On the next leg of my revenge travel circuit in May 2022, I flew on Delta One 767 business class across the Atlantic en route to my final destination of Türkiye for a visit to The Bodrum EDITION.
This Delta One flight took me from New York to London, and was my first time flying in a premium cabin with Delta Air Lines, or any other major US carrier, for that matter.
Now, Delta and the other US airlines don’t necessarily have a reputation for being amongst the world’s best airlines, so I was stepping onto this flight with fairly low expectations.
Nevertheless, I was optimistically curious as to how the experience would stack up against the many other airlines I’ve flown with.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Booking
I booked this Delta fare from New York to London through Virgin Atlantic.
It was a very attractive deal, at about US$900 for round-trip transatlantic flights in business class. This is certainly an unusually low price that was only available for about a day back in the middle of April, with travel dates only valid through to late May.
Since I already had a booking at The Bodrum EDITION confirmed for around those dates, I decided that I could in fact line up this cheap fare with that hotel stay. Deciding to make a trip of it, I went ahead and snagged a round-trip flight between New York and London, with Delta One on the outbound and Virgin Atlantic Upper Class on the return.
While not ideal, the initial outbound routing was actually New York LaGuardia–Boston–London Heathrow. Unfortunately, upon arrival in LaGuardia, I dilly-dallied and ended up missing the domestic flight to Boston.
All subsequent flights to Boston were full, so the only flight on which the Delta agent could re-accommodate me was the direct flight from New York JFK to London Heathrow.
Jumping on an Uber from LaGuardia to JFK, I arrived with a few hours to spare before my 8pm departure to London. As has come to be the new travel norm, this flight wound up being delayed by quite a few hours, which inconvenienced me a fair bit on my onward journey to Türkiye – but that’s a story for another day.
Despite the mishaps, I was still pretty thrilled for the opportunity to take this flight for the relatively friendly price of US$900.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Ground Experience
I spent a few hours enjoying dinner in the American Express Centurion Lounge JFK, including a few drinks in the secret speakeasy.
Later on, I also popped by the Delta Sky Club at JFK because the flight had been delayed. As I stepped in to inquire as to what was going on, while also grabbing a drink or two, I was taken aback by how busy this lounge was.
After all, Delta is the only one of the big three US carriers that doesn’t have dedicated elevated lounges for business class passengers. American Airlines has Flagship Lounges, and United Airlines has Polaris Lounges, but Delta uses Sky Clubs for just about everybody.
Access is given to all of their international premium passengers, alongside their domestic travellers, American Express Platinum Card holders, and elite status members. Therefore, the lounge itself didn’t feel all too premium.
I was certainly looking forward to seeing if the actual onboard experience at Delta One would turn out any better as I made my way over to board the short flight across the Atlantic.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Cabin
The Delta One 767 business class cabin has a total of 34 seats, arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration across nine rows. Row 9 does not have middle seats.
Delta One uses a staggered configuration, in which odd-numbered rows have window seats closer to the windows, while even-numbered rows have window seats closer to the aisle.
Solo passengers are likely best-served by even-numbered window seats, while passengers travelling as a couple may prefer any of the middle seats.
Unfortunately, because I wasn’t proactive in selecting seats prior to the flight, I was only able to get a middle seat, even though I was travelling solo. I found myself assigned Seat 7C along the right-side aisle towards the back of the cabin.
The deep blue seatback is striking in contrast to the black-and-white finishings of the cabin interior. In addition, the interior’s subtle white diamond patterns add a sleek and modern touch.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Seat
In keeping with the design of the overall cabin, the seat finishes and features came with the same monochrome colour palette.
The unique reading lamp, headphone hanger, and water bottle holder further contributed to this modern look.
Opposite the seat is a modest entertainment screen, with the footwell underneath.
I appreciated the visually pleasing modern interpretation of full marble on the white-surfaced side table. The diamond-shaped accent design stood out in company with the white back panel, as well as the seat controls, power outlets, USB outlets, and headphone jack along the black front panel.
With a decent amount of surface space, the side table is located to your right if you’re sitting in an odd-numbered row, and to your left if you’re in an even-numbered row.
Underneath the arm rest is a flap, which opens up to reveal a small entertainment controller and mirror. Beneath this, on the seat’s shell, you’ll find a few buttons for controlling the seat, lighting, and a Do Not Disturb light.
I thought the tray table was fairly smart in its design, popping out seamlessly in a diagonal direction from its holder within the seat itself and folding over into place. Otherwise, while stowed, it was very inconspicuous and hidden away.
A particularly interesting seat feature was a little cubby underneath the literature pocket to store your shoes in during the flight. This was the first time I had encountered a dedicated shoe cubby like this, which I found to be a very thoughtful feature.
Overall, this Delta One seat is quite cozy. It feels like the seat pitch is fairly short compared to other business class seats I have flown in before, and there wasn’t that much front-to-back space.
The privacy partition extended all the way up to the height of the seat wall, which gave me a much-needed degree of privacy from my seat mate as a solo traveller stuck in the middle seat.
Note that the Delta One product on the Airbus A350 and Airbus A330-900neos come with sliding doors for a bit of extra privacy, although those doors weren’t available here on the Boeing 767.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Amenities
Prior to departure, I was offered a welcome drink, with the choice of water, orange juice, or bubbly. I opted for orange juice, intending to get as high-quality sleep as I could on this overnight transatlantic flight.
The Delta One amenity kit is made by Someone Somewhere. While fairly unique in its design, it wasn’t necessarily made of the most luxurious materials.
The kit was a nice fabric pouch that showcased some interesting brands that Delta partners with, including Humble Companies for a bamboo toothbrush – an environmentally forward-thinking move by Delta – and skincare goods by Grown Alchemist.
We also had a bottle of water and a “COZ-Z-Z” blanket pack as part of the amenities.
Even though there was no turndown service by the crew, I very much appreciated getting the blankets in a compact package. Other airlines (ahem, Air Canada) tend to bestow upon you a huge blanket hours before you decide to go to sleep, clogging up already limited space.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Meal Service
Just prior to takeoff, the crew distributed a paper menu consisting of the main course options for the meal, as well as a QR code for a more fulsome digital menu.
The full menu read as follows:
To start, I received a unique offer of cocktail snacks, which included cheese, nuts, and dried fruit. Along with the snacks, I indulged in a more-than-generous pour of red wine.
Indeed, I was quite impressed and surprised by all the portion sizes; but then again, this was a US airline, and Americans do like their portions on the larger side.
The appetizer consisted of soup, salad, and a bun.
The soup was poured in front of me from a metal tumbler. As much as this method may not have been the most upscale way of serving soup, I still somewhat appreciated seeing my soup poured live in front of me.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the salad, but the citrus flavours were balanced perfectly with the accompanying vegetables.
I was also quite fond of the delectable Banner Butter that came with the bread. Specialty butter is not something you necessarily find on every business class airline, so Delta One certainly impressed me here.
For the main course, I was presented with three options, and I opted for the braised beef short rib. With a red wine demi-glace, thyme mashed potatoes, haricot verts with pickled red onions, and mustard seeds, this was a tasty meal that really hit the high notes.
The juicy braised beef was perfectly tender and flavourful, and I slowly savoured every bite.
For dessert, the chocolate-topped ice cream was delicious, and in keeping with the rest of the food service, generously portioned. The three scoops of ice cream took me by surprise, but I accepted the invitation and finished off the whole bowl with no regrets.
Throughout the meal, the crew was personal and attentive, and I was satisfied with the relatively quick flow of the meal service on this short overnight flight.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Entertainment
Delta’s in-flight entertainment system offered a sizeable selection of film and television across a wide range of genres, including new releases.
As anticipated on this short six-hour flight, I didn’t have time to indulge in the wide variety of entertainment at my disposal.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi was available for purchase, or could be used for free with a Gogo or Viasat subscription. In addition, Delta offers a Free Messaging plan that’s limited to communication on the iMessage, WhatsApp, and Messenger apps.
I myself simply signed on to the Free Messaging for a little while during the meal service, as I intended to sleep for the rest of the flight and didn’t need to purchase a full plan.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Bed
After completing the ice cream challenge, it was time to get ready for bed. We were just over Newfoundland and had about four hours of flight time remaining, and I hoped to catch at least three hours of rest.
I visited the restroom to test out my new bamboo toothbrush and to get ready for some sleep. The Delta One 767’s restroom is a standard-issue airplane restroom, equipped with nighttime mood lighting, helping me ease into what would be a short sleep.
As I returned to my seat, the whole cabin had transitioned to bedtime lighting and I swiftly unwrapped my blanket and put my seat into lie-flat mode. Turndown service was not provided.
In lie-flat mode, the bed measures 195cm (77in) long by 53cm (21in) wide. The footwell didn’t necessarily have tons of room, though it also wasn’t too restrictive to be problematic.
I very much tried to make the most of my short sleep before being woken up for breakfast – a common problem you’ll face when flying New York to London, one of the quickest transatlantic journeys.
Delta One 767 Business Class – Breakfast
Three hours later, I awoke for breakfast. My choice was oatmeal with a few trimmings, a fruit plate, and a croissant paired with a glass of orange juice.
Like many breakfast services on overnight transatlantic flights, this stale tray of food didn’t quite impress me the same way the main meal service had.
Perhaps the breakfast tray wasn’t Delta’s finest showing. Then again, I was running on three hours of rest, and maybe I wasn’t necessarily in the best mood as I sampled the oatmeal in front of me.
The orange juice was at least quite refreshing and helped me keep my eyes open as we made a landing into London Heathrow, where I continued onto a long day of travel ahead of me en route to Türkiye.
Conclusion
Despite the unexpected issues before boarding and my fairly low expectations going into the flight, I found myself somewhat pleasantly surprised by my short Delta One flight from New York to London.
The cabin and seat impressed me with the smart, modern design and functionality, as well as the well-thought-out layout.
My overall impression was also elevated by the main meal experience. The food quality, quantity, and service were enough to convince me to fly Delta One again at some point in the future.
Next time, I’d love to try the Delta One suites on the Airbus A350 that include full doors for additional privacy, although it is my understanding that the Delta One product on the 767 is very similar to the A350 flagship product, just without doors.
Overall, while I don’t think it’s worth going too far out of anyone’s way to fly this product (especially since it’s rather challenging to book on points), I certainly wouldn’t avoid it for a routing where Delta One is the most convenient and cost-effective journey.
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