On the same evening I saw the transcontinental-configured 757-200 LAX, I also saw another rare sight for Delta, at least in SoCal. Recently, Delta has been sending their A330s on the JFK-LAX route to complement the 767-300ERs. However, most of the time I’ve seen the flights operated by A330s, Delta has had them flown by A330-900neos. Imagine my surprise, then, when an A330-300 (N821NW, one of the Pratt and Whitney-powered airframes inherited from Northwest) swoops in overhead, inbound for Runway 24R. Naturally, I added it to my itinerary of flights to do in the coming days. Without further ado, here’s my second Delta transcontinental trip of the week.
Server: Solo
Airline: Delta Air Lines
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Origin: John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, New York (JFK)
Destination: Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California (LAX)
Flight Number: DL353
Route: KJFK-KLAX
Seat: 8J (Delta One)
Time En Route: 6 Hours 6 Minutes
After spending the afternoon watching airplanes come and go from the Terminal 4 Delta Sky Club, we’ve moved on to watching our aircraft get ready for our flight to Los Angeles. The aircraft we’re on, N822NW, is a General Electric CF6-powered A330-300, one of the High Gross Weight airframes first delivered to Delta in 2015 to enable non-stop service to Europe from the West Coast without payload restrictions. These have a maximum gross weight almost 10 tons greater than the Pratt and Whitney PW4000-powered A330-300s inherited from Northwest Airlines. We saw N822NW arrive earlier this afternoon from Athens, Greece, as DL203.
Starting a single-engine taxi with the under-construction Terminal 1 expansion in the background. When it’s completed, a number of Delta’s co-tenants at Terminal 4 will be moving there, freeing up space for the Atlanta-based carrier to expand. We’re flying to the City of Angels in one of 34 lie-flat Delta One seats. Though they’re more modern than the Delta One product on the 767s, they’re still trailing the newer A330-900neo and A350-900 seats. Nevertheless, Delta One in all aircraft is a very comfortable way to fly cross-country.
Roaring airborne from Runway 22R. Despite our aircraft having a relatively light load for a widebody, the CF6-80E1A4s are as loud as ever as we climb into the sky over the Big Apple. The north side of the main T4 pier is almost an unbroken line of Delta tails, while there’s several widebodies from a variety of international carriers at the pier right by Kennedy Tower. We’re looking at a flight time of just over six hours today, which’ll be plenty of time to enjoy our accommodations on this aircraft.
Watching the historic Floyd Bennett Field pass by our window as we climb out of New York. While it hasn’t been an active airport since 1972, the airport, which was the original or destination of several notable transcontinental and transatlantic flights (one of the last of these being Project Bullet, when a F8U-1P Crusader flown by Marine Corps Major and future astronaut John Glenn touched down after flying from Los Alamitos, California in 3 hours, 23 minutes, and 8 seconds, making it the first supersonic cross-country flight), still remains an important hallmark of New York aviation history. Crazy to think that Major Glenn made the crossing in a little more than half the time we will take, only slowing down to descend and refuel. Not to mention, the A330 we’re on isn’t going to be recording a continuous panoramic picture like the Crusader, either.
Cruising over a cloudy western Indiana at 34,000 feet. Our captain has just announced that the entire journey west is supposed tp be smooth and turbulence-free at this altitude, so that’s a major plus. We’ve got our seat halfway through its range of recline, making it akin to a recliner in someone’s den.
We’re working our way through dinner over the middle of Kansas. The food this evening is José Andrés’ braised beef short rib, served with a smoky pepper sauce, creamy polenta, haricots verts, and piquillo peppers. Dining in Delta One is the all-around best in the U.S., and getting the food we’d normally have on a long-haul flight to Europe or Asia is a big plus. Definitely going to hold us over until dinner!
As we make our final approach into LAX, we’re treated to the sight of Downtown L.A. glowing golden in the evening sun. The Sun is also making the wings and the inlet ring glow as it sinks in the western sky. It’s a beautiful evening to be landing in L.A. for sure.
The GEs are going into reverse just after the nose gear touched down on Runway 24R. Unlike our flight on a 757-200 yesterday, we’ll be using the usual length of runway to slow down. The deceleration is firm but not so much as to throw us into the IFE screen in front of us. Another happy landing!
Once again, we’re viewing our aircraft from the space between Terminals 2 and 3. The ground crew is already working hard to send this big bird back to the Big Apple. We had a great flight in Delta One, which demonstrated that the older A330 hard product Still Has It for cross-country journeys. However, we need to get our bag and down to the curb, as we have a table at Élephante to get to, over in Santa Monica.