Flight Info:
DL189 (DAL189)
Atlanta -> Seoul (KATL-RKSI)
Airbus A350-900 (N520DN)
Seat 43K
Flight Time: 15h 7m
Hello everyone from Atlanta, GA! Today, we’re flying over to Seoul aboard Delta’s Airbus A350 in Main. Thank you for joining me and let’s get started!
This trip started in KPBI where I took a short hop up to ATL, I slept for most of that flight, but I got a neat pic on final into ATL’s 27L
Atlanta (ATL/KATL) is DL’s headquarters, and every Delta frequent flyer has stepped foot here at least once. With that being said, It’s a pretty easy airport to navigate, and is meant for connections. Even if you miss a connection here, you’re never a few hours away from the next flight to your destination. I had to go from Concourse B today over to Concourse F for my flight to ICN. ATL has seven concourses (T, A, B, C, D, E, & F) with E & F being used mostly for international traffic, being the two concourses with US CBP facilities. After a quick pit stop in Concourse E for Caribou, I made my way over to gate F8 for the almost 16 hour flight to Seoul.
N521DN arriving as DL211 from CPT/FACT
HL8009 arriving as KE35 from ICN/RKSI
After some spotting in Concourse F, it was our turn to fly.
Our Aircraft (N520DN) taking us to ICN/RKSI
Boarding was done in groups, starting with Pre-Boarding for anyone needing additional assistance to board, followed by Groups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. To speed things up, our flight was chosen to be boarded using facial recognition. With that being said, it was done quickly and efficiently, with our group 5 being boarded around 20 minutes after Group 1.
I forgot to take a picture of the seats, however they are easily found online and they were comfortable enough.
This is the view from seat 43K
After a no-frills safety video, we pushed back four minutes ahead of schedule at 9:46am EST. We started taxiing out to runway 27R, however we were sat on Ramp 8 for around ten minutes, with the captain pointing to a minor mechanical issue found during taxi.
N818NW taxiing to Runway 27L to depart for HNL/PHNL operating as DL837
At 10:02AM, we then started taxiing back to the gates, this time at Concourse E to get a closer look of the issue. We sat short of gate E14 for another 10 minutes before pulling in. This time, thankfully, the aircraft got fixed, not specifying what exactly happened. After getting some extra fuel, we pushed back for a 2nd time at 11:09AM, followed by a successful taxi to 27L, followed by taking off at 11:17. We followed the CUTTN2 SID out of ATL, then going over the US and the Canadian province of British Columbia, over the US State of Alaska, following the Pacific Rim down into Japan, then west to Seoul, following the GUKD2E STAR into ICN/RKSI.
The departure out of Atlanta was smooth, and we got our meals around 80 minutes into the flight.
We had an option of Korean Pork, Chipotle Chicken, or Ravioli, to which I chose the Pasta.
It may not look the best, and it wasn’t that good, however it was filling and the salad tasted fresh to accompany it. Trays were cleared around 40 minutes after getting the food.
(btw, those lemon blondies are to die for)
Throughout the flight, the crew were very proactive and gave out bottles of water every hour or so.
The views over the Rockies were amazing, this was one of many over NW WA.
Vancouver, BC
YVR/CYVR
After leaving Vancouver behind, the rest of the routing over North America was pretty cloudy, so at the ask of the flight attendants, I closed my window shade and got some sleep.
I woke up over the western tip of Alaska, starting to head southwest to avoid Russian Airspace. At this time, I went over to the back galley and chatted to some flight attendants. There were also the usual Delta snack collection back there (sunchips, biscoff, etc), with water. I asked them if they knew anything about the delay at ATL, with one of them saying one of the computers weren’t calibrated right.
I also saw the crew rest exchange happen, and also at this time a teenager fainted in the Main Cabin. Stay hydrated, folks!
With that being said, this flight did run pretty hot, and that was also the case with the flight back to ATL, might be something to note about flying Delta’s A350.
One of Delta’s selling points are it’s free, fast, Wi-Fi for SkyMiles members, however it’s important to note that for Trans-Pacific flights, Wi-Fi cuts out over Western Canada for the duration of the flight.
This was what the website said, according to one of the FA’s, Delta didn’t have a certain part in order to have worldwide Wi-Fi. It resumed at around the same point for the flight back to ATL too.
I got a text message the morning of the flight saying that Wi-Fi may not be available for this flight. I can imagine to non-seasoned flyers won’t be happy about this, so props to Delta for informing everyone.
Around 90 minutes out of Seoul, the crew came around with pizza twists, I declined, having ate snacks I got from ATL, however they were the usual pizza twist deal that many airlines offer.
The seat itself was actually pretty comfy, and there was a small gap between the window seat and the wall to fit stuff like blankets and pillows in, to which both were provided. Legroom was pretty good, I’m not that tall, but if you were over 6 feet, I could see it get a little tight.
Upgrades to Comfort+ were offered for $305 on the app too.
The IFE was also pretty good, with hundreds of movies, TV shows, and games, enough to keep you entertained for this flight. The IFE isn’t the new type that you would see on Delta’s 767-400s or A321NEOs, which I do have to say, are better then these, however it was more then enough.
After the final rounds of trash were cleared, we started descending down into Seoul Incheon, with an amazing, smooth landing on Runway 33L. Despite the delay out of ATL, we made it into Seoul only around 45 minutes late.
There was a short taxi over to Terminal 2, Gate 253, taking a few minutes.
Seoul Incheon (ICN/RKSI) is home to T1 & T2, T1 holding basically everyone that isn’t skyteam, with T2 being dominated by Korean Air and it’s partners. The airport itself is really nice, very modern and efficient. Definitely a change of scenery from the typical US regional airport of PBI, where we started.
Passport Control in Seoul was straight forward, and all you need is an easy to fill out arrival card for US citizens, which I filled out the night before the flight, although many did it on the spot.
Summary:
Departure Experience: 8/10, good communication, prompt boarding, smooth departure Seat: 8.5/10, very comfy, adequate space Entertainment: 8/10, IFE was good enough, Wi-Fi was fast while it lasted
Food: 7/10, Pretty basic, snacks on demand, nothing to write home about
Service: 10/10, the crew were very proactive, open to chats, and were happy to help with the medical emergency
Arrival: 9/10, smooth
Overall, Delta did a great job with this flight, other then the food, there was nothing that I wasn’t happy about, and I would choose Delta for long haul travel in the future.
One thing to notice, however, is Delta can charge some ridiculous prices for these trips, so I suggest looking at google flights if you have a trip in mind to monitor prices.
If you’re afraid of prices going up, you can always book it and if it changes in the future, it’s easy to get reimbursed with Delta.
Welcome to Seoul, thank you for reading this, and feel free to give me any feedback for my first trip report!
This is being posted under ‘general’ as I do not have TL2 to post this under RWA, feel free to delete this if it isn’t allowed. Thank you.
