Review of Delta Air Lines flight New York → Athens in Economy

A visual of my entire itinerary from Salt Lake City, Utah to Athens, Greece via JFK which would cover a total distance of 6,930mi/11,153km. 

This trip report will cover the 9h journey between JFK to ATH.

introduction

Welcome everyone to another trip report! 
This is a continuation of my winter escape from the US to Greece/Turkey back in November 2023 when DL had some last minute award deals I couldn't pass up on. The catch to this deal though was a lengthy layover here at JFK (only on the way here). With the help of my CC I recently got, it granted me and my mom sky club access which I of course used during this long wait here which made the 12h layover bearable and actually quite pleasant. From my last report, I left off arriving at JFK from SLC just as the sun was rising. We arrived from SLC just before 5:30a, 35 minutes ahead of schedule. Our flight tonight wouldn't depart until 5:10p so we had just under 11 hours to kill before boarding would start. We arrived at gate B28 so we made our way straight to the Sky Club at B concourse to got some breakfast there.

plane spotting

While walking around the club I found a nice spot to do some early morning plane spotting. Here's an Airbus A330-900neo, an aircraft identical to one I'll be taking later today!

Here's a B767-400(ER) departing for Honolulu, HI; Flight time: 10h 8m
This is a domestic flight while my international flight to Athens will be an hour shorter then this one, pretty crazy 😅.

Here's a slightly shorter B767-300(ER) being taken from it's overnight parking spot to a gate just below me where it'll depart shortly for Bogota, Colombia; Flight time: 5h 11m

Here's an Etihad Airways Airbus A350-1000 getting ready for it's afternoon departure to Abu Dhabi (AUH); Flight time: 12h 6m
I had the privilege of flying on this route (albeit a red eye departure) back on Nov. 2021 on a B787-9 Dreamliner in Economy space. You can find that trip report here which I covered. 

My flight is DL202 with a scheduled departure time of 5:10p.

Although we had a 12h layover it thankfully went by fast as we lounge hopped for most of it. Now it was finally time to head over to our departure gate. 

B38 will be our departure gate this evening. 

my aircraft

Here's my gorgeous Airbus A330-900neo that'll be taking me across the pond this evening. 

Some information about my plane:
Flight number: DL 202 
Aircraft: Airbus A330-941
Registration: N402DX
Delivered: June 13, 2019
Age: 4.5 years (at time of flight)

This aircraft is configured in a premium heavy 4 class configuration with 29 Delta One suites, 28 Premium Select, 56 Comfort+ and 168 main cabin seats with a total capacity of 281 seats. For this flight me and my mom will be sitting on the left 2-seater section at 54A & B. The reason why I love the 767's & A330's (especially the newer a330neos) are for their 2-4-2 abreast seating (2-3-2 on the 767's) vs other wide bodies that have the 3-3-3 or even worse, the dreaded 3-4-3 configuration on most B777-300's. For me at least if I'm at the window seat and traveling solo I'll only have to jump over one person instead of two when needing to get up in flight 😅. Map courtesy of aerolopa.

boarding

Eventually the gate area got packed with people getting anxious to board. 

Boarding started promptly and I boarded with Main 1 group. 

Another look at my aircraft.

We were greeted by a FA at the door and directed me down the first aisle. 

A quick look at 'Premium Select', DL's version of premium economy which looks really nice. Hopefully one day I'll get to try this product out.

seat

Here's my home for the next 9 hours, 54A.

Already placed at each seat was a plastic sealed blanket and pillow which will come very handy for this long haul flight ;).

And here comes my mom who had a later boarding group position (we had separate reservations).  

Legroom is pretty good for economy class, these seats offer 32" of pitch and 4" of recline. I'm 5'9" or 176cm for reference.

Just making sure that we are in a A330-900neo ;).

Perfect view out this seat. It's only 4:45p and it's already starting to get dark outside. 

Here comes another Boeing 767-300(ER) arriving from Zurich, Switzerland; flight time: 8h 2m

Looks like someone is already excited to get this trip started 😅.

Shortly after the FA's began handing out complimentary headphones and main cabin amenity kits (which I'll show it's contents later in flight).

A look at the overhead panel which includes individual reading lights and air vents. The flight atendant call button is located on the PTV screen. 

Boarding is complete and tonight's flight load across the pond to Athens is at around 95% full.

push back

To my surprise we pushed back around 15 minutes ahead of schedule. I guess the crew also just want to get to Athens already 😂.

The safety video began playing.

Just about to literally enter the runway for take off and it's only 4 minutes past scheduled departure time. This is very unheard of at JFK especially during this time at rush hour. 

Cabin lighting dimmed for takeoff.

takeoff

This evening we'll be departing out of runway 31L.

See you in a few weeks NY!

Last views of land before we start our trek across the Atlantic Ocean.

About 25 minutes into flight the cabin lights turned on for the start of the dinner service.

While I have some light from the mood lighting, let's check out the tray table. Which is of standard size and extendable.

Before the meals, the FA's passed by the cabin giving everyone a full size bottle of water and a sleeve containing utensils and tray table cloth.

For those of you who have read my past trip reports on DL will know that I'm not a fan of the bamboo/wooden utensils they provide in economy class. They are next to useless except for the fork. 

Here's a closer look at the pillow and blanket DL provides. The pillow was very plush and easily the best economy class pillow out of the big 3 US carriers. 

The blanket on the other hand was a little on the thin side and didn't really provide any warmth. It's still better than nothing. 

dinner service

The FA's reached my row about an hour into flight with dinner options being pasta or chicken.

This evening I went for the chicken which was really chicken curry with rice and string beans. The tray also came with a accompanying potato salad and a lemon blondie as dessert.

Shortly followed the drinks cart with a choice of drink, I went for a coke.

The meal was excellent! This is where DL definitely does best compared to AA or UA. I love curry so that made this meal that much better 😂.

The potato salad was just as great as the main chicken dish.

Overall a fantastic meal. Well done DL 👍🏻.

To wrap up the service, the FA's came once through the cabin offering drinks. I went for a Bloody Mary.

After the dinner service was concluded, the cabin lights were turned off for everyone to get some sleep.

After about 3 hours or so of sleep, I woke ups as we were approaching the coast of France.

the loo

I went and paid a visit to the loo at the rear of the plane. It was ok, it could have been a bit cleaner. 

Right across the loo I also paid a visit to the galley to see what was on offer. There were complementary pre-packaged snacks available. There were cheddar cheese wedges, crackers, chocolate chip cookies, lemon blondies, sun chips, oat bars and biscoff cookies. I wanted to also ask one of the FA's in the galley for another drink but they were to into their conversation about their layover that I decided not to bother them. 

inflight entertainment

Here's a brief look at DL studio entertainment system. 

There was definitely no lack of movies or tv shows to keep you entertained on a long flight as this one.

But my main entertainment feature is the interactive map which I stayed glued too for the whole flight 😂.

Flying over Turin, Italy

The sun started to gradually rise as we flew over Italy.

Experiencing the sunrise from the sky was something spectacular. 

The cabin lights were turned on once again for the breakfast service. 

While I have natural lighting from outside, let's check out the seat back contents. In my seat back there was only the A330-900 safety card.

Let's take a look at the provided main cabin amenity fit.

The amenity kit was basic and contains only an eye shade and a pair of ear plugs. Although it was very basic I still appreciate the gesture as other US carriers don't provide anything remotely similar in economy class.

breakfast service

The FA's reached my row with the cart about an hour before arrival.

There was no choice for breakfast but the tray consisted of an egg & cheese sandwich with a small bowl of fresh fruits. 

Followed right after with a choice of drink which I went for a coffee. 

The breakfast sandwich was very bland and could have used at least some salt & pepper. 

Despite the breakfast sandwich being bland, it was great along with the small fresh fruit bowl. At the very least it was filling and quite substantial for a pre arrival service. You can check out the my past transatlantic flight report with AA here to see the pathetic pre-arrival service they provide 😂. 

initial descent

Shortly after, the captain came on the PA to notify us that we were beginning our initial descent into Athens.

The FA's went through and began preparing the cabin for landing.

To conclude the flight's service, the FA's handed everyone a little chocolate.

The descent into Athens was very picturesque.

landing

This morning we'll be landing onto runway 27L.

Welcome to Athens! 🇬🇷

We arrived at the gate 45 minutes ahead of schedule.

deplaning

As we exited the aircraft, a crew at the door (presumably the purser) gave out a warm farewell.

One last look at our A330neo that brought us here across the Atlantic from New York, thanks for the safe and fun ride N402DX!

Next stop to passport control.

This concludes the trip report, thanks for reading!