Review of Delta Air Lines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit in Business

Reminder of my routing :

• Bâle - Amsterdam KL / J, Fokker 70: http://flight-report.com/en/report-6366.html
• Amsterdam - Detroit DL / J, Airbus 330-300: Immediate boarding
• Detroit - Chicago DL / F, MD -88
• Chicago - Atlanta DL / Y, A320
• Atlanta - St Louis DL / Y, MD90
• St Louis - Detroit DL / Y, B717-200
• Detroit - Chicago DL / F, A319
• Chicago - Minneapolis DL / F, E175
• Minneapolis - Seattle DL / F, B757-300
• Seattle - Fairbanks AK / F, B737-900ER
• Fairbanks - Seattle AK / F, B737-700
• Seattle - Paris CDG DL / J, B767-300ER
• Paris CDG - Bâle AF / Y, ATR72

A330-300 China-something :

744 KLM:

Mother-fokker land:

AMS was very quiet that morning, I'll breeze through security and will be at the boarding gate 60 minutes before the boarding. I did not go to the lounge, as I would have only been able to get there for 15. Furthermore, Wifi is free of charge through AMS airport, so no real need for lounge hopping. Corporate picture before the boarding :

My bird for today's flight:

H-45 boarding starts with people needing assistance first followed by business and elite passengers. Very warm welcome from the purser at the a/c door directing me to my seat. That's the brand new business elite cabin that has been installed aboard this A330-300 just a few weeks earlier. To my eyes, just perfect:

Seats are directed towards the windows, which seems normal, but isn't the norm in the industry. To my opinion it is a non sense to have window seats oriented toward the aisle. The seat, in the full flat bed mode has length of approx 6'46, which is very comfortable. The seat control offers lots of differents variations and combinations, the screen is big enough with a very good image quality.

An XXL pillow and a comfy duvet are already on the seat. The duvet is amazing, soft, warm without being to warm. The amenity kit is distributed together with the earphones:

I was quiet amazed by everything they stuffed in the kit!

Welcome Drink :(champagne Jacquart good but not exceptional, OJ or water)and a very good snack mix:

Menus are handed out:

The tray folds in a funny way:

But is big enough to write or eat, or both together.
Push back was 10 minutes early, uncommon for flights to the US. A bit of spotting:

A321 from Sex After Service (SAS):

Airbus from Aircraft Landed In Tokyo And Luggage In Atlanta (ALITALIA)

And an Airbus-Sharklet 320 from Let Us F**k Tonight Honey And Never See Again (but I prefer: Let Us F**k The Hostess As No Steward Available) … Lufthansa of course !

(Bonus : DELTA > Don't even leave the plane)
When reaching the cruise altitude, amuse-bouche is served. I was pleased when the hostess offered me to taste the wine as the bottle not opened was. That's a nice touch.
The salmon was divine:

It was followed by a greek salad, fresh and tasty with my favorite dressing, ranch, and a mushroom soup to die for!

To follow, I choose the beef entree. Speaking about the meal ordering process: before the take off, the purser came to introduce herself to all business passenger and asked the choice for their entree for both services. The whole crew will, from that point on, adress all passenger by name. I mentionned to the purser that I prefer being called by my first name, and the whole crew did so. Last but not least, it is very handy to ask the choices for both services at the same time, this allows each passenger to have at least one meal service with their preferred meal choice. I noticed as well that the meal order starts with the passenger seated row 1A towards the end of the cabin, and re-starts and the end of rows G to be concluded by pax seated in 1G. So if you'd like to have your first choice available, you better seat on an A row ;)
Enough, let's go back to the beef! It was cooked to my liking, medium. The macaroni gratin was okay:

This was followed by cheese and/or dessert. For me, it will be both. I liked the fact that the cheese is being served from the trolley and that the passenger can order what kind of cheese he wants together with what kind of fruit.

There were a lot of options to accomodate the sundae, for me it was chocolate sauce, whipped cream and nuts. Perfect!

On top of that there were also petite pastries to go with, but I was stuffed!
That's the IFE:

After that somptuous meal, it was time to take a nap, and I change my seat to a bed. As the cabin not full was, I requested a second pillow and another duvet. I'll use the extra duvet as seat top, and when everything ready is, it looks like a F/Class seat :)

I slept for 4:30 non stop, this never happened to me!! And I missed the hot cookies service. I should send a complain to Delta about sleeping to well causes missing cookies service!!
Anyway, this is the mini-buffet that is available at the front galley. A much more stocked buffet is available at the mid-galley.

I was impressed by the barrier Delta installed to prevent anyone trying to enter the cockpit when a pilot is going to the lavatories. This door is automaticaly being closed by the cockpit before someone open the cockpit door or in case something happens in the cabin.

Some pictures of the forward cabin door:

The plane has been refurbished in coach too:

As I came back to my seat, the purser offered me some cookies that she just backed for her. I ate one with her and we discussed a bit about airline business as she noticed me taking pictures.
I then returned to my seat minutes before the second service. Having travelled quite a lot, I know that this service is often very disapointing with the infamous pizza or panini, which as not its place in business. (take this AA!)
Delta has put lots of efforts in enhancing the second service, table clothes are dressed again together with warm towels. An amuse with olives and cheese is served, which was lovely. I ordered the salad and it was very good. I looked at the cheeseburger service and it looked nice. They put the steack on the lower bun, and all condiments are on the side, allowing passenger to customize their burgers!

That's my friend, the Safety On Board Card :

At that time, we are somewhere here:

Winglet check, OK:

And it is already time to land. We arrive just as winter storm Nikki is ending, lots of snow everywhere. As usual, in North America, this isn't a problem. CDG with half an inch is a complete chaos in comparison…

Just landed:

You'll usually never see that amount of snow in France!

Taxiing to our parking: