Welcome to this short flight review. This is one of my most frequent routes, but despite this, I always plan on doing a report but always something happens that prevent me from taking enough pictures. I think I collected enough material for this one, and hopefully I will have a more complete one next time.
Check-in
Arrived 2.5 hours in advance, at a time where the airport is very busy. All gates are occupied at this time, and many flights also leave from remote positions. Most flights around this time are to the US East Coast, allowing passengers to connect to other destinations. Also several flights to Central America and the Caribbean depart at this time.
As you can see, the terminal was very busy. Also, you can see how deteriorated the infrastructure is, which should't be in these conditions because there's a large amount of taxes levied on tickets departing/arriving SDQ.
SkyPriority Check-in
Check-in was very quick. The security line was very long, fortunately, I had access to the Premium Lounge, which offers private security checkpoint and passport control (full experience reported on another flight departing SDQ).
SDQ BEFOREBOARDING PREMIUM LOUNGE + MEET&GREET SERVICE
Shuttle for the VIP terminal
The ride takes about 5 minutes. In the past, it was done using premium vehicles and for arrivals you were picked up plane side on a SUV. After COVID, this changed to a regular shuttle bus.
The lounge has a small variety of spirits and made to order cocktails, as well as local beers. My two favorite Dominican Rums, Brugal Leyenda and Brugal 1888 are served there, so I'm fine with the selection. Food selection, on the other hand, is not good at all.
Boarding
10 minutes before my flight boarded, I was walked to my gate. As this is my home airport, I'm fine with walking by myself, but since the lounge is in a separate area, a staff member needs to escort you through a private security checkpoint, and then through several corridors into the main terminal. The flight was about to board, gate was full as there were two Delta flights departing next to each other.
As the flight got ready to board, I walked around the duty free area. If you happen to visit the DR and want to take a Brugal Leyenda home, you will find it at a local supermarket for half the price.
The flight
Boarding was done very organized. A quick view to my First Class Seat
And a quick glance of Comfort+ right behind me.
Pushback on time.
And takeoff southbound with a right turn to fly over the city. I love the view of my city when departing through this route.
As this is a relatively quick flight, lunch was served right after departure. I was able to pre-select my meal a week in advance. A cheeseburger was among the options, which I have tried before and liked it. Not a "first class" worthy food option, but I don't really complain.
I fell asleep for the rest of the flight. I did wake up at some point near Bahamas and took a few pictures.
Woke up during the initial descent into ATL.
Arrival and connecting flight
Arrived in Concourse F. Immigration was a breeze and my bag was in the carrousel as I arrived to the baggage claim area. The security checkpoint, on the other hand, was very crowded.
After clearing security, made my way to my connecting flight to DCA, which got delayed by 3 hours.
Thank you for reading!
I’m with you on this, Brugal is phenomenal. Also the VIP terminal is so much better at SDQ, I remember flying out of there during Covid and the main terminal was still a hot mess.
A cheeseburger is always a safe move and defintelty hard to mess up. Were any of the other options appealing? Wonder if they cater in SDQ or ATL for the return leg
Sounds like everything was as it should be which is amazing! Until the delay that is…
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!! Indeed, it is still a hot mess. The airport is at overcapacity and the new local startup (Arajet) keeps receiving new 737 Max airplanes and opening new routes. They already figured out that the airport is too small for them to operate a hub so they are moving a lot of operations to Punta Cana instead.
The other options were a vegetarian lasagna (really good, I am reporting about it later today), a cold chicken salad, and the charcuterie plate, which is the worse of all options. They do cater the JFK flights at SDQ, however, I am not sure about the ATL flight.
Pretty decent short-haul international flight up front.
That huge gap between the seat and the cabin divider is one of the things I really don't like about flying DL F since they densified the cabins. There's essentially no separation between F and Y. I usually like to sit in the last row of F/J for more privacy, but you don't get that on DL. AA got rid of real bulkhead walls when they densified the narrowbody fleet with Project Oasis, but at least they installed big cabin dividers that feel like a wall behind F
That burger looks really flat, haha. Maybe it's an optical illusion, but it looks just like 2 buns with nothing inside. I has a burger on AS F a few months ago and it was really thick (almost too much).
Thanks for sharing!