The Details

• Flight: DL2123
• Aircraft: B757-200
• Class: Domestic First
• Seat: 5A
• Route: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL)-Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA)
• Distance: 2,322 miles
• Flight time: 5hrs 22min
• Departure: 1:40PM
• Arrival: 4:11PM

The Preflight

After arriving from Chicago, I had about two hours and 40 minutes until this flight to Seattle was scheduled to depart. Since I was in Concourse B, I decided to head towards the Delta Sky Club near gate B18. Access was thanks to my AMEX Platinum card which allows holders to use any Sky Club when flying Delta.

The entrance was up the stairs and then down a very long hallway.

The B18 Sky Club is the largest one at Atlanta and is considered a flagship lounge with newer facilities and nicer food. The club was essentially one large open 25,000 square foot space with the food and bar area in the middle.

Along the floor to ceiling windows were seating and tables each with individual power.

Along the backwall was a self-serve espresso machine station and self-serve coffee.

The food was in a buffet style with individually packaged portions located in the middle of the lounge.

Two large refrigerators offered cold options which included a variety of salads, grilled chicken, mini-ham rolls, and mini-wraps.

Hot options included a make-your-own soup station as well as hot oatmeal station.

A bar was behind the food area and a menu was on the plexiglass divider. Next to the bar was water and tea. The self-serve soda machine was in-activated, presumably due to COVID-19.

With an hour until boarding was scheduled to begin, I decided to go check-out the Sky Club in Concourse A (by Gate A19) close to my departure gate at A29. This lounge was right next to the PF Chang’s up a set of escalators.

Compared to the Concourse B lounge, this Sky Club was empty. There was a long room with comfortable seating and then another room with views of the apron.

The food was located in between the two rooms and was similar to the offerings in the B Sky Club.

Along the wall was a self-serve espresso machine and the bar. The menu for the bar was identical to the one above.

The separate room behind the buffet had amazing views of the apron.

On my way to gate A29, I passed by a few Delta narrow bodies including another B757. I loved how the windows at ATL have great views of the aircraft.

Our beautiful B757-200, registration N820DX, was originally delivered brand new to Shanghai Airlines in June 2004. She was actually stored in March 2015 before being purchased used by Delta Airlines a year later in March 2016.

There were a total of five B757-200s purchased by Delta Airlines from Shanghai Airlines and all were retrofitted with Delta interiors by December 2017.

Boarding began promptly at 1:00PM and was done from back to front. Delta elites and first class passengers were invited to board at their leisure. Since boarding was done via door 2L, I was lucky enough to turn left towards the front of the aircraft.

The Flight

Delta Airlines has a total of four different sub-fleets of their B757-200s (not including the charter sub-fleet of B757-200s). One sub-fleet, the 75S, has lie-flat seats and is used mostly on transcontinental and international flights. Two sub-fleets, the 75H and 75D, have 20 first, 29 Comfort+, and 150 economy seats with the difference being that the 75H fleet has ETOPS. The final sub-fleet is the 75G which was the type that I was flying on today.

There were a total of 20 First, 41 Comfort+, and 132 economy seats on this aircraft with First and Comfort+ located between doors 1 and 2. The first class seats were arranged in a 2-2 configuration. Each seat had 37″ of pitch and was 20.9″ wide.

I absolutely love the attention to detail that Delta has on their seats. The stitched Delta logo and nice leather upholstery created a very refined feel in the cabin.

There was nice, responsive, high-definition IFE screen in the seatback which also had a USB port and headphone jack.

I loved how the Delta IFE provided details not only about the flight but also the aircraft itself.

Directly between and below the seatbacks were two universal power outlets.

Due to COVID-19, Delta Airlines remains the last US carrier to continue to block adjacent seats in all cabins. This meant that I was guaranteed to not have a stranger sitting next to me in first class and I had all of the space under the seats available for me.

In between the two seats was a small cocktail table.

The bi-fold tray table was stored in the center armrest.

When fully folded out, it was large and but unstable. One thing I wish Delta added was a tablet or device mount in the tray table or seatback. But if I had to pick, I would definitely prefer the IFE screen over just a device mount.

The seat recline button was located in the right armrest.

Upon boarding, each passenger was given a small sanitizing wipe by the masked and gloved flight attendants.

Boarding was completed at 1:37PM and we pushed back exactly at 1:40PM. The captain announced that we were number three for take-off and after 10 minutes we accelerated down runway 8R.

We had great views of the Atlanta suburbs as well as downtown Atlanta on the climb out.

Due to COVID-19, Delta Airlines has cut back their inflight service to an extreme degree. On flights over 1,500 miles, all passengers are given a snack box and small bottle of water. First class passengers are also given Flight Fuel boxes and a choice between beer and wine. No hot or cold food is served (unlike Alaska, American, and United) and no other alcohol is available (unlike American and United).

Service began with flight attendants passing out a snack bag.

Contents of the snack bag were Goldfish, a Cliff Bar, bottle of water, and sanitizing wipe.

Next, flight attendants came by with a tray of beer and wine. Options included Sweet Water 420, Miller Lite, a red, and a white wine. I went with the Sweet Water 420 which was good.

Then a flight attendant came through with the snack boxes. Options included either the Crave or Crunch Flight Fuel Boxes. I selected the Crunch which had tortilla chips, hummus, roasted almonds, a beef stick and Toblerone.

One thing that I did not like about the seat was how restricted it felt when the passenger in front of me reclined. While the seat recline was certainly generous, if the passenger in front reclined, then there was not enough space for you to get up.

Every 30 minutes or so, the flight attendants would make a pass through the cabin either picking up trash or offering water bottles. They wouldn’t hesitate to distribute the water and I ended up with a total of six bottles by the end of the flight. I guess that was a way for them to make up for the lack of other beverages…

Having drank so much water, I eventually had to use the lavatory. The forward lavatory was very nice and modern. There was both Malin+Goetz soap and hand lotion.

We had great views of the Rockies at 32,000 feet as we passed over Denver.

With about 90 minutes until landing, flight attendants came through the cabin with another round of snack bags and Flight Fuel Boxes.

The contents of the snack bag were identical to the previous one.

This time I selected the Crave Snack Box which included Wheat Thins, Goldfish, Skittles, wafer rolls, salami slices, white cheddar cheese spread, and Tic Tac’s. More water was also handed out.

Delta also offers live TV on their flights and I watched some of the news regarding Day 1 of Trumps second Senate trial on CNN.

As we neared Seattle, the captain came over the PA to alert us that there were views of Mt. Saint Helens off to our left.

On our approach into SEA we had great views of both the airport and downtown.

On our final into runway 16C we passed over Boeing Field with less 737 MAXs than last time I flew over it.

We landed at 4:11PM local time and the taxi to gate A13 took about five minutes. Thanks for the ride!

This was another great flight with Delta Airlines. I really enjoyed having the entire row in first class due to the Delta seat blocking policy and the flight attendants were very friendly. While the food and beverages options could be improved upon to match competitors, I still would choose to fly Delta again.