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.

Flight Itinerary

It's that time again, boys and girls! Time to get back on a jetplane and leave my mark do some exploring elsewhere again. AA once wrote me a letter on pink stationary when I was leaving for med school where she pointed out how I always "sweep in" to places and fly around a lot. I still have that letter at home - it's not often AA compliments, so you gotta keep them as true honorary mementos in the same regard you would keep an Emmy!

Not flying somewhere new this time - coming home to Fresno. My next two rotations are in Fresno and are Pediatric Infectious Disease and Neonatal ICU (Intensive Care). I will in fact be in Fresno from December 5 until the end of January. I look forward to seeing those of you whom I haven't seen in a long time and hopefully meeting some new friends as well on this journey!

Hence, here is my itinerary for my flight. Oh boy, this is exciting!!!

December 5 - Saturday
Depart JFK @ 810am on Delta 33
Arrive LAX @ 1145am

Depart LAX @ 130pm on Delta 7446 (operated by American Eagle 3060)
Arrive FAT @ 230pm

Virgin America Airlines - Lovin' It Major!

TRIP REPORT – VIRGIN AMERICA AIRLINES

October 8, 2008
Virgin America Flight 793
LAX to SEA
Depart: On Time
Arrive: ~20m early
Load: Only 40 passengers

In a word, WOW. The whole experience was superb. There was never a time where I was even slightly disappointed with something aboard my flights. Terminal 6 at LAX, where Virgin currently has its operations set up, is almost like a skeleton of a terminal – apparently United and and Continental have really abandoned ship in this terminal and don’t really operate out of all the gates from where they once did. But the contrast between the hip, cool, and interesting check-in counters for Virgin and the boring, gray, sterile ones for Continental were quite stark! But I’m jumping ahead.

I checked in for my flight online the night before. I was debating whether I should upgrade to First, but the option was never explicitly offered to me. Turns out it is only offered if you choose “Change Seats”, otherwise the system just checks you in without trying to upsell you. When I got to the airport, I went to the check-in area for Virgin, which is also tres chic! Flowers are set-up around their cool white check-in tables and screens, giving the whole feel of a great boutique hotel! But here is where the more important magic happened: I was just standing there, looking at the monitor to find my flight and gate, when one of the agents noticed this, came around the counter all the way to me, and said “Welcome to Virgin America, sir, may I help you with something?” What, huh, where am I?!?! I’m used to having to stand in line and beg for attention from an AAgent (not a typo) who scowls at questions. That’s right, the airline I love to fly and have miles with and even a credit card for, come to find out, doesn’t really treat me like they value me. With this one fairly minor and easy gesture, my whole experience was colored positive. I felt the rest of my trip on this airline would probably be equally welcoming and helpful – and I was not disappointed.

I got to my gate, which as I was mentioning before, is in a fairly decrepit and abandoned Terminal 6. I asked the gate agent if Virgin was going to be taking over the whole terminal – she said no, that they were going to be moving to Terminal 3 and taking over that whole terminal. They were going to deck out the whole terminal with Virgin style, including their cool check-in counters, mood lighting, and that whole W Hotel lobby feel. Great! That should be much cooler than the dead atmosphere at Terminal 6…where there isn’t even a McDonald’s to grab a quick bite to eat!

Check-in started about 25 minutes before the flight was to depart and the first thing you notice when you approach the flight is the purple mood lighting in the plane. With the white leather seats in First class, the black leather seats in Coach, and the purple see through dividers between classes, the whole plane has that W Hotel lobby feel. Very cool. I had made sure my row was empty save for me and got comfortable. Regarding seat pitch (basically the distance between your knees and the seat in front of you) – not the greatest. If the person in front of you reclines, space will be pretty tight. I was comfortable and my knees had some breathing space, so the pitch was average, but it can get tight if you are much taller than I am (5’11”).

Then, the Captain came on the PA: not from the flight deck, but standing in front of the plane, waving, and telling us to please not call him Captain or Sir; John (I think his name was John) was enough. He had a British accent and was hilarious – told several jokes and just set the tone for the flight – as professional, fun, and funny. I noticed the pilots don’t wear the traditional white shirt with black tie uniform. They actually wear the same uniform as the male flight attendants – black pants and black shirt, unbuttoned at the top. But the pilots differentiate by having a wings pin and chevrons on their collar showing whether they are a captain or first officer. I’m OK with this – if they are more comfortable flying the plane, then things will run smoother, right?

After this the safety video played on the individual video screens – they call their entertainment system “RED” and it is a touch-screen amazement. But again, I’m jumping ahead. The safety video was clear, CONCISE, and funny! It is a series of animations and you can see it online at YouTube. They throw in some good jokes and are just generally entertaining with it. Example: “For the .00001% of you that have never seen a seat belt, let us demonstrate for you…”

We took off and on the screen next to me I displayed the map to see our progress throughout the flight. On my seat, I explored the video system, which is available immediately. You can watch movies, premium TV shows (these options are for purchase), or watch free TV (like CNN, Bravo, USA, MTV, etc) and listen to free music from an extensive library. You can pick and choose songs from their library and make your own playlist to listen to. All very cool. The screen is touch screen, which can be cool, but also nobody was sitting in front or behind me, or else I think the touching would get kind of annoying because a light touch won’t do the trick. I didn’t purchase any movies because our flight was only two and a half hours, but I watched lots of Law and Order, listened to music, and even ordered Pringles and soda (soda is free) from the screen – which a flight attendant brought out within one minute!

The bathrooms are in the back and located in between them is a water bar – grab as much bottled water as you want during the flight for free! Cool feature. But if you don’t want to get up from your seat, again, just place your order right on the screen and the flight attendant will bring you water directly to your seat.

We landed at Sea/Tac Airport in Seattle about 35 minutes early, waited about 10-15 minutes for our gate, and then were thanked in person for flying with Virgin as we got off the plane. I was sold!


October 15, 2008
Virgin America Flight 792
SEA to LAX
Depart: ~5m early
Arrive: ~25m early
Load: ~50% full

My return trip was no less exciting. This time I checked in at the Virgin America counters at the airport. I was offered the upsell to First Class when I chose “Change Seats” option. It would have cost $100 for the flight to LAX, so I declined it. However, on the next page when you are looking at the flight seats available, the option to upgrade to first class is still made available, which I think is a great idea. For example, if after you see if the whole coach area is full on the seating chart, you may decide that first class seat looks good after all! I stuck with my coach seat since my row was again empty.

Virgin America’s gate at Sea-Tac Airport is in the new terminal where all the check-in counters are uniform to the airport’s standards, so no cool white counter, like at LAX. However, Virgin still has added its unique flare by putting its signature flower arrangements up. We started boarding about 35 minutes before flight departure and would have left about 20 minutes early, except we had to wait for two passengers, who arrived at the legal minimum time. So, we left about 5 minutes early. Still OK as we ultimately arrived early again! I noticed on their website that all their flights to and from Seattle have been arriving anywhere from 10-30 minutes early, pretty consistently. I guess Virgin is adding padding time to their schedule in case of a disruption – but if this is something happening so consistently, I think a more accurate arrival time should be told to passengers so we can tell our family when to pick us up!

Everything else about the flight was marvelous. I do have to say, though, that on this flight in Coach, one of the two male flight attendants was pretty lazy. While the older FA smiled the whole time, kept coming through the cabin to offer any assistance, and was generally pleasant, the other younger dude did nothing that I could observe. In fact, at one point, he was kind of falling asleep in the back chair! I’m about 98% sure that this is not OK, especially to the other guy who was working his butt off! Perhaps he was just sick or something – hope he feels better!

OVERALL: my experience on Virgin was top-notch. If their prices stay competitive or are even a bit higher than a competitor, I would still choose them on routes they fly over all others. They have figured out how to make the flight experience enjoyable and have a truly differentiated product compared to the other choices