Review of Delta Air Lines flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Los Angeles in Domestic First

check in and security

Delta flies out of Terminal E at DFW airport. DFW is a massive airport, and the terminals are laid out in an interesting way on the airside, so make sure that you check your departure gate before arriving at the airport to ensure that you’re arriving at the right terminal.

The Delta Airlines check in area has a few different lanes to check in. There was a Sky Priority line, and a general/main cabin line. There was also some self service kiosks where you could do a self check in and print boarding passes.

I used the self service kiosk because the Sky Priority line had quite a few people in it, and I wasn’t checking a bag.

The security checkpoint is located right next to the Delta Check In area, and had a lane for PreCheck, Regular Screening, and Clear. Although, the clear lane was not staffed and was closed, so I went through the regular precheck line which took less than 5 minutes to get through.

boarding

I arrived at our departure gate E17 well ahead of our scheduled boarding time of 6:17 p.m. The departing flight at the gate was in the middle of boarding, so the seating area at the gate was empty.
I grabbed a seat next to the window and was able to get a picture of the A320 taking us to Los Angeles today.

We began boarding right on time at 6:17 p.m. It started with preboarding, and then Delta 360 members. Then, First class was invited to board.

cabin and seat

The Delta A320 First Class Cabin is arranged in a 2-2 configuration. It features 4 rows, for a total of 16 seats. Each seat features 21 inches of width, 35 inches of pitch, and an on demand interactive IFE screen.

I quickly found my seat, 1B, the aisle seat in the first row of the Cabin. I wasn’t able to get a picture of my exact seat because my seatmate was already there, but the seats across the aisle were empty.

The IFE screen is a bit far from the seat and has no bluetooth connectivity. Delta offers complimentary headphones in first class for use.
The screen in the bulkhead is far from the seat, but located in the left armrest, is a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a USA-A plug for charging

These ports make it way easier for connectivity so that your wires aren’t stretching. Below that is a universal power outlet. Also in the left armrest, you’ll find your tray table.

flight

Shortly after I was on board, at 6:22, Derek, our purser, came by to offer us all a pre-departure beverage of anything we wanted. Which is better than United’s typical offering of just water or sparkling wine. Delta provides everyone in First Class with a water bottle at every seat. I went with my water that was at my seat, as usual.

At 6:48, the safety video began.

At 6:49, we began our pushback, about 8 minutes ahead of schedule.

We had a long taxi to the west side of the airfield, and at 7:05, we were rolling down runway 18L for our departure.

About 4 minutes after departure, we reached 10,000 feet meaning that we were well on our way to Los Angeles. It was also at this time that we began our right turn to the West.
 
At 7:13, Derek came by to confirm our meal choices, and ask us for our choice of beverage. Delta allows you to preorder your meal in First class a few days prior to departure. I preordered the arugula salad. And I went with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon to drink.
 
At 7:27, my wine was brought out. 

At 7:36, my meal was brought out, all on one tray. The Arugula Salad was served with a side of Quinoa as well as a packet of sourdough flatbread. It was also served with a tomato chili vinaigrette, which was extremely spicy and didn’t really go with anything. The Arugula Salad was tasty with some pesto sauce and some kalamata olives as well as some buratta cheese and tomatoes. I really enjoyed it.

The meal was served with a rich chocolate cake that had a side of a berry compote. The compote tasted a bit weird and didn’t complement the cake well. The cake was extremely rich and I honestly couldn’t finish it. Though it tasted good.

At 7:45, I finished my meal and my tray was cleared. At this point, I settled in to watch a movie and relax for the rest of the flight.

I watched a few different movies. After the meal service, the flight attendants stayed in the galley and didn’t come back to check on us or offer us anything additional. Even when my meal tray was cleared, we weren’t offered anything additional, which is not something I’d expect in First class on a three and a half hour flight. I’ve had much shorter flights with other carriers where the flight attendants were coming around constantly to ask us if we need anything else.

descent and arrival

At 7:35 pm local time in Los Angeles, we began our initial descent into Los Angeles.

We touched down on runway 24R at 8:04 pm, and began our taxi into the gate.

We arrived at gate 35 at 8:14 pm, which was about 19 minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival time.