“FIRST CLASS ON DELTA? I THINK NOT!”
by katsnme on August 24, 2010
Flight from San Francisco to Hartford
- Airline:
-
Delta
- RT/OW
- Round Trip
- Number of Stops:
- 1 stop in Detroit, Michigan
- Date of Flight:
- August 2010
- Seat Class:
- first
The flight out was far better than the return, but definitely NOT First Class by any means! I have flown First Class many times and this was not it! The planes were those long and narrow styles where they cram in as many people as possible. Like flying in a sardine can.
I chose the very front row of first class thinking that this would be heaven with lots of leg room and no cramped feeling. That was definitely NOT what my FOUR flights were about. The flight out at least had a monitor screen and sound at the seat so I could watch movies or listen to music, but the movie kept stopping and you would have to boot it up repeatedly. The sound was scratchy and sometimes inaudible. Those ear bud headphones they hand out are horrible! I paid almost 2K for this? I was furious.
I was flying East for my younger brother's funeral! I wanted comfort with the crew fussing all over me with top notch everything. What I got was coffee shop instead of Five Star treatment. They did serve a breakfast, but it was definitely cheap motel and NOT Five Star hotel. Thankfully the stop in Detroit was about 10 minutes and we boarded back on the same plane with the same seat. The flight back home was the worst I have ever flown in my 59 years on earth!
Both legs of the flights back were even smaller long and narrow planes. When I squeezed myself into my first row First Class seat I noticed there was no screen. There was also no hook up for headphones. I asked the stewardess who asked me if I wanted something to drink if there was no movies nor music and she said 'yes - the plane was set up for any of those things'. I replied "Are you kidding me?" Then I sat there and steamed. The service and food, plus the seating was worse than the flight out by far. We were served a dinner choice of two things that were shoved into our faces as we were asked to choose. The salad was edible, but the seating so cramped I could hardly use my knife. The man next to me order the sandwich. It looked disgusting with soggy bread. He could not eat it.
Thank God the flight was about 2.5 hours long! I felt like I had been in a box I was so stiff when we had to disembark in Minpls/St. Paul airport. Exhausted and in pain I dragged myself to the other end of the airport to wait for my flight to board. I though"Well, the must have free Wi-Fi in the airport." WRONG! You had to PAY FOR IT! In fact - I had to pay for Wi-Fi on the plane, too! UNBELIEVABLE!
I have a chronic pain condition that is worsened by stress. I chose front seating so I could stretch my legs out completely so as avoid cramping of my muscles. I could not do this on these planes. Not at all. By the time I got on our last leg of this horrific airline experience I was hurting all over my body. I could not get comfortable in the too small seating no matter what I did. There was no music, no movies, no CNN, no NOTHING! Not even magazines. The crew was obviously tired and service was so slow the guy next to me was always complaining about it. To keep himself calm he put away 8 of those tiny bottles of alcohol by the time we landed at SFO at 11:20 p. m.. All we got to eat was junk food. The stewardesses were definitely not enjoying themselves and looked at you with obvious contempt every time they had to serve you. It was absolutely inhumane how people were being treated in First Class! FIRST CLASS! I paid exactly $1904.00 plus $24.00 for internet service that did not even work on my return flight! Now I have to fight the on-line provider to get my money back for no service after I paid for it.
I can say with absolute certainty that these were the worst Fist Class flights I have ever experienced. I am now going to file a complaint with Delta and demand compensation of some kind if not a full refund. I was so sick the day after I got home suffering pain all over my body because of the cramped conditions on all of the planes.
The best First Class going right now for domestic flights is Virgin America. No matter how long or short the flight - first class is always the same. I am spoiled by the incredible service I have always gotten on Virgin. Delta ought to take note as there were many disgruntled passengers on the flights i was on this sad and unfortunate trip.