Review of Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Phoenix in Premium Eco

A visual of my entire journey from Barcelona to Salt Lake city via Atlanta & Phoenix which would cover a total distance of 6678 mi/10748 km. 

This trip report will cover the second leg of this journey.

Introduction

Welcome back to another trip report. This is part 2 of 3 of my winter 2024 Spain TR series on DL/AA that began in Barcelona and across the Atlantic ocean to my hometown of Salt Lake City via Atlanta & Phoenix. If you want to get more context on how this trip came to be, I encourage you to read my previous TR where I discussed it there.
I start off arriving on my outbound flight from Barcelona having just flown on an Airbus A330-300. Now I'm off to passport control where I'll have a lengthy 7 hour layover here in ATL before my onward flight to Phoenix tonight.

During my lengthy layover here in ATL, I planned to do some lounge hopping and find a nice place to settle down for the time being.

After clearing passport control I went back up stairs to say goodbye to my A330 that brought me here today from Spain. 

Concourse F SkyClub

After visiting a few lounges including the Amex Centurion, and concourse E/F/B SkyClubs I settled staying at the concourse F SkyClub which offered an outdoor terrace with spectacular apron views.

Saw this beautiful Boeing 767-400ER up close and personal, identical to the one I flew on exactly two weeks prior from here in ATL to BCN (you can find that TR here). This bird will be traveling to Milan (MXP) tonight. 

All of the other SkyClub's I went to offered relatively the same food fare. There was a good array of warm and cold options. Here's some of the food I got from the buffet bar.

No visit is complete without a glass (or 2) of sparkling wine ;).

Time really flew by while in the lounge and before I knew it was time to start heading to the gate for my flight.

My flight is DL883

Made it to the gate area and my flight is showing with a delay of 31 minutes. The gate agent did a great job keeping us informed that the delay was due to the crew arriving from a delayed inbound flight.

This flight will be operated by an Airbus A321ceo that is configured in three classes with 20 First class, 29 Comfort+ and 142 Main cabin with a total capacity of 191 seats. Seat map courtesy of aerolopa.

Some information about my plane:
Flight number: DL 883 
Aircraft: Airbus A321-211
Registration: N352DN
Delivered: May 16, 2018 
Age: 5.8 years (at time of flight)

Boarding

Boarding began and we were ultimately delayed about an hour and fifteen minutes. For this flight though I was happy to have been given a complimentary upgrade to Comfort+ from main cabin a few days prior. Which should make for a more comfortable journey.

Made my way to 13A, an exit row that is also classified as comfort+.

Legroom at this seat is excellent and practically unlimited. Only down side for this seat was the IFE system comes out of the armrest which must be stowed for takeoff and landing. 

This seat also offers excellent views of the wing and engines.

Next to us is a good looking B757-200.

Boarding is complete and today's flight load across the country to Phoenix is completely full at 100%.

The delay was further exacerbated by a scuffle of some passengers in the back of the plane which caused us to be pushed back an hour and a half behind schedule. 

Cabin lights were dimmed for takeoff.

Takeoff

We lined up for takeoff on runway 26L.

See you soon ATL!

Inflight service

I didn't document the inflight service but about an hour into flight the FA's passed through the cabin and offered the typical snacks and choice of drink. I was so tired from the long journey I've had thus far that for the first time ever (that I could remember) I skipped out on the service so I could get some sleep which I don't normally ever do 😅. After the inflight service, the cabin was kept dark for everyone to get some rest

A few hours later I woke up to the cabin lights being turned on once again as the FA's began doing their cabin checks to prepare for landing.

Landing

Tonight we'll be landing on runway 25L.

Welcome to Phoenix!

Despite of the delay out of Atlanta, the pilots managed to make some time in the air and surprisingly we ended up only arriving 15 minutes behind schedule at the gate.

One last look at my A321 that brought me here from ATL, thanks for the safe journey!

This concludes the trip report, thanks for reading!