On a recent trip home from North Carolina, I had the chance to fly First Class on a Delta Airbus A321 between Atlanta and Austin. The A321 is one of the workhorses of Delta’s mainline narrowbody fleet and, while I’ve flown on this plane quite often, it was overdue for a review.
Booking Our Delta A321 First Class Flight
I was traveling with the whole ATX crew and, since we were traveling over Labor Day weekend, flights between Asheville and Austin were extremely expensive. Fortunately, I had a Delta companion certificate that was expiring at the end of the month and I was able to find First Class availability in the proper fare buckets.
I booked a round trip ticket from Austin to Asheville and back for $813.37 via the Delta website and used the companion for my wife which cost an additional $50 in taxes and fees. Once the flight was ticketed, I called Delta to add our son as a lap infant.
Pre-Flight
We arrived in Atlanta via a flight from Asheville in Delta’s Boeing 717-200 First Class. We had just over two hours in Atlanta before our onward flight to Austin so we headed to the Delta Sky Club in Concourse A, near our departure gate.
While it isn’t the most modern Sky Club in Atlanta, I do really enjoy the A17 lounge thanks to all of the windows overlooking the ramp and the amount of space available to spread out. This is especially true when traveling with a toddler.
After resting and recharging in the lounge, we made the short walk to Gate A10 to catch our flight to Austin.
Boarding Our Delta A321 First Class Flight
We arrived at our departure gate just as preboarding for our flight began. Soon after, Zone 1 was called and there was a mad rush to the gate. Since we had a stroller and plenty of baby items in tow, I headed down the jet bridge with our belongings while Mrs. ATX stayed back with ATX Jr. in order to let him get some energy out before boarding.
Delta Air Lines
DL 2011
ATL-AUS (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International – Austin Bergstrom International)
Seat: 1C (First)
Airbus A321-200 (N320DN)
Scheduled: 11:05a-12:23p
Actual: 11:00a-12:48p
After dropping ATX Jr.’s gate tagged stroller at the bottom of the jet bridge, I boarded through Door 1L and made a right into the First Class cabin.
Delta Airbus A321 First Class Seat
The First Class cabin on Delta’s Airbus A321-200s feature 20 seats spread across five rows in a 2-2 layout. I assigned us seats 1C and 1D, the bulkhead seats on the right side of the aircraft.
Bottled water and headphones were waiting for us on the small tray located between the seats.
I booked bulkhead seats thinking it would give us a little extra room for ATX Jr. to run around though, while the legroom was fine, it was tighter than I expected. While I typically book bulkhead seats when traveling, not being able to have his bag at our feet wasn’t worth the space tradeoff.
Since we were seated in the bulkhead, the setup was slightly different from the rest of the cabin. Our IFE screen was mounted on the bulkhead wall and was close enough that it didn’t cause an issue.
The literature pocket was noticeably smaller than the seatback pockets and it was almost impossible to put anything in here (which is probably why part of it was torn).
The tray table is located in the center armrest and can be fully extended to hold a laptop or meal tray or folded over in half if you need more room to move around. It could also be adjusted forward and backwards.
Under the armrest you’ll find a headphone jack as well as a USB-A power outlet. 110V outlets are located between the seats along with additional USB-A outlets.
Finally, the seat recline button was located on the armrest closest to the aisle.
Departure
While boarding was underway, the flight attendant working the First Class cabin came around offering pre-departure beverages. I ordered a mimosa which was served in a paper cup.
Mrs. ATX was one of the last passengers to board, with ATX Jr. in tow, and we pushed off the gate five minutes ahead of schedule.
We had a long taxi out to our departure runway and had to wait a bit for the queue to clear. It was time for ATX Jr.’s nap so the window shade was closed but we were wheels up 20 minutes after leaving the gate.
In-Flight
As we climbed towards our cruising altitude, the crew made seemingly endless announcements which kept pausing the IFE screens. There were also a ton of ads being played which felt like more than the usual amount.
When the seatbelt sign turned off, I headed to check out the forward lavatory. It was clean and featured your standard amenities including a changing table. The floor was sticky but, having flown on a ton of Delta flights in the past month, I’m thinking this is by design.
As is standard in the Delta First Class lavatories, Grown Alchemist soap and hand lotion were on offer.
Back at my seat, the flight attendant working our cabin came around taking drink orders. I ordered a mimosa while Mrs. ATX ordered a cranberry mimosa. Both were served in proper glassware.
The Atlanta-Austin route is too short for a full meal service. Instead, a snack basket was offered and I chose some potato chips and pistachios.
I split my time during the flight between working and watching the in-flight entertainment. Delta has a good selection of movies and TV shows along with live TV available onboard.
An hour before landing, our flight attendant came through the cabin offering another round of beverages. Fifteen minutes after that, a final beverage service of water was offered. The captain asked the crew to take their seats at this point due to anticipated turbulence approaching Austin.
Arrival
We had to skirt around some storms during our approach and there were a few significant bumps that we encountered along the way. We actually flew past the airport to get around a small storm cell before circling back to land on Runway 36L.
As we taxied towards our arrival gate, I got a reminder of the fact that Austin is now a connecting Focus City for Delta.
Due to our weather detour, we ended up blocking in at our gate 25 minutes after our scheduled arrival time. We were some of the first people off of the plane but we had to wait on ATX Jr.’s gate checked stroller. With that in hand, we headed off towards baggage claim.
The Austin Airport is currently undergoing a massive renovation project which has taken multiple baggage carousels offline. This leads to the remaining belts being overwhelmed with bags. By the time we reached baggage claim, our bags had already been stacked to the side to make room on the two open carousels.
Summary
Delta offers a remarkably consistent product in its domestic First Class cabin. While new seats are slowly being rolled out, the current seats are still comfortable and the seatback IFE and free gate-to-gate Wi-Fi makes for a comfortable, productive flight on the Airbus A321-200.
