Review of Delta Air Lines flight Seattle → Los Angeles in Domestic First

Seattle Tacoma International Airport

We just landed from Fairbanks and we have a connection to LAX in roughly 90", as we walk to our gate, we saw this nice shop where I will spend a few dollars :)

The boarding screen for our flight, since we had enough time we went for a much needed coffee.

Back to the gate, the standby list:

E-175 Compass for Delta:

Our plane is here but this is the best picture I can take:

A321 AA:

Horizon for Alaska Dash 8-Q400:

Another E175:

flight to la

Boarding started on time, the jetty and the aircraft door:

The welcome at the door wasn't particulary friendly. The Domestic First cabin:

The seat recline is pretty good:

Pillow and blanket:

Pre departure drink:

Safety card:

The pitch is ok, but no IFE onboard any of the B717:

But there are power sockets and WIFI.

Windows:

We pushed back on time, a pair of Embraer and B757:

E175:

And two 74F:

A300 FedEx:

Grand Caravan Cargo and DHL 767 behind:

Then it's our turn:

Beautiful views over Tacoma:

No winglet, wingtip or anything  here:

Hot towel to begin with, handed out by a purser that decided no to smile that morning. Sad.

The views are beautiful:

For breakfast we had the choice between milk and cereals or a hot egg sandwich. We took the egg sandwich:

It looks as bad as it tasted. Hard, overcooked, I was still looking for the eggs when I finished it. Only the fruits saved the meal.
I worked a bit on my laptop and soon, the Pacific is in sight:

Nice view over LAX:

Always a great moment when you are able to see the airport where you will land:

Still descending:

LA Downtown:

Hollywood sign in distance:

And landed:

Eva Air and Virgin Australia:

We landed 40 minutes early and our gate isn't available, we had to wait next to the TBIT:

HongKong Airlines A350:

ANA 773:

DL 333:

After 15' we are allowed to roll further, Volaris A319:

DL:

And we docked at T3. The farewell was as the rest of the flight, just average.

E175:

Inside the terminal:

To the baggage claim:

Our bags arrived first, we then had a 16H layover in LAX.

BONUS Fairbanks and Alaska

Fairbanks isn't what I would say a beautiful city but there are things to see and to do and is a perfect base to explore the north.

This is the Chena River and our hotel on the other bank of the river:

Sunrise at 11AM:

The flags are frozen, that morning the temperature was at -35:

The city:

Yukon Quest  is THE dog mushing race. It starts or finishes either at Fairbanks or Whitehorse in Canada. The dogs run over 1'000 miles. That year they started from Fairbanks early February.

We went for a 36H expedition in tents and cabins on the Tanana River bank, one hour drive from Fairbanks with friends. It was just amazing, since there is no running water, no cell phone and just solar power. Not to mention, no indoor restrooms nor bath :)

After the drive we unloaded the dogs and the sleds, parked the car, my parents went for a two hours mushing tour and my friend's husband and I went walking to the cabin, a good hour through the forest.

Arrived!

My parents would sleep here:

While I was to sleep in this tent:

Those are the restrooms. OK they come with a view, but you really think twice before you go when the outside temperature is a -30F or below.

The kitchen tent:

The dogs sleep outside or under this plastic roof:

Those dogs love cold, and they have absolutely no problems to stay outside until almost -40…
If the temperature drops below or if they want to go inside, my friends have absolutely no issues to let them in. They are really sweet and love cuddles, hugs or everything like that:
Here are Kathul and Yap;

Kathul is still a puppy, she is only 4 months old:

Eowin, the lead dog:

Polar, is the oldest, he is 11 year old and doesn't much anymore. But still, the good retired boy, loves to walk or run next to the sled:

Our friends are crazy about their dogs. When they can't run anymore, they keep them as family dogs and the dogs do basically what they want. Big mushing companies do not often care about them. When they are not able to mush anymore they are either sold, given to an animal care association or simply… killed. This is why I would always recommend, if you go for a mushing tour, to go with a local, small business that cares about their dogs and treats them well.

Here are the sleds:

The following day we did some snowshoes walking:

Sunset over the Tanana River:

I wasn't able to overnight in the tent since it was really cold and humid. For my friends this wouldn't be a problem but they anticipated the fact that is would not work for me and had a camp bed available in my parents cabin :)

The following day we went out for more dog mushing. Here's Jenna with my mother in the sled:

Mushing on an ice river is really great. Far different then mushing on snow:

Back to Fairbanks with the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center: a very nice and totally free of charge museum:

We also went for an evening swim at Chena hot springs, where the ourside temperature was around -30F and the water at 100F. A must do. If you have the chance to be there, just go for a swim but do not overnight since the hotel is old, not really tidy and very very expensive.

They also have a runway for sightseeing flights and they purchased an old Everts Air Cargo DC4 that sits here. The plane will never move since it is impossible for it to take off from the short runway.

To conclude a mini hotel bonus with the Springhills Fairbanks, which is a good choice: breakfast is included, there is a kitchenette in every room and there is a swimming pool together with a whirlpool.