Originally Posted by
brocklee9000
Ah yes, I had to go look it up, but we talked about Fan Ice!
And unfortunately, our connection is in PDX each way. Long story short, I have been piling up miles for three years, and I wanted to get rid of them before they become potentially harder to use next summer. After plugging every Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and European destination I could think of, I settled on AMS. Every European city involved a connection in AMS anyway, and resulted in either long layovers, very early departures on the way back, or both. I figured AMS was the lowest common denominator, it ended up being 125K per person. I almost did VCE via JFK, but the times weren't as good, and it involved a lengthy flight on an old 752 or 738 connecting to a 764. Connecting in PDX gave us a short ride in domestic F, and the perceived benefit of maximizing the Delta 1 experience aboard a nicer A333. So a better interior, better schedule, no Euro Biz class, and minimizing time in DL domestic F made it a no brainer.
And this time, since I'm expecting the choice of several desserts from the cart, perhaps I'll indeed get one of each. Or maybe I'll deliberately skip the ice cream (and not feel bummed this time). I like the tips to ask for seconds after they've served everyone. And I'm hoping for a bit of sleep. A 1:30PM departure from PDX arriving AMS at 8:30 will mean even a few hours of sleep will be important.
Aside from the special catering ex-JFK and ex-ATL, I find the ice cream usually to be a disappointment. It's usually not terribly premium in quality, and the chocolate sauce is very artificial. Because of that I'm kind of over ice cream on the "standard" D1 flights. (Now, the chef-curated flights are a whole different ballgame. On a Blue Smoke flight last year, the ice cream was the best part!)
Bear in mind those special menus are only outbound from JFK/ATL; the return flight gets standard D1 menus.
Also, just reiterating that the service is usually very gracious and the food is plentiful. You'll get your menu a few minutes after you sit down, and the purser generally takes orders prior to or immediately after pushback.
Meal should start with an aperitif and a plated appetizer. Then you get a tray with the full appetizer and a salad/soup. Then they take the dishes off your tray and replace them with the main course. Then they take the entire tray (leaving a tablecloth behind) and do a dessert trolley down the aisle. You may not be able to ask for two entrees as they may not have the inventory, but there's plenty of dessert for seconds (or thirds).