Delta Adds Lie-Flat Service Between Los Angeles and Washington Reagan

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Delta has announced that it will commence daily service between Los Angeles and Washington Reagan from 24 April 2017 and will operate the route using 757-200 aircraft fitted with full flat-bed seats in First Class.

Per Delta:

We’re pleased that Delta’s growth and investment on the West Coast has created an opportunity to provide new direct service to and from Washington-Reagan

We also know that for Delta customers in L.A. and D.C., ‘how’ you get there is important, too. As the only airline to offer full flat-bed seats between these markets, our customers will arrive rested and productive – and it’s that premium distinction in the customer experience that differentiates Delta.

Delta 757-200 First Class – image courtesy of Delta

The published schedule looks like this:

DL2036 LAX 08:30 – 16:55 DCA
DL1913 DCA 17:45 – 20:30 LAX

The LAX – DCA flight timing looks about as good as we could have hoped for but I’m not sold on the 17:45 departure from DCA – I would have preferred a later departure to allow a full day of work in the Capital….but then perhaps I’m being a bit too demanding 🙂

The First Class cabin on Delta’s 757-200 shouldn’t be confused with the Delta One cabins on some of the other transcon aircraft it flys (or the First Class cabins on American’s A321s) but its still a big step up from the standard First Class recliners we find on most domestic narrow-body flights.

This latest announcement from Delta is clearly another shot in the battle for LA that the airline is thrashing out with American.

Earlier this year Delta announced a huge plan to modernise Terminals 2 & 3 at LAX and that, combined with additional wide-body routes between LA and New York for the summer season and now this route announcement is clearly signalling that Delta means business in LA…and that’s great for travelers.

A lot of people I’ve been speaking to are of the opinion that American Airlines has been a little bit “too much talk and not enough action” when it comes to service improvements at LAX so the more pressure Delta can add the better as that should force American (hopefully!) to up its game.

Featured image courtesy of Tony Brooks via Flickr