To kick off our trip to Belgium and Italy, we first needed to get to New York. We drove up from Austin to Mrs. ATX Jetsetter’s parent’s house in Fort Worth to drop off Gumbo before heading out to start our adventure.
Booking
Our Air France flight from New York to Paris was leaving at 9:30p local time. With the chaos that usually surrounds New York area airports in the summer (this was booked prior to the extra chaos brought by ATC, wildfire, and weather issues) I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to connect. Ultimately, Delta had a morning flight that would put us into JFK around noon, I could also tag my bags all the way through to Paris thanks to their partnership with Air France which was a major plus.
First Class seats were a small premium over economy and I paid just under $200 per person for our flight. While I have ridden on the A220 before, this would be my first time in First Class so I was interested to see how it compared.
Pre-Flight
With a 7:10a scheduled departure time, we were awake by 4:30a and in the car by 5:00a to head over to DFW Airport. We were curbside at Terminal E 25 minutes later and made our way over to the Delta counter. Even at 5:30a the counter was a mess as the airline was still dealing with repercussions from the weather on the East Coast the previous day. Multiple flights weren’t able to make it to Dallas, leading to cancellations that morning.
Fortunately for us, our flight arrived from LaGuardia the afternoon before and spent the night in Dallas. It was supposed to fly a DFW-JFK-DFW turn later that day but both were canceled due to the weather.
After a 5 minute wait in the Sky Priority queue, a helpful Delta agent issued our boarding passes and tagged our luggage all the way through to Paris. I also had AirTags in them in case they accidentally ended up on the belt at JFK.
From there, we headed off to security where there was nobody in the CLEAR lane and were on our way to the Sky Club in minutes.
Lounge
A quick scan of our boarding passes and we were admitted into the Sky Club. With about an hour to go until boarding we grabbed a couple of seats near the window and had a snack, though we didn’t go too crazy as we would have a real breakfast onboard. The DFW Sky Club is decent for an outstation but I wouldn’t go out of my way to spend time here.
Boarding
Five minutes before our scheduled departure time, we started the trek from the Sky Club down to gate E17 and our waiting Airbus A220-100.
Pre-boarding was called at the scheduled boarding time and, due to the large number of families with small children, boarding began a few minutes later than scheduled. We boarded with First Class and headed down the jet bridge to our plane.
Delta Air Lines
DL 451
DFW-JFK (Dallas/Ft. Worth International – New York John F. Kennedy International)
Seat: 2A (First)
A220-100 (N133DU)
Scheduled: 7:10a-11:55a
Actual: 7:13a-11:57a
Seat
Delta’s A220 is configured in a 2-2 layout, which is standard for domestic first class. Though, the A220 is narrower than the 737 and A320 which means the seats feel a bit tighter. The armrests only have space for one drink and the standard Delta water bottles were in cubbys underneath as they wouldn’t fit on the armrest tray.
Seat pitch in First is tight on the A220, and didn’t feel much better than the extra legroom, Comfort+ seats.
There was a high resolution IFE screen located in the seatback along with a literature pocket and storage area. It appeared that the screen had been cleaned with a dirty rag as soon as the sunlight hit it. The storage was also on the small side so I just used it to store my tablet.
The tray table popped up and out from the armrest, though it took some convincing. You could leave it folded if you didn’t need much space or open it up to hold a laptop, food tray, etc.
For some reason, the seat braces on the A220 were oddly spaced and even a backpack wouldn’t fit fully underneath due to the brace and IFE box.
Between the two seats there were two power outlets. Also, a USB port was available under the IFE screen.
Our plane also seemed like one of the earlier A220’s delivered to Delta as some wear was noticeable throughout the cabin.
Departure
Prior to departure, the crew came around with open bar pre-departure beverages. I had a club soda which was served in a plastic cup. Mrs. ATX Jetsetter ordered one as well but the FA seemed to forget. After the rest of the cabin was served we reminded her and she apologized and quickly brought one over.
The captain came out of the cockpit and made his pre-flight announcements from the cabin which I though was a nice touch and informed us that we should have a smooth ride up to New York. This was reassuring as the previous few days had been chaos for flying in the northeast.
We pushed back next to a Frontier A320 and taxied to the north end of the airport. Due to some taxiway construction we had to weave a bit but soon we were rocketing off of runway 36R towards the south.
In Flight
As we climbed, we turned from south to east and ended overflying our old Dallas neighborhoods of Uptown and Highland Park.
As we flew east, our Detroit based crew hopped into action to start the breakfast service. First, tablecloths were distributed and beverage orders were taken. Mrs. ATX Jetsetter and I both opted for mimosas which were served in real glasses.
We pre-selected our meals a few days before the flight and I selected the breakfast sandwich while Mrs. ATX Jetsetter had the coconut chia pudding. The presentation on hers was great while mine looked like it came out of a fast food bag, however it was quite tasty once I removed some of the excess cheese.
By the time the meal was finished we were passing over Little Rock, Arkansas and I fired up the IFE and watched In Bruges. We took a northern route to New York, flying close to the US/Canadian border and, after she fell asleep, I pulled up the moving map on Mrs. ATX Jetsetter’s screen.
Once the movie ended, I took a trip to the lavatory at the front of the plane which was surprisingly spacious for a plane this size. There was even a large, fold down changing table available.
Grown Alchemist hand cream as well as Purell soap were available. Also, unlike almost every travel writer on the planet, I resisted the urge to check out the rear lavatory with the window.
As we got closer towards New York, I spent time just looking out the window. Soon, the outskirts of the city started to appear.
Before we started our initial descent, the flight attendant working the First Class cabin came around with the snack basket and I grabbed some Sun Chips and almonds.
Arrival
We started our descent and flew directly over New York-LaGuardia before going out over the bay and making a sweeping circle around to land from the northeast.
Once on the ground, we had to hold for some departing traffic before taxiing over to our gate in the new A concourse expansion of Terminal 4.
During our taxi we passed by a Kenya Airways 787 headed for Nairobi and an Etihad 787 bound for Abu Dhabi. The variety of airlines you see at JFK is always cool.
We pulled into our arrival gate, A11, a few minutes late next to a Delta Connection CRJ-900. Since we were seated in row 2, we were off the plane in no time and headed into the terminal.
While I appreciated not having to make the long trek from the high B gates (B53 was our original arrival gate), the newly opened A gates seem like a halfhearted attempt to add capacity to Delta’s operation at T4. Ground level boarding for all gates and a cramped, dark waiting area didn’t help the atmosphere.
With our bags tagged through to Paris, we bypassed baggage claim and followed the signs to the terminal exit and the AirTrain which would take us to the subway into the city.
Summary
It was another pleasant flight up to New York on Delta, though the A220-100 First Class slightly missed the mark. Service was great and the crew was attentive but the seat can feel cramped due to the pitch and narrow fuselage. It’s a great aircraft in economy with a 2-3 configuration but if you’re flying in First Class I’d opt for an A320 or B737 family aircraft for some extra wiggle room.
In this Trip Report
