I fly to Atlanta from Gatwick a couple of times a year because my company has it's US HQ there. There are only two airlines who fly that route - BA and Delta. I chose Delta primarily for their excellent frequent flyer scheme, SkyMiles. BA's Executive Club is really designed for people flying Business Class or full fare Economy and they give you *no mileage credit at all* if you fly on discounted economy fares, e.g. BA World Offers.
Delta's SkyMiles by contrast gives you the same credit for any normal Economy fare, and your SkyMiles quickly mount up as each London-Atlanta round trip clocks up 8,576 miles! 3 round-trips a year are enough to get you Silver Medallion status, and miles and upgrades then start accumulating even faster. Also, SkyMiles don't expire as long as you fly on Delta or a partner at least once every three years.
Delta have an excellent website, which is now at http://www.delta.com - they used to have a more obscure URL. It is very interactive, with expected flight arrival times updated in real time for planes in flight, full details of any itineraries you have booked (whether via the website or via a travel agent) and even the ability to change your seat allocation yourself - great for tall people like me!
Atlanta is Delta's main hub, so they have an excellent range of flights to all major cities from there. The only other city Delta fly to direct from the UK is their secondary hub, Cincinatti.
The food on Delta's transatlantic flights is good, especially the steaks, but on domestic flights it can be minimal e.g. on their Atlanta - New York shuttle service you just pick up a paper bag containing an apple and a bag of crisps while boarding! Eat before you fly in those cases.
For those who haven't flown on a US airline before, when ordering drinks remember that 'tea' means iced tea, so if you want what we in the UK would call tea you have to ask for 'hot tea'. Also, any cold drink will be served with absurd quantities of ice unless you specifically tell them to desist.
Delta's newest planes - Boeing 777's - feature a personal video screen on which you can choose from 2 sets of 3 movies during the flight. Their older planes just show an old-fashioned like-it-or-lump-it movie on the main screens with radio channels as the only alternative. On domestic flights they charge you a few books for use of the ancient tube-type headphones so you can hear the movie!
You get the impression that most of the cabin crew have been doing the job for 20 years and know it backwards. This makes them efficient, but they sometimes seem rather bored and disinterested in contrast to the younger, fresher crews on some other airlines.
The staff at Delta's telephonecall centre tend to be rather the opposite. They are always very polite and sometimes quite chatty but often have a bit of trouble coping with quite simple things, e.g. an itinerary containing a mixture of international and domestic flights. Delta are primarily a US domestic airline, and sometimes the international services seem to be slightly bolted on as an afterthought.
When things go wrong, Delta are very helpful. e.g. they paid for an overnight hotel stay for me when I missed the last plane from Atlanta to LA due to the flight I had come in on being late.
I have found Delta to be quite reliable. They do not give you the pampering that some European airlines, e.g. Sabena or Air France, provide, but there is nothing really to complain about on their long-haul flights. Their short-haul flights are more basic, but they are no worse than the other major US airlines and a cut above the regional carriers.
greatly , terrible , what did you mean by saying national express fly better than goats cheese or swiss cheese , I often dine out in atlanta but don't forget to stop at tudours biscuit world , for there world famous american biscuits and gravy , anyway thanks Ive given you an a star for your article on Milk.
ampuk2000 24.11.2003 12:07
good op - unfortunatly when I go to the US i don't fly to either of those two cities so i would have to connect to go elsewhere. However, perhaps in the future they will expand their international route network.
Dalesman 13.01.2003 22:29
Good informative Op John, I am flying on Delta in 4 weeks for the first time, I normally use BA or Virgin on Transatlantic flights, but decided to go with Delta for a change...we're doing the Manchester - Atlanta route its the new 777 - 200 so hopefully we're in for an enjoyable experience.....Thanks for the Opinion...cheers Andrew
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Apr 24th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
