Here at Sea-Tac airport and am thoroughly un-impressed with the synergies between Delta and their “partner” Alaska Airlines. To be sure, there is 0 synergy. Today’s itinerary: SEA-LAX-ATL. I booked this on delta.com and the 1st leg is operated by Alaska Airlines. I called the Delta Gold Medallion desk last night to inquire about flying directly to Atlanta. I was told that this was not a problem if I called 3 hours before the time of departure of the flight I wanted to standby on.

When I arrived at the airport, however, a different story unfolded. It took a full 25 minutes for a huffing, puffing and annoyed priority desk agent, assisted by no less than 3 other agents, to inform me that because my itinerary started on an Alaska Airlines flight, same day standby was not available unless space was immediately available on the Delta flight I was standing by for; which it was not. OK, I kind of understand this part, but why all the confusion? Nobody has ever done this in Seattle where Alaska owns half the joint?

“Can you assign me a seat on Alaska?” I asked. Nope. Couldn’t do that either.
Did I mention I could not check in online last night either? Also because my 1st flight was operated by Alaska Airlines.

I was able to check in at an Alaska Airlines kiosk, but it only provided me with 1 boarding pass to LAX. The Alaska agent told me to go to the Delta counter for the lax-ATL boarding pass.
I laughed. I wasn’t falling for that.

Unfortunately, I have had similar experiences with other airlines’ “partners”
Airlines celebrate and publicize these partnerships when they are created. They are touted as creating a more seamless flying experience for the for the traveller. Looks great on paper but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, it’s more hassle than it’s worth (for the traveller). In my case:

No seat assignment
Can’t check-in online
Can’t get boarding for all flights
Can’t fly standby
AND still not checked in for ATL-LAX – can’t do it online or in SEA

here is part 1 of this trip

My guess is, that for inaugural flights, crews are hand selected.  We had some real pros from Miami to London Heathrow.  No, they didn’t pay me (or even pay for my flight) to say that.  It seemed like there were 6 flight attendants working the Business Elite cabin, leaving no chance that someone would be unattended to.  They conversed and interacted with passengers in a subtle, but confident manner.

I mentioned to the purser that I had an extremely tight connection.  She assured me that as soon as we landed, before anyone de-planed, she would inform the agents meeting our flight of my situation.  I have the purser to thank for the service I then received.

I didn’t take many pictures of the seats. I have flown the 767 with flatbed seats and posted the pictures here.  Sleeping was easy on these fully flat seats, but your feet will be in a pretty tight space when in the fully flat position.

There is a significant difference between the seats in the Business Elite Cabin.  I think the key is getting a seat that has the bulkhead between you and the aisle.  It provides much more privacy and you will not get bumped into.  The seats that feature this include 1A, 3A, 5A and so on. Or in the center section 2B, 4B, 6B or on the other side of the middle aisle 1C, 3C, 5C. The far side (starboard) 1D, 3D…  

Regarding the seats in the center section, the space where your legs rest seem to be tighter than in the A or D aisles.  There is barely enough room to sleep on your side and have your legs on top of one another.

The flight, on a 767-400 was scheduled for 10 hours, however, the actual flying time was 8 hours 20 minutes + circling Heathrow a few times. I actually fell asleep between my salad and main course. That was not a reflection of the service, I was just tired. I am not a huge fan of duck, but it was tasty and the steak and shrimp were fine. Thanks to the crew for a memorable experience. Next up: Delta’s arrival “lounge” at Heathrow.

Big fan of going on inaugural flights. There is extra pep in everyone’s step; ground staff, flight crew, even the passengers.  Well, the passenger pep may be a result of the complimentary champagne, but none-the-less.  As if flying wasn’t entertaining enough on its own, inaugurals always seem to produce interesting fodder.
As soon as I checked in at the Business Elite desk, the agent said:

“You can’t do this….   You can just stay in London and come back Monday”
I stared at him, smiled and said nothing. What he mentioned was not an option.
“… you will not make it”
I stared at him, chuckled and said nothing
“…you can try” he then said

He was referring to my mere 70 minute connection before returning to Miami.
Then a 2nd check-in agent and the supervisor were hailed. They were both astounded at 2 things:
1) That Delta let me book the itinerary
2) That I was going and coming right back
The 4 of us shared a good laugh over the whole thing and I re-assured them I was going to do my damnedest to make the connection.

To be sure, yes it was a significant amount of travel in a short period of time, but what’s tougher: a quick turn between 2 long flights or 1 ultra-long haul like LAX-Bangkok???

After a few pops in the Sky Club, I was off to the gate to evaluate the pomp and circumstance. There were balloons, decorations, cakes, champagne and a ribbon cutting ceremony. Similar to the Air France A380 inaugural, but less crowded. Present were many Delta employees beyond the the crew who helped celebrate Delta’s new Trans-Atlantic route. They were all quite proud to be part of the event and the flight crew wore red corsages. We departed at bit late, but the entire gound crew and water cannons sent us off (see pictures below).

Part 2 of the trip, the actual flight, will be posted tomorrow morning. Thanks!

af 744

our plane to lhr pulling into gate

If you saw the last couple of posts,you know I booked a round-trip international flight with a 70 minute connection at London Heathrow.   I didn’t make the connection.  I was not even really close as our incoming flight from Miami was about an hour late.  My return flight had already left.  The 2nd question, how would I be re-accommodated, if at all. 

I was more than impressed.  The agent greeting my flight promptly presented with me with my options for flying back to Miami.  Basically a connection through Atlanta, Minneapolis or JFK.  She then booked me, in Business Class, through Atlanta and on to Miami.  She then handed me off to a godsend.  A ground staff member by the name of Cara Willis from Cobalt Staffing.  Cara escorted me through customs via a “staff only” line.  She the walked me to Delta departures and checked me in.

Continuing her streak of going beyond the call of duty, she then showed me to Delta’s arrival “lounge,” the Yotel and made sure I was admitted promptly.  Thank you Cara, for making my potential disaster connection into a seamless and stress free process.   Report of the inaugural flight from Miami and photos of the Yotel coming right up.  Thanks.

Today, Delta launches their Miami-London Heathrow non-stop service. Yours truly decided he would join them. The only hitch is that I have a total of 70 minutes between when I land and when my return flight leaves. I mentioned this potential debacle here.
The fare could not be beat so, hey, another excuse to fly. Wish me luck on the connection. I will let you know how I feel when I step of the return flight. If you are on the flight tonight or the return tomorrow, I will buy you a drink… in the Business Class cabin of course. Cheers!

Well… easily the best $130 I ever spent. My one-way flight from JFK to SFO was $130. As I mentioned here, the only question was, would I be lucky enough to get upgraded? The answer: Yes. No purchasing full fares, no certificates, no mileage redemption; just a plain, old-fashioned upgrade.

The seats were similar to the Business Elite seats on Delta’s 777 and 767 in appearance, but the controls were a little different and the seats do not have as much pitch or recline (but much more than typical domestic first). Less recline means the person in front of you is not sitting in your lap like the 777 and 767. I also found it much easier to get out of my window seat 4D during the 5 hour and 52 minute flight.

Surprisingly no menus were available. One of the selling points of airlines’ upgraded trans-continental service is multi-course meals prepared by world renowned chefs. When the FA comes by and asks me if I would like chicken, beef or pasta, “specially created” meals loose their luster. Is it beef tenderloin, stir-fry, wellington or tartare? I would like to know what I am eating (particularly if it is good) Needless to say, and most importantly, the food was delicious, particularly the polenta (even though it looked like hell) After the main course, passengers had a choice of a sundae or cheese tray.

With 1:45 flight time remaining, FA’s offered more drinks, the snack basket and then distributed warm chocolate chip cookies.

Service was most impressive, in large part because of Nicole’s flawless execution and ability to anticipate passenger needs. Lots of pics, enjoy. Thanks for reading Planereality

DL #127
757-200; N710TW
6.5 block time; 5:52 actual

blanket & pillow

lumbar controls

These pictures are from this morning’s flight from FLL to JFK on an MD88 operated by Delta. Seat 4B, mine, was of the standard domestic first class variety. I’m not sure why, but I was expecting a hot breakfast. The one served was continental, but good and my cholesterol will thank Delta later. Nothing out of ordinary, minus the very cool dog in 10D.

At “Bar Brace” in JFK now, awaiting my flight to SFO.  Fingers crossed for an upgrade.  Hey, have you voted on what airline you would like to see on Planereality next? Voting to the right… Thanks

Delta #284: Tokyo (NRT) to Los Angeles (LAX)
Airbus A330-200
9 hours 19 minutes

Boarding
For this flight, there were 2 jet bridges used to board the aircraft. It is worth noting that if you are seated in the rear part of the business class cabin, all passengers seated in coach class will pass by you. This set up translates to increased chaos and the occasional elbow or inadvertent bump from your fellow passengers.  Once seated, I was offered a choice of champagne or orange juice in addition to a variety of newspapers.

Food & Drink
Most impressive was the food on this hop; not only tasty, but also quite creative (menu below). It came as a surprise, via a FA announcement, that free wine and beer were available throughout the flight in coach class. This was NOT the case in United’s Premium Economy Class to Frankfurt.  I was happy to know this, even though I was not seated in coach.  Generally,  I am nearly as happy knowing other people are enjoying themselves as I am when I am the one having the good time.

Crew
The crew were extremely efficient and speedy during dinner service; like a well oiled machine, but not rushing passengers in any way. I was also quite pleased with the clean and tidy appearance of the business class cabin.

Seats
It seemed that when my seat was in full recline, it was inordinately long. My feet did not even touch the foot rest. There were also dual, adjustable lumbar supports in the seat back. It took me too long to figure out how to work the power outlet, which turned out to be a waste of time because it did not work. My seat-mate’s power worked intermittently and the failed completely 5 minutes later.

Entertainment
I counted 40 movies, including Clash of the Titans, Toy Story 3, The A-Team and Karate Kid (the remake unfortunately). There were numerous short subjects too. Mostly television programs. The lousy part of this A330′s entertainment is the over sensitive control which caused me to select many programs by accident.

I am pleased to say Delta can, will and does compete on this ultra-competitve route.

Here are the pictures:

departure next to ours

view from my bulkhead seat: 5G

delta slippers

something on the rocks & asian nut mix

main course selection

wine

seared scallop with caramelized leek/grilled vegetables with mozzarella/carrot & ginger soup

mixed green salad with feta cheese

roasted chicken with balsamic onions and blue cheese sauce/mashed/spinach

my standard flight dessert

breakfast

amenity kit

Many times, inter-Asia flights are described as painful, particularly if you are connecting the same day to the United States.  For example, flying from Bangkok to Tokyo and then on to LAX.  These inter-Asia flights are usually overnight and airlines don’t typically use their newest planes; those equipped with lie flat seats.  These flights are just long enough (4-6 hours) to become very tired, but not long enough to manage any significant sleep.  I have had some mixed experiences on these flights on airlines such as Korean, Asiana and ANA.

This flight from Manila to Tokyo was a bit different, as it was a morning flight on a 747.  I took my seat on the upper deck and was promptly offered the obligatory champagne, water or orange juice.  While we took off on time,  we experienced a very turbulent climb out of Manila and cabin service did not commence until nearly 1 hour into flight.

This was my first experience with Delta’s (Northwest’s) shell back angled flat seats.  While they were quite comfortable, I was surprise to learn that the hard shell back of the seat is not fixed and does move toward you when the person in front of you reclines. As is often the case, getting out of a window seat is quite difficult when the passengers in front and next to you are both reclined.  The “flip-up” (perpendicular) foot rest really needs to be extended so you won’t slide down the seat when trying to sleep.

The breakfast omelet was tasty but was light on whatever it was supposed to be filled with. I did not see the flight attendant after breakfast except for 1 water run. She was, however, very friendly. Her body language did the talking as she spoke very little English.

The music selection consisted of a bunch of original mixes of songs vs. individual albums or artists. It didn’t really matter since, like many United flights, sound only came out from 1 side of the headphones even when I used my own.  I watched a flick entitled “The Joneses.”   When it was over, we were descending into Narita.
Here are the pictures:

check-in area in manila

delta N666US

Sometimes I fly on an ordinary airline on an ordinary route and there is not a whole lot to report or highlight. I anticipated this ATL-FRA flight would be one of these flights.  In addition, I have written about Delta’s Business Elite class on a few other occasions.
The flight crew was fantastic, however, and the menu impressive so it warranted a post. The crew made the flight very pleasant by being very friendly and saying the small things:

“Is there anything else I can get you right now?”
“Did you enjoy your flight?”
“We really appreciate you choosing Delta”

I was pleasantly surprised by the menu. It seemed more complex with more choices than average. The effort in menu design alone was more impressive than United, never mind the originality and quality. My fillet was good when compared to other airline fillets.

Unfortunately, like my last Delta 777 flight, my in-flight entertainment was in-operable. The whole cabin system was reset several times and I believe most passsnegers’ system worked after the reset.  Mine just produced a loud hissing sound and the faint noise of what was playing. It wasn’t a show stopper because I slept for most of the flight.
This 777 had the “old” Business Elite recliner seats and I took no pictures of them, but the menu is below.

Who do you think has better business class food, United or Delta?

To my recollection, this London Gatwick – Atlanta flight, was my first international flight on Delta in Coach. Minus a miracle there was no chance of an upgrade. I was not overly excited about the flight, but on the other hand it was a direct flight home. I was interested to see what transpires in coach class on an international flight because I simply had not had much experience except for an Air France flight to Dubai.

I secured an exit row seat and shortly before push-back an fa asked the guy next to me to gather his belongings and follow her; “there is something wrong with your ticket and we just need to check it out” I am assuming that meant an upgrade because he followed without a response and never returned… Now I had 2 exit row seats to myself.

Breakfast was served almost immediately after takeoff and I was impressed with the meal.  There was a choice of some chicken dish or an omelet.  Breakfast, minus the presentation, could have been served in the Business Elite cabin. Yes, maybe the business class cabin was offered cereal and yogurt in addition, but I was not complaining. What I will complain about is when the drink cart came along, they only had coffee soda and oj. My first choice: bloody marry. I was given a highly annoyed response by the steward-aka not on cart. My second choice: cranberry juice, also not on cart.  Now he was irritated and I was denied again. He said he could not do it now (because 7 hours is not enough time) but that he would come back; he never did.

I was surprised to see a snack service mid flight. This was more true to a Delta domestic style: a choice of peanuts or pretzels, Pringles or M&M’s for 2 bucks, booze for $7.

I entertained myself for a few hours with a very solid on-demand music selection. There were a bunch of movies on demand at no cost but the HBO shows were from 2 to 7 dollars. No Soprano reruns were available so hardly worth it. And no, that show about a bunch of kids making cell phone calls to each other for 30 minutes is not worth the money.

Lots of water was distributed throughout the flight and the FA’s were quite friendly. I was surprised at the constant line for the bathroom… the entire flight there were people waiting for the bathroom. More shocking is that 75% of the passengers were in socks or bare feet. Foul and unsanitary!

Shortly before landing we were served pizza and ice cream. The pizza was of the microwave variety and not very good, but I would not expect any airline to be able to serve up a good pizza on a plane. American served this pizza in Business Class and it too was bad.

I could handle 14 hours in coach, with an exit row of course. Hell, that’s what most people do so maybe I will try.

boarding area

our 767

30 A&B

leg room

my view