Best D1 option to Tokyo? 777 or a350?
 

I will be flying D1 EWR-XXX-TYO in May. I can fly the a350 from Detroit to Narita or the 777 from Minneapolis to Haneda. Both appear to have the Delta suites, but as the a350 is a newer plane is it a much better experience??

All else being equal i'd rather fly to Haneda so would prefer to fly through MSP but if the a350 experience is notably better i'll sacrificean extra 30 minutes getting into the city for a better inflight experience. Flight costs are the same.

Or is there a better option?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ditto. Proximity to the City trumps aircraft selection for me, in this case. PLUS I'm in a minority as I prefer the 777 so I'd choose the MSP option.

Keep in mind the 777s were more recently refit then the 350s coming in new. So in terms of interior; 777 should be "newer" (by weeks/months) even though the 350 is the "newer plane"

Also the 777 is a slightly wider plane so the same D1 suite should be slightly wider on the 777 vs. A350. According to TPG " Each [D1 Suite] is 21 inches wide and up to 81 inches long on the A350. They are 22-24 inches wide and up to 79 inches long on the 777."

Downside of course is you don't have the next-gen cabin pressure but YMMV on that front (haven't flown A350, only 787 where I did notice the reduced cabin pressure on the UA 787 on LAX - SYD vs. the 777 I flew on DL coming home)

I've not flown the A350 yet, but I like the idea of no center bins creating a more open feeling. Of course, as the poster above says, they could fill up.

Agree that the ride from NRT into the city is quite nice.

Or, you can do why my buddy and I are doing and taking the 777 out, the 350 back, both through HND! (Our return is through LAX, gotta get that In-N-Out!)

HND IS very convenient where you will be riding the monorail into the city with a bunch of other travelers with bags. The train out to NRT is interesting as are some of the rarely discussed sights in NRT such as the museum and Jet Lag Club, so perhaps you may want to do that. My trip there on the last US-Japan 747 flight was into NRT and back from HND. This was a great option to see both and to have the chance to fly on two different aircraft.

I found the center "suites" in the 350 to be MUCH WARMER than the fuselage seats due to no air vents. Big "what the $%# were you thinking?" to the designers. Yeah, the cabin ceiling is WAY up there and I'm sure vents would be next to useless so far from the seat (in addition to how do you control them w/o likely-to-fail actuators, but surely it could've been possible to design them into the "suite" walls. Though my guess is that the airline fitment options end somewhere at the cabin floor thus making it impossible to route air channels to the "suites". But even then, if the F cabin was fitted with regular F seats or pods, the middle seat issue would be the same, so back to "what the $%# were you thinking"... Edit: OK, if F had regular non lie flat F seats, capacity would be such so as to need overhead bins and thus vents would be included. Though would many/any 350's be configured in non long haul? Talking all sales, not just DL.

(I use quotes for "suites" as I don't think a half-size sliding door qualifies a seat pod as a "suite".)

This. Just add bins to A350 D1 cabin, several big issues solved.

Of course, to play devils' advocate, adding bins to a space that's already on the way to cramped, at least visually, will exacerbate the look. (Talking about the aisles being so narrow & the doors, when closed, making it feel smaller.)