Review of Delta Air Lines flight New York London in Economy

Airline Delta Air Lines
Flight DL403
Class Economy
Seat 29G
Flight time 06:37
Take-off 14 Jun 15, 22:30
Arrival at 15 Jun 15, 10:07
DL   #33 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 826 reviews
ChrisB
By GOLD 2580
Published on 6th September 2019

a very nice flight with delta


After a good 10 days in Nyc and Boston, having met amazing people and a lot of fun, I was back to London.

I took the subway train and got a bit confused so I arrived in New York J.F. Kennedy Airport 30 min later than I expected, still on time.



photo b747photo 11111

I checked in using Air France app as my booking was with them. However when proceeding through the app, you were taken away to Delta Airlines website at the time… From there you had to do the checking yourself.


photo screenshot_2015-06-14-15-07-21-31747photo 2

I earned miles with Delta, not Flying blue as at the time there was no mile plan agreements amongst skyteam members.

The Delta website is quite generous with details for Avgeek people like me! 


photo 20190911_075342

I chose to seat on the 29G seat as it was the closest to the front of the cabin, and of course next to a window!


photo aircraft-boeing-767-300er-76zv1-lopa-seatmap-1150-59416photo img-20150617-wa001

on board the B767-300


photo arriveephoto checkin

My flight was leaving from Terminal 4, gate B39.

The AvGEEK bit
Although it is "only" the 22nd busiest airport in the world, it is the busiest airport in the USA for international flights, and with 90 airlines operating from the platform, JFK is one of the rare in the world to connect directly the 6 continents of the planet. It is a hub for American Airlines and Delta Airlines, and a focus city for JetBlue too.

-Terminal 1 was opened in 1998 upon request of Air France, Lufthansa, Korean air and Japan airline as they felt back then the international terminal wasn't big enough. Today it is home to these 4 plus some Skyteam members (Alitalia, Chinese carriers) and Star Alliance members.
-Terminal 2 is one of the oldest, opened in the 1960s for Northwest Airlines, now exclusively used by Delta Airlines.
-Terminal 4, later extended over Terminal 3, is mainly used by Delta, and the other Skyteam and Star Alliance members not present at Terminal1. It is also used by affiliated Skyteam members like Virgin Atlantic.
-Terminal 5 is used exclusively by JetBlue and Hawaiian airlines.
-Terminal 7 is owned and used by British Airways and Iberia, with the odd use of LOT and Aerolineas Argentinas.
-Terminal 8 is a hub for OneWorld members, currently used by American Airlines but also Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Latam, Qantas, Qatar and Royal Jordanian.

Boarding went smoothly and I reached my seat with the help of the cabin crew.
Our bird was a B767-300ER, where nowadays Delta uses the A330-300 for this route.


photo avionphoto 20190905_121519-41425

Aircraft: Boeing B767-332ER
Registration: N1609
Engines: 2x GE CF6
Age: 15 Years (in 2015)
Layout: C36 W32 Y143


Delta has a fleet of 58 B767-300ER, 21 B767-400, all of which are equipped with WiFi and just 2 B767-300 (non ER). Delta is the largest operator of the type, however starts to retire its older B767s like this one and replace them with A330neos. Delta is one of the five legacy carrier (airlines founded before WWII) operating 4,500 flights daily, over 319 ddestinations on 54 countries. Atlanta is Delta airline's main hub and with 1000 daily flights, it is the world's largest of any other airline.

After a long taxiing, we took off. The seat pitch was as good as Air France (32in) however the seats felt slightly more stiff.
A sleeping mask was provided, with headsets, a Delta red blanket, Individual IFE on the seat in front of me and the Delta Magazine.


photo 20190905_155432photo 20190905_155803

As you can see, the Queen of the Skies (B747) was still in the Delta's fleet.

Home routes are very impressive, and so the routes from Delta's European hubs too


photo 20190905_155601photo 20190905_155607

Moments later we were served hot food, which was average, not particularly good or bad, but the disapointment was the wine not being free of charge. Despite me having booked this flight through Air France, i was (naively?) expecting an exception to the rule, and despite my best attempts to convince the crew, i had to get rid of my last dollars to afford to try to get a nice food-wine matching!


photo 20190905_121415

The Seats were surprisingly confortable, however food all in all wasn't that good.


photo 20190905_121452

  We landed in the morning as expected, at the Terminal 3 of Heathrow. Delta, as a Skyteam member would normally be hosted at Terminal 4 like its Skyteam counterparts, however since the join-venture with Virgin Atlantic, moved its operations to Terminal 3.


photo dsc_1078

This was first experience on a American carrier, and a good one on average (despite the difference of service regarding alcoholic beverages).


photo bus-t4photo fb_img_1566139527378

And for the stamp collection!


photo 20211110_170453
See more

Verdict

Delta Air Lines

7.2/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew7.5
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Meal/catering6.0

New York - JFK

7.1/10
Efficiency7.0
Access6.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness7.5

London - LHR

7.8/10
Efficiency8.0
Access6.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.5

Conclusion

I yet to fly with Virgin Atlantic but so far the joint venture between Air France/KLM/Delta/Virgin over the pound seems to offer a somehow consistent cabin service, despite the great difference of planes being used.

Information on the route New York (JFK) London (LHR)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 36 avis concernant 5 compagnies sur la ligne New York (JFK) → London (LHR).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Virgin Atlantic avec 8.2/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 6 heures et 54 minutes.

  More information

1 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !

Login to post a comment.