So for some reason I’m flying from Chicago to Greenville via New York. I honestly don’t know why I booked this routing, but here we are. At least the first leg of the trip is on the Delta A220-100 in first class. I’ve flown on and reviewed the Delta A220 before, but not in first class so this will be a new experience for me. Delta has 2 different A220s in it’s fleet, the smaller A220-100 is what I’ll be flying on today.
It’s raining today in Chicago and the weather in New York isn’t great either. There are quite a few delays on the departure board, including my flight. Fortunately it’s posted as a short 25 minute delay, not a big deal and won’t cause issues with my connection if it holds.
Bottom Line: The Delta A220 is a great ride, especially here in First Class. The seats are very comfortable, the in seat entertainment is great, and the ride is quiet. The service is the same as any domestic Delta First Class Service, but that’s a good ting.
Let’s get into this A220 First Class Review.
Date of Trip: October 2022
Delta A220-100 First Class Boarding Ohare
I’m a little excited because I also got to spend some time in the excellent new O’Hare Delta Skyclub, (review here if you want to check it out). The ORD Skyclub has a cool feature where passengers departing from gate M11 can access the jet bridge directly from the lounge, unfortunately I’m at gate M7. I got exited for a little bit as I was scheduled to depart from there and there was another Delta A220 at that gate. It was a bummer when I got the gate change notification.
I got the boarding notification on my phone so I walked a few gates down to gate M7 where our Delta A220 was waiting.
They had already called the first class section and had moved on the Sky Priority so I walked right onto the plane. Perfect timing.
Delta A220-100 First Class Seat Review
The Delta A220-100 has 12 first class seats spread across 3 rows. I’m sitting in the last row in the right hand side window seat. This is one of my preferred seats on most aircraft in first class. Not sure why, but I generally like it here.
The first class section on the Delta A220-100 has great seats they are well spaced and very comfortable. There’s power in each seat too.
The in-seat entertainment screen is huge, responsive, and has a large selection of shows and movies, yet the music selection is a little lacking.
I settled in as boarding continued. The flight attendant offered drinks and headphones to those of us in first class. There’s water waiting in my seat and I had my Sonys so I’m in good shape.
The First Class A220 seat recline button is different than the normal round button. It’s this little square lever that you press. Works well and looks nice too.
The rain outside isn’t strong so it seems like flights are moving well here at O’Hare. Excuse the attempt at an artful picture of the rain on the window. Free Delta Drink Coupon for the first reader who comments with the plane type next door.
The flight attendant added her welcome along with the pilots. The door was shut and the safety video was shown just before we pushed back.
The lights were dimmed and we headed to the runway. I’m surprised at the number of Delta A220s here at ORD, pretty much all of them are headed back to New York both LGA and JFK.
Delta A220 First Class Take Off
It was raining outside but we had no issues getting to the runway and took off pretty close to ontime.
We got some pretty nice views of ORD as we climbed from the Chicago area. Sadly no view of the city today, the clouds are too low.
We soon passed through the low clouds and it was pretty smooth at this level. The A220 is a nice quiet aircraft, yes it sounds like a whale from outside, but inside the cabin it’s very calm.
Delta A220 First Class In Seat Entertainment Review
After we took off I started a movie on the excellent Delta A220 in flight entertainment. These screens are great. The selection is very good too. The Delta A220s don’t have live TV so it’s only downside would be if you’re wanting to watch something like live sports.
Outside it was looking great as we passed through the final layer of clouds. The flight was pretty smooth from this point forward and the seat belt sign was turned off.
Delta A220 First Class Snack Service
About 25 minutes into the flight the flight attendant came around and offered snacks from the First Class snack basket. I went for both a sweet and salt option. The flight attendant offered some drinks, I just wanted a tea. It’s still somewhat breakfast time and I didn’t want anything sugary or boozy.
The Delta A220 first class tray table is pretty cool. It folds into the arm rest, nothing amazing there, but it’s spring loaded and is released with a lever, it’s a fun feature in my opinion.
We all settled into our ~2 hour flight to New York. Delta doesn’t serve a meal on this short of a flight.
Delta A220 First Class Bathroom Review
A lot has been said about the bathrooms on the A220. In the Delta configuration the rear bathroom has a window and that’s really cool. However the front bathroom on the A220 doesn’t have a window. The front bathroom was large and clean for this flight.
Usually I’d walk to the rear to check it out, but they had the drinks cart out in the aisle and I didn’t want to wait or fight my way past. It was also getting close to landing at this point.
Delta A220 First Class LGA Approach and Landing
The A220 is a really cool plane, very comfortable and is a great successor to the MD88/90’s that previously served these 120-130 passenger flights. Outside the weather is sunny, but we’re still above the clouds, we’ll see what the weather is like in LGA soon enough.
Landing. A few minutes before landing, the pilot came on and announced that due to the winds at LGA, “We’ll be braking a little more aggressively than you’re probably accustomed too, nothing to be alarmed, just wanted to give a heads up.” I thought that was pretty funny and I’ve never heard that before.
Just a few minutes more and our Delta A220 touched down here at LGA. We did land pretty abruptly and braked hard but nothing that I would say was unusual.
Delta A220 First Class Review Final Thoughts
Delta is using the A220 on some very competitive routes mostly from New York to hubs of other airlines. Today is no exception, ORD is a major hub for American and United and Delta is flying a more premium aircraft to New York. The Delta A220 is billed as a very comfortable plane with lots of features that most narrow body planes don’t have.
The Delta A220 is a great ride, especially here in First Class. The seats are very comfortable, the in seat entertainment is great, and the ride is quiet. The seat details and features are a little bit different than what you’d normally see in a domestic first class seat. Little things like the water bottle holders and the tray table are nice features that other seats just don’t have.
The A220 First Class under seat storage is a little cramped but that’s about the only down side I can see. Even with my computer bag at my feet, I didn’t have any issues.
The snack service was the same as any other Delta First Class flight of this length, just a pass of the snack basket and then drinks are offered. The flight attendants we’re very friendly and attentive. With only 12 first class seats on the A220-100, plenty of refills were offered. Bottom Line: The Delta A220 in First Class might be my favorite narrow body domestic aircraft.
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Delta A220-100 First Class Flight Review