With some luck, I managed to come across some affordable flights from New York (Kennedy) to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) for next year . Flights from Raleigh to JFK were almost as expensive as those from JFK to CDG, so I opted to use miles for that set of flights. With some nesting, the total price came in under $940. Not bad for two tickets, eh?
The tricky part with nested flights is that any checked bags will have to be collected and re-checked. I tried to give us 5 hours on either side of the international leg to account for this, but with JFK (or any New York airport, for that matter…) anything is possible.
Nested Flights
With some stays last year in San Diego, I was able to rack up enough Hyatt points for a week at Hôtel du Louvre! Located directly across from the Louvre museum and the Tuileries gardens (where the Arc de Triomphe is), it is also a short walk from Notre-Dame de Paris. Hard to beat that location!
Thanks to my status, I was able to select Comfort+ seats at booking even though it was an international flight. My Global Upgrade Certificates are expiring soon, so I won’t be able to use them, yet, but my new ones should be available in February. The Delta One cabin on the A330 is arranged in a reverse-herringbone configuration with the Comfort+ seats behind the middle galley. There seems to be quite a few Delta One seats open, so I’m cautiously optimistic!
Flight changes are not uncommon when booking months in advance, so I was not surprised when my return flight was now affected. Instead of flying directly to Atlanta, I now have to route through Mexico City.
Old route in red, new route in blue
With the change, and the new perks available (and two regional upgrade certificates coming up on expiration), I figured I would give Delta a call to see if I could apply them to the return. After a few minutes with the representative working on it, they confirmed that upgrade space was available if they changed my first leg (SJD-MEX) from a Delta ticketed flight to an Aeromexico ticketed flight. A few more minutes on hold and I had received my Aeromexico PNR and had selected seats on all the returns.
While there are still a few kinks to work out, the overall integration was very smooth!
Have any of you received complimentary upgrades on Delta partners or applied upgrade certificates on partners? Let me know!
It seems there will be a change with the way the MQD (Medallion Qualifying Dollar) waiver will be factored in for the 2019 Medallion year. Instead of needing the $25,000 spend on your Delta-branded American Express card, you will now need $250,000. As most of my MQD are accrued by flight purchases thanks to work I am not too worried, but this is a pretty big jump in qualification criteria from past years.
The MQD Email
I’m kind of curious to see if/how other airlines update their policies in kind.
Schedule changes are really no surprise in the travel game, but they are decidedly not fun. A few days ago I received an automated call from Delta to let me know that there was a schedule change that would make one of my connections in an upcoming trip illegal. Taking a deep breath, I logged in and started poking around to see what had happened.
Alas, it was what I had feared – the flight from JFK to Mexico City had been shifted. While it involved a huge upgrade on the equipment involved (a 787-800 with 2x2x2 seating to a 787-900 with 1x2x1 seating), it led to only an hour and a half to make my way through Immigration and Customs, and then manage to board my next flight. With the flight having a history of 30+ minute delays, this was clearly not going to work.
Thankfully, a Delta agent was happy to get things sorted out and rebook me with legal connections. Unfortunately, I won’t be flying on a Dreamliner this year after all. 🙁
Recently I had the opportunity to fly on what I like to refer to (affectionately, of course) as a narrow wide-body. Delta has a handful of Boeing 767-300 (not ER or LR, mind you) that have their first class in a 2x2x2 configuration. These seats are standard recline only, not angled or lie-flat as other 767s you might encounter, so don’t get too excited when you see what you’ll be flying!
If you get there early enough, you can see the walk-about
As it is a 767, it is configured with two aisles going down the length of the plane, so it is by definition a wide-body. The “narrow” part comes down to the seats in first class. Let’s look at a few different planes, shall we? Pay attention to the seat width and pitch between first class in all of them.
We’ll start with a few smaller planes… the CRJ-900, ERJ-175, and MD-88.
As you can see, all three feature a 37 inch pitch (how far you can recline), with nearly 20 inch wide seats in first class.
Next, we’ll look at a couple of larger planes: B737-900ER and the B757-300. Both of these can be used for transcontinental routes, so it isn’t any surprise that they have wider seats.
Finally, we come to the 767-300 that Delta uses for domestic non-DeltaOne routes.
B767-300: 18.5” width, 37-38” pitch
That’s right – it has narrower seats than the CRJ-900. The pitch is certainly appreciated, but don’t expect as roomy of a seat as any of the planes mentioned above.
The Cabin
First class in a 2x2x2 configuration
When you step onto the plane, your first thought might be “is this from the 80s?” And personally, I don’t think you’d be far off. From the seats…
Tiiiiiiiiiiiiny.
To the in-flight entertainment…
At least it tilts?
To the over-head controls…
To the storage bins.
Don’t expect to fit larger bags up here.
The storage bins on the outsides of the aisles could only fit a standard roll-aboard bag rotated length-wise. Travel light if you find yourself on one of these birds!
Now, I don’t want to make it sound like I didn’t enjoy myself on this flight, because in all honesty I did. That is a testament to the attitude and attentiveness of the Delta flight crew, no two ways about it. The crew is 80% of why I fly Delta, and this flight was no exception in that regard.
We were greeted with smiles and the crew made sure everyone was able to get settled in with minimal issues. Once in the air, the captain let us know that thanks to a nice tailwind, we would be arriving early (the other part of why I love flying Delta – I’m always at least on time, and often early) in Atlanta.
Lunch
We were given options between a salmon salad and mushroom lasagna for our lunches, and I opted for the salmon salad.
The entrée
The salmon was served on a bed of baby spinach and accompanied by purple potatoes (which happen to be my favorite) and cabbage “pasta” with small peppers. The balance between acidity and spice was perfect for eating in a pressurized cabin in the sky, and it would have gone perfectly with a nice Chardonnay.
Dessert!
Dessert was a delicious fruit/cheese medley. I opted not for the sweeter dessert that was offered, though, so I can’t comment on that.
The remainder of the flight proved to be uneventful. There was a little turbulence through the northern part of Texas, but we landed early as promised by the pilot! Overall, it was quite an enjoyable trip.
On a recent trip from JFK to San Diego, I had a chance to see Delta’s new menu for their complimentary meals. What I found interesting was that the offerings were different from their Flight Fuel menu. Additionally, in addition to splitting it up into “Eastbound” and “Westbound”, it is further divided into three distinct meals.
I thought it was a nice touch to also have the routes that the menu applied to. Certainly makes it easier to find out exactly what your offerings will be!
I opted for the cheese plate (I can never say no to cheese!), and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the cheese, even if it was a little broken. 😉
For those that follow me, you know that Delta hassurprisedme in the past with Porsche rides. Between the operational record, excellent customer service, and surprises like this, it should come as no surprise why I pick Delta consistently!
This weekend I had flown to Cedar Rapids, IA to attend a memorial service for a good friend and coworker of mine (James West). After two days of waking up at 4 AM for flights, I was running on fumes when I landed in Atlanta on my way to Raleigh (especially after arriving at the gate just in time to board the flight to Atlanta). My girlfriend and I were very pleasantly surprised to see Kevin of Delta Elite Services waiting for me at the door. He was an incredibly engaging and kept everyone in the car laughing for our drive… no small task given we had all been awake from far too early!
He walked us to the SkyClub in our next concourse and provided us with these brochures as well as his business card (not pictured for privacy reasons). I’ve actually never seen these brochures before, so it was twice as cool for me in that regard. Though the reason for the trip was somber, this was definitely a very welcome surprise. Thanks, Kevin!
