DCAhome

I’m a long-time lurker and finally decided to write a trip report. I’ll start with some background on me. Years ago, I was in the air on a weekly basis. I decided to settle down, and family kept me closer to home for a number of years. Now, my youngest is 17, and I’m getting ready to take back to the air. I do miss the wonderful flying years in the 90’s. It seemed like upgrades and award flights were flowing freely. Every weekly trip got me upgraded, and I turned my miles into incredible, first-class international vacations (including two trips on Concord with BA).

I’m close to 1MM on Delta from my previous flying days, so I decided I’d focus on crossing that line. Right now, I have no status. But I plan to get to GM before the end of the year. The first big trip is this mileage run to Singapore. I caught wind of the opportunity from Flyer Talk, and also notice that this would be a final chance to fly on the 747 (at least with a US-based carrier).

So, I set up a flight from DCA-DTW-NRT-SIN and return. The coach fares are a good deal, but I really wanted to have a last chance to sit in the 747’s upper deck and nose. So, that means I’m also going to try out Delta One for the first time. The earning power is pretty good on this flight: 30,675 MQM and 4334 MQD. That get’s me to SM. Combine that with the bonus from a new Delta Platinum Amex and a second mileage run to Munich in Delta One, and I should have GM taken care of.

-- Note: I do have photos. I'm just too new to add them here yet...

I planned to arrive a couple of hours before departure so I could have a relaxing time in the Sky Club and enjoy the views. The weather was cool and crisp – a nice October morning. My other half drove me to DCA and dropped me off for my first flight.

I really like both DCA terminals – great looking architecture. Walking through the new terminal makes me think that it feels like a modern-day equivalent of the great train terminals of the last century.

I had already checked in online, and bypassed the regular line with TSA Pre-Check. I really like that program. For me, it reduces one of my most-disliked stressors with air travel.

Check in at the Delta Sky club was easy too. This is the first time I’m leaving in an “international” departure from DCA in Delta One, so it was nice to get in the club with just my ticket. Normally, I have to pull out the American Express Platinum Card so they could swipe that as well.

The DCA Sky Club is under construction. So, one sector of the old club is walled off. They’ve opened a temporary room that’s down a short hallway from the existing club. The new room actually has a nice view, and wasn’t cramped at all – I think a number of people didn’t know that the extra room had been added to the Club. Great space for watching planes, looking at the original terminal and starting this trip report.

Delta has improved their food choices at the Sky Clubs over the past few years. Breakfast was some (real) oatmeal with brown sugar and almond slivers, a toasted bagel with cream cheese and an apple. They also have the Starbucks-branded coffee, but that’s not my favorite.

DCA-DTW
DL 2468
737-800
9:41 am – 11:18 am
October 5, 2017

So, I spent a bit too much time in the Sky Club, and missed the Premium Boarding. It feels like everyone here qualifies for “Sky” boarding because the line is long, but the truth is that the gate was packed. I’ll give Delta credit for creating lines to organize the boarding better. Even the packed gate didn’t feel like a scrum. I was held up a bit in boarding because they needed to see my passport – something most of the other passengers didn’t have to do since this was a domestic flight.

Walking up to my seat, 2A, I saw a gentlemen standing by the row. I had assumed that he was just waiting for me to arrive before he sat down. My mistake – he wanted to switch seats. He was in 1A, but his wife was sitting in 2B. He asked if I wouldn’t mind taking his seat. I hesitated momentarily – I didn’t really want a bulkhead. But, ultimately said yes, since I packed lightly. I was glad I did. I was chatting him up as I was sitting down, and noticed that his wife had a headscarf on. I can only assume that she is battling cancer, and it felt good that I had a “nice” answer to a polite request.

My new seat, “1A” is a standard Delta domestic US First Class seat. There were both a blanket and pillow available – neither of which I used. And, there was a small bottle of water waiting, and PDB were also offered. I was pleased to see a nice inflight entertainment system. It offered movies, and had a flight tracker. I’m used to seeing that on international flights, but not domestic hops.

As we were taxing, I could also see the demolition started on the old north hangers at DCA. In the 90’s those were used for the DCA interim terminal, and later turned into offices. The future for that site is the new commuter terminal at DCA – and I think the plans for that looked wonderful.

We took off to the south, and I got a nice time-lapse video of the view. Here, you can see the new MGM casino and National Harbor. Our climb paused at about 5,000 feet, and we also got a nice view of IAD as we finished our turns and started climbing again.

There were some great sights coming into Detroit. I grew up in Michigan outside of Toledo, Ohio. As we were flying over Lake Eire, I could see Put-In-Bay island, which I remember as a child. And, in the distance, was the city of Toledo.

I had a short connection in DTW (50 minutes), so this was really all about getting to the next gate: A50. But, having said that, DTW is a nice terminal. The “train” to get you back and forth is really nice (although I walked to get a bit of exercise).

DTW-NRT
DL 275
747-400
12:10 pm – 2:15 pm (+1)
October 5-6, 2017

Gate A50 was a bit tight for a wide-body plane. It was long and narrow, so that made the gate “lice” problem worse. And, Delta didn’t have the area as nicely organized as the gate at DCA. Nonetheless, we quickly started boarding and had a dual jet-way, so Delta One could board up front. I quickly got on board, and climbed up to my seat: 80K. I wanted to be up top for the first 747 ride, and I’ve heard that 80K had a great view of the wing.

I was offered PDB sparkling wine very quickly. I didn’t notice the label, but the menu says that it’s Lanson Black Label Brut – so actually Champagne versus a sparkling wine.

But, I was off to the next important pre-departure task – the cockpit photo. I had brought along a book of mine that details the design of the 747 – written by the lead engineer of the design effort: Joe Sutton. I asked each of the pilots if they would sign the book for me, and they were thrilled. The most junior pilot has been flying 747s for 19 years. The Chief Pilot had clocked more than 30 years. Awesome team, and they were even sadder than I was that Delta was putting the 747s out to pasture at the end of the year.

I also had the chance to talk with some other upper-deck passengers who were also on the flight simply to have a last chance to fly the 747. Great conversations and we’re all racking up the miles for future adventures.

Takeoff was smooth, and, even though the acceleration didn’t seem that strong, we were airborne pretty quickly. I also noticed that our climb seemed fairly gradual as well. We had two flight attendants working the upper deck. They were friendly and efficient. Hot towels came out pretty quickly as did the starters. I had warm nuts (yum) and tried the signature cocktail: Delta Sunrise. It was Bombay Sapphire Gin with cranberry apple juice and a splash of ginger ale. It was ok, but I’m not truly a fan of gin drinks.

Lunch was good. I had a bit of bourbon before the food showed up. The pretzel roll was nice – I love soft pretzels. There was a duck starter and salad, but I skipped the soup. Our flight attendants followed that up with my lamb with potatoes and broccoli. The lamb was well, done, and that’s how I like my meat. For desert, I had the apple cake with ice cream, and I finished that off with the cheese plate and a glass of port.

By this time, the sleeping pill I took kicked in. I pulled out the pillows (two) and the comforter and settled in for some sleep. Time zones will be a challenge. It’s only about 2pm on my body clock, but if I don’t get some sleep now, it will be much more difficult later when I want to be awake. The seat in bed mode was comfortable – I like a firm bed, and this was it.

I woke up just in time for the snack. The beef teriyaki was good, but I skipped the shrimp (which I don’t like). Walked around a bit and tried to figure out how to get standing credit recorded on my watch for Tokyo time. Breakfast started about 90 minutes before our arrival at NRT. I had the scrambled eggs with chicken sausage and potatoes. It was fine, and just about the right amount of food. All my electronics are charged and ready for my layover in Tokyo.

Walked through NRT – my first time here. But, moved quickly to the Sky Club. Another FT member was smarter than me and booked the showers. I just enjoyed some red wine and snacks. As expected, the lounge was crowded at first, but emptied out as more of Delta’s flights departed.

NRT-SIN
DL 167
767-300
5:35 pm – 12:10 am
October 6-7, 2017

It wasn’t too long before it was time to leave the lounge to board the flight to SIN. As I got there, the boarding area was quite full. Three Delta agents were organizing the passengers. I headed for the Premium line, which was surprisingly long. Boarding didn’t take too much time. I quickly got settled and we were ready to push back. The mood was a bit more somber because it had started raining outside, and darkness was falling. Despite that, we got into the air and had about 7 hours of smooth travel ahead of us.

The attendants were quickly about the cabin and we were served dinner. The chicken I ordered was fine, but I could tell that it was coming from overseas catering. Slightly different vegetable and sauce mix from what I would have expected. Garlic bread was fine and ice cream for desert finished things nicely. I settled in for some additional sleep, and work up when it was time for our snack. We had a nice (warm) chicken sandwich. Good grill marks on the bread, which was still crusty. I can tell you I left the plane full.

Arrival in Singapore was smooth. But, I needed someplace to “be”. It was just past midnight local time, and my check-in at my hotel wasn’t until 3pm. I tried the transit hotel in Terminal 1, and that was full. (Apparently this is common, so lesson learned.) I ended up going to the Dnata lounge that Delta uses. It wasn’t clear that the lounge would let me in as an arriving passenger, but they did – with the reminder that the maximum stay was 3 hours.

The lounge was fine – not too crowded. I was able to grab a shower, grab some drinks and there was plenty of food available as well. And, the timing worked out well. It was about 4:30 am (and after breakfast) when the attendant reminded me that the 3-hour stay was up. I explored the features of Terminal 1, grabbed the sky train to Terminal 2, and finally exited immigration – which was very empty. Dropped my bag off at left luggage (SG$ 4) and hopped on the MRT into the city.

So, I'll have some photos and the return trip done in a few days....

kdavis527

As a Delta hub captive, I'm looking forward to reading this once it goes online!

DanielW

Should now be visible.

Moderator, Trip Reports
Daniel W.

eeflyer

Interesting read so far. Besides the gate crowding issues, DCA is a nice airport. I love being able to be off the plane->metro in less than 10 minutes.

Looking forward to the pictures whenever you are able to get them up. Is "747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet.." the book you are referring to?

shimps1

Looking forward to pictures if you can post them!

DCAhome

Working on getting the permission to post photos. Almost there ....

DCAhome

A 5:50 am departure is brutally early – unless your body hasn’t shifted the 12 hours to your new time zone. I woke up just after midnight to get ready. Grabbed a quick Uber at 1:30 am, and I was at the airport before 2. I thought this was perfect timing. At SIN, you must have a physical boarding pass, and the check in desk opens just 3 hours before departure. I recalled that my flight was 5’ish, so I thought arriving at 2 was perfect. Not exactly. It meant I had almost an hour to burn before I could check in. That meant it was time to walk and get some steps in while I was stuck. The airport was surprisingly lively for 2:00 am.

When the check in opened a few minutes before 2:50 am, I was quickly through the mandatory U.S. “questions” and had my boarding passes in hand. Off to the Dnata lounge it was. I had visited there before, and liked it. Breakfast looked nice, but looks were deceiving. My penalty for being early was that everything was still cold: cold scrambled eggs, cold ham (ish) meat and cold waffles. I enjoyed the waffles. Then switched to the Shiraz. (With some peanuts.) Maybe I’ll get some more food when it’s warm.

Looks like the NRT-DTW flight will be delayed by 2 hours. I’m pleased that DL has already re-booked me on a later DTW-DCA flight, and offered to let me choose other options for re-scheduling. (Though, those many of those options don’t include a 747 and some downgrade to economy – not cool.)

SIN-NRT
DL 166 (Seat 7D)
767-300
5:50 am – 2:20 pm
October 9, 2017

SIN does security at the gate that was well organized and included a Sky Priority lane. We got on board our 767 quickly and settled in. It was feeling very familiar to my last flight. I had a PBD which looked like champagne, but I can't say for certain what it was.

Once in the air, we had a beautiful sunrise and some incredible cloud formations over the ocean. First meal service was a breakfast. I picked the mushroom omelet. Perfectly serviceable, even though I don’t like mushrooms. I tucked myself into the darkened cabin and got a couple hours of sleep.

I woke for our second meal service. I decided to try the scotch, but the flight attendant had trouble locating the McCallens. I settled for the Dewars. I ordered the chicken dish. Wow – that bird had seen better days. I’m not a particularly fancy eater, but this was not a well done dish.

The arrival in Tokyo was smooth and our weather was clear. I was able to walk fast enough to be the first in one of the security lanes. That went smoothly as well, and I was off my new home: the Narita Sky Club.

With a two hour delay, my time in the club was longer than planned. Not much different from the last visit, and I still skipped the showers. It was wonderful to see our 747 land – the view from the Sky Club is great for plane spotting. I was also pleased to see that Delta had already rebooked me for a later DTW-DCA flight.

I left early to buy some of the crazy Kit Kat chocolates they sell in Japan. I got cantaloupe, grape and green tea Kit Kat bars. I was also impressed with Delta’s gate agents. With the delay, there was a pretty large crowd waiting at the (fortunately large) gate area. They brought a bunch of food and snacks to the gate for the delayed passengers – including bags of hamburgers from McDonalds down the hall. Nice proactive move.

NRT - DTW
DL 276 (Seat 1K)
747-400
3:55 pm – 2:32 pm (I love arriving before I leave….)
6:35 pm – 5:18 pm (actual)
October 9, 2017

So, our inbound was delayed. The scoop I heard was that the APU was having issues. They tried to fix it in DTW, but were unsuccessful and dispatched the plane to NRT regardless.

Boarding didn’t start exactly as hoped for (5:45 pm), but they were able to get everyone on board by 6:15 pm as they had planned – very impressive. Our pushback was delayed, however. They had to start two of the engines at the gate, which required permission and caused additional delays. (I’m assuming this was because we had a non-functional APU.)

I picked seat 1K this time so I could sit in the nose. A drawback with Delta’s new seats, however, is that they ended up blocking the most forward passenger window on the 747. So, the take off view was not as impressive as I had remembered from before. Given the choice, I’d pick the upper deck. 1K feels private, but it’s a more claustrophobic version of private. The upper deck feels roomy and private.

This was one bumpy flight! Meal service was delayed, and event the nuts weren’t warm. I ate quickly and then settled down to sleep. And, it was a good sleep. I missed the mid-flight snack, which was disappointing. But, I was up in time for breakfast.

I was able to get off the plane quickly and dash to immigration. (Thank you, Global Entry.) No line at the kiosks, and only 2 people in front of me to clear customs. The transit desk was also helpful. The agent there noted that I’d already been protected with a flight the next morning, but she thought she could do better – and she was right. She got me on the 8pm flight to DCA.

Finally settled into the main Sky Club at DTW. This place is big, and I was impressed that it has showers. But, this place was. a. zoo. It was packed and really a mess. There was food on the floor, broken glass they were cleaning up, people slipping and falling down. Wow. I was debating about relocating to a satellite club.

I will give them credit for having more food options than I’ve ever seen in a Sky Club. I had some tasty meatballs, pasta with marinara sauce and some red wine.

DTW-DCA
DL 1807
A320 (Seat 2A)
8:00 pm – 9:31 pm
October 9, 2017

OK -- not much on this one. I was tired and it really was just a standard run from DTW to DCA. All was good. We arrived on time, and I got to head home quickly. I quickly located my bed and planted my face in the pillow for a good number of hours. I actually went to work the next morning, and needed every moment of sleep I could get.

dat4life

Nice Report! I enjoyed the change of pace of written report, something we don’t see very often any more.

I also share your sentiments on DCA and the Queen. I fly out of DCA a lot for work, and it’s definitely one of if not the best major US airport. Jealous you were able to snag a couple of more rides on the Queen. I am in the midst of a trip myself and I wasn’t able to find any segments with the 747 that worked for me.

Speaking of which, I was in Singapore myself the very same time! I used to be pretty good with dealing with jet lag, but I was up at 3AM with the munchies in the middle of Little India.

DCAhome

Interesting! I was in Little India as well -- at the Hilton Garden Inn.

dat4life

That’s too funny. So was I! Not a bad use of 20,000 Hilton points.

injian

DCAhome, thanks for sharing your mileage run. Awesome to see a picture-less TR.

Can either you or dat4life comment on the Hilton Garden Inn in Little India? Looking at hotels in that area for next year and would appreciate any feedback.

dat4life

Hi injian. I posted a mini review in the hotel thread in the Hilton forum.

DCAhome

I would agree with the review. Hotel is fine. I picked the breakfast as a benefit, and used it for one morning. For me, I was less interested in the specific neighborhood. The hotel was close enough to the MRT to allow me to get to where I wanted to go. If I were staying longer, I may have selected a different hotel. And, if I were looking for a hotel "experience" I certainly would have picked the Marina Bay Sands. But, for my purposes, this was just fine.