Review of Delta Air Lines flight Edinburgh New York in Economy

Airline Delta Air Lines
Flight DL209
Class Economy
Seat 34A
Flight time 07:25
Take-off 11 Jan 23, 10:50
Arrival at 11 Jan 23, 13:15
DL   #30 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 833 reviews
KLM777300ER
By BRONZE 3524
Published on 16th January 2023

Hello everyone, welcome to my first flight of 2023!

Today I’ll be flying to Fort Lauderdale from Edinburgh with a connection in JFK onboard Delta.

Check in online with Delta wasn’t permitted as I required a document check prior to boarding. Interestingly, I was able to check in via KLM and proceed through the fast track security first.  I was then able to access my Delta boarding pass in the Delta app somehow.

With my Flying Blue Platinum, I accessed the Aspire Lounge at EDI.  Nicely decorated and not too busy however the food offerings a little bit unappealing.  Not bad selection of drinks at the bar however (and not limited by 4 raffle tickets, take note Upper Deck Lounge at Glasgow).

Breakfast in the lounge, looks much better than it tasted. 


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Our ride to JFK has just arrived.


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Delta flight 209, operated today by N175DZ, a 23 year old Boeing 767-300ER.

Boarding was commenced on time and the flight did not look full.  Took some time to board as Active Military, extra time and assistance, Delta One, Platinum Medallion, Premium Select, infants, comfort plus etc etc followed by Sky Priority finally.  Not sure I like the new Delta boarding process.


Seat map prior to boarding.


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New Premium Select seats.


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My seat today is 34A, Exit Row and the aisle seat remained unassigned, which was great.


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Push back was on schedule and we made our way to RW24 with an estimated flying time of 7 hours and 2 minutes.

 Holding for a few minutes for Aer Lingus Regional to land and we powered into the skies behind the WizzAir (an airline I’ve yet to try).


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Takeoff…


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Takeoff was a little bumpy and gusty however we soon climbed above and things smoothed out.  


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Onboard service commenced with a bottle of water, eye shades and headsets. Thankfully I was able to use the (dirty) tray beside me; some of those in seat tables at the exit row are no longer designed to balance a meal, dropping to such angles.  FA offered to clean the table before I used it.


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Seems my IFE crashed when the Moving Map was selected, after several requests and reminders, I was able to get this reset.


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Lunch was the typical Chicken or Pasta choice with a selection of drinks and ice cream.  The Chicken was actually pretty good.


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I purchased the inflight wifi for $21 and it was pretty stable.  I see Delta will now offer this free from February, nice touch!

Tracking ourselves over the Atlantic on FR. 


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And then this…


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Thankfully not affecting our flight yet but keen to see the knock on effect when reaching JFK.


Nuts, cheese and wine from the galley. Crew advised someone had forgot to load the white wine, so only rosé or red.


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Pink Delta from LHR off to our right. 


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Name that movie ?


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Around 1.5hrs prior to landing, the pre-arrival snack was served, “Chicken or vegetarian?”.


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Approaching JFK…


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NYC in the distance ?


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Following a firm landing into JFK, we had arrived after 7:02hrs, exactly as predicted.

Our pilots even held short of the active runway, unlike the event a couple of days later ?.


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Now my flight to FLL would show as a 2+ hour delay due to the earlier NOTAM issue. Let’s head to Passport control and T2, more about that later.

Thanks for reading. 

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Verdict

Delta Air Lines

7.9/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Meal/catering8.0

Edinburgh - EDI

8.8/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.0

New York - JFK

6.3/10
Efficiency5.0
Access5.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5

Conclusion

Not a bad trip with Delta, nice to get a rare trip on the 767. Those exit row seats do need some extra padding though and some new tray tables.
Crew were quite decent and friendly. Even if one was rather rightly annoyed that her bag of Pret sandwiches had gone missing from behind a row of seats during boarding!

Related

3 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 619109 by
    NGO85 SILVER 1989 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this FR!

    It’s surprising that EDI can support both DL/UA daily service to JFK/EWR. DL definitely offers the better hard product, the 2-3-2 of the B767 easily beats the B757 for comfort. The exit row does have its pros and cons, the misaligned arm rest on the exit door can make it uncomfortable on longer flights. With an empty seat next to you, probably doesn’t matter since you can just slide over to the aisle.

    The catering looks quite good on this short TATL. That main actually looks well presented and it is nice to have an option for the pre-arrival snack. They pretty much offer the same as the longer west-coast flights.

    Great shot of the NH B77W under rotation.
    • Comment 619184 by
      KLM777300ER BRONZE AUTHOR 47 Comments
      Thanks for your comments NGO85. I agree, would rather take the 767 than the 757 for the transatlantic flight. I done it years ago on the Continental 757 from GLA to EWR and with NWA on the EWR-AMS.
  • Comment 619930 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6769 Comments
    Nice report as always! I had forgotten DL flew from EDI--nice to see a report on such an exotic route.

    I was then able to access my Delta boarding pass in the Delta app somehow.

    Haha, for once the IT disconnect between SkyTeam partners worked in your favour.

    New Premium Select seats.

    That's a spacious looking cabin--2-2-2 W on a 767 is as good as it gets. Similarly love the 2-3-2 Y config on 767s.

    The meal looks really good and well-presented for Economy!

    Thanks for sharing!

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