Number 71 on the Delta Upgrade List: 767-300 Los Angeles to New York Review

Background:

I was originally going to fly back to New York with JetBlue on a different date, but decided it would be easier to travel the day before. Surprisingly just 2 weeks before scheduled departure, I found a Delta fare that matched my JetBlue fare. And since JetBlue and American ended their partnership, if I rebooked my existing JetBlue flight, I would lose the reciprocal perks from American anyway, so I decided to fly Delta to have access to the Sky Club. I’m a Silver Medallion on Delta, so at least I would be added to the Delta upgrade list and have a shot at a Comfort Plus seat. Did I have a shot? Yes, but a very slim chance at that…

Flight Details:

Delta Air Lines Flight 670
Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK)
Cabin: Main Cabin
Seat: 24E
Status: On Time

Pre-Flight + Delta Upgrade List:

Wow! I’ve never been so deep on the Delta upgrade list before. I ended up number 71 of 73 as a Silver Medallion for the first class waitlist and 46 of 47 for Comfort Plus. Considering my aircraft was a 767-300 with a total of 175 Main Cabin and Comfort Plus seats, having 42% of the aircraft being an elite member/upgrade eligible is probably why Delta is overhauling the SkyMiles program. While I think they went overboard with their new proposed policies, something had to be done when everyone is an elite member, there’s no exclusiveness or benefits anymore. Again, I want to reiterate that I don’t support the current changes announced, but just wanted to say that changes had to be made. Will I be flying Delta less in the future? Probably yes as my status is getting me nowhere, and I will most likely not be obtaining status for the next year.

Visit to the LAX Sky Club:

My lunch weekend visit was pleasant. I really like the LAX Sky Club and I have visited on numerous occasions. There was no line outside the club, but the lounge was bustling with activity inside. Originally I grabbed a 2 table without views of outside, but I was able to move to my preferred window seat overlooking the tarmac. I was able to grab a quick bite for lunch, relax a bit, and then head to my gate at the boarding time. Lunch options were quite good with a chicken dish and a taco station.

Boarding:

Boarding started 40 minutes before departure. I boarded with “Main Cabin 1” as I am a lowly Silver Medallion. This is right after Sky Priority.

I wasn’t able to find carry-on space above my seat since larger bags on the 767 cannot fit over the center seats carry-on bins so I needed to put them in the bins above the window seats. I had to go about 5 rows back to store my bag.

As boarding progressed, we got a bit stuck as overhead space ran out with still a decent amount of people needing to board. Not sure if it was a gate agent issue, but seems like they miscalculated the number of bags that would fit.

The Flight:

The captain introduced himself and let us know it would be 4 hours and 50 minutes in the air to New York. We left the gate right on time, and took off about 20 minutes after leaving the gate.

Waiting at my seat was a blanket, and the flight attendants came down the aisle to pass out headphones.

One hour into the flight, we had a cabin service. We got biscoff and almonds, plus our choice of drink.

Then the flight attendants passed by with tea and coffee which I appreciated.

And, halfway through the flight, they came with water.

Approximately an hour before landing, the flight attendants came by with a second drink plus Sun Chips and a White Chocolate Macadamian Bar. I really liked how they kept us hydrated and fed with snacks. While I would have liked choices in snacks, it was nice that they gave us two each time. I think it helped speed up the process by not having to ask each passenger what snack they wanted. Luckily for me, I enjoyed all the snack choices they handed out. But, I would like it if the Sun Chips contained more content as there were literally 7 pieces in the bag.

The Seat and In-Flight Entertainment:

Delta’s 767s are quite comfortable for cross-country domestic flying in economy as the 2-3-2 configuration allows for only 1 middle seat per row. I had an aisle seat in the middle 3 section. The seat pitch is advertised to be between 31 and 32 inches, while the width of the seat is 18.1 inches.

The seatback in-flight entertainment screen was pretty solid, with numerous choices of movies, TV shows, and games. I watched 2 movies, and then we were already ready for landing.

Wi-Fi is offered on this flight, but since it is an internationally configured plane, it’s not complimentary yet. Wi-Fi was available for purchase for $39.95 for the duration of the flight or $11 for 30 minutes. A monthly pass was $49.95. Free messaging is offered, and free Wi-Fi is available for T-Mobile customers.

The flight attendant warned us at the start of the flight that we would have intermittent Wi-Fi. There was smooth sailing for the first 2 hours of the flight, then it cut out for extended periods of time.

We landed 30 minutes early and eventually got to the gate 20 min early. The flight attendant was bragging about how “Delta got us an early arrival” but sadly there was no one to connect the jet bridge to us. The pilots first said it would be just a second, but after no response, they called again, to no avail. We ended up sitting on the plane for a little less than 30 minutes and started the deplaning process 5 minutes after our scheduled arrival time. Lol, I found this to be a lesson on not speaking too soon!

Is Delta A “Premium” Experience?:

There’s been a lot of talk on whether Delta is the “premium” airline of the US. Frankly, since I’m generally flying on hub-to-hub routes like this premium transcon often, I don’t really see a difference between Delta, United, and or JetBlue. I’ve flown on this route in the past year in Economy/Main Cabin on all 3 of these carriers and had good experiences on all of them. But, I do realize that the airlines put their best birds on the LAX-EWR/JFK route. If you’re interested, you can check out my United review here, and my JetBlue review here.

I’ll admit though, if you were flying a non-premium route, then perhaps Delta planes are nicer than what United and American would use.

So it goes to say when I fly on the LA to NY route, I generally just find the lowest fare. Also, being 71 on the upgrade list doesn’t really make me loyal to Delta as it doesn’t provide much benefit.

The Verdict:

Overall I had a solid transcontinental flight on Delta. I enjoyed the multiple beverage services, in-flight entertainment, and the comfort of the 767’s configuration. If the price is right, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly on this flight again. It was also a memorable flight as it was the lowest I have ever been on the Delta upgrade list.

 

How far down the Delta Upgrade List have you been before? Have you flown on the Delta 767-300? Share below!

 

Cheers,

Ty

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