Review: Delta One 767 Los Angeles to New York JFK

Review: Delta One 767 Los Angeles to New York JFK

20


Delta 2182
Los Angeles (LAX) – New York (JFK)
Wednesday, August 19
Depart: 7:30AM
Arrive: 4:05PM
Duration: 5h35min
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300ER
Seat: 3D (Delta One)

Delta operates about eight nonstop flights each day out of Los Angeles to New York. Half of them are on its narrow-body 757s, which have been newly and specifically updated for Delta One transcontinental service, and the other half are on its widebody 767-300ERs, which are interchangeable with its international fleet.

With On its 767s, Delta can advertise that every one of its business class seats between New York and Los Angeles/San Francisco boast direct aisle access, which neither American nor United can claim.

At the same time, the 767 Delta One cabin is substantially larger than its 757 cabin, with 26 seats to the 757’s 16 seats.

I had arrived at the gate just in time for Delta One boarding, and in fact ended up being among the first in the cabin.

Delta One 767 cabin
Delta One 767 cabin

I took my seat, 3D, which was on the left side of the plane as you board.

Delta One seat 3D
Delta One seat 3D
Delta One seat 3D
Delta One seat 3D

At my seat were a Westin Heavenly pillow and a Westin Heavenly comforter, a Tumi amenity kit, a small bottle of Dasani water and some noise-canceling headphones.

The Tumi amenity kits are actually different eastbound and westbound so that a roundtrip traveler can “collect” one of each. The eastbound Tumi kit was soft-sided and light gray.

Tumi amenity kit
Tumi amenity kit

As for the seat itself, it has its pluses and minuses compared to the 757 as far as I’m concerned. You certainly get a bit more personal space on the 767, with a very wide console which served as an easy place to store a laptop computer. In fact, it was large enough to use as an alternative to a tray table when I was in the fully-flat bed mode.

Delta One seat 3D
Delta One seat 3D

However, to me the 767 Delta One seat — at least the ones that haven’t got the “Delta One” refresh, which these seats hadn’t — seems fairly dated, and the small TV screen feels clunky and plastic.

While the seats were comfortable and had a massage function, I actually recall feeling that the 757 seats were a touch wider and had more footwell space, not to mention a much “brighter, newer” feeling with substantially larger and more modern TVs. The finishes in the 757 cabin, too, felt newer and more luxurious (even if the “wood” is merely plastic) than the puke-blue 767 cabin.

Delta One 757 seats
Delta One 757 seats, by comparison

In any event, shortly after being seated the flight attendant came by to offer passengers their choice of orange juice or mimosa.

A certain celebrity passenger was not quite up to speed on her mimosas, and asked the flight attendant to explain to her what, exactly, a mimosa was.

Celebrity in 1D
Celebrity in 1D, unclear on the mimosa concept

I had a mimosa, myself.

We boarded and taxied from the gate relatively quickly, and were up in the air in no time. Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendant came by again to distribute “brunch” menus.

Delta One breakfast menu
Delta One breakfast menu

Delta One breakfast menu 2

It’s worth noting that where once Delta One led the pack with innovative and upscale wine choices on its transcontinental routes, Delta still serves Segura Viudas Brut Reserva sparkling wine, whereas American has moved on to serve Lanson Black Label in its transcon business class. The cava, while good, isn’t nearly as good as Lanson, so to the Delta PR execs reading this, consider the gauntlet thrown and divert a few hundred bottles of Jacquard onto the transcon routes — how about it?

I ordered a Bloody Mary to start, which was served with packaged almonds. Delta also stocks Delta One with Smart Water and San Pellegrino. I ordered a Smart Water, as well (though the flight attendant mistakenly poured me a Pellegrino).

Delta One starter service
Delta One starter service

For my appetizer, I found the gravlax to be quite good, and I ate it on half of a bagel (which wasn’t bad, though can’t really compare to a true “New York bagel”), along with some of the fruit. The honeyed yogurt was a bit sweet for my tastes.

Bagel, lox and fruit
Bagel, lox and fruit
Gravlax appetizer
Gravlax appetizer

As for my main course, I’d chosen the “bruschetta omelette.”  What, you ask, is a bruschetta omelette?

Bruschetta omelette
Bruschetta omelette

It’s not bad at all, but… different. It’s essentially an omelette stuffed with mozzarella cheese and accented with oregano and tomatoes. Since bruschetta is typically toast with tomatoes and olive oil and perhaps a shaving of parmesan, I thought the naming of the dish was totally misleading, since it tasted far more like a pizza than anything else. Either way, it was tasty enough for a domestic airline breakfast.

Following breakfast, I settled in and turned on Delta’s inflight Delta Studio entertainment system, which is quite extensive and stocked with great shows and movies both old and new.

Delta Studio
Delta Studio

Indeed, Delta offered a pretty good sitcom that happened to star a close relative of the celebrity in front of me, which was a bit meta.

Delta Studio offerings
Delta Studio offerings

Anyway, I settled into a movie but given the early flight and my lack of sleep the night before, I decided to take a nap, and got in a good three hours of shuteye.

When I did wake up, I was a bit frustrated at the pricing system of the inflight Wifi, which is — I think — a matter of Gogo’s control, not Delta’s. Anyway, the 30-minute passes at $3.95 each seemed less daunting than the $26.95 pass for the entire flight. Doing the math, it actually makes sense to buy Wifi in 30-minute increments, since the first and last few minutes of the flight are Wifi-less, anyway.

When did onboard Wifi get so expensive?
When did onboard Wifi get so expensive?

An hour and a half or so before landing, the flight attendants came by with a snack service, which was a warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie that was oh-so-good. This one seemed to have some oatmeal or whole wheat to it, which was not unwelcome.

Chocolate chip cookie snack
Chocolate chip cookie snack

I felt like a drink, but neither a glass of wine nor a cocktail. I asked about their beers and the flight attendant told me they had Stella Artois, which was a bit surprising since it’s an “upscale” brand in the United States, and Heineken almost always fills that role inflight.

Stella Artois on Delta
Stella Artois on Delta

Anyway, I had about half my Stella tallboy but didn’t really feel like getting my buzz on as we were landing in the mid-afternoon and I wanted to actually go about my day.

Our descent into New York was memorable for sensational views over Manhattan on a lovely, not-too-hot-and-hazy summer’s day.

Approach over Manhattan
Approach over Manhattan

We actually landed about 20 minutes early and had a quick-for-JFK taxi to our gate in Terminal 4.

Bottom Line

I don’t think a 7:30am flight is ever going to be as enjoyable as an evening flight when you account for a few factors (sleep deprivation among them), including the fact that an inflight breakfast is never going to be as good as an inflight dinner service.

That being said, I still felt like my Delta One experience to New York from Los Angeles was in a way less warm-and-fuzzy than my 757 experience in April. In part, I think it’s because the two cabins have such different feels. The 757 is an intimate, modern and “luxurious” cabin that feels special, for lack of a better term, and has been updated with nicer finishes and larger TV screens.

Meanwhile, the 767 cabin feels much larger and less private, and while the seats are all-aisle-access and demonstrably have more personal space, they also feel more dated and less “luxurious,” at least to me.

I also feel like there’s a perceptible service difference between the 757 and 767 cabins. On the 757, I felt like my service was deeply and warmly personal, whereas on the 767 I felt it was a bit more like an assembly line, since the attendants had another 10 seats to deal with. The service on the whole was perfectly nice, of course, but just felt a tad more like “domestic First” than an “enhanced Delta One product” to me.

I still think Delta One is a fabulous option for transcontinental travel, but for me, I see no appreciable benefit in flying the widebody to New York versus the narrow body, given that the wider the plane, the more “diluted” the experience in my opinion.

Conversations (20)
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  1. Matt C New Member

    If you are traveling with someone on the 767 are you better off in B/C, or across the aisle from each other? Do B/C feel like they are next to each other?

  2. aeroman380 Guest

    I am having an issue with the link to the LAX lounge review. Anyone else?

  3. Al Guest

    I'm getting sideways pics too.

    1. Nick OMAAT

      @Al: Gah! Seems to be a problem with WordPress translating it to mobile. If you view it on a desktop, the photos should be rotated correctly. Sorry! Apparently it's a glitch.

  4. Paul Pope Guest

    What's up with the pics ? This trip report isn't exactly up to OMAAT standards ..

  5. Robert D Member

    Sideways pics on the pre-eminent mikes, points & travel blog? Tsk tsk.

  6. john Guest

    For tall people with big feet, the footwells on those 767s are indeed tiny to the point of discomfort. Still beats low class, I guess.

  7. Chris Guest

    The NY Times had an article a week ago about the higher price of inflight wifi:

    In-Flight Wi-Fi Prices Jump as Demand Surges
    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/technology/personaltech/in-flight-wi-fi-prices-jump-as-demand-surges.html

    Key points are that prices for certain flights have doubled in the past 3 years, and Gogo says the reason they've raised prices is that demand has exceeded capacity, and, well, because they can. But that soon-to-come 2Ku satellite connections will add speed and capacity.

    Article also mentions Tom's point...

    The NY Times had an article a week ago about the higher price of inflight wifi:

    In-Flight Wi-Fi Prices Jump as Demand Surges
    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/technology/personaltech/in-flight-wi-fi-prices-jump-as-demand-surges.html

    Key points are that prices for certain flights have doubled in the past 3 years, and Gogo says the reason they've raised prices is that demand has exceeded capacity, and, well, because they can. But that soon-to-come 2Ku satellite connections will add speed and capacity.

    Article also mentions Tom's point about buying a $16 day pass on the ground before you fly...

  8. Nick Guest

    @Jon Ah! My lack of reading comprehension is really what's showing I guess. Diana Ross is definitely a celebrity in DC. :)

  9. nathan Guest

    oh please ?! the hell with the feeling of privacy. ... just the mere thought of a single isle aircraft for a transcon crossing is enough to make me feel claustrophobic. Give me any time a 767 instead of a 757 for a long haul, anytime. Kudos to Delta for still flying 767's transcon, i can't stand the AA, UA & jetBleu single isles aircrafts on the transcons. Wish some airlines would start flying the...

    oh please ?! the hell with the feeling of privacy. ... just the mere thought of a single isle aircraft for a transcon crossing is enough to make me feel claustrophobic. Give me any time a 767 instead of a 757 for a long haul, anytime. Kudos to Delta for still flying 767's transcon, i can't stand the AA, UA & jetBleu single isles aircrafts on the transcons. Wish some airlines would start flying the 787's transcon. And by the way all 757's should be banned over the Atlantic. Flew AA & DL 's 757's from Brussels to JFK few years ago, what a horrible way to fly !

  10. Dan Diversky Guest

    Lucky Ben:

    Tell us more about "Puke Blue".

  11. CraigTPA Guest

    Stella's definitely an improvement over Heineken (or "EuroBud" as I call it), but I'd still like to see the major US carriers step their game up on beer selection. (And offer cider too, although I see JetBlue is offering Angry Orchard now.)

  12. pavel Guest

    GoGo in-flight wifi was $31 on my AA 32B transcon last night. I as well feel like they have raised the prices recently. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to connect with my computer to see that I had 10 unused free GoGo passes for purchasing a Chromebook.

    As for Stella, when I was a naive young college kid I considered myself quite the sophisticate ordering it at bars. Then I went to...

    GoGo in-flight wifi was $31 on my AA 32B transcon last night. I as well feel like they have raised the prices recently. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to connect with my computer to see that I had 10 unused free GoGo passes for purchasing a Chromebook.

    As for Stella, when I was a naive young college kid I considered myself quite the sophisticate ordering it at bars. Then I went to England, where they call it "wife beater" for a particular class of people who drink it.

  13. Jon Guest

    Ah, so it WAS Detroit-native, Diana Ross!

    Honestly, I'm even more surprised about her not knowing what a mimosa was.

  14. _ar Member

    Thank you for the 767 vs. 757 comparison. I have to book a JFK-SFO flight and was wondering if I should do one or the other. I'll be traveling with my husband so the aisle access is not an issue for us. The 757 it is!

  15. Nick Guest

    @Nick - I am afraid my....DCness is showing, but Tracee Ross is considered a well-known celebrity? ;)

    +1 wwk5d - I even went to the Delta website to see this magical 757 will all aisle access!

  16. wwk5d Guest

    "With its 767s, Delta can advertise that every one of its business class seats between New York and Los Angeles/San Francisco boast direct aisle access, which neither American nor United can claim."

    The way that is worded, that implies that you have direct access on all business class flights between NYC and LA, which, no.

    "The honeyed yogurt"

    Cinnamon, as per the menu ;)

    1. Nick OMAAT

      @wwk5d: Oops, inartfully worded there - I changed it to say "On its 767s."

      I'm not like Ben, who's "all aisle-access or bust!" on planes where it isn't necessary, myself. I'd rather have a 2x2 configuration on a newer plane with better hard product...

  17. Tom Guest

    You need to buy Gogo on the ground before you depart. A full day pass is much cheaper. I think it was $16 the last time I checked. I always find myself rushing to buy one using my phone as we taxi.

    Airlines really need to stock better beers than the usual bud, miller, blue moon and stella/Heineken. I'd much rather have a fancy beer on a plane than a fancy wine.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Matt C New Member

If you are traveling with someone on the 767 are you better off in B/C, or across the aisle from each other? Do B/C feel like they are next to each other?

0
aeroman380 Guest

I am having an issue with the link to the LAX lounge review. Anyone else?

0
Nick OMAAT

@Al: Gah! Seems to be a problem with WordPress translating it to mobile. If you view it on a desktop, the photos should be rotated correctly. Sorry! Apparently it's a glitch.

0
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