Flight Review: Delta Economy – Tokyo Narita (NRT) To Atlanta (ATL)

After flying with Garuda Indonesia from Bali to Tokyo Narita, Shae and I had a 7.5 hour layover in Tokyo. We’d originally planned to head into the city, but ended up just staying at the airport and hanging out in the Korean Air lounge thanks to a Priority Pass membership.

The next two legs of our journey back to the US were with Delta. Our final destination was Norfolk VA, but our next flight took us from Tokyo to Atlanta, Delta’s main hub.

We didn’t have a great experience on our first international flight with Delta 15 years ago as they managed to lose all four of our suitcases for almost a week. We’ve flown with them several times since though and had much better experiences, most recently from Boston to London and Amsterdam to Boston.

Our flight from Tokyo to Atlanta ended up being good. It wasn’t memorable, but that’s a good thing as when you have a memorable experience in economy class, it’s usually because you’ve had a bad time! Here’s a review of our ~12.5 hour flight.

Delta 296
Tokyo Narita (NRT) – Atlanta, GA (ATL)
Scheduled Departure Time: 4:30pm August 14, 2019
Scheduled Arrival Time: 4:11pm August 14, 2019*
Aircraft Type: Boeing 777-200
Seats: 50F (me) and 50E (Shae)
Flight Class: Economy

* You might have noticed that we arrived before our departure time; that’s because the flight crossed the international date line.

Check-In

We’d originally checked in for our flights in Denpasar and checked our bags back to the US. The Garuda Indonesia check-in agent wasn’t able to issue our boarding passes for the flights on Delta though, so we had to visit the Delta desk once we arrived in Tokyo to get those.

Boarding

The boarding process was much more organized than it had been with Garuda, with different lines based on which boarding group you were part of.

Before our flight, I’d noticed that my boarding pass had SSSS on it – something I wasn’t pleased to see.

That’s because SSSS stands for Secondary Security Screening Selection. I’d read in the past that this can cause hassles when going through security, but it was straightforward enough. When my ticket was scanned at the gate, I was called over to one side where they swabbed my hands and bags for explosive residue. The entire process only took a couple of minutes, so I was soon heading down the jetway to meet back up with Shae in the economy cabin.

Seats

The economy cabin was in a 3-3-3 formation, with us being seated in the center set of three seats.

Waiting at each of our seats was a pillow, blanket and a pair of slippers. The pillow was a little more plush than the one on our previous Garuda flight, although I never actually use pillows on flights. The blanket was soft while not being too thick or too thin – Goldilocks would’ve been impressed.

The tray table could be folded halfway…

…or fully opened. I appreciated that it could be folded back halfway as that made it easier to get up during the flight, although I preferred our flight with Cathay Pacific on our way to Bali as their economy class seats had a small shelf above the tray table to store your drink which made it even easier to get up during the flight.

One of my biggest dislikes from our Garuda Indonesia flight was how warm they kept the cabin and the fact that there weren’t any individual air nozzles. Delta on the other hand kept the cabin at a reasonable temperature, plus each seat had its own air nozzle.

There were power outlets located between the seats in front of us rather than beneath our own seats.

Each seat also had its own USB port beneath the In-Flight Entertainment system which is where the headphone jack was also located.

About 10 minutes after we’d taken our seats, the flight attendants came through the cabin to distribute eye masks and earphones.

In-Flight Entertainment

Delta’s In-Flight Entertainment system had a decent selection of movies, TV shows, music, games and kids entertainment, as well as an option to track where the flight was along the route.

The Flight

The plane pushed back from the gate at 4:23pm and took off about 15 minutes later. Shortly after take off, the flight attendants distributed menus to all the economy class passengers.

This listed our dinner and pre-arrival meal options as well as the complimentary drinks selection available.

The menu also listed the schedule of service we’d be receiving during the flight. This is a nice touch as it helps manage expectations and gives passengers a good idea of what to expect ahead of time.

About 20 minutes after take off we received a bottle of water, then hot towels followed 10 minutes later. Snacks and drinks were then served at 5:35pm, an hour after take off. They offered Biscoff cookies and Cheez-Its as snacks and I got a Woodford Reserve on the rocks to drink – it’s always nice when spirits are complimentary in economy class.

Half an hour after that they served dinner. I chose the roasted pork with garlic ginger soy sauce, okra, red bell pepper, pumpkin, eggplant and rice. The meal was OK, although it wasn’t too flavorful.

The meal came with a side salad with roasted sesame dressing, a bread roll, brownie and some kind of shrimp and cucumber salad.

Shae decided to order the penne pasta with spinach, walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes and alfredo sauce. Her meal doesn’t look very appetizing in the photo below, but she enjoyed the taste of it.

Another round of drinks was served 10 minutes after we received our food, so I got another shot of Woodford Reserve. Dinner was then cleared away 20 minutes after that.

Once the meal service was finished, nothing much happened on the flight until about 2.5 hours later when the flight attendants came through the cabin offering orange juice and water.

About 1.5 hours after that, they served a warm turkey and cheese croissant and Häagen-Dazs ice cream. I don’t like cheese, but I managed to scrape most of it off and so got to eat the rest of it.

More water and juice followed a couple of hours later, then breakfast was served with about an hour left of the flight. We were given the choice between a spinach frittata with chicken sausage or Oyako Don. Both Shae and I ordered the spinach frittata which would be fine for most people. Unfortunately the frittata had cheese in it too, so I left most of that. It came with a small fruit bowl and croissant.

The description of Oyako Don in the menu described it as ‘chicken and egg’. I wish it had been a little more descriptive as it’s apparently a rice bowl with chicken and egg with soup poured on top. It therefore sounds like I would’ve enjoyed that more than the spinach frittata. In hindsight, I wish I’d asked the flight attendant what it consisted of.

Wi-Fi

Delta offered what seemed to be fairly reasonably priced Wi-Fi on our flight, although neither of us made use of it. Free messaging was available when using apps like Messenger, while free Wi-Fi and texting was also available for some T-Mobile customers. It looks you get 1 hour of free Wi-Fi if you have T-Mobile’s Magenta plan and unlimited Wi-Fi if you have their Magenta Plus plan.

Service

The flight attendants on our flight were friendly enough. They seemed to be pretty hardworking and they frequently came through the cabin with water and orange juice – I think more frequently than I’ve made note of above.

Cost

We booked our flights using Delta SkyMiles. Our journey from Bali to the US involved the following flights:

• Denpasar, Bali to Tokyo Narita, Japan
• Tokyo Narita, Japan to Atlanta, GA
• Atlanta, GA to Norfolk, VA

Those flights cost us a total of 52,000 miles per person and $51.31 in taxes and fees.

Final Thoughts

Our flight in Delta’s economy class from Tokyo Narita to Atlanta was decent enough. Our seats were comfortable, there was a good selection of movies, TV shows and games on the in-flight entertainment system and we were kept well fed and hydrated throughout the flight.

At ~12.5 hours, it’s a long flight which felt even longer than the 15 hour flight we’d taken a couple of weeks beforehand on Cathay Pacific. That’s not Delta’s fault though – it’s more due to the fact that I didn’t sleep much on the Delta flight due to the time of day we were flying, plus the fact that we’d already flown ~7.5 hours from Bali to Tokyo that day and still had another flight ahead of us.

Overall though, it was a good experience and I wouldn’t have any problem choosing to fly a long haul flight in Delta’s economy cabin again in the future.

Bali Trip Report

You can check out all our posts from our 15th anniversary trip to Bali below:

• We’re Going To Bali For 10 Nights For (Almost) Free – Here’s How
• Flight Antics On The Way To Bali – Here’s What Happened
• Flight Review: Cathay Pacific Economy – Washington Dulles (IAD) To Hong Kong (HKG)
• Review: Cathay Pacific The Pier Business Class Lounge, Hong Kong Airport
• 12 Fun Things To Do In Bali (& 1 To Avoid)
• Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Bali
• Hiring A Driver In Bali – Is It Worth It?
• Having Elephant Mud Fun At The Bali Zoo
• Flight Review: Garuda Indonesia Economy – Denpasar (DPS) To Tokyo Narita (NRT)
• Flight Review: Delta Economy – Tokyo Narita (NRT) To Atlanta (ATL)