Mats

Boarding took forever because the Delta (or contract ground crew in Delta uniform) staff do a “liquid” inspection of all carry-on items before boarding. The first ask if you have liquids, then look in your bag. When I say, “look in your bag,” I men that I could have brought an aquarium with me; they were not exactly thorough.

Of the flight attendants on the sheva-sheva-sheva, there were at least three Hebrew-speakers. One of them welcomed me on board, and the purser came by soon thereafter with menus.

The captain made some endless announcement about “congregating,” and then this new rule about remaining seated “while in Israeli airspace.” So it was first a “30-minute rule,” now it’s just “Israeli airspace.” Who knows? And why bother with all of this “congregating” nonsense, when we all saw the marshals board the aircraft?

It’s true that the seats on the 777 are nicer than the 767, but they’re not as nice as those on Continental’s 777. We’ll see how the new Delta 777 seats are once they roll out.

The bathroom, however, is amazing. I’ve flown on the 777 aboard Air France, British Airways, and Continental, and I’ve never seen such a huge bathroom. It had the signature “hardwood” floors and “granite” countertops. But it was just massive. It really does make the plane seem a whole lot nicer.

The bathroom helped make up for the lackluster crew. The flight attendant serving me wasn’t mean, but she certainly didn’t seem engaged or interested in her work. Forget refills, water, etc. She was—I think—just waiting for next break. I overheard her say, “Well I’m extra anyway.” Perhaps an additional crew member for a full flight; so maybe she interpreted this as, “I therefore don’t have to do anything.”

There was further trouble in paradise. I watched a senior flight attendant scold another flight attendant about “how she presented herself. I don’t know what happened during their layover, but this was not a happy group of people. As expected, the Hebrew speakers were the exception: young, cheerful, and energetic. (The same is true on Continental.)

Dinner was as follows:The chicken itself was actually quite good—and largely indistinguishable from the Michelle Bernstein chicken on the outbound. The rice was mostly dry, but parts were still edible.

Despite the mediocre food and even more mediocre crew, I slept for eight hours.

Breakfast was served two hours prior to arrival:
Again, I had to be particularly assertive to get coffee refilled.
Due to the early hour, we had a quick descent into Atlanta, and there was no wait for a gate or a ground crew.

I was perhaps third in line at Immigration, where the officer was actually pleasant.

Bags took about 25 minutes to offload, with no attention paid to priority tags. Delta used to take that very seriously, even having BusinessElite concierges at baggage claim. I guess it’s another cost cut.
There was no wait at Customs nor at the bag drop.

As usual, the TSA line took forever. They had a specially-designated “black diamond” lane, which they left unused. This was the fault of the contract ground agents, not the TSA. So they essentially left one third of the available screening staff and equipment unused. Then they bickered over it. When passengers inquired, they said, “You can’t go there, that’s black diamond only.” Good grief.

[b]15 June 2008
Delta Connection 6486
ATL-CMH
Embraer-170
Seat 1A[/b]

There was a 20 minute delay for this flight, which resulted in only a 10-minute late arrival. It is only a 70-minute flight.

The only item of interest was that one of the flight attendants had an obviously fake “Gone with the Wind” style accent for her announcements. It was a little more than irritating first thing in the morning.

Bags arrived after about a 10-minute wait at CMH, again priority tags were of no interest.

A few remarks about Delta and hotels
The trip was, overall, wonderful. I’d go back to Israel tonight if I could.
Given a choice, I’d still prefer to fly El Al. They have friendlier service in business class, good food (at least for breakfast), and an amazing lounge at Tel Aviv.

Continental has the best entertainment and the best seat Their food is better than the others, but the service tends to be a bit chilly.

Delta isn’t awful, but it’s not good either. The crew on the outbound made a big difference. The return flight was fine, but I’d be in no rush to choose Delta over another option.

The Regency in Jerusalem remains a great bargain, particularly if you don’t mind the grandma smell. The Crowne Plaza at the Dead Sea, also an excellent choice, and good value for money. The Dan—well—I guess my bubble has been burst. Perhaps next time I’ll give the Hilton a try.

Next trip report: starting in six days.
Thanks for your interest and comments.