Hello and welcome to the next installment in this series of flights to Hawaii. This report is the first on this site of the new cabins on the Delta B757-300.
The Routing:
Washington-Reagan DCA - Los Angeles LAX, Alaska Airlines, B737-800. Economy Los Angeles LAX - Honolulu HNL, Delta Air LInes, B757-300, First Class [THIS REPORT] Honolulu HNL - Kailua-Kona KOA, Hawaiian Airlines, B717-200, First Class [COMING SOON] Kailua-Kona KOA - Los Angeles LAX, Delta Air Lines, B757-200, First Class [COMING SOON] Los Angeles LAX - Detroit Metro DTW, Delta Air Lines, B757-200, First Class [COMING SOON] Detroit Metro DTW - Washington-Reagan DCA, Delta Air Lines, MD88, First Class [NO REPORT]
After a really nice flight on Alaska Airlines' 75th Anniversary Retrojet, I was looking forward to another good flight aboard a recently retrofitted 757-300. The last time I took a DL 753, it was in pretty sad shape.
Welcome to LAX!
We have just enough time between flights to head out landside for some fresh air and then get back through security.
The flight is showing on time.
We go through security at T6, which DL and AS share (T5 is DL-only). It is not too crowded in the Sky Priority lane and we are back airside in a few minutes.
Our gate for HNL is right next to the gate where we had arrived from DC. I find that's often how it is for me when connecting…when I have hours to make a connection, it's the gate next door, but when I'm in a rush to connect, I have to change terminals, LOL.
And here is our recently wingletted B757-300.
Boarding begins on time, and as usual it's a mess at the gate with hordes of people blocking the First Class/Sky Priority boarding.
We board through door 2L. Good first impression of the refreshed Economy Comfort/Economy cabins. The Y cabin is really long on a 753.
We turn left towards the First class cabin. A left turn while boarding a 757 is always a pleasant thing to do, even after all these years.
Here is the new F cabin. The first thing I notice is that the IFE is huge. It looks so much more modern and fresh than the old Northwest-era cabins with drab DL blue covers. The FAs are wearing pink ties and scarves in support of Breast Cancer Month.
My seat in 1D
IFE
Bottles of water are on the central armrest as usual.
The legroom is rarely good in the bulkhead of DL 757s and, although it's still tight, there seems to be a bit more room in the new cabins. Maybe because the seats are thinner. Or maybe it's just my imagination :-)
As this is a flight to Hawaii, the FAs offer Mai Tais for pre-departure drinks. It gets you in the vacation mood :-)
Boarding is quick and the doors are closed 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure. It's amazing how fast the boarding was considering how long the 753 is and that the load factor was high, 200+ pax.
The Security video plays during pushback and taxi.
The taxi time is short.
Beautiful view of the impressive line up at TBIT during takeoff!
LAX or SYD?
Must be SYD with all these Aussie planes!
Bye Bye California!
The IFE comes on as we climb.
But the IFE out the window is sometimes more interesting!
Nice view of the California Channel Islands.
And then it'll be just the blue Pacific for 5 hours until we reach the Hawaiian islands.
About 20 minutes after takeoff, the Purser, who will take care of us for the whole flight, comes to introduce himself, take drink orders and tell us about the meal choices.
Duval-Leroy champagne before the meal.
The meal choices were the usual chicken or pasta. I chose the chicken, which was actually quite good, especially the sauce.
It doesn't look like much, but it was good.
We had both picked the chicken and we were both still a little hungry so we asked our super nice FA if we could try the pasta as well. He went right away to check if there was enough left and brought it immediately.
Lots of exploded sauce again, but it was good as well.
And a Woodford Reserve after-dinner drink. There was ice cream for dessert, but I didn't eat any, as I was too full. I'm lactose-intolerant anyway.
Nope, just a liquid dessert for me :-)
After dinner I watched the last Tom Cruise movie: Edge of Tomorrow
Our FA comes around to offer another round of Mai Tais, with his own special mix. I don't know what he added, it was a secret he said, but they were really good…and strong :-P
The time flies and we spent a good bit of time talking to our awesome FA who happened to be based in HNL for 20 years so he had a lot of good advice of things to do in Hawaii for us. I tend to have good luck with good crews and hit the jackpot once again on this flight. DL really does have some great people.
We're getting closer.
With less than a half hour before landing, our FA offers one last round of Mai Tais…that's just crazy talk… Is there enough time….of course there is. I'll just drink fast :-)
First glimple of the coast of the island of Oahu. Beautiful!
Honolulu
We fly past the airport to line up for landing.
Our 753's shadow in the clouds.
We're here!
E Komo Mai O Hawai'i
Beautiful livery…maybe that's what convinced me to switch to AA :-P
We got to the gate about 10 minutes early.
Last view of the cabin then we shake hands with our wonderful FA and thank him for a great flight.
Welcome to Honolulu
HNL is an interesting airport. It's large but has a lot of quiet areas and open green spaces, which are quite pleasant.
Thanks for reading and see you soon for the next leg in F on a Hawaiian Air 717 to Kona!
See more
Verdict
Delta Air Lines
8.5/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering7.5
Los Angeles - LAX
7.5/10
Efficiency8.0
Access7.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5
Honolulu - HNL
7.6/10
Efficiency8.0
Access7.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5
Conclusion
An excellent flight with DL!
Comfort: The new seats are much better than the old NWA seats that were previously on the 753s. However, for around 6 hours of time onboard the aircraft, a domestic First cabin is not the greatest. But this was a day flight, so it was perfectly fine.
Crew: Just perfect. All the members of the crew we saw were super friendly, but the Purser was awesome. He really took such great care of us so I gave him a Job Well Done voucher. DL Platinum and Diamond Medallions get 4 a year to give to DL employees for great service. The employees can redeem the vouchers for prizes. I gave our FA my last one--he really deserved it.
Catering: Very good, although I found the portions to be small. A regular domestic F meal on such a long flight doesn't quite cut it. I've been on 3 hour ATL-MEX flights with international Business class style meal service with proper appetizer, etc. Some kind of extra effort would be nice on those long Hawaii flights, but overall it was satisfactory.
IFE: The AVOD was great with a good choice of movies, shows, music, etc. Once thing I'm not a fan of is all the ads that DL plays on the IFE--you don't have access to the AVOD until after takeoff.
On-time Performance: Early departure, early arrival.
2 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
I'd have to agree with the above comments, US carriers need to stop considering HNL a domestic flight. NYC-London is almost the same length as a lot of mainland-Hawaii flights. If AA/JetBlue can offer flatbeds on transcon flights, then there is no reason why the same offerings should not be made on flights to Hawaii. Just because it is a tourism route and not a prime business route doesn't mean they can exploit the passenger. I heard that UA has removed IFE and does not serve complimentary snacks in Y on the IAH-HNL route (8.5 hours), that's borderline inhumane. Would you take a TATL flight with no meal service/IFE?
A great crew, which it sounds like you had, can make up for a lot of the disappointments in the hard product. The meal does look a little on the small side, but that IFE looks really nice. I love those Honolulu shots through the clouds.
Yes, it's really too long of a flight to have mediocre domestic service in F and no service in Y. I understand that the routes are low-yielding tourist traffic, unlike the premium transcons you mention, but that can be made up with smaller cabins which would command higher prices by restricting supply. It would make more sense to me to have a 16 seat 757 premium cabin with flatbed seating and offer a truly premium experience at higher prices than packing in 24 seats at lower prices and a mediocre experience. I think in the end it probably comes out the same. Or at least old style deep reclining international business cradle seats. You'll see on the return flight from KOA to LAX that a domestic F cabin on a redeye is just bad all around.
UA's IAD and EWR to HNL flights are over 10 hours and are buy-on-board only in Y! Now that's just plain torture.
Came across this report and what a great read! DL is definitely the best in my mind in regards to flying in the US and is the only airline I fly domestically. It looks like a good meal was served, and those mai-thai's look good as well too - I'm thirsty now!
Thanks for reading my bittersweet goodbye to Delta! This was the last time I flew DL after many years of loyalty. The SkyPesos programme changes were just too much at the time; though now almost three years later, UA and AA have pretty much made the same changes. From a products perspective, DL is definitely the best of the U.S. carriers. Best employee culture and consistently high service levels, IMO. I may go back to Mama Delta one day if the AAdvantage program gets any worse, it's just too bad you can't redeem SkyMiles for International First class, not that it would be affordable considering the ridiculously high mileage levels DL charges for J awards. Thanks for your comments!
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10 Comments
I hate narrowbodies to HNL, but these days there is not much one can do about that since a lot of airlines are following this trend.
Nice that you got an excellent crew. The catering could be better and having a hungry F passenger after the meal is not a good sign.
Gorgeous aerials and plane spotting as usual.
A great crew, which it sounds like you had, can make up for a lot of the disappointments in the hard product. The meal does look a little on the small side, but that IFE looks really nice. I love those Honolulu shots through the clouds.
UA's IAD and EWR to HNL flights are over 10 hours and are buy-on-board only in Y! Now that's just plain torture.
Thank you for sharing.
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