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Delta One Business Class Review 767-400 London to Atlanta

I recently hopped over to the UK for a long weekend and ended up having the opportunity to finally try out Delta One longhaul. While I would have loved my first experience to be on their best product with doors, I found award space on the 767-400 with a retrofitted cabin bookable via Virgin. It is so hit or miss finding Delta award space with Virgin Atlantic miles, and I’ll show you how I went about finding the space…

Flight Details:

• When: May 2022
• Route: LHR to ATL
  • Terminal 3
• Aircraft: 767-400
• Flight Time: 8h 25m
• Seat: 1A
• Rate: 47.5k Virgin Atlantic Miles + $400
• Status: Delta Diamond

Booking:

If you’ve been looking for award space recently you’re well aware that things aren’t exactly easy on the most popular routes. Being based out of Atlanta makes things a bit tricky too, and it’s always a bit of a pain going in and out of the UK with the insane surcharges that are added.

First off booking on Delta is just plain ridiculous and its nearly impossible to tell if space will be available to partners or not. For instance, this flight was priced well in excess of 300k miles but was available for 69k Air France and 47.5k Virgin Atlantic. All 3 are Amex transfer partners. So how do you find that space? Honestly, it’s just plain luck, but I will say that the routes in/out Amsterdram, Frankfurt, and Paris have the most avail I’ve seen.

Amex and Chase have both been running 30% transfer bonuses meaning I basically used 37k points pre transfer to book this flight. At $450 in taxes and fees…that’s not too bad. Virgin, for instance, would have charged $900 in taxes and fees if I flew their metal instead.

Choosing a seat

As you can see on via SeatGuru.com there are 9 rows of business class.

If you’re traveling together, the middle seats are nice as you can easily chat and enjoy the experience together.

If you’re flying solo, the biggest thing you want to consider is whether you want to be on the aisle, or tucked next to the window for more privacy.

• The odd rows are on the aisle
• The even rows on the window with more privacy
• Bulkhead has bigger footwells

Testing Requirements

You’ll need to have a negative C19 test within 24 hours of departure which I did via eMed the night before.

@zacharyburrabelCurrently you need a test within 24 hours of departure which can be pricy without these ( $25 a piece online )♬ SUN GOES DOWN – Andreas Roehrig

Check In

Head straight to the Upper Class/Delta One check in counters. Flying into America still requires negative testing so make sure you have that screen capped or available on your phone. It was quick, seamless, and I was off to the Virgin Atlantic lounge and private security

Lounge

One of my favorite lounges is the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse at London Heathrow and popping through while flying Delta is a nice treat. I had a very small bite to eat since I’d had breakfast at the hotel earlier in the morning.

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Boarding:

We departed out of gate 20 and I was third on the plane. The cabin is bright and feels very fresh in a 1-2-1 all aisle access configuration.

Amenity Kit

Features Tumi and Le Labo products with all the normal stuff, toothbrush, moisturizer, mask, slippers. You’ll also get a nice set of Bose headphones although the branding was missing from it.

Seat:

As I mentioned, the cabin is in a 1-2-1 configuration and the seats stagger next to and away from the aisle. Personally, I’m not a big fan of this layout and prefer a reverse herringbone design that provides more privacy and in cabin space.

Since this was a day flight I chose seat 1A.

I wasn’t worried about sleeping and valued having a larger footwell vs being staggered away from the aisle to sleep undisturbed. Bulkhead vs other rows

Storage

There is a large open space that comfortably fit my macbook pro, amenity kit, and can easily hold personal items safe from the aisle while sleeping. Oddly, there isn’t a door on it which leaves it vulnerable to things falling out during turbulence.

IFE, Seating controls and comfort

I found the controls to be very easy to use, the IFE was bright, full of great content, but the seat is VERY narrow. At 6 feet and 165 to 170 pounds I found it tight.

The Bed

The bed length was adequate and the footwell was great, but that was largely because I was in 1A and they are far larger than other non bulkhead seats. I’d suspect if I wasn’t, I’d have trouble comfortably fitting my feet in it.

Food:

I had the celery soup which was pretty good and pre-ordered the salmon which was terrible. Dry, flavorless, and the veggies were blah. Honestly, I was quite happy to have eaten two meals prior to getting on the flight.

I’ll say this tho… I don’t really care that much about business class food. It’s all about can you sleep and get work done in biz, so I don’t weigh the food heavily in a booking decision.

Service

Everyone was nice and attentive. They saw Miles and invited him into the cockpit which was incredible

Overall:

I had a pleasant experience, but I won’t be prioritizing Delta One anytime soon. I wondered what I would think having just flown Virgin Atlantic on the ride over. While I’d rank this experience over the old Virgin, I’d still prefer the new A350 compared to the 767-400 Delta One product. In fact, I’d rank this behind most any AA business class, and on par with flying United’s 767 in Polaris. It’s quite inferior to BA club suites which I would argue is the best product flying in/out of London from the States.