Our Trip to Los Angeles is over but we still have 14 days of our trip left. The rest will be spent on the magical island of Maui, Hawaii but we decided to finish the L.A Live blog off with a quick Delta Comfort Plus review of the flight out of L.A to Maui. We were excited to see how the Comfort plus section on Delta Measured up to the Premium Economy on the Virgin Atlantic Flight. Delta has recently teamed up with Virgin Atlantic and as such, you can now book flights straight through many more places without resorting to 3rd party sites. This gives loads more options for us to get to Hawaii so we were eager to see how it measures up.
The flight was an early departure so we had to be up early and out of the hotel at around 5:00 am with the jet lag still in effect this was no problem really. And we checked out no problem. The drive to the Airport was quick and easy as we were well ahead of any traffic. At the Hire car desk, Alamo outdid themselves again and in a couple of minutes, we were on the bus ready for the transfer to the Airport.
LAX
That’s when the Agent banged on the bus window to get our attention as he had forgotten to check we had returned the keys. Sure enough, they were safe in my pocket …oops. That’s how swift the process is. It’s easy to miss a step! 10mins later we were at our terminal.
Cost
We had got a pretty good deal on upgrading all our flights (4 legs in total) to Premium Economy (or Comfort Plus which is Delta’s name for Premium Economy) It was just over £200 ($280) to upgrade all 4 flights to Premium so around £50 per flight. And when Virgin is charging £30 a flight for seat upgrades it seemed a pretty good deal.
However, we feel we got quite a bit for our money on the Virgin Flight but as the Delta was a Domestic flight we were not expecting quite as good value on the Delta flight.
Check-in and Boarding.
For check-in, we were required to go through the standard Check-in desk. But there was almost zero queues at any desk and in minutes we were headed for security. We had a quick coffee and utilized the Airport wifi before heading to the gate.
We were assigned to Sky Priority so were one of the first on (and off) the Plane. Our Exit row seats were right at the door and we simply got on the plane and sat down. So far the day had been very effortless. Not usual for an Airport.
Cabin and Seats
The Comfort Plus Cabin is really a letdown on the 757-200. There are very few seats and they appear exactly the same as the Economy Cabin. The fact we had snagged exit row seats helped and we had a ton of space but the rest of the cabin looked pretty squashed. The seats are the old-style padded seat as opposed to the new Ergonomic Style seats that are becoming standard to a lot of airlines. We know that is a sensitive subject but we quite like the newer seats and find the older style less comfortable over a long journey. We were only on for a 5-6 hour flight so no problem.
Comfort Plus Seat
While the Seats felt fine for an Economy experience they were far too small and cramped to be considered good for a Premium cabin. As we had got a decent deal we were not too fussed but still, we would think twice about paying a premium for these seats. As is fairly standard on longer flights a Pillow and Cushion were provided for the flight but neither were required as the cabin temp was fine and we didn’t intend to sleep.
The Chatter from the Cabin Crew was we would be off in time with no delay and the Flight Deck announcements were for an immediate departure. We were aware that our window was narrow and there could be long delays due to the imminent arrival of a certain Air Force One…
An hour later we were still on the tarmac as the president had caused us another delay. He really does want to get close to us! Before too long we were off the ground and on our way. We were on a very strange route to Maui as we headed south to avoid some weather that was moving away from the islands. Hopefully leaving some sun in its wake.
Service
The Service Started with the attendant bringing a selection of “premium” snacks these were not overly exciting and were basically pretzels, crisps/chips, granola bars all very uninspiring and we hate to think what the Economy passengers non-premium snacks were?
Premium Snacks – Delta
After that, they came through with a drinks service that was a bit more comprehensive. While Economy passengers have to buy alcohol on domestic flights it is included with the premium service. There was a selection of craft beers spirits+Mixers red/white wine prosecco or a ready-made cocktail, which was a margarita on our flight but it does change.
Shortly after our first drinks an Attendant came round and took drinks orders from the Comfort Plus cabin which was most welcome. This was followed later by another full drinks service. The cabin crew also told us to come to the galley if we required further drinks. As I needed to be sober to drive later, 3 drinks were fine for us, but we did find the free-flowing drinks most welcome.
Craft Beer and Prosecco
Pre-Mixed Margarita
This was pretty much it for the service we were pretty much left to just relax and watch TV for the rest of the flight. The crew were all very polite and carried out everything professionally as you would expect. The Location of our seats meant some of the Cabin Crew were seated in front of us during take-off and descent. This lead to a very relaxed feel to the cabin crew as they chatted away during the long tarmac delay and the descent. It was a bit odd seeing them as normal people rather than the faces they employ during the normal service. It was nice to see them as just normal people.
IFE
In-Flight Entertainment
The In-Flight Entertainment offered on the Delta flight was a bit better than we had expected. The touch screens were small and dated much like the planes in general, but operated better than we feared. They were quite responsive and normally did what we asked. The selection of films and TV seemed to be a fair bit larger than the listed selection on the Delta website, which is always a bonus.
It isn’t as vast as the Virgin offering but was very up to date with lots of Big Name’s latest releases. We watched Daddy’s Home 2 and Bad Moms Christmas as we were in the mood for a bit of comedy.
Arrival
The Six-hour flight passed relatively quickly as we consumed the IFE and before long we were making our approach to Kahului. I had been taking a keen interest in the Weather outside and there had been heavy clouds almost the entire journey. As we came into Maui things were not vastly improving. The Clouds parted Briefly to reveal the Big Island with large clumps of cloud pilled up on the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.
As we made the final approach over the Maui Channel the cloud finally broke and as we flew into the Valley Isle’s central Valley the sun came out, despite ominous clouds pilled up on the West Maui Mountain.
After landing we arrived at the terminal very quickly, Kahului is a very small airport. As we were Sky priority we were first off the plane. Actually, As our seats were right next to the door we were literally first off the plane as the door opened.
Within half an hour we were at the terminal exit/entrance with our bags ready to begin our Latest Maui Adventure. Which you can read all about in our next Blog.
