Review of Delta Connection flight from Washington to New York in Domestic First

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to this series of flights with a crazy routing that took me to the Paris Airshow for a big Flight-Report.com meeting and to my hometown in the Southwest of France. As a French Expat living in Washington, DC, I often take Air France on the direct IAD-CDG route, but was able to work out a crazy itinerary that in the end would be more interesting and cost less…as long as nothing goes terribly wrong :-)
But, of course, one of the hazzards of summertime travel to France (and indeed Europe in general) is the possibility of strikes. And wouldn't you know it, French Air Traffic controllers announced a strike right before my departure! Having strung together 4 segments, I was a bit nervous, but hopeful as I had given myself a good cushion.
Here is the routing:
Washington Reagan DCA - New York Kennedy JFK, Delta Air Lines, First, CRJ-900 [YOU ARE HERE]
New York Kennedy JFK - Frankfurt am Mein FRA, Delta Air Lines, Business, B767-300ER
Frankfurt FRA - Paris CDG, Air France, Economy, A318
Paris Orly ORY-Rodez Aveyron RDZ, HOP!, Economy, ATR72-500 [COMING SOON]
Rodez Aveyron RDZ-Paris Orly ORY, HOP!, Economy, ATR72-500 [COMING SOON]
Paris Roissy CDG-Frankfurt am Main FRA, Air France, Economy, A318 [COMING SOON]
Frankfurst am Main FRA - Detroit Wayne DTW, Delta Air Lines, Business, B767-400 [COMING SOON]
Detroit Wayne DTW - Washington Reagan DCA, Delta Air Lines, First, MD-88 [COMING SOON]
At the time of booking, I am the only pax in the First cabin. I imagine this route fills up mostly with Elite upgrades as I was still the only one in First up until 6 days before departure at the Diamon/Platinum upgrade window.
With a wide choice of seats, I was able to pick 4A, my favorite seat when travelling alone on a CRJ900.

I checked in 24 hours before departure on the Delta mobile app–sometimes it works for domestic segments of international itineraries and sometimes it doesn't. I never try to understand Delta's IT :-)
Mobile Boarding Pass

Knowing that I was going to have to change airports in Paris, I only took carry-on to save time on arrival at CDG. Since I had no bags to check, I only got to the airport 40 minutes prior to departure and breezed through security. A nice surprise since it can get pretty backed up during the morning bank of flights, even with Sky Priority.

My CRJ-900

I got to the gate just as boarding started. As the agent scanned my BP, the reader beeped…hmmm…I'm already in F so it's not an upgrade. Turned out because I had done mobile check-in, an agent needed to verify my passport info because it is an international itinerary. They had to re-enter my passport info into the system even though I had already put it in my rez and it's on my Delta.com profile. Again…I don't even try to understand how DL's IT works. The process only took a minute, but I was embarassed that I was holding up boarding.
My aircraft

The First cabin in a comfortable 1-2 configuration. I really like the solo side when travelling alone and prefer the last row for the most private feeling and so I don't recline into anyone…hence my choice of 4A.

A 737-800 in SkyTeam colors next door.

The seat pitch. Looks like someone had a good time scribbling on the back of the seat. Must be pesky kids in First…kids should be banned from premium cabins. Just kidding :-)

We pushed back early and taxi time was short.

Flying over my neighborhood.

The Pentagon

Arlington Cemetary

Arlington

As this flight is very short, service begins less than 15 minutes after takeoff.
Normally I'd have a Bloody Mary or Cape Cod on a morning flight, but with a long day of lounge hopping ahead I decided to forego alcohol on this flight.
So I got a Ginger Ale to drink with my Banana and Delta biscoffs.

There's a lot of cloud cover over Maryland and Southern New Jersey.

The skies clear as we make our way north with a view of the Jersey shore.

The FA is really attentive and comes around often to refill glasses and pass around the snack basket. That is definitely appreciated on such a short flight.
As we begin out final descent, you can see Manhattan in the distance.

The beaches of Southern Long Island

We arrive at the stand at Terminal 2 a good 15 minutes early. Since I had a long connection and knew that I'd have plenty of time to discover the new DL Terminal 4 (at the time) I decided just to go upstairs and hang out in the T2 Sky Club for a bit.
It was a nice change to see the lounge so empty. There were times when I was the only person in the whole club.

Our route on this short flight.

Thanks for reading this short report! I'll post the next leg soon hopefully.