When discussing our approaching cruise around Japan, one of the most common questions that I was asked was about our flights. How long would they be? How much were they going to be? What about the jet lag? And, what kind of seats would we have? There was as much excitement about the flights as there was for the actual cruise.
To be fair, the flights were a big part of our trip, especially in regards to time and money. The flight from the Atlanta airport to Seoul was over 14 hours. For that flight, we opted to sit in Delta Premium Select Extra and these tickets cost us just over $1200 each. For the 12-hour flight back from Tokyo, we flew in Delta One Extra for $3700 each. Other than the obvious cost, we were very curious how the two experiences would compare. Spoiler Alert: the differences surprised us.
For our flight out to Seoul, we found our seats and were pleased to see how spacious they were. Not only had they had provided us with some necessary items for the flight such as a sleep mask, noise cancelling head phones, water bottles, a pillow, slippers and ear plugs but also there was plenty of space for us to put our iPad, phone and other essentials we wanted for the flight so that we could store our bags safely above us. We met the flight attendant who we found to be very nice and helpful in ensuring a great flight. She checked on us many times making sure that we had enough drinks or anything else we might want.
Once in the air, our flight attendant brought us a drink and these nice little biscuits. Later on, we were served our meal, which we had chosen ahead of time, and we found it to be very tasty (definitely a step above what we had previous been served while on flights). After the meal, the lights were lowered so that people could sleep if they wanted. At some point in the morning, we were offered something that was like a hot pocket. We had one more meal, which was great but perhaps not as good as the meal from the evening before. We had plenty to drink and eat during our flight thanks to the excellent service from the flight attendants.
As far as the seat goes, we had plenty of space and were quite comfortable. We each had neck pillows that we had purchased, which helped us to feel more relaxed. Chris was able to sleep a bunch more than me, but I was happy watching movies and listening to my book. Ultimately, we were very happy with this experience and feel that it was definitely worth it for the long flight.
Even though the flight back was shorter, we chose to fly Delta One so that we could experience it for ourselves (Delta One was cheaper on the shorter flight). With it being our anniversary trip, we wanted to treat ourselves and hoped that being in the nicer seats would also help with our jet lag. We learned of two unexpected perks of Delta One. First, we had a priority line when checking our baggage. This meant a shorter line and one that opened up before anyone else. Also, we found that Delta One gave you complimentary access to the Delta Sky Club. We love the Sky Club and appreciated that if you are Delta One then you would get priority over others in case the club fills up.
For our Delta One seats, we were in the two rows that were segmented from the rest of the Delta One seats. This meant that the flight attendants had 4 people to serve down one aisle and 4 people down the other. We had a team of flight attendants assigned to our section but there was one woman in particular who seemed to be in charge of our area. She promptly served a welcome drink to my husband and the other people on his aisle but she forgot to serve any to the passenger in our aisle. We learned that as the flight proceeded that this would be just one of many occasions where my section was forgotten or left till the end. We also found that there was some confusion as to which flight attendant would be doing what. One time, I was forgotten and another I was accidentally served twice. I mention this to note that it appears that service in Delta One can be hit or miss and did not live up to our expectations. Surprisingly, the service was so much better in Delta Premium Select.
We did have a delicious dinner served to us, which we had once again chosen ahead of time from a menu of about 5 choices. We had two more meals, all of which were excellent and not like any airplane food we had experienced before. For our drinks, we had an extended menu to choose from. When we were served, we had a lot to choose from, which was really nice.
Our seats were incredibly comfortable and spacious. It was really nice to be able to lay flat. Even if you aren’t planning on sleeping, being able to stretch out and watch a movie on their big screens was really great. Just as with our previous flight, we were given a kit full of essentials, this time in a pretty light blue bag. We were also given a pillow and cushioned duvet that you can stretch out on your seat for maximum comfort.
Ultimately, we were disappointed with the service that we received and found it to be a shame that a product that comes at such a high premium can’t consistently provide premium service. Once home, we reached out to Delta and explained carefully what we had experienced. We were hoping for some response that would be an appropriate reflection of our experience but that is not what we got. They barely responded and they definitely didn’t address our concerns. Their response certainly didn’t align with interactions that we had had with Delta in the past, and hopefully it all was a one-off and not something everyone experiences regularly.
All in all, if we had it to do over again, we would opt to fly in Delta Premium Select going both ways. Flying Delta Premium Select provided us with a premium experience, a better one than Delta One provided, at more than half the cost of the Delta One tickets. The extra perks of Delta One (access to the Sky Club and the express baggage claim) were nice but not enough to tip the scale for us to feel like it was worthwhile.
Stay tuned for where we fly to next and reach out if you would like to join us on our next adventure.