Earlier this month I needed to travel from Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) up to New York City for work. While I had direct options on multiple airlines, including American, United, and a slew of ULCCs, I ultimately chose Delta and its Airbus A220-100 in Comfort+ as the timing and price worked best for my schedule.
Booking
I booked my flight via American Express Global Business Travel for $372 round trip in Economy. Delta was offering a very reasonable upgrade to Comfort+ for $49 each way, a great deal considering this would be a 3+ hour flight.
Pre Flight
Delta operates out of Terminal E at DFW which serves the majority of the airlines not named American, though American Eagle also uses part of the terminal. With no bags to check and my boarding pass on my phone, I headed straight to security.
Terminal E, like all of the other terminals at DFW, has multiple security checkpoints. I went with the one closest to the United gates as it spits you out a short distance from the Delta Sky Club.
Since I had 3 hours before my flight was scheduled to depart, I spent most of that time in the lounge catching up on work before boarding. While I didn’t have access based on my ticket, I accessed the lounge using my American Express Platinum Card.
Boarding
My flight to New York was departing from Gate E13, a short walk from the Sky Club. I arrived at the gate at the scheduled boarding time and found N121DU, a five year old Airbus A220-100, waiting to take us up to New York LaGuardia (LGA).
Boarding was slightly delayed due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft and the pre-boarding process didn’t begin until 20 minutes before our scheduled departure time.
Unlike American and United, Delta treats Comfort+ (its extra legroom Economy seating) as a separate class of service. Comfort+ passengers board in Group 3, after Diamond Medallion Members (Group 2) and before all other SkyTeam Elite passengers (Group 4). With my group called I headed down the jet bridge to our waiting airplane.
Delta Air Lines
DL 869
DFW-LGA (Dallas Fort Worth International – New York-LaGuardia)
Seat: 11B (Comfort+)
A220-100 (N121DU)
Scheduled: 5:05p-9:22p
Actual: 5:07p-9:07p
Delta Airbus A220-100 Comfort+ Seat
Onboard, Delta arranges its Comfort+ and Economy cabins in a 2-3 configuration on the A220. This is due to the fact that the fuselage is narrower than your typical narrowbody aircraft. While it can make the First Class cabin somewhat tight, it’s great for travelers in the back as there is only one middle seat per row.
The A220-100s have fifteen Comfort+ seats spread across three rows. The bulkhead seats have fixed armrests where the tray tables are stowed while the remaining rows have moveable armrests. The seats are also marked with Comfort+ branding on the headrests and diamond stitching on the seats.
On this flight I assigned myself seat 11B, an aisle seat on the left side of the aircraft. While I prefer window seats on shorter flights, I typically choose aisle seats on longer flights, especially early morning or late night flights. I can’t sleep on planes so I like being able to get up and walk around without having to crawl over the person seated next to me.
Passengers traveling in Comfort+ have dedicated overhead bins for their carry on bags. However, it wasn’t policed the way that my recent Spirit Airlines flight was. The bins on the left side of the aircraft were on the small side and I had trouble getting my small rollaboard bag in it. Others with larger bags were pushing and shoving to get them in.
Legroom in Delta Comfort+ on the Airbus A220-100 is decent enough and features 34 inches of pitch. However, it’s not the best that I’ve seen on a domestic carrier. The seats themselves however are extremely wide and spacious.
Delta offers seatback IFE on almost all of its mainline aircraft and the A220 fleet is no different. 10.1 inch, high definition screens are located at each seat in the Comfort+ and Economy cabin. A USB-A outlet and headphone jack are located underneath the screen.
Below the screen is the tray table which had plenty of surface area but a very limited range of adjustment. This may make it difficult to use a laptop depending on the size of your device. The keyboard portion of my Surface Pro hung partially off the tray when in use.
Finally, the seatback featured multiple pockets with space for the safety card, a laptop and other large items, and finally a smaller pocket for a passport or phone.
In addition to the USB-A outlet under the IFE Screen, Delta also offers 110V power outlets between the seats near the floor.
Overhead you’ll find individual air nozzles and reading lights. The flight attendant call button is also hidden off to the side.
Departure
While boarding was wrapping up, a flight attendant came through the aisle offering complimentary headphones in a paper pouch.
We ended up pushing off the gate a couple minutes after our scheduled departure time. At this point the safety demonstration was screened.
As we taxied out to the departure runway I perused the IFE options as it had been awhile since I last flew Delta. There were plenty of movies available though, surprisingly, there was only one TV show and one audio playlist available on this flight. I confirmed on my return flight that this was a glitch and Delta typically offers many more TV and audio options onboard.
Fortunately, Delta also offers free Wi-Fi for SkyMiles members on some flights, and this flight was equipped with the service. I was mainly going to work for the duration of the fight and utilize either the moving map or aircraft information screens on the IFE.
We had a quick taxi out to Runway 35L and were airborne less than 15 minutes after pushing back from the gate. We took off to the north as the last sliver of the sun was disappearing below the horizon before turning northwest towards New York.
In-Flight
We had a smooth climb out of DFW but the crew kept the seat belt sign on for quite a while. No explanation was given, maybe they forgot it was on, but it wasn’t switched off until 30 minutes after take off.
With the sign switched off, I headed to the rear of the plane to use the lavatory. Delta has three lavs on the A220, one in the First Class cabin and two at the rear of the Economy cabin. Given the smaller fuselage when compared to the 737 and A320 families of aircraft, I was surprised at how spacious it felt.
Back at my seat, the crew began the in-flight service. Delta offers Comfort+ passengers an elevated snack basket in addition to the standard Economy snacks. The basket had a wide variety of options and I was encouraged to take more than one so, I happily obliged.
15 minutes after the snack basket, the crew came back through with the beverage cart. I ordered a vodka soda which was served DIY style, the ice, vodka, and club soda served separately. In addition to the expanded snack offerings, alcoholic beverages are also complimentary for Comfort+ passengers. This was served with another round of snacks, though it was the standard Economy offerings.
I spent the remainder of the flight working and following along on our progress via the moving map.
The crew offered us a second round of snacks and beverages with roughly an hour and a half left to go in the flight. I just had a coffee as I was trying to stay productive but the full range of drinks was offered.
The flight went by quickly and, before long, we were beginning our descent into New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
Arrival
We ended up flying a sweeping approach path into LaGuardia, overflying the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge before flying parallel to Manhattan.
We landed on Runway 4 and had a five minute taxi over to our arrival gate. Though we had a slight departure delay, we pulled into Gate 95 fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. A few minutes later I was in the terminal and I had to pinch myself to believe this was actually LaGuardia. It had been years since I’d flown through the airport and the new facility is a much needed improvement.
One downside of the new terminal is that it requires a fairly lengthy walk, especially if you arrive in the the 90s gates. I walk at a fairly quick pace and it still took me 10 minutes to get to the curb and my waiting Uber.
Summary
There are multiple carriers that fly between Dallas and New York but Delta clearly has the upper hand here. The A220 is a much more passenger friendly plane in Comfort+ and Economy compared to the 737s and A320 family jets that other carriers operate on the route.
The fact that Delta differentiates its extra legroom Economy offering, Comfort+, from Economy with upgraded snacks and complimentary alcoholic beverages is also a plus. Finally, you get to land at Delta’s sparkling new terminal facility at LaGuardia.
Overall, the A220 is one of my favorite planes to travel on for short and mid-con flights. The smaller fuselage means fewer middle seats, which is a plus, and it features some of the widest Comfort+ and Economy seats in the fleet. The only downside on this flight was the lack of TV and audio options from the IFE though, based on my return flight, that seems to have been a one time glitch.