For the first time in YEARS, I’m travelling to Korea on a PAID ticket, not miles. Granted, I did use a Delta Global Upgrade certificate to upgrade my Premium Economy (think recliner style seats like First Class in the US market) $845 ticket to a Delta One Suite ticket worth about $2500 (though when I looked this up, my Premium Select ticket was $1100, not $845). That said, after the 31st I won’t be an elite flyer with Delta. The are finally reeling in the extensions issued during the pandemic (not like it is over).
One of the perks of an international Business Class ticket is lounge access. Fortunately, the lounge in Seattle wasn’t at capacity, which it is often these days since Delta sells lounge access as a perk of the higher-end co-branded AMEX cards.
If you are wondering why I didn’t eat more, I’m getting on a long flight filled with lots of food (more on THAT later).
Seems my flight has a couple of dozen Elders on board – if you are confused about that phrase, young Mormons heading off on their “Mission”, a rite of passage for Mormon young adults.
Here is our Airbus A330NEO.
And my seat – 2A. I chose this because it has two windows and the seat right next to it, with the footwell for 3A to the right.
And the amenity kit was sown by some nice woman in Oaxaca as part of Deltas global support effort.
Nice view on the way out…
While waiting for the booze trolley (Champagne [not sparkling] please!) to arrive:
Nice “table skirt” on the trolley! And then the food service begins – SADLY, no longer “course” service, just nut course and then the rest (bitch/whine):
Then dessert, which I asked for one of each…
Then it was time to watch movies..
If you look close at the screen….10 hours 45 minutes to arrival. That was supposed to be the WHOLE flight time – instead, because of 167mph headwinds, think more like 12 and a half hours.
And maybe an old-fashioned, oddly, from a kit:
Then a nap – the seat goes all the way flat, with the ability to keep your seat belt buckled if there is turbulence.
Next movie up was Harold and Maude – hadn’t seen it in years, and as I age, the concept of planning ones death for 80 years old is tempting:
That would be Harold hanging in the upper right hand corner.
More food on the way down. I should point out that the mid-flight snack was a pathetic basket of choices of sugar or salt – and was decimated early in the flight, leading to the flight attendants to scrouge more stuff from the back of the plane (poor people since they have the same 2 hour extended flight). Woodford and diet to start, with an espresso chaser (though, unlike Emirates, I didn’t hear the hiss of a real expresso maker – sort of like the Old Fashioned, on Emirates I heard the shaker going!)
And the bacon quiche, nice to have some wilted spinach on the side…
Nice views landing…
We actually only landed 15 minutes late, and then was the fun of finding Sean, who flew in from Saigon.
And finally – turns out we were in different terminals!
I’ll pick up the story tomorrow with our time in Seoul.
[201.1]
For more blog posts, click here.
Love this!