This trip report takes place in December of 2024 after I'd finished up my first semester at University of North Dakota for commercial aviation. I was headed to London to rendezvous with family and celebrate Christmas somewhere a little more festive than Grand Forks, ND. Living back and forth from the UK meant that family lived in both locations - but this year the majority insisted that we come their way - so here goes!
The report starts at Minneapolis St-Paul airport, on a connecting trip from Grand Forks on a CRJ-900 - we'll ignore that flight - because quite frankly, it's incredibly boring. Instead, we bring our focus to the Team USA A339 that would take us to London!
Date: December 20th, 2024
Aircraft: Airbus 330-900NEO with two Rolls Royce Trent 7000 engines rated at 72,000 pound-foot of torque each.
Registration: N411DX
Airline: Delta Air Lines
Routing: MSP (Minneapolis St-Paul Airport) - LHR (London Heathrow, Slough, London, GB)
Flight Time: 7:01
The livery is one of my favourites - if not a little in your face. Boarding this giant bird was awful - midwest nice and efficiency unfortunately don't go hand in hand - but anyhow - an hour later, we were all on board and ready to roll.
We boarded - and waited - and waited, finally pushing back late due to transatlantic tailwinds having us arriving into LHR before the airport opened.
Finally, about 35 minutes late - after a delay that I suspect is completely unrelated to what the airline said it was - airlines tend to do this in order to not confuse the general public with confusing technical delays - and taxied out the runway. At around half five in the evening, we rocketed into the frigid Minneapolis skies. (I apologise for the shoddy camera quality - the vibrations really messed me round)
We reached cruising altitude about 30-40 minutes later, and the service immediately….. ceased for turbulence. An hour later it resumed, and they kicked it into gear with a drinks service. About 20 minutes later they came round with the meal service - there were two options, one was a chicken fajita of some sort and the second was a Manicotti. Here is where my gripes with Delta's "elevated" meal service begin. There is simply not enough food. They give you a main course and a side dish. My main dish was stone cold all the way through, and my side of cold corn salad hadn't even thawed in the middle. So they give you less food - and can't even bother to make sure that the service is executed correctly. It is supposed to reduce workload for the crew - but very obviously doesn't.
Gripes aside, the flavour was good - just the execution was poor. And yes, that is Madagascar, and I'll take that film to the grave with me. The selection on the inflight entertainment system was excellent - if not a little overwhelming. I managed to find a couple good classics like Good Morning, Vietnam with Robin Williams, and some modern hits like The Grinch, released In 2018, with Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the Grinch.
As we coasted in over the coast of Dublin, the lights came on and the Breakfast service was initiated. The choices were a Scrambled Egg, Spinach, and Cheddar pastry, or a fruit and chocolate pastry. I chose the former.
As we made landfall over the UK, we started our descent into Heathrow airport. As we broke out of the murky London skies, the Thames river heaved into view. Our descent took a total of fifteen minutes and we were on the ground in the United Kingdom at around half past six in the morning.
We taxied into the ramp, and lights came on shortly thereafter. Customs in Heathrow is always fairly quick, and I had my bag within half an hour. Thank you all for coming along on this mini-trip report. Overall, Delta is alright in international economy - unfortunately they still fall short of most International airlines for their lacking meal service and onboard service. WiFI was down for this flight - but we'll chock that to an unavoidable occurrence.
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