Review of Delta Air Lines flight Washington Minneapolis in Premium Eco

Airline Delta Air Lines
Flight 1298
Class Premium Eco
Seat 12A
Aircraft Airbus A320
Flight time 02:55
Take-off 02 Sep 21, 18:15
Arrival at 02 Sep 21, 20:10
DL   #26 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 833 reviews
SDQBound
By 199
Published on 22nd October 2023

Intro


Short trip to San Francisco on a Long Weekend. There were several routes available, but schedule wise this one made more sense to us, as we were able to work most of the day and finish work at the lounge. We are Delta Platinum so unless the price difference is very high, we will always choose DL/Skyteam partners.


Routing

  • Washington Reagan (DCA) - Minneapolis - St Paul (MSP) You are here
  • Minneapolis - St Paul (MSP) - San Francisco, CA (SFO) Coming soon

DCA


Thursday evening at DCA. Terminal was probably 75% emptier than pre-Covid level, completely unexpected since mornings are becoming very busy at DCA.


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TSA was empty, we still used clear to save a minute or so. TSA agents were quite nice, seems that when they are relaxed, their attitude changes a lot.


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Delta skyclub at dca


Quick stop at the SkyClub for a pre-flight snack. DCA’s SkyClub is one of my favorites after it was remodeled, and pre-pandemic, I used it extensively both pre and post flight.


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flight


This was our first economy class flight in a long time and hoped to get upgraded, but we ended up being #9 and #10 for zero seats. Still got upgraded to Comfort+ several days before the flight.


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 Great pitch, legroom in C+ is wonderful. Pre-flight info and the nice overhead console. 


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Safety video


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Pushed back 7 minutes ahead of schedule. Flight time was 2h10, so an early arrival (and therefore time for a dinner at the SkyClub.).  A United 738 Chicago bound was ahead of us.


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 One last view of DC


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 Ready for departure, runway 1


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 Northbound takeoff with an iconic federal building, followed by the nice Arlington areas of Rosslyn and Courthouse. 


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 2 hours and 914 miles away, not bad. 


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Right after takeoff, “snack service” started. C+ offers the same snack than economy (it used to be better pre-covid, with snacks from first class).  C+ also includes free adult drinks so my choice was the old fashioned cocktail, quite good in my opinion.


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Then spent quality time with Rose and Jack


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 Wifi was available throughout the flight 


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Flying past Lake Ontario


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 In the meantime, Rose and Jack were trying to fly. 


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Landing with a nice view of downtown, followed by the suburbs. 


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Landed 35 minutes ahead of schedule and deplaned at gate F7 25 minutes early. 


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arrival


Made our way to the SkyClub for a dinner before our flight to San Francisco.



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Verdict

Delta Air Lines

8.3/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Meal/catering5.0

Delta Air Lines Sky Club

9.6/10
Comfort10.0
Meal/catering8.5
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Services10.0

Washington - DCA

9.5/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness10.0

Minneapolis - MSP

9.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

Great experience at a light DCA, good food offering at the sky club and organized boarding process. On time departure and arrival and typical US inflight service with the free alcohol in C+. Also great service from the flight crew.

The inflight experience with DL no matter which class of service is always consistent and most of the time outstanding, so even if upgrades are difficult from DCA to hub cities, I still remain flying with them.

Information on the route Washington (DCA) Minneapolis (MSP)

4 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 638445 by
    airberlin GOLD 1879 Comments
    Thanks for the report. I would have loved to see the DCA Sky Club. New Sky Clubs are extremly goods as in O'Hare, Kansas City or New Orleans to name a few... The food options have improved also. UA is not bad as well for food options. I still love the design of DCA - really need to finally get a fliht there to check it with my own eyes.
    • Comment 638446 by
      SDQBound AUTHOR 15 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback. I do have other pictures of the SkyClub from other trips and did not want to include it here to be fair, but as you can see, this flight was from 2021, so I'm getting up to date with my reports and you'll see some pictures in future ones. Stay tuned.
      The food options at the DCA club are decent, not a lot of variety but they are better than AA and UA clubs at DCA.
  • Comment 638794 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6744 Comments
    Thanks for sharing! Always nice to see reports from my old home airport :-)

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