Delta Airlines - December 2015

JANUARY, 2016

DELTA AIRLINES 767-400

BUSINESS CLASS

Orlando (USA) - Sao Paulo (Brazil)

I’ve flew Delta’s 767 business class during the past 8 years a lot.. and also before routes between Sao Paulo and Detroit, Sao Paulo and Miniapolis Saint Paul and New Jork and now I'm very keen to see how their service is now, especially after the product was rebranded from BusinessElite to Delta One. This will be my first trip after the rebranded Business class.

Delta 197
Orlando (MCO) – Sao Paulo (GRU)
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Depart: 9:50PM
Arrive: 9:50AM
Duration: 9hr 00min
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300
Seat: 9A (Delta One/Business Class)

Delta’s 767-300 business class cabin consists of a total of 36 seats, spread across nine rows in a 1-2-1 configuration. While I was the first passenger to board, only 8 passagens arrives right after. Flight complety empty.. :-( (perhaps due to the date and hour of my flight).

I will say that Delta’s newly branded “Delta One” cabins are extremely sleek in terms of the finishes. I love the checkered leather pattern, and think the red accents look good on the seats.

The seats are staggered in such a way that the area where you put your feet is basically next to the person seated in front of you, same configuration as Azul, but with more space and privacy.

That’s why on the sides of the cabins the seats alternate — in one row the seat will be closer to the window, while in the next row it’ll be closer to the aisle. There are pros and cons to both types of seats.

The seats closer to the aisle have larger foot cubbies, meaning it’s easier to sleep in them. That being said, they also make you feel like you’re seated in the middle of the aisle, as you have no privacy.

Meanwhile the “true” window seats (I always try to get this one and in this fly i got) are much more private, as they have the console on the aisle side, meaning you can easily look out the window. The downside is that the foot cubbies in these seats are tiny, so unless you have really small feet/legs, you’ll probably have a hard time getting comfortable.

The seats in the center are equally staggered. In our case we had assigned seated 9B & 9C. 9B is closest to the aisle so has a larger foot cubby, while 9C is more in the center, with a console on the right side, making it “cozier.” It also has a smaller foot cubby, as a result. While these seats are nice when traveling with someone, they feel awfully “intimate” if you’re just seated next to a stranger.

This is a different Tumi amenity kit than I’ve received in the past on Delta, as it had a hard case. It must be among the nicest business class amenity kits out there.

The contents were nice, personally I care most about the kit itself, as I find very nice amenity kits to be great for storing cords, toiletries, etc.

Once settled in one of the flight attendants came by with pre-departure beverages. She just seem very happy to be there, at usual Delta's crew. As usual, I selected a glass of champagne (besides my continuos jokes of my friends), but come on!!! we were close to close the 2015 and welcoming the 2016 up in the air as i always fantsize. I do appreciate that Delta serves pre-departure beverages in glasses, which American typically doesn’t do, in my experience. ( Note: I have to correct myself on this, as just i came back to US in an American flight they started to do the same).

The boarding process took quite a while, as eventually just about every coach seat on the plane was taken. I know this in part because just about every economy passenger bumped into me when walking down the aisle. That’s a big downside of the 767, where everyone boards through the forward door.

Around 9:45 PM the captain made a brief announcement welcoming us aboard, and informing us of our flight time of 9 hours.

The meal service was done more than 2hr30min into the flight, which seemed slow to me, because i was running all day prior my departure and also that at that point i was i little bit dipsy due to the several glasses of champagne..

At that point I made my bed. Again, while the bedding was excellent, I found the seat to be tight, especially around the feet. This is probably my least favorite style of fully flat hard product out there, given that there’s no room to move your feet, but maybe is also due to this was the first flat-seat introcuded by Delta, and in these days are a little dated. I prefer the Boeing 777- 747 and the A-320 ( my favorite) configurations, in which seats are more spacious, confortables and have more privacy.

I was awoken about two hours out by the economy lights being turned on. Since we were in the last row of business class, those were pretty bright. I have been noticed this in all Delta Flight seat closer to economy cabin, definitely a minus to Delta..

but my bad mood for this wake-up completely disappeared, when the flight attendants start singing brazilian's xmass songs, wishing us their best wishes for this 2016 just started (PLEASE: Watch the video below) :-)

Finally, our descent into Sao Paulo was smooth, and we had a super smooth touchdown (watch video below) as ussual for Delta's pilots at 9:40AM. Let me focus on the touchdowns a bit, i flew several airlines in the past years and let me tell you, no-one has the smoothest landing touchdown as Delta. I always wondering why, maybe traininng recieved by Delta pilots? I did not have that answer but love it, i believe it is for sure, Delta's Signature.. :-)

Delta One bottom line

Ultimately this flight got us direct from Orlando (US) to Sao Paulo (Brazil), and that was the primary goal as Orlando is pretty close to my hometown: Miami.

The staggered business class configuration offered by Delta on the 767 is one of my least favorite out there. It’s worth noting they have awesome reverse herringbone seats on their 747s and A330s, but this product is really sub-par, in my opinion. Delta typically exclusively flies 767s to Brazil.

Delta has the best employees as far as US legacy airlines go, which is why the service on this flight was accordingly. It was the best service I’ve had on a Delta flight. Also, have to point out the super-friendly agents I interacted with at the Delta One check-in facility.

The food on this flight was underwhelming. While the appetizer and dessert were quite good, the main course was just fine.

Anyway, personally I will continue be flying Delta, love them and it is part of my heart now as i have been flew them constangly for the past 8 years of my life and took me to amazing places of this world.

Love you Delta from the bottom of my heart!!! :-)