I just got back from a trip to Europe.

I flew ATL-AMS and back AMS-JFK-ATL. All the flight where on the 767ER configured aircrafts. All segments in BizE.

The interior of the aircrafts were an embarrassment. The interiors were dirty, several of the seats in BizE were non-functional. Some had broken IFE equipment, some didn't recline properly or fully. Some had broken panels exposing wiring.

Overall, it was a very poor impression and in my opinion an embarrassment to DL.

I will say that there was a notable difference in the attentiveness of the FA.

Anyone else have any observations on the status of the DL fleet? I know that they're in financial trouble but cutting corners on maintenance of your premium class cabins is not the way to get yourself out of these problems.

This sounds just like the AA 767-300 I flew last year from DFW to OGG.

I've flown on 3 od Dl's 767-300ER this year and they were all perfect.
I gess you got the olden one  

Delta 767's are not falling apart. Sometimes you're stuck with an aircraft that hasn't been properly serviced, but they're not falling apart.

What day were you on ATL-AMS? I flew that on 10/7 and it was in good shape overall.

While the interiors are falling apart, the aircraft itself is impeccably maintained! lol

Yes, I think that's part of DL installing new interiors on all of their planes. As a comparison, I flew Envoy class on USAir a year or so ago, on a brand new A330 and the interior was already quite dirty.

Bottom line, they could do a much better job on the upkeep of their planes. Even in domestic first, their seats look pretty sad. The center section of cloth always falls down revealing the metal seat behind. It looks pretty sad.

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Photo © Ryan Gaddis - SPOT THIS!

In mid September I flew Biz Elite r/t from JFK to ATL. The seats were fine, but the control pads and the PTV screens were worn in appearance, but all of the controls worked fine.

From reading trip reports and through experience, the cabins on US airlines tend to be in much worse shape then other foreign carriers. I have been on a Thai A300 that was in perfect condition inside and connected onto a UA 777 in First class and even though the 777 was new, it had scuff marks on the seats, stains in the carpet, food remnants visible and was overall not as well maintained. Nothing is wrong with the plane mechanically, but by far US carriers focus more on fleet utilization then cleaning their planes. While there are exceptions (for example I have never been on a dirty CO plane) Asian and European carriers seem to have cleaner interiors.

It is just one of those factors. US carriers are professional and will get you to your destination on time and with courtesy but foreign carriers will do some with a friendlier attitude and will go out of their way to provide good service in premium cabins. It is all about what the customer wants, and most Anet users want the latter because flying is an enjoyable experience, while high paying businessmen often want to be left alone when they fly because it is another hassle in their day.

As a Delta Platinum Medallion with 7 transatlatic round trips so far this year, I can honestly say that these comments are bulls**t. I find business elite a wonderful experience.

...and here I thought this might be a double post.

https://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/1798179/

Strange timing!

DL 767s Are Falling Apart

What a sensationalistic topic. Their 767's aren't "falling apart". Your problem is with the interior. A better topic would be "DL 767s interiors Are Falling Apart". This is not a reflection of the mechanics of the aircraft.

Further this is your opinion, based on ONE aircraft. Next time try something like: "I think the interior of the Delta 767 I flew on is falling apart"

I know that they're in financial trouble but cutting corners on maintenance of your premium class cabins is not the way to get yourself out of these problems.

Again, your opinion. I don't think anyone at Delta came up with the idea of neglecting cabin upkeep to save money. I've flown BizE countless amounts of times and it's been nothing short of excellent.

Every airline has some aircraft that could use a refurbishing. Rest assured this is an issue that is being addressed with the installation of Delta's new interiors.

B

Floris--

Sometimes you get a good egg in the bunch and sometimes a bad egg. Thus far you have been lucky. Don't jinx yourself for your next trip! ;p

Cheers.

I flew out on 10/20 and back on 10/23.

It wasn't just one flight it was actually three separate ones. The ATL-AMS flight. The AMS-JFK flight and then the JFK-ATL flight was operated on a 767 configured with BizE.

Of the three the AMS-ATL flight was the worst (perhaps someone who works for DL could look up the A/C number it was the 10/23 flight as mentioned above) followed by the JFK-ATL flight (I think it was a 4PM departure on the 23rd).

The plastic panel on the seat in front of me completely fell off, it was cracked and wouldn't say up. The gentlemen's seat diagonally across from me wouldn't recline, the FA had to help him push it down and then back up again. The carpets were stained and as mentioned above, the fabric in the middle of all the seats was very worn. The planes looked very run down. So much so that the FA's looked embarrassed.

On the JFK flight the seat made all sorts of noises and wouldn't function properly reclining only about 1/2 way before it got stuck. The interiors were filthy.

I too am a Platinum level FF and fly to Europe 8x per year and about 50 flights domestically. The condition of these three planes were the absolute worst that I've ever seen on DL.

N6376M

First off let me offer my apology for your negative experience with the biz elite cabins on Delta.
I am a Delta AMT and I take a personal interest in your opinion. I do not discount what you have written here, rather I'd like to address why this happened. Let me also say as other posters have eluded to, that your experience is not typical of Dls biz elite cabins.

As you know Delta has been through some rough air lately. Costs and efficiency are looked at from every angle over and over again. Because of this it is easy to conclude that Dl is cutting mtc on their AC. Dl has in reality embarked on a $300 million cabin refurbishment program that will eventually replace all cabin interiors on DL AC. While waiting for these new interiors all Dl AC interiors are being inspected every 30 days. Prior to Aug 1st '04 the inspection interval period was 90 days or more. In addition to more frequent inspections, much more emphasis is placed on appearance items, while maintaining an increased level of attention on functional items. This has resulted in a huge increase in demand for parts. There has been an initial lag in supplying the parts that these inspections find damaged. For instance if a motor on a seat recline is not working properly the whole seat may be INOPed to ensure that it doesn't burn up in flight. This parts lag is a temporary situation which will be remedied ASAP.

It has been my observation that many of the problems with seats are caused by passenger abuse, usually in regards to carry-on luggage. Bags that are too large to fit under the seat are forced under them damaging (as you noted) the covers that protect the wires to the IFE and their controls, the emergency lights, and seat recline motors. I fly weekly and wince as I see people, who have no idea the damage they're causing, use the back of their seat as leverage to force a bag under the seat in front of them. The same thing with overhead bins. In particular I see this kind of damage on the 767-300ER which fly to my station from JFK. These planes are always trashed. Food, blankets, pillows, and trash are always strewn about the cabin in much higher quantities than from any other station. I'm not trying to trash New Yorkers (I was born and raised there) but with a majority of Dls 767-300ER flights going in and out of there it could be a factor in the appearance/reliability of the cabins. Also I'm definitely not trying to absolve Dl from responsibility for the cabins you experienced. Just adding my experience with the causes. I'm not sure what the answer is to prevent damage in the first place. Perhaps strict adherence to Dls Sizewise policies, more FA assistance while stowing carry-ons, better pax education on carry-on stowage? Stronger, heavier, more expensive seats? I don't know. What do you all think?

Stick with Dl. You will see an improvement in our product, maybe not overnight, but we are doing everything we possibly can to make your experience a positive one.

Thank You for flying Delta.
Dl757Md

Took DL 763 from SAN-ATL and ATL-MAD. I thought for sure the configuration was going to be different from ATL-MAD vs. SAN-ATL. Guess what - it wasn't. It was by far the crummiest aircraft I have ever taken to Europe.

No PTV
No adjustable headrest
Soiled panneling - yellow tint
Dirt/dust bunnies in crack areas
Burn markings on lamps in lav and at seats


only saving grace was the adequate seat recline - even though you felt like the person in front of you was waiting for you to begin his/her head massage.

I have flown 3 DL 763's and they were all fine apart from one.

One of my flights with DL was LAS-ATL and it was on a 763 in the widget livery.

It looked very old on the outside and was a bit worn in the inside! My dad's seat kept going back into the reclined position, my seat had rips in it and the safety video kept cutting out and then the sound went!

Apart from that DL provided an excellent service and I would fly them again anyday! Infact, if it wasnt for their low fares to LAS I probally wouldn't have gone to LAS!

Cheers,

Jamie.

I've been on some "beat up inside" 763's of Delta. Flew one LAX-ATL in May and the darn flight attendant call button function on the plane was messed up the binging noise was going off every 2 minutes and the attendants just ignored it! Another one the audio dials were messed up they were the ones you had to turn yourself and they were sticky. The interiors just look drab. And the screens kinda have a green tint to them as well.

I spent 10 hours on two different 764's and two and a half on a 763 and all of them looked fine. The interiors look a little dated, but no significant damage, and the F/A's were their normal professional selves.

I hope Delta continues to pull it together.

Dl757md - thank you for taking the time to write. Let me begin by saying that I am one of DL's biggest supporters. They've always been a fine airline and I've flown them all over the world. I wish DL nothing but the best.

Secondly, while I realize that the economics of the industry are impacting what can be done - there simply isn't enough money to go around - what was noticable about these aircraft is how different from the norm these aircraft were. Without a doubt these were the worst DL aircraft I've ever flown on. Perhaps this is a case that DL's previous high standard have made the condition of these particular aircraft so noticable.

Third of all, I believe that I do owe you and the rest of DL's employees an apology. In retrospect, the title of this thread conveys an implication that simply isn't correct. In no way did I intend to imply that DL's aircraft are anything other than completely safe to fly. I place my wife and my daughter on DL aircraft all the time. These are the two most important things in the world to me and I would NEVER put them on an aircraft or on an airline that I didn't believe were maintained or held itself to the highest standards.

You taking the time to respond in such a detail and thoughtful manner is indicative of dedication of DL employees I have grown used to.

I wish you and the rest of your co-workers the best of luck as you go through what I'm sure are difficult times.

This seems to be very "unDelta" to me!!!

I´ve flown hundreds of thousands of miles on DL and never had such a bad experience with their cabins.

Of course sometimes on older a/c it was obvious that they weren´t brand new but still in pretty good conditions, always!!!

Even the old L1011´s and 727´s I´ve been on were always very well maintained! I never had any doubt in DL´s maintainance! If they can´t fix it, nobody can!

I am a rabid Delta fan, another one of their biggest supporters (whenever I fly fullfare DL is the carrier of my choice and the company that earns my dollars/Euros!) and I will definetley continue to do so!!!
I love all the big US carriers almost equally because I think they´re all pretty good and professional airlines, much better than their reputation and I will fly a US carrier any day over any other airline, but DL is really a class above the rest!

I wish that most wonderful airline and its fantastic employees nothing but the best and ask the flying public to continue to fly Delta Air Lines -one of the best and most traditional US airlines in the sky- so to keep them afloat and alive!!! Delta deserves much better than what they currently have to go through! I hope they will emerge from the current crisis bigger, better and stronger than ever before!

Delta you´ll always get my business because "I love the way you fly"  

By the way: European carrier Flight Attendant here...

Best regards,

L1011Lover

These things happen. When you consider how many cycles the aircraft go through and how much pax abuse the interiors go through it's amazing the interiors last through a flight, much less hundreds! I've been on AA flights where the flagship suite seized and would not move. I've been on CO flights where the IFE was inop for half the J cabin (not fun on HNL-GUM). I've been on BA flights where a pax spilled his champagne down the control panel and started a fire! (Small, and quickly put out, apparently poor design makes this an all too common occurance on BA.)

The long and short of it is that due to circumstances beyond the airline's control you may encounter cabin problems. It happens on EVERY airline. From EK to EI, AZ to UA... F, J, Y... if you travel frequently enough you learn to laugh and deal with it as best you can. You also pray that it's not you that gets stuck with the inop seat stuck in the bolt upright position just after takeoff on LHR-SIN-SYD with every seat in the house full!

Delta is a great airline, I never flew on their 763's but I did on the 764 and it was really great. Those were fairly new at the time. But he does have a right to say that the 767's are falling apart, read the other post about a DL 763 into tampa and the main landing gear door detached from the plane and landed on someones mobile home.

Regards,

BWIA330

DL757md

The CCP program began in August and has addressed this issue at large.

Seen from Belgium, it appears that Delta has definitely an image problem. There used to be two carriers between BRU and NYC: DL (to JFK) and CO (to EWR). Both were making good business. Than came AA (in codeshare with SN). Immediately the load factors of DL were dropping dramatically (less than 100 pax per flight on the 763), whereas AA/SN and CO were still close to 100%.

I like DL, I find their staff to be great and they give reasonable service, but I too find the 763's I've been on have been fairly ropey at best - I've done 3 or 4 transatlantic roundtrips on DL (usually from NCE) and the cabins look tired and old - the dark grey interior fittings have a yellowish tinge, the seats are old-fashioned and not very comfortable, IFE is a joke (those TV's in the ceiling, what century are we living in ?) - I wish DL would update their interiors. Other aircraft are fine - the new 738's are very pleasant, and have great legroom.

....."The interior of the aircrafts were an embarrassment. The interiors were dirty, several of the seats in BizE were non-functional. Some had broken IFE equipment, some didn't recline properly or fully. Some had broken panels exposing wiring."

The so called dirty interiors are a direct result of our low quality contract cabin service workers. It's a sad state when you see cabin service workers board the aircraft, looking like "slobs" straighten a few seatbelts, and vacuum with zero attempt to wipe any kind of dirt, smudge or sticky-ness. I grew up Delta, and now I see this...along with all the BK talk and low company morale...sad isn't it?

-Beat Army

While we are on the topic of 767's, we here in KTLH have a special visitor today... A DL 763, taking FSU to Maryland for this weekend's game.