Until today, I have yet to fly on a Delta flight. Not because I don’t like them. Not because I’ve heard bad things on the news. I fly American Airlines because I gather miles for them. I use American Air’s loyalty program to get free plane tickets every year. Therefore, flying Delta airlines isn’t something I usually do. I decided to give them a try because they had an amazing deal. This is my Delta Airlines disaster story.
Delta had a wicked deal in business class. Business class from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to John F Kennedy Airport (JFK.) A good economy seat to New York City is about $300 round trip. This trip had a weird mileage special. Pay one ticket with miles and get one ticket free. It was 25,000 miles for one ticket. I thought, why not, lets book it. That’s a pretty good deal. And, its free!
Since I usually rely on cheap airfare and always focus on traveling on a small budget, this business class ticket is right up my alley.
Both me and my partner (who is a luxury travel geek) get excited about this new adventure on this new airline we’ve never tried.
My partner read reviews online. The Delta Airline reviews talked about how great Delta flights are. Delta has a reputation among certain circles for being better than American Airlines. Perhaps Deltas economy class isn’t as great as some people say, but their business class seems to have a great reputation.
Delta Airlines in Business Class from LAX to JFK in a B767-400ER
We board the plane and people are struggling. This is business class not a war stricken country! However, no one knew how to put their bags in the over head compartment. People are annoyed and yelling across their seats. Perhaps it was the busy season but it felt like people were not happy to fly in business class. I however, was very excited!
We get to our seats. My partner and I had two middle pods. Each of us had an isle on each side. These pods are smaller than Americans Pods. However, that’s not important since each plane has a different configuration anyway (even on American Air.) A pod is a pod to me and that was fantastic.
The pods on this flight are thin and narrow. I call them coffins because when you turn your seat into a bed it’s hard to turn over. I feel like I need to fold my hands over my chest, like a dead person. There’s a small flat screen TV with plenty of great movie options. The middle partition is big enough to place a drink, some snacks and something extra. They also have several nooks and crannies to place your cell phone or other loose items you may have. Just don’t forget it on your way out. It’s pretty easy to do that.
The pod itself is comfortable. Even though I was sitting next to my partner, the middle partition is wide enough to make you feel like you’re sitting alone (which I love.)
Getting Back to This Delta Airlines Disaster
I put my backpack in the overhead compartment and sit down. As I start to get comfortable a flight attendant hands me a menu for lunch options. I am so excited to see the lunch options, since I read Delta has superior meals than most airlines. I open the menu right away and begin reading it cover to cover.
As I’m reading I hear a flight attendant a row over ordering meals for people. Suddenly I hear “Mr. Quintanilla?” I look up and say “Yes that’s me.” The flight attendant looks at me and is so rude and obnoxious because I didn’t respond with what he wanted to hear. He gives me a bitchy/witty remark and asks me what I’d like to eat. At this point I want you to go F**K yourself. I didn’t say that but I was so annoyed that I was “inconveniencing” this business class flight attendant because I couldn’t read his mind.
I ordered my meal and hoped he slipped as he walked away.
Remember the flight hasn’t taken off yet. This was not a good start.
The flight attendants do a last check for glasses. They check the overhead compartments, make sure they’re closed. They take their seat and announce that we are going to take off and seat belts need to be fastened.
As we take off, the plane jets down the runway and begins to angle upward. Right as the plane picks up speed the cabinets full of dishes bust open and all the soup bowls fly out and shatter all over the floor. Someone forgot to lock the cabinet.
Since you can’t move around during take off, all we can do now is wait for the plane to level off before any flight attendant can get up and clean. Meanwhile, all the shards of glass are spreading as far down the aisle as possible.
In a sense I thought, this flight is such a disaster. On second thought, I remember the rude flight attendant and thought this is instant karma. I’m still annoyed. But, at least I will be left alone to cool down and not be as annoyed for the rest of my flight. After all, I am in business class and I want to enjoy myself as much as possible.
The Food
Since we didn’t have any bowls, the flight attendants were creative (they had to be.) They served us soup in a cup and apologized for the inconvenience. I though they did a great job at handling the situation.
To put the record straight, the rest of the flight went smoothly.
I got a mushroom salad and a ravioli dish. My partner got a chicken piccata dish. The soup was delicious. The ravioli is tasty but there were only about 5 of them. I got a bread pudding as dessert. It was very good. I thought all the dishes were proportionally small but tasty. To tell you the truth I felt like all the food was just enough. I was full and happy.
My partner on the other hand has some dietary restrictions (as per doctors orders.) All he was able to eat was the chicken piccata which was about 4 ounces of meat. He did not get full and could not eat the bread putting because of its ingredients. He was not happy.
The Rest of the Flight
We finished our lunch and put on our headphones to watch some good flicks on our separate flat screen TV. I watched Atomic Blond, which was fantastic!
We landed at JFK… Where I realized my bad Delta flight was just the beginning of a bad nightmare trip. I stayed in NYC for several days then took a flight from La Guardia airport to Montreal International airport (YUL.)
My experience at La Guardia (LGA) was the worst airport experience I’ve ever had. I am happy to report that I will avoid LGA as much as possible from now on!
Let me break it down for you:
Even though the flight was free using miles, 25,000 miles and I got one free… So, two tickets for the price of one, I don’t think I will fly Delta again. This flight was from LAX to JFK.
The food was amazing.
I did not like the unprofessional flight attendants. Mind you, I have friends that are flight attendants on Delta and they are great. I think it was just these attendants on this flight.
Do I recommend Delta? Sure why not. Just because I had a bad experience doesn’t mean other people wont enjoy it. The least I could say is give them a try.
So that’s your “disaster?” A twenty-second interchange with a flight attendant, and then some bowls broke? You said the rest of the flight went fine. You didn’t cut your foot open on some bowl shards. The FA didn’t bother you again. I’m sure your drink was filled or we’d hear about that. And you got a nice discount on a route that is rarely available due to the LGA perimeter rule.
But after all this catalog of horrors unfolded, you decided you’ll never fly Delta again and you’ll never fly into LGA again, either. This is ridiculous.
I havent written my LGA horror story yet. That was just horrendous. I wont fly them again because i do another loyalty program. So why waste miles when I can gain miles. But youre right, the plane didnt crash. No one died. There were no terrorist. Not one person threw up in the isle lol.
But i thank you for reading and for commenting. Have a good one. 😊
Pingback: The Orleans Express Bus to Quebec City - Designing Life