Review: Delta One Business Class A330-900neo (2024)

To finish off the trip it was time to fly back home via Seattle on Delta’s A330-900neo, which the airline started service with in July 2019.

This would be my first-ever flight on an A330-900neo, and only my second-ever flight in Delta One Suites (I had flown the product on the A350-900, so I wondered how the product compared on the narrower A330-900neo).

Redeeming Miles For Delta One Business Class

I booked my Delta One business class ticket using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club generally has much more attractive redemption rates on Delta than the SkyMiles program does directly, at least when there’s “saver” award availability.

I booked the following one-way for just 60,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles plus $50 in taxes and fees:

01/12 DL166 Tokyo to Seattle departing 5:20PM arriving 9:31AM [Business]

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou, so there are lots of ways to easily earn miles with them.

Best of all, we sometimes see transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic. I transferred over points from Amex when there was a 30% bonus, meaning the ticket cost me just 47,000 Amex points. Now that’s tough to beat!

Delta One A330-900neo Business Class Review

I arrived at Narita Airport at around 3PM for my 5:20PM flight to Seattle. Delta departs from Terminal 1 at Narita Airport, and they have a SkyClub there. However, I won’t be reviewing it, because Delta is abandoning Narita Airport as of March 2020, as they move all their flights to Haneda.

This lounge will only be open for another couple of months before (I assume) something else happens with it.

I will say, I found the lounge to be underwhelming. The seating as such was fine, but the food selection was worse than you’d find in a US SkyClub. I hope Delta does better with their new SkyClub at Haneda Airport.

Delta SkyClub Narita

Delta SkyClub Narita

The inbound plane from Seattle was arriving late due to strong headwinds, so it only pulled into the gate at around 4PM. The A330-900neo sure is a pretty plane, especially with those bigger engines.

Delta A330-900neo

While my boarding pass indicated that boarding was supposed to start at 4:25PM from gate 26, that was understandably delayed, since it takes more than 25 minutes to deplane everyone, clean the cabin, and let the new crew onboard.

Boarding ended up being delayed until 5PM, and sure enough, that’s exactly when boarding started.

Delta boarding gate Narita Airport

I was curious to see how the Delta One Suites on the A330-900neo compared to the A350-900!

Delta Air Lines 166
Tokyo (NRT) – Seattle (SEA)
Sunday, January 12
Depart: 5:20PM
Arrive: 9:31AM
Duration: 9hr11min
Aircraft: Airbus A330-900neo
Seat: 7J (Business Class)

At the forward door I was greeted by the purser, Katherine, and pointed towards the far aisle, where my seat was located. Delta’s A330-900neo business class cabin consists of a total of 29 seats, all of which are between doors one and two on this plane.

Like I said, this was my first time on an A330-900neo, and at first glance the cabin as such felt like any other A330, except the space between doors one and two was longer.

The cabin with Delta One Suites looked fresh, especially for an A330.

Delta One business class cabin A330-900neo

Delta One cabin A330-900neo

Delta One Suites are essentially modified Vantage XL seats, which are a form of staggered seats. These seats are an efficient use of space because the footwell for each seat is to the side of the seat in front.

In the center area you have seats together, alternating in each row. The good news is that there’s a privacy shield between seats, so if you’re traveling alone you’ll still have plenty of privacy.

Delta One seats A330-900neo

Ideally I’d recommend one of the window seats, though. The absolute best window seats are those in even numbered rows — 2A, 2J, 4A, 4J, 6A, and 6J.

Why? Because these seats are further from the aisle and closest to the windows, so they really give you a sense of privacy, and also allow for the best views out the windows.

Delta One seats A330-900neo

Delta One seats A330-900neo

I booked pretty late, so I wasn’t able to snag one of those, but I was able to snag one of the other window seats. In odd numbered rows, the window seats are closer to the aisle and further from the windows. They feel a bit less private and it’s a bit tougher to look out the windows, but they’re still great.

I was in seat 7J, the window seat on the right side in the last row of this 29-seat cabin.

Delta business class seats A330-900neo

All around this is a well designed seat, though I definitely noticed that the entire suite felt a bit narrower and more compact.

Delta business class seats A330-900neo

Delta business class seats A330-900neo

To the right side of my seat was a huge side table where I could leave my laptop and other belongings during the flight.

Delta business class seat armrest

Underneath that was a storage compartment. This is a benefit of the seats that are further from the windows, as the ones closer to the windows don’t have these.

Delta One seat storage

To the back right side of my seat was a panel with the seat controls, a 110v and USB outlet, and a headphone jack. There was also a hook for headphones, a bottle of water, and an exposed area where you can store some things.

Delta business class seat controls & storage

There was a panel that opened to the right side of the seat, containing the entertainment controller, which also had a small mirror.

Delta business class entertainment controls

The tray table extended out from the right side of the seat as well.

Delta business class seat tray tables

The major downside to these staggered seats are the footwells, since they’re to the side of the seat in front. Well, this footwell definitely felt on the tight side, but that didn’t come as a surprise to me.

Delta One seat footwell

Each seat had an individual air nozzle and reading light.

Delta A330-900neo individual air nozzles

I’m still undecided as to whether the cabin looks snazzy from the back, or like an airborne office.

Delta A330-900neo cabin

Waiting at each seat were a pillow and blanket. Delta has had a partnership with Westin Heavenly Bedding for eons. The bedding is solid, though this is also an area where other airlines have caught up over the years.

Delta Westin Heavenly bedding

Then there was a Tumi amenity kit, with socks, a dental kit, a pen, eyeshades, hand sanitizer, and some Le Labo products. Business class amenity kits don’t get much better than that.

Delta Tumi amenity kit

There were also a pair of slippers waiting at my seat.

Delta business class slippers

Then there were some headphones — it seems like Delta has finally changed their vendor for headphones, which was so long overdue, in my opinion. The old headphones were terrible, while these were okay.

Delta business class headphones

A few minutes after settling in I was greeted by a friendly flight attendant. He was one of the Japanese speakers, and if I didn’t know any better I would have guessed he was Tokyo based (though I don’t think Delta has a Tokyo base). So take that as a compliment, because he provided true Japanese hospitality.

Pre-departure drink choices were between champagne, orange juice, and water.

And yes, that controversial napkin still throws me off — at first glance it still seems to me like it says “the world is better without you in it.”

Delta pre-departure champagne

The menu for the flight was also waiting at my seat.

Delta One menu

Since most passengers boarded through the second door, the cabin was fairly quiet during most of the boarding process, even though business class was full. The lovely purser came around and introduced herself, informed each person of the flight time of 8hr8min, and took meal orders.

She was all smiles, and thanked each passenger with status for their loyalty. I was surprised by how few elite members there were, and even I was thanked for being a Silver Medallion member. Hah.

The boarding process was efficient, and by 5:25PM the main cabin door closed, and five minutes after that we began our pushback. At that point the safety video was screened.

We started our taxi at 5:40PM, and were airborne from runway 34L by 6PM. As mentioned above, this was my first time flying the A330-900neo. The plane didn’t feel that different during takeoff, though I did feel like it was maybe marginally quieter?

As we climbed out I browsed the entertainment selection. I like how the main page displays just how much content they have — 374 movies and 711 series. Wow!

Delta entertainment selection

Delta entertainment selection

Delta entertainment selection

I also checked out the airshow for this very quick transpacific flight.

Map enroute to Seattle

Map enroute to Seattle

I decided to watch a few episodes of “Shrill,” a kind of adorable sitcom that I enjoyed.

Delta entertainment selection

Delta’s A330-900neos also have Gogo 2Ku Wi-Fi. In addition to everyone getting free texting, the following passes are available:

• You can get a “Browse” pass for $6.95 for one hour or $21.95 for the whole flight
• You can get a “Stream” pass for $12.95 for one hour or $39.95 for the whole flight

Delta Wi-Fi pricing A330-900neo

Since this was a quick overnight flight I ended up just getting a one hour pass for $12.95. The speeds were great, though that’s all I needed since I also wanted to sleep.

Delta Wi-Fi pricing A330-900neo

Service was quick to get started after takeoff, with warm towels being distributed just 15 minutes into the flight.

Delta business class dinner service — warm towel

The menu read as follows:

The drink list read as follows:

By the way, I’d like to acknowledge that Delta kept the cabin lights dimmed during the entire meal service, as it should be. In ANA business class they kept on the lights at maximum brightness for the entire three hour meal service.

Delta A330-900neo business class cabin

About 30 minutes after takeoff I was offered my first drink. I was impressed that the crew addressed passengers by name in a natural way (in other words, they weren’t squinting at the manifest while butchering names).

To drink I ordered some champagne, and was offered mixed nuts to go along with it. Delta serves Canard-duch*ene Brut Cuvee Leonie, which is good enough.

Delta business class dinner service — champagne & nuts

About 60 minutes after takeoff I was served the starter. I would have gone with the Japanese option, but they were out of it. I’m an idiot, because I could have pre-ordered it, and since those tend to go fast, that’s just about the only way to get a Japanese meal on Delta.

Nonetheless my Western meal was good as well. Delta is quite generous in serving an appetizer, soup, and salad to Delta One passengers, while many other airlines make you choose between those.

The starter included:

• Marinated shrimp with celery and pistachio salad
• Arugula salad with Fuji apple, carrots, candied walnuts, and sweet orange vinaigrette
• Wild mushroom soup with parmesan croutons

All three were very good, and there was a rather boring bread selection to go along with it.

Delta business class dinner service — appetizer, soup, and salad

The main course was served about 75 minutes after takeoff, and I ordered the king salmon with lemon butter sauce, tomato rice pilaf, asparagus, roasted red onions, yellow peppers, and cherry tomatoes. While there may have been a bit too much sauce, otherwise it was an excellent dish.

Delta business class dinner service — main course

A dessert cart made it to my seat about 1hr45min after takeoff, with a selection of cheese, a chocolate pistachio tart, or an ice cream sundae. I selected the traditional ice cream sundae.

Delta business class dinner service — dessert

My tray was cleared just about two hours after takeoff, with about six hours remaining to Seattle. Overall I thought the food was good, and the service was excellent.

Map enroute to Seattle

Before I headed to bed I checked out one of the lavatories, located right behind my seat. The lavatory was on the tight side, and had the standard Malin+Goetz amenities.

Delta lavatory A330-900neo

Delta Malin+Goetz toiletries

At that point I reclined my seat into bed mode and closed the suite door.

Delta One suite bed A330-900neo

Delta One suite doors

Delta One suite doors

How was Delta One Suite on the A330-900neo?

• As is the case on the A350-900, the “door” is pretty low, so don’t expect you’ll have full privacy (though that’s the case with all business class seats with doors)
• In bed mode the seat felt narrow, especially when I closed the door, since it limited the extent to which I could bend my knees

This definitely isn’t my favorite business class seat out there. At the same time, for an A330-900neo I’d say it’s an all around very good seat. I managed to get a solid four hours of sleep, and woke up with just under two hours remaining to Seattle.

Map enroute to Seattle

A little while after waking up I was treated to a gorgeous sunrise.

Sunrise over the Pacific

I enjoyed the previous sitcom I watched, so figured I’d push my luck one more time, and this time around watched “Casual,” which I enjoyed as well.

Delta entertainment selection

About 90 minutes before landing the pre-arrival service started. Drinks were offered first, and I ordered a cup of coffee. I should also note the nice way I was approached — “good morning sir, did you get some rest? May I get you a beverage?”

Delta One pre-landing service

There were three choices for the pre-landing meal — Spanish style frittata, granola cereal, or chicken hot pot. The last one sounded most interesting to me, so I ordered that. It came with shrimp, shimeji mushroom, Chinese cabbage, yuzu kosho, leeks, and steamed rice.

Unfortunately I didn’t particularly enjoy it, especially the chicken…

Delta One pre-landing service

About 30 minutes before landing the purser passed through the cabin to thank each passenger for flying Delta, and to distribute Lindt chocolates.

Delta One pre-landing chocolates

Around the same time the captain announced that we’d be descending momentarily, and would be landing in 30 minutes.

Seeing Seattle from above made me mildly nostalgic, but also not really, because I don’t miss Seattle weather in January.

View approaching Seattle

View approaching Seattle

We ended up touching down at 9AM, though shortly thereafter the captain announced that our gate wouldn’t be ready for another 15 minutes. We pulled to the side, and I watched a Singapore Airlines A350-900 pushing back — what a beauty!

Singapore Airlines A350 Seattle

Sure enough, just 15 minutes later our gate was available, so we arrived at 9:15AM, over 15 minutes ahead of schedule (and early enough so that I made my 42 minute connection on a separate ticket).

Delta A330-900neo Seattle

Delta One Business Class Bottom Line

I had a solid flight in Delta’s A330-900neo business class. For an A330 this is an excellent product, though these seats are on the narrow side, especially with the door closed.

All around this was a solid experience — the crew was friendly, the entertainment and Wi-Fi were excellent, the amenities were solid, and the food was quite good (at least the main meal).

What I appreciate most about Delta is how consistent they are. While there’s some variance in terms of the quality of crews, they’re by far the most consistently customer focused of the “big three,” and that makes it a joy to fly with Delta.

Delta business class will never be the best in the world, but it will consistently be above average, and that’s worth something.

If you’ve flown Delta’s A330-900neo and/or the Delta One Suite, what was your experience like?