Part 3 - A Tale of Two Airlines: Delta Airlines = Lovely

This is Part 3 of my series on "A Tale of Two Airlines". In parts one and two, I chronicled the unpleasant booking experience on US Airways. In this post, I'm going to ring in the new year with a positive THANK YOU to Delta Airlines for providing their product in a clean, efficient, friendly, and pleasant manner.

Part 3: Delta Airlines - A Very Pleasant Flying Experience

For my 4th year of medical school, I have had to do quite a bit of traveling. I left NYC last June 23 for Fresno, where I spent the summer doing Pediatrics. Then, I was in LA from end of August to October 25. I flew to NYC on October 25 for 6 weeks for OB/GYN and returned to Fresno on December 4. What follows is the story of my pleasant flying experience on Delta Airlines, both to NYC from LA on October 25 and returning to Fresno from NYC on December 4.

A couple days before departure, I received an email from Delta entitled "It's Time to Check-in". That email included my flight itinerary and a link to check-in for my flight:

Sunday, October 25

Flight:	Delta 78
Departs:	7:30 am from Los Angeles, California
Arrives:	4:20 pm at New York - Kennedy, New York
Seats:	29D
Meals:	View menu options
Gate:	53A

Saturday, December 5

Flight:	Delta 703
Departs:	8:10 am from New York - Kennedy, New York
Arrives:	11:45 am at Los Angeles, California
Seats:	24D

Flight:	Delta 7446 Operated by American Eagle using their equipment
Departs:	1:30 pm from Los Angeles, California
Arrives:	2:30 pm at Fresno, California
Seats:	06A

October 25: Pre-Flight
Check-in online was a breeze and Delta gives you a $5 incentive to check-in online (they knock off $5 from the price of each checked bag if you check-in online instead of at the airport.) I arrived at LAX for my 730am flight to JFK at around 6am and the Delta counter was a zoo! In fact, this is the only part of my trip that I had a problem/minor complaint about. I had checked in online assuming this saves time, but then you have to actually physically check-in your bag and the line snaked around a few times and took a good 20 minutes. When I finally did reach the counter, my bag weighed 56 pounds and the agent said I had to remove items or pay for overprice bag. OK, I took out a couple items and put the bag on a different scale (my agent made me move to the side to help somebody else) which read 50 pounds. Awesome. My agent saw this, but still made me put my bag on her scale, which registered 52 pounds. She then insisted that I remove more weight. I declined and pointed out that the other scale said 50, which means one of the scales is wrong and I think I should get the benefit of the doubt for two pounds. She said no - take stuff out. I said no - fix your scales. We stared at each other for a second (and I felt as though we had met the alter ego of each other because neither one of us was about to back down). She again pointed out that she will have to charge since my bag is overweight. I said I wanted to speak with a supervisor. Couple more minutes passed - supervisor arrived and I pointed out the discrepancy in the scales. He apologized, put the bag tag on my bag, and sent it on down the carousel and wished me a nice flight. I thanked him, wished him a wonderful day, and proceeded to the security line, which although long, was moving pretty efficiently. Made it to my flight just as boarding was starting around 7am.

October 25 - In Flight:
This is where Delta really shined, in my opinion. A NICE, smiling, non-ice-picking flight attendant greeted every passenger as we entered the plane. Then, half way down the aisle, another kind, smiling flight attendant extended another greeting to me. I know most people don't think twice about this, but I find such greetings really set a lovely tone for the whole flight and put you in a relaxed, comfortable mood. My flight was on a Boeing 757 that Delta has updated to have leather seats with comfortable recline and TV screens! The touchscreen offers movies, games, TV shows, music and a moving map. The product is similar to Virgin America's, except you can't order food from your seat with Delta's. However, at least for now, I preferred the Delta product because it was all free! Virgin charges for movies and certain shows, but everything on the Delta screen was free. So, of course, I watched myself a couple movies and one or two TV shows. They also served a pretty yummy Almond butter and jelly sandwich ($7 - pretty steep I thought, but I hadn't had breakfast and it WAS yummy). The flight was uneventful. The flight attendants did their job extremely well and with a smile and just enough personality to make it seem like they were enjoying themselves. We landed almost 45 minutes early and I waited a total of 5 minutes before my bag arrived. Overall, everything ran like clockwork after my initial check-in and I was totally pleased with what Delta is offering its customers.

December 5 - The Return Trip
My experience in NYC is for another blog post - or actually, I can sum it up as follows: very, very long days! But fast forward 6 weeks and it was time to return to Cali. For the first time I used the JFK AirTrain service that NYC offers. You take the E train to Jamaica station and transfer to the AirTrain. The service is super efficient and pretty darn quick...and you avoid traffic! But beware: if you have a few bags, I wouldn't recommend the subways because you gotta lug that stuff up and down quite a few stairs! The Delta terminal stop on the AirTrain is a bit confusing. The signs say to go to the international terminal for check-in for LAX flights. I did go there and there was no wait - super efficient and open space (unlike LAX!!) And while those agents were kind enough to check me in, after security the "gate" is actually a bus stop that drives you over to a different terminal for your flight. I wasn't quite sure why I couldn't just check-in at the other terminal where my flight actually was, but it was fine since I didn't wait in any line!

Just like my flight 6 weeks earlier, we started boarding on time, closed the door on time, and departed (with the middle seat next to me empty this time) on time! Flight attendants were there to greet, smile, and make you feel welcome. Personal screens worked like a charm and I watched a couple movies, slept a little, snacked a little, and just enjoyed the flight overall.

I DO want to point out that American Eagle played a role in getting me home on this trip. Delta works with American Eagle for flights to Fresno and sure enough, I took a small bus from the Delta terminal to the American Eagle satellite terminal (always a fun trip because you get to drive pretty close to some amazing airplanes!) The AE flight was nothing spectacular - they did their job well - on time and efficient. What I DO want to acknowledge AE for is their incredible ground service in Fresno lately. Fresno has been notorious the last several years for ridiculously slow baggage claim times. One time I waited the same amount of time for my baggage as my flight took from LA! Unacceptable. But, this is the second time where luggage from American Eagle has ALREADY arrived on the carousel by the time you walk to baggage claim. And Fresno is NOT a big airport. I find this incredible and therefore want to commend the ground service employees at Fresno for a job very well done.