vossman

Hello everyone. As someone who reads FlyerTalk daily and has spent hundreds of hours reading other's posts to gain insight on my own future travel plans and potential experiences, I wanted to take a moment to share my first trip report flying on Delta RT from ATL to HNL this month.

I apologize if this report is boring and appreciate any constructive feedback as my goal is really to inform those who may be considering taking this trip as to what they can expect in terms of service, food, and amenities. Personally I googled ATL - HNL + BE or BusinessElite nearly everyday from March 2014 when I booked the trip to January when I took it Doing so brings up only a couple of reports and most from 2009 or earlier. Wishing to contribute to a group that has given me a ton in terms of travel insight, I hope you find my experiences helpful.

Chris

ATL - HNL: For this trip I booked with miles and Skybonus awards 6 BE seats for my immediate family and in-laws. I have two little boys who love to travel and booked 4 seats together towards the front of the Airbus 330-300. Three were along the window and the 4th on the aisle across. The in-laws were on the other side of the plane one on the window and the other across the aisle.

Regarding the seating, I know a lot of couples sit together in the middle section (in fact on our flight we switched seats three times to help one couple sit together in the middle and ultimately took up an entire row of BE for our family - thx to those travelers and flight attendants). That said, the problem with that seating configuration is that your feet come together and you aren't actually sitting that close to each other to really talk. Further, you don't have any window view- in the event you want to look out as you land or take off. Instead, I recommend taking the window and aisle where your heads are closer together and then you can get up and actually sit next to the person with the aisle armrest pushed down to talk mid-flight. Again, this is personal preference but having done it both ways, I prefer the latter seating option.

BE Westin Bedding: Sitting down in your seat is a large duvet and pillow. Having read about them, I wasn't prepared for how comfortable and soft both were. I ended up napping for a couple of hours on the flight and it was one of the best sleeps I've had on an airplane - could have been all those mai-tais too

Pre-service drinks: Getting on the flight you are offered mai-tais as an option in addition to sparkling wine (champagne and the rest of your normal pre-service drinks. I chose the mai-tai because well, it was a vacation to Hawaii!

Sitting down you are offered menus with a lunch choice of pasta or short-ribs. I've had the short-ribs on other Delta flights going to MSP to SFO and LAX but unlike those flights, the food here was a much larger portion size and the carrots actually seemed cooked! Along with your entree is a nice sized salad and warm roll - offered from a bread basket. In addition, prior to your meal you are served warm nuts and after dinner the sundae - which I got with all toppings.

Aside from lunch which was good, the movie selection on the flight is similar if not exactly that of an international flight. While I wish they pulled movies that played in theaters two months prior, was enough to pass the time until I napped.

Close to our arrival the second meal was offered consisting of a cold pastrami sandwich. This was not that great as the rye bread was stale. At the same time, the premium snack box was left available for most of the second half of the flight so I loaded up on the brownie bites!

Throughout the flight service was great and our kids had ample movies and grandparents to plan with to stay entertained. Speaking of kids, mine are 2 and 5 so I ordered the children's meal for them. Not many FT give details about the children's meals and I can tell you from domestic experience they usually suck - think piece of american cheese on white bread with chips as one lunch option from MSP to ATL. As a result, I make a rule of not ordering them as the normal adult lunches and breakfast options are fine.

For this flight and the return I ordered the children's meals and for this flight they received a cheeseburger, broccoli, grapes, and mac and cheese. Much better than normal domestic first on Delta! Both boys crushed the cheeseburger leaving little for Dad to take care of For the second meal they received a turkey and swiss sandwich, however, it was strangely served on rye bread - not a good choice for children. Both meals were good and the boys loved the ice cream!

Overall, the flight was great, relaxing and a lot of fun where everyone behaved and we landed on time nearly 10 hours later and I was even able to sleep some!

Wiirachay

Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear that the flight matches DL international BE standards. I've read in the past here that DL watered it down.

gooselee

Thanks for the report!

My question: Are the seats on the A330 really wide enough to do this conformably? Even with the armrest down, it seems like someone would either be in someone's lap or have one cheek hanging out in the aisle...

DLATL777

BE is unusual and exciting for many people and while true, it is reviewed hundreds of time so on the exact same plane, exact same seats, exact same bedding, etc, everyone likes to add their data points.

lking

Thank you vossman for the excellent report. It answered many questions that is difficult to find out via Delta such as what the child's meal consisted of; and seat configuration. ^

tmorse6570

Thanks. Sounds like a nice trip.

We're flying non-stop from SLC-HNL, but it's just regular FC. I hope they serve mai-tais though!

TTT

Thanks for the post! Thinking of flying this flight this summer as a way to ride on the 747 upper deck.

MSPeconomist

This doesn't sound like international BE to me: no nut packet with the cranberries, no appetizer course, no soup, only two main course choices, no cheese, no desserts other than the ice cream.

OP didn't mention wine other than the PDB sparkling wine (which I'm sure wasn't champagne). How many choices were there and were they the same as domestic FC or the JFK nonstop transcons to LAX and SFO?

slipbeer

Old seats but fresh Mai-Tais, at least as of early December 2014.

batmandds

Thanks op! I'm taking this flight later this week so the update is much appreciated!

tubesoxs

On the couple BE flights this year I've had leaving ATL, GRU and SCL, I've gotten the warmed nuts in a small dish rather than the nut/cranberry packet. I was hoping that this was a permanent switch back.

MSPeconomist

I prefer the packet with the nut and cranberry mixture. The nuts are higher quality, almonds rather than mostly peanuts, and the sweet flavor is new and different.

Did your flights have the nut packet in the mid-flight snack basket?

If the warmed nuts are served in a dish, those little dishes would need to be collected before takeoff. With the packet, I can save mine to go with the "up in the air" champagne.

vossman

Regarding nuts, the snack basket has the nut packet in it. To MSPEconomist's point, this isn't international BE from a food service perspective as there was no appetizer course, no soup, only two main course choices, no cheese, no desserts other than the ice cream.

That said, the wines on the plane included a pinot grigio which is not normally availIable or found in Delta first class domestic - or at least not on the last 30 FC RT's I took in 2014. At the same time, unlike international BE there wasn't a wine list provided with the menus they hand out.

As for sitting, to be clear the BE seats are not wide enough to have two people sitting next to each other in the seat, however, depending on your size, you can sit with your legs into the aisle on the armrest area while the second person sits in their normal chair. My point was that to talk to each other in the middle section of the plane, you require the two of you to lean forward from your sitting position to look around the divider. Not sure which is more comfortable but with noise cancelling headphones (offered on this flight) not sure how much talking you want to do

Hope this answers your questions. Thanks.

MSPeconomist

Was there an additional white wine beyond the Pinot Grigio? I can't recall seeing a Pinot Grigio in long haul BE, but I probably wouldn't select it either so perhaps it was offered but I didn't remember. Similarly, did they have one or two reds? Any after dinner port and/or white dessert wine? What there a different sparkling wine or champagne from what was served as a PDB?

batmandds

Was there WIFI on the plane? I hear differing reports on wifi for A330-300's. Thanks