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Travel Blogger Posts Honest Review of Delta One Experience

A well-known travel blogger documented a recent coast-to-coast trip in the Delta One cabin. Images of a filthy cabin, worn-out and out-of-order amenities accompanied with a less-than-appetizing presentation of the inflight fare inspired testimonials from frequent flyers who have endured similar experiences on Delta One domestic flights.

Popular travel blogger Paul Lucas created an uproar with a recent no holds barred review of a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). His “shocking” experience in the Delta One cabin sparked controversy for some unexpected reasons.

Rather than disagreeing with Lucas’s assessment of his journey between the two largest cities in the U.S, a Flyertalk thread dedicated to his brutal evaluation of the trip, mostly chides him for boarding the flight with the expectation he would receive anything resembling a premium cabin experience. Rather than faulting Delta for the filthy cabin, subpar food offerings, inoperable wifi, buggy in-flight entertainment (IFE) and broken seat, many of those posting blamed Lucas for making the rookie mistake of booking a flight on an arguably outdated Boeing 767-400 aircraft.

Lucas himself admits that his Delta One experience appears to be an outlier. If his only criticisms had been about the lack of wifi, glitchy IFE, a broken seat and the general worn-out condition of the cabin, then booking his trip on newer equipment might have eliminated all of his issues. It’s unclear if the images of a filthy cabin and meal service that was decidedly unappealing would have ceased to exist if his Delta One service had been provided on a newer model Airbus.

“This is almost certainly an exceptionally bad experience with Delta,” Lucas cautioned near the close of his uncompromising account of his trip. “I personally know several people who have high status with Delta, who fly with them all the time, and they were all shocked with the worthless experience that I had on this transcontinental flight.”

Ironically, even those with experiences similar to Lucas’s rather uncharitable view of the condition of the Delta One cabin on the aging Boeing 767-400, seemed inclined to feel that his standards might have been set a bit high for North American domestic air travel. It seems that this aircraft has also developed a rather unsavory reputation among Delta’s most frequent flyers.

“I think it’s safe to say most people on FT, know that DL’s 767 are due for a refurb seeing as it’s been at least a decade,” Flyertalker Yellowjj offered. “His only valid points are the filthy interior and the meal. Complaining about the 767 seat at this point makes zero sense, because it’s a known issue for broad shouldered/tall people. WiFi fails on every airline, so I wouldn’t look at a one off thing as a serious issue. If he knew a few high status frequent DL flyers as he mentioned; they could have told him to avoid the 767 due to the narrowness and half of his complaints would have been alleviated.”

Delta isn’t the only airline to let premium cabin passengers down with equipment that doesn’t match expectations. Flyertalk members and travel writers have made a point of documenting the abysmal conditions on many of Cathay Pacific’s aircraft with Zodiac-designed cabins.

Does booking a Delta domestic flight on an older Boeing 767-400 guarantee an unpleasant experience or was this simply a bad trip on a perfectly acceptable aircraft? Flyertalkers are trading tales of dirty seats, broken IFE monitors and restless redeye flights in the forums right now.

 

[Featured Image: Video Screenshot]

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6 Comments
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Roneill000 June 7, 2019

I saw this on youtube.com and commented on it there. I had a worse experience last year on a flight from JFK-FCO on a 767-400 from an inoperable seat, a twice crashed IFE system that never worked right, torn material on the bulkhead in front of me and an inedible breakfast. I complained and Delta awarded me 30K Skymiles, now almost worthless with their no award chart, dynamic award pricing. I'd rather have avoided these issues and skipped the Skymiles compensation though.

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Aloha1 June 5, 2019

DL needs to fix the DL ONE food. Try flying TATL to London or Rome. Stuff I wouldn't eat ina diner.

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glob99 June 5, 2019

So it is the pax fault for flying the 767, but not Delta's fault for scheduling the 767 on this route. It is not Delta's fault for the filthy aircraft. It is not Delta's fault for the broken seat.

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Bluecardholder June 4, 2019

Having seen the video I thought it was a fair assessment of the what he experienced both in terms of the food and the condition of the airplane. Imagine booking this as a ordinary passenger, who had high expectations of what they should have received. And yet, they would have been highly disappointed.

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fotographer June 4, 2019

I should become a "travel blogger", these reviews now are getting out of hand