The Details

• Flight: DL846
• Aircraft: B767-400ER
• Class: Delta One
• Seat: 8A
• Route: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL)-Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA)
• Distance: 2,253 miles
• Flight Time: 4hrs 58min
• Takeoff: 6:20PM (EST)
• Landing: 8:15PM (PST)

The Preflight

In between my flights from Indy to Seattle, I had a four-hour layover in Atlanta. Thanks to the American Express Platinum card, I had access to all of the Delta SkyClubs in Atlanta. I spent the majority of my time in the A concourse SkyClub which had fantastic views of the gates and aircraft.

There was a variety of hot food in the lounge including chicken curry, fried rice, and soup. Cold options included various salads, dips, and sandwiches.

Boarding began at 5:15PM, forty minutes prior to the scheduled departure time.

Our B767-400ER, registration N840MH, was delivered brand new to Delta in May 2001. She was over 20 years old but had recently been retrofitted with the new Delta One Studios. Only 37 B767-400ERs were ever produced making this aircraft one of the rarer wide-body jets.

The Flight

Delta offers a total of 34 custom Thompson Vantage business class seats arranged in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration. Along the fuselage, the odd-numbered business class seats were closer to the aisle while the even-number seats were along the windows. All 34 seats were arranged between the first and second set of doors.

I was seated in 8A which was in the second to last row of the business class cabin. The seat itself was narrow at 20 inches wide. It found the seat padding to be very stiff and almost uncomfortable to sit in. When fully flat the seat was 77 inches long.

There was a sleek modern 18.5 inches touchscreen entertainment system that featured Delta’s extensive inflight entertainment options.

Below the screen was the foot well. As with almost all staggered configuration seats, the footwell was small and restrictive around my size 11 feet.

I found the seat design very stylish with the special Delta One branding.

Next to the seat was a storage space, large tabletop space, and seat controls.

The storage space included a headphone rack, water bottle holder, and literature pocket.

The touchscreen seat control panel had options to turn on a “Do Not Disturb” light, adjust the reading light, seat recline, as well as leg rest. Each seat also had two USB ports, headphone jack, and 110V outlet.

Underneath the tabletop space was an IFE remote, a personal mirror, as well as a few additional suite controls.

Each studio also had a large sturdy bi-fol tray table.

A few amenities were provided to business class passengers including a bottle of water, sanitizing wipe, and headphones.

All passengers boarded by 5:48PM (seven minutes ahead of schedule). We pushed back at 6:03PM followed by a 17-minute taxi to runway 27R.

Service began quickly after take-off. First up was dinner which included three options: roast beef sandwich, charcuterie, or a buckwheat noodle salad. I went with the buckwheat salad which included a small bag of wasabi peas and a pumpkin pound cake.

Drinks were served after dinner. I had a sad plastic cup of gin & tonic.

Half-way through the flight there was a small snack service. Options included either goldfish or Biscoff cookies.

There were two dedicated business-class lavatories in the cabin. One lavatory was located at the front of the cabin and one was located at the rear of the business class cabin. The lavatories were clean but unremarkable.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. With 20 minutes prior to landing, the flight attendants came through to prep the cabin. We landed at 8:15PM local time in Seattle and arrived at the gate 16 minutes later.

Thanks for the ride!

I found the Delta One Studio on board the B767-400ER a luxury for this mid-continental flight from Atlanta to Seattle. The lie-flat seat was a definite plus over the standard recliner domestic first-class seats onboard narrow-body aircraft. However, I did find the seat cushioning to be very firm and potentially uncomfortable for longer trans-continental flights.