After having a great trip in Barcelona, it was time to head home. I am already starting to plan my next trip, but that’s for another time. After having such a great experience from New York to Barcelona, I set the bar a little higher since my expectations were met with ease on my way to Spain. The real question was, could Delta deliver another solid performance from Barcelona to New York?
Delta Coach Review
Boarding:
Delta was running behind due to an IT issue, which seems to be happening quite frequently as of recent with US carriers. For us, we weren’t suppose to be effected by this, but we were delayed an hour. When boarding was finally beginning, there was a massive crowd of people waiting to board.
When I first started traveling, I would wait near the boarding line, now I have relaxed and just wait until my zone is called. We are all going to the same place and based on the seating map via Delta’s app, there were plenty of overhead storage space. Since I have the Delta Platinum and Gold Credit Card, we were able to check our bags for free on the way home.
Since there were computer issues, boarding wasn’t very smooth, but the crew did the best they could. I think they were trying hard to make sure everything went as smoothly as it could.
Seats:
On the way home we sat in seats 36 F and 36 G:
These, just like our flight to Barcelona, were your standard economy seats, they still weren’t anything special. According to Seat Guru, these had 31 to 32 inches of pitch and had a width of 17.9 inches.
The cushion on this seat was much better on this flight. I have no idea why,but this felt a million times better. If you were to look underneath my pillow in 36 G, you will see we were given a blanket for this flight. I find it interesting we received a blanked for this flight and not our red eye flight to Spain.
The seat was already pretty comfortable, with plenty of leg room. The recline on the seat made it more comfortable.
Overall:
This was a 9 and a half hour flight, but I felt this seat was extremely comfortable. I had no issues with the seat and would gladly do it again.
I didn’t sleep on this flight, since I wanted to make sure I was tired to get back on my normal sleep schedule. The cushion was far superior to the one I had on my way to Barcelona. The blanket was a nice addition and was actually quite large. I’m still holding out hope that one day a foot rest will be in the back of the plane 🙂
In-Flight Entertainment:
Delta has good solid in-flight entertainment options. I found even more shows when searching through their selection.
The screen had no issues when trying to move between screens, or when playing games. I’m not a huge fan of IFE games, but I thought I’d try them out. Not sure I would do it again since the screen didn’t swivel and a few games were awkward to play.
The ear phones handed out were actually quite nice and we kept ours. The sound quality was very good and they didn’t fall out of my ears.
I’m actually waiting for more airlines to follow American Airlines lead and not add IFE systems to their planes. I prefer using my own devices when possible. As we see WiFi being upgraded, I think we are only a couple years away from seeing free WiFi on all flights (my own personal thought).
GoGo WiFi:
On my flight home, I was able to use one of my ten GoGo passes, courtesy of my American Express Business Platinum. It was great since I could get some work done on such a long flight.
I was actually surprise how fast the WiFi was. I only had one little issue when the WiFi was switching between connections. That lasted just a few minutes, but was not a long lasting issue.
I was able to have multiple windows open and switch between many sites quite quickly. I was impressed with GoGo service while cruising over the Atlantic. I plan to use more of these later this year and I would think it will improve more by then as well.
Service:
This is where this flight starts to separate itself from our other Delta flight. On the flight over, Delta actually impressed me with their service, but this is the service I was originally expecting.
When we were boarding the plane, we were greeted with smiles and friendly faces. Once we were wheels up and cruising at 40,000 feet, it was quite different.
Soon after take off, the flight attendants brought us warm towelettes and bottles of water. It took a while for them to come back around to pick up the warm towelettes. Not that this bothered me, but it was something I noticed.
There was an announcement that snacks would be handed out soon after take off.
Snacks consisted of:
- Nothing
If someone was waiting for snacks, well they were out of luck, because the snacks weren’t ever handed out. The meal was handed out instead, which I thought was quite soon since we had a long flight back to the states.
I felt for most of the flight, I wouldn’t have know there were people working on the flight. The service was very underwhelming for the entire flight. It was quite the contrast from Delta’s service to Barcelona.
Meals:
Now, I am a very easy person to please when it comes to food. There are a few things I don’t particularly care for, but overall I’ll try anything.
The meal options were:
- Vegetarian
- Salad
- Hot Meal
I opted for the hot meal, which consisted of:
- “Hot” chicken with sauce
- Potatoes with corn
- “Vegetable medley”- .
- Salad with olive oil dressing
- Crackers with cheese
- Dessert bite
I tried to eat this, since I was hungry, but the hot chicken with sauce was more luke warm covered in some sauce that I couldn’t tell what it was suppose to be. The potatoes with corn was probably the best part of the meal. When potatoes is your best option, that isn’t a good sign.
The vegetable medley, was zucchini and cauliflower, I think? I tried to eat it, but I’d be lying if I said I ate more than a bite or two of it.
The salad was quite wilted, and the olive oil dressing was okay, but this was far from fresh.
The crackers with cheese were good, but honestly, how can crackers and cheese not be good?
Finally for dessert, there was a double chocolate truffle with sea salt caramel bite. This was very good and seemed to be just enough to satisfy and persons chocolate craving.
Pre-landing Meal:
We were given options of:
- Vegetarian
- Turkey and Cranberry
I decided on the turkey and cranberry wrap, which came with a chocolate caramel chocolate bar and Tic Tac’s.
It felt like I was eating an onion instead of a turkey cranberry wrap. I couldn’t get beyond two bites before I had to stop eating the wrap. The chocolate bar was very good. Tic Tac’s are always good, but that didn’t save this meal.
Overall:
The meals on this flight were quite tough to eat. The food was not hot and just overall was not something I’d like to eat again. The pre-landing meal or snack, was not very good. I was actually quite disappointed in the food on this flight.
I would be nice if there was more consistency in the food quality, especially when the flight is close to 10 hours long.
Flight Experience:
The flight started off with delays due to IT issues, which I don’t blame the crew. We did leave about an hour later than we were suppose too.
Once you get beyond the smiling faces of boarding, the crew seemed distant and non-existent for most of the flight.
This type of experience was originally what I thought I’d receive from Delta, but after such a pleasant experience to Barcelona, I must have prematurely set my bar too high.
Overall:
If I was rating this flight on a scale of 1-10, I would probably select a 3 or 4. The food needs definite improvement. A friendly face and smile can go a long way, unfortunately after take off, they were few and far between.
The seat was much more comfortable and the addition of a blanket was great.
We landed at JFK safely, which I would think is ultimately the goal, but sometimes it’s the little things that can make a flight go from decent to great. Delta should continue to work on the little things.
What would you like to see Delta improve upon? Am I being too critical?
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