Review of Delta Air Lines flight from London to New York in Business

Hi everyone,
Here is the last segment of my routing that took me from Washington, DC to Toulouse France, via London. As a reminder, I had routed myself through LHR to burn some avios on British Airways and had plans in London on the return leg.
Here is the routing:
These reports were originally published in French and you can find them here:
JFK-LHR DL J FRENCH version
LHR-TLS BA Y FRENCH version
TLS-LHR BA Y FRENCH version
LHR-JFK DL J FRENCH version
Routing in English:
JFK-LHR, Delta Air Lines, B767-300ER, BusinessElite
LHR-TLS, British Airways, A319-100, Economy
TLS-LHR, British Airways, A319-100, Economy
LHR-JFK, Delta Air Lines, B767-400ER, BusinessElite

[HERE]
Before getting into the flight, allow me to share a few photos of my short stay in London. I had planned a one-day stopover in London to meet up with a good friend from DC who had already been in the UK for a few days and was due to fly back on the same flight as me. We had planned on going to see Rock of Ages in the West End. I highly recommend it for children of the 80s.
The theater was small but cozy.

After the show we went on a walk around the area. I've been to London a dozen times but I realized that I didn't have any pictures of the city by night…so I made up for lost time since London is particularly beautiful at Christmastime

Picadilly

The London Sofitel. Very pretty but outrageously expensive.

Westminster Abbey

Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament! (movie reference ^^)

The London Eye

Trafalgar Square

In the morning we went across the street to the Savoy for an English Breakfast. It was rather expensive at £30 but it was worth it for the very British atmosphere.

Beautiful dining room.

Definitely not a light breakfast :-)

After a great breakfast, we left the Strand Palace Hotel in a taxi to Paddington Station where we took the Heathrow Express.

Once we got to the HEX LHR station between T1 and T2, we had about 15 minutes to wait for a train to T4. I have bad luck with this train every time–15 minutes is a long time to wait to change terminals. Once you get to T4, you have to walk past the regular SkyTeam check-in counter to get to a dedicated Sky Priority check-in area. I like this concept of a completely seperate check-in zone for Sky Priority which makes it feel less hectic.

Despite the busy holiday season, there is no wait to drop off my bag.
I had picked a seat in an odd numbered row to be closer to the window.

I really wanted to be able to spend as much time as possible in the awesome SkyTeam lounge, but we hadn't gotten to the airport as early as I would have liked considering we had to change terminals once we got to the HEX station. Going through security slowed me down even more and was a pretty annoying experience. There wasn't much of a line but once I got past the metal detector a bleached-blond gum-smacking BAA security agent stopped me and asked to look in my bag. I told her that's no problem and to please go ahead. She searched my bag THREE times; she literally could not have been any slower. She was taking her sweet time and chatting with other agents. After a good 15 minutes she discovered….a lighter…Gasp….oh the horror! She explained to me that I had two lighters and that I was only allowed one….wow seriously? The kicker is that I had stopped smoking a few months before, LOL.
With me being such a security threat and all, I only had 30 minutes left to go to the lounge. No time for a massage :-(
Oh well…at least I get a little time to enjoy the lounge and grab a few glasses of wine ^^

UA 752 (ex-CO) seen from the lounge. I had thought that all *A airlines were at T1.

The LHR SkyTeam lounge is really beautiful. Unfortunately the 2nd floor was closed.

A whole wall wine and liquors….heaven :-)
Nice design. I like the decor in general.

Not many aircraft movements to be seen from the lounge.

I just grabbed a light snack. The lunch offering was being put in place, but boarding was about to begin.

My 767-400. I find 764s to be very elegant.

We board from door 2L. I turn left towards the J cabin and my friend, seated in Economy Comfort, turns right.
The cabin of my 764. The same type of cabin that I had on the 763ER on the way over.

Comfortable 1-2-1 configuration.

Another DL 764 is parked next to us.

The menu is distributed during boarding. The kit was already in the seat with a large pillow and blanket. There was also a bottle of water and noise-cacelling headphones on the large armrest/table. It's a decent pair of headphones but I prefer using my own.

Welcome drink Duval-Leroy Champagne

The pitch

Today's menu

We push back on time as the new (at the time) security video is played.

Yet another DL 764.

The taxi time is relatively short.

Takeoff with a beautiful view of T5.

The London suburbs

The seat controls, slightly different than on the 763ER.

Another glass of champagne as an apéritif served with warm nuts.

Cheers!

Lunch is served over Ireland. Upper Lough Erne pictured below.

The First course and soup are good and I find the overall presentation to be nice. The FA in charge on my section is a young Japanese FA that I had seen the previous month on a JFK-NRT. She was incredibly sweet and attentive throughout theflight.

Afterwards a large salad is served with I paired with a Torrontes, a decent South American white.

The main dish was nothing fancy but tasty and well cooked. The sauce was very good.

A cheese plate and chocolate tart to finish accompanied by a Sauternes desert wine. The meal was very filling so I didn't get the ice cream Sundae (plus I'm lactose intolerant so I have to be careful).

After the meal I got up to stretch my legs and went to the front galley to ask if I could have 2 Cognacs. I asked if it would be ok to bring them back to Economy Comfort so that I could have an after dinner drink with my friend. One of the FA's says that's really sweet of you and starts warming up some glasses for me. Oh, thanks! Wow, you're even warming glasses! I replied to which she responded This ain't my first rodeo hon Hah, I love it!
After enjoying a nice digestif with my friend, who it turned out had a whole row of 3 to himself, I went back to my seat and watched The Bourne Legacy befire taking a little nap.

I wake up over Canada just before the second meal service.
A salad with a warm chicken sandwich. I Drank a white bordeaux with it. Again…not fancy, but good and filling.
The FA asked me if I'd like to send back a drink to my friend. Passengers in Economy Comfort get free drinks but usually served in plastic cups so having a real glass and wine from BE would be nice. What attentive service!

Having seen the show the night before, I decided to watch Rock of Ages the movie, which had recently come out, to see how it compared to the live show. It was decent, but I definitely enjoyed the show better.

Final approach over the beaches of Long Island. Hmmm…surprising that the weather was nicer in London.

Two whalejets at T4

Another DL 767

LY 744

DL 744, also headed to TLV

A Smurf and a Leprechaun parked at T4.

A 738 parked next to us at the old T3. This was my last time flying into T3–I hated T3, but I'll definitely miss that iconic saucer shape.

With more than 4 hours to wait before my flight to DCA, I decided to head out to T4 to go back to the Oasis lounge (it's now under new ownership with a new name).

A little night spotting from the lounge.
Virgin America A320 with an Egyptair 77W in the background.

I got some Chicken Tikka Massala for dinner…yes, because I hadn't stuffed my face enough on the plane :-)

TAM A332

The corporate pic of Flight-Report.com …. oh look TLS, I was just there the day before.

SQ A388 SG arriving.

That's a big tail…

Especially next to a little B6 A320

After a few hours and a shower at the lounge, my friend and I head back to T3 for our flight home to DC.
DL 763ER with T3 behind.

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