to Delta. On Delta, it's $50 (compared to $75 on UA) and free for Golds and up (not just 1Ks). It gets you a confirmed seat and you do not have to keep your original routing as is the case with United (meaning I could do something like TPA-LAX-SFO instead of TPA-DTW-SFO if I wanted). Only downside is if the flight is sold out, then a non-elite (or Silver) cannot do standby (Golds and up can).

In your case, were there no seats on the nonstop flight, or on one of the many other connecting options such as CVG, DTW, MSP, MEM, SFO, LAS or SLC? With Delta's rules, you can change to any of those, unlike United, which had this been them, it would have been the nonstop or ATL connect only.

@ mark -- I've gotta ask, how is it pretentious to point out that Delta's first class seat isn't as comfortable as those I've experienced on virtually every other US airline due to the lack of a headrest?

I'm really disappointed in you, Lucky ... you passed on the snack basket and didn't take a picture of your snack options for us. 😉 Try not to let it happen again ...

@Lucky - because you are in first class!! LOL. Most of the plane would love to have your problem. And, the lemon/lime comment was pretentious, no? You admitted yourself a month or so in a post that you are probably not in touch with reality when it comes to flying, right? I love your blog, but much of your commentary is very pretentious.

Mark, When someone pays for first class, the expectation of a certain level of service doesn't mean its pretentious. Comparing what is available in first class vs. what you assume other passengers may desire is a pretty weak argument.

This is a paid Business Elite ticket (paid with miles) which includes first class seating on domestic legs.

Domestic first class on Delta has nice features to be sure, as Lucky has shown. I think he does a good job balancing the good with the bad. I think the lemon/lime thing is minor, but having experienced Delta 737 first class seats myself, the lack of a adjustable headrest does take away from the comfort.

@Mark - it's not pretentious to note that they don't have lime. Also, I don't know if you've ever flown Delta in F, but the seats are more uncomfortable compared to other airlines due to the lack of a headrest.

Is he not allowed to compare products? If his reports all said that everything was so great blah blah blah first class is amazing, then his writing would be as pointless as the trip reports on Airliners.net. He is comparing products from his experience, to let you know what to expect, without a report filled with (excited) emotion like a first-time flyer. Just because it's first class doesn't mean it's wonderful.

I have flown Delta F. I hold elite status on AA, CO and DL. I have also flown UA first. I am not an airline apologist/work for an airline or anything like that. When I get a free upgrade to first class, I appreciate it and don't really complain about not having a headrest. YMMV. I am just appreciate to be up front. I can't honestly stay that I have been in an uncomfortable first class seat....probably because I am used to coach.

(And, yes, it is pretentious to complain about the lack of lime.) 😉

At first I thought the lemon/lime thing was a joke. Reading the comments suggests otherwise. You mean you're actually serious about that as a criticism???

@ AS -- I thought it was quite obvious I was being tongue in cheek, given my obsession with lime and hot nuts.

@mark - You must not be tall. If you don't mind the lack of a headrest, your whole head probably doesn't sit above the seat. 😉

i am 6'2".

@lucky - that makes sense, it's what I thought first time. I'm not sure that came across in the discussion between you and mark which is why I asked.

I'm sure glad you captured that pizza on film. Delta should be ashamed to serve such an item to paying customers.

I do have to admit that last year I was a low level elite on Delta and United. On United, domestic upgrades were nonexistent. On Delta, I was upgraded nearly every flight. For a budget minded domestic traveler I feel their program gets a bad rap.