Review of Delta Air Lines flight Honolulu Seattle in Domestic First

Airline Delta Air Lines
Flight DL 2246
Seat 03C
Aircraft Boeing 757-300
Flight time 05:50
Take-off 22 Jan 15, 21:40
Arrival at 23 Jan 15, 05:30
DL   #33 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 825 reviews
Esteban
By GOLD 6291
Published on 30th January 2015

    Take us to Seattle:
  • BSL - AMS KL J / E190: HERE
  • AMS - SEA DL J / A330-300: HERE
  • Fly us to the snow:
  • SEA - ANC AS F / B737-900ER: HERE
  • ANC - FAI AS Y / B737-400: HERE
  • FAI - ANC AS Y / DH8Q-400: HERE
  • Sea Sand and Sun:
  • ANC - SEA AS F / B737-800: HERE
  • SEA - KOA AS F / B737-800: HERE
  • All good things come to and end:
  • KOA - HNL HA F / B717-200: HERE
  • HNL - SEA DL F / B757-300: Now.
  • ??? - ??? ?? ? / ??: Later.

After the shortest flight of this bunch of FR's, we are at HNL for a three hours layover. Needless to say that we would have loved staying a bit more, but after three weeks of holidays, finances begin to need holidays as well.

Wonderful DL check in area:

photo DSC_0364photo DSC_0365

I had lots of time to check this beautiful artwork as our return E-Tickets were on we don't want to fly back mode. To make the story short, the tickets were issued by Air France with KL flights numbers on DL operated flights. The friendly DL agent could print the bag tags until BSL, as well as our BP's from AMS to BSL, but nothing more.

After a good ten minutes of trying she apologized and went to the back office to see with her manager. She told us that this may take a while and to be patient, and after another fifteen minutes she's back explaining us that Delta suspended our return flights for a reason she does not know, to not to worry and that she will sort everything out as our reservations were still active and in the system.

She called the DL assistance which took her another 20 minutes, as the assistance team had no other choice but to void the return coupons and to re-issue new ones. As our agent had already sent the bags to the bags room, she had to re-enter all 6 tags into the system and then re-validate everything. It was a long thing to do, but she was very nice and kept us informed about the wait and the problem, so that really helped. 45 minutes later we were ready to head airside. We thanked her for her professionalism and kindness and left.

Departure board:

photo DSC_0366

TSA was performed in no time as there was absolutely anyone in front of us. The Delta lounge is no more at the garden level but now facing gate 13. It is pretty nice although there are no windows:

photo DSC_0367photo DSC_0373

The new Delta lounge offer is available. Delta is beginning to change its offer in its lounges offering more healthy options. Tonight, we have the choice between two soups (clam chowder or chicken noodles), some salads, small desserts and the usual snacks:



It's not bad, it's not excellent, and it hits the spot. The chicken salad was good, the soup average but the desserts lovely. As it is still daytime, I go out to spot a bit:



Nice toilets signs:

photo DSC_0399photo DSC_0400

A few 772 UA:

photo DSC_0381photo DSC_0382photo DSC_0387

FeDex MD11 and a Chinese 737, wondering what it was doing there.

photo DSC_0383photo DSC_0384photo DSC_0385

Our 757-300 is already at the gate, it is one of the last retrofitted 753 (Dec 2014), looking damn nice with its winglets:



I like this picture of both AA and US tails:

photo DSC_0374photo DSC_0380photo DSC_0402

As I came back to the lounge, my mom told me that she took the whole food offering, not for her to eat, but for me to take pictures as she did not noticed me doing it earlier ^^ She's learning quick on how to be a good flight reporter!

photo DSC_0404photo DSC_0405photo DSC_0406

Before boarding I saw this 764 UA:

photo DSC_0407

And this 738 AS:

photo DSC_0408

On time boarding, here the new first class seats on the 757-300 that looked pretty nice:



It looked nice, but the pitch is not that great, especially if you compare it to Hawaiian, and the recline is not exceptional. We took some Mai Tais as welcome drink:

photo DSC_0413photo DSC_0423

The IFE resolution is really good, but if the person in front of you reclines the seat, you have to recline yours to see it properly as you can't move the screen.

photo DSC_0415photo DSC_0425photo DSC_0426

Safety card:



Take off 20 minutes early, bound to Seattle and the flight only took 04:40 instead of the scheduled 05:30.

Red eye flight means light meal, in our case a hot pastrami and cheese sandwich, chips, fruits and cookies. It was not great but good and sufficient.



In cruise, the cabin lighting was dark blue, very nice, in my opinion. The crew came along every quarter with drinks and snacks.

We landed in Seattle one good hour early.

Bonus time now: first the Mona Kea, the highest mountain in Hawaii, reaching 4'205 meters (13 796 feet), which is as well the highest mountain in the world if you compare from see floor (10 000+ meters, approx. 33 000 feet). One can drive with rental cars up to the visitor center (3 000 meters = 9 900 feet) but past the VC, rental cars are not allowed as the road is not paved for the next 4 miles. After those 4 miles the road is paved again. This is done in purpose to not have too much people on the top of the mountain as there are lots of observatories. Best is to take a guided tour as we did as the guys will drive you from your hotel up to the top.

Here some picture as we climbed until sunset at the top of the Mauna Kea. It was really impressive to climb from level 0 to 13'796 feet within 90 minutes and two mandatory stop that are meant to acclimate a bit.



It is absolutely amazing but you can't stay that long as there is much fewer oxygen there than on see level. Soon your head begins to hurt, all kind of effort begins to be really hard, you feel dizzy and so on …) So after a good twenty minutes on the top, we headed back to a much better altitude for a bit of star gazing.

photo DSC_0295photo DSC_0298

That was the second part of the tour. Just wonderful, we saw so many things, impossible to comment everything here. On the pictures you can spot Orion, and if you see a line on the pictures, there are satellites. As you need to keep your focus open a long time, there are a few that will be on the pictures)

Hapuna Beach, which is voted best of the island, (but which was not our best):



Lapakahi State park:

photo DSC_0394photo DSC_0400 (2)
See more

Verdict

Delta Air Lines

7.8/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi8.0
Meal/catering6.0

Delta Air Lines Sky Club

7.5/10
Comfort7.5
Meal/catering7.5
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Services7.5

Honolulu - HNL

10.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Seattle - SEA

10.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

Nothing much to say, apart from the service being a bit light, but again, it was a red eye flight and this is the service that goes with :)

Information on the route Honolulu (HNL) Seattle (SEA)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Honolulu (HNL) → Seattle (SEA).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Delta Air Lines avec 7.4/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 5 heures et 37 minutes.

  More information

2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 128289 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6658 Comments
    It's great to be able to compare our very similar experiences! We really did do a lot of the same things on the Big Island. We went up the mountain too, but only to the welcome center at 9K feet for start gazing. Even up there I felt dizzy and had a hard time breathing--the fact that I smoke probably had something to do with it. I wish I could have gone all the way to the top, but since it was already night when we got to the 9K level, we wouldn't have seen anything. Your pics from the top are beautiful! And we also went to Hapuna beach! haha so crazy. It was very nice. the drive from the Hilo side to Hapuna was gorgeous! Looks like our meals on flights back to the mainland were similar except you had fruit and I didn't. I guess that's the difference of leaving after 10PM as opposed to you before 10PM. Thanks for sharing!
  • Comment 128290 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6658 Comments
    Forgot to mention, sorry about all the troubles you had with the tickets but I'm not surprised--DL is famous for its IT problems. It's nice to see that the food offering in the lounge has improves. Alas, since I've switched to AA from Delta, I never got to see the improvements for myself.

Login to post a comment.