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Delta has announced that a number of its routes between the US and Europe which were originally scheduled to operate just for the summer season will now be returning for the winter 2018/19 season too. Travelers based in Los Angeles, New York, Orlando and Indianapolis will now have more European options that was originally expected.
The Routes & Aircraft
New York (JFK) – Lisbon
Delta started up service between New York JFK and Lisbon back on 25 May 2017 and while the route was suspended for winter 2017 it has been brought back for summer 2018. Now Delta has confirmed that, thanks to the loads it saw in 2017, it feels confident enough to operate the route through winter 2018/19.
This is the schedule Delta has posted for travel from 27 October 2018:
DL473 JFK 22:20 – 10:15+ 1 day LIS
DL273 LIS 11:45 – 15:03 JFK
Delta will operate this route up to five times weekly during the winter season with service between January to early March reduced to 4x/week.
Delta’s New York JFK – Lisbon service is operated by its 757 aircraft offering the following seat combinations:
- 16 Business Class seats in a 2-2 layout
- 44 Delta Comfort+ seats in a 3-3 layout
- 108 regular Economy Class seats in a 3-3 layout
The Business Class cabin offers old-style recliner seats like we’re used to in domestic First Class but, considering the flight time isn’t much longer than a transcon, this shouldn’t be too bad (pitch is 40″ and seat width is 21″.
The Delta Comfort+ seats have good legroom with 35″ of pitch but the seats are the same narrow 17″ width as the seats in regular Economy Class so there isn’t all that much room to spread out.
Economy Class seating looks cramped with just 31″ of seat pitch and 17″ of seat width so don’t expect too much comfort back here.
Los Angeles – Paris (CDG)
Delta will be starting up its flights between LA and Paris from 16 June this year so advanced bookings must be looking good if Delta is already happy to extend the route into winter 2018/19 and to confirm that it will now be a year-round operation.
The schedule posted by Delta, for travel from 27 October 2018, looks like this:
DL156 LAX 11:42 – 05:15+1 day CDG (Tue, Thu & Sat)
DL157 CDG 15:15 – 18:48 LAX (Wed, Fri & Sun)
This route is operated by a 777 aircraft in the summer season but will be operated by Delta’s A330-300 aircraft during the winter (more on the A330’s later)
Los Angeles – Amsterdam
This is another route that’s not scheduled to start until 16 June 2018 but Delta is already happy to extend the 4x/week service into winter 2018/19 and make it a year-round operation going forward.
The winter schedule currently looks like this:
DL78 LAX 12:12 – 08:30+1 day AMS (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun)
DL79 AMS 15:30 – 18:39 LAX (Mon, Tue, Thu & Sat)
As with the LA – Paris route Delta will operate a A330 aircraft to Amsterdam
Delta’s A330-300 aircraft comes fitted with…
- 34 Delta One seats (Business Class)
- 40 Delta Comfort+ seats (extra leg room seats)
- 219 regular Economy Class seats.
Per the Delta website the A330-300 is equipped with the latest lie-flat Delta One seats…which I can’t publish due to copyright laws but you’ll find them on Delta’s media page here.
Here’s a seat map from Delta.com showing the all-aile-access cabin.
The dimensions for the Delta Comfort seats and the regular Economy Class seats aren’t too bad:
- Delta Comfort: 35″ Seat Pitch / 18″ Seat Width
- Main Cabin: 31″ Seat Pitch / 18″ Seat Width
Yes, 31″ of leg room isn’t great but 18″ of seat width is better than you get on a lot of long-haul flights nowadays.
All seats on Delta’s A330-300 come with personal entertainment screens and the aircraft is equipped with wi-fi too.
Orlando – Amsterdam
Delta only just started up this route on 30 March and it currently operates it on a daily schedule.
For winter 2018/19 Delta is reducing service to 4x/week and will continue to operate it with a 767 aircraft on the following schedule (as of 27 October 2018):
DL126 MCO 21:48 – 12:45+1 day AMS (Wed, Thu, Fri & Sat)
DL127 AMS 14:40 – 19:49 MCO (Thu, Fri, Sat & Sun)
The 767 aircraft that Delta has scheduled for the winter season offers the following cabin combination:
- 26 Delta One seats
- 29 Delta Comfort+ seats
- 171 regular Economy Class seats.
A quick look at the seat dimensions shows that, although this is an older aircraft, this isn’t a bad way to cross the Atlantic:
I’ve reviewed the Delta One cabin in the past (it’s ok but not great) and it offers all-aisle-access seating and true lie-flat beds.
The Delta Comfort+ seats and Economy Class seats both offer an impressive 18″ of seat width (more than you’ll find on most US airlines across the Atlantic) although the 31″ of seat pitch in the regular Economy Class cabin is tight and not ideal.
Indianapolis – Paris
Delta’s Indianapolis-Paris service will launch on 24 May and will now be extended into the winter 2018/19 season.
Per Delta:
As Indianapolis’s only nonstop service to Europe, it will now provide Indianapolis travelers year-round nonstop access to the City of Light on 767-300ER aircraft, as well as dozens of easy, one-stop connections to points beyond in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India on joint venture partner Air France.
The currently posted schedule for winter 2018/19 looks like this:
DL500 IND 18:29 – 08:40+1 day CDG (Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)
DL501 CDG 13:10 – 16:54 IND (Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)
The 767 that will operate this route is configured in the same way as the 767 that will operate between Orlando and Amsterdam.
Featured image: Eric Salard via Flickr
