Delta One on the A350-900 between Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia is good and enjoyable, but good luck looking for a great price.

Booking Delta One business class

I’ve already done a deep dive into the booking process for this flight, but a quick summary:

• Award travel is tough going down to Australia, especially when looking for 4 seats.
• Rather than booking an award for business class, I instead booked premium economy for 148,700 SkyMiles + $35 per person.
• Delta Diamond Medallion status comes with Global Upgrade Certificates (GUCs) to upgrade instantly to Delta One.

Finding saver award space on the route is tough, but it can be done if you’re looking for 1 or even 2 seats. But needing 4 seats on the same flight? That would be what some describe as a unicorn. An alternative could be to consider flying to Asia first, but on this trip, I didn’t want to burn extra time with another connection.

Earning Delta SkyMiles

If you reside in the United States, your biggest way to earn Delta SkyMiles is via credit card sign up bonuses or by transferring in from American Express.

• Apply for the many SkyMiles credit cards or American Express cards earning Membership Rewards points.
• Spend on these credit cards in specific categories for the bonus multipliers.
• Use the SkyMiles shopping portal or the Rakuten shopping portal.

While you could also credit your SkyTeam flights to Delta to earn miles, we wouldn’t consider this to be a quick method to earn more miles in their program.

First impressions of Delta One A350-900 business class

Once again, we entered via the excellent Delta One Check-In Facility at LAX. Entering here simply doesn’t get old. You get some snacks and drinks before clearing private security and can immediately enter the Delta One Lounge or Sky Club.

We spent some time in the Delta One Lounge, then wanted to get some exercise in by walking all the way over to the Air France Lounge LAX. That’s about a 20-25 minute walk in each direction–not something we would recommend, but in our case it was nice to get a walk in before the long flight to Sydney.

Our flight to Sydney, Australia was due to depart at 10:45PM. We arrived in the area an hour early, at 9:45PM, to prepare for boarding. It was just a short wait before we were able to board.

The kids, who just learned they were going to Australia when they got in the car on the way to the airport, showed off their excitement while in line. Yes, Char can be a goofy girl sometimes.

Onboard the Delta A350-900

On the A350-900 aircraft, Delta has the business class seats in a 1-2-1 arrangement, with all seats facing forward. The seats are staggered where some are closer to the aisle while others are further from the aisle. Personally, I don’t think the distinction matters much since each seat has its own door.

Once we got into the cabin, we made our way over to our seats (2B, 2C, 3B, and 3D). We chose the middle seats to make it easier to have a conversation midflight and because the kids like sitting next to each other.

I actually find it quite interesting that when you look towards the front, you get a lot of blue color in the cabin. But, when you stand in the front and look towards the rear, you see more gray and red in the colors. It looks less colorful in this direction, bordering on a bit drab.

Once we settled in, Jenn and I did our normal routine of making sure the kids are settled in and comfortable for takeoff. At this point, they’re a pro at this, but they need some help with connecting the shoulder strap onto their seatbelt.

The Delta One A350-900 business class seat

This is seat 3B, and you can tell it looks rather busy when I first showed up at it. Amenity kits and menus were already at each seat. On top of that, the bedding was also already at the seat. It’s a little bit of a tradeoff, with the pre-flight flow working a bit better with everything at the seat, but it also takes a little bit longer for the passenger to get settled in.

Meanwhile, here’s what seat 2B looks like from behind. Each seat has a large monitor right in front and a good amount of legroom to stretch out comfortably. You might have noticed that the placement of the chair in 3B is more inward while 2B sits closer to the aisle.

Back in 3B, the lefthand side of the seat houses both the headphones and the amenity kit. In the compartment with the headphones is also a bottle of water that is hiding just out of view.

Right under the amenity kit is a wireless charger. The good news is it actually works, which comes as a surprise. I’m used to these wireless chargers not actually working during the flight. Still, I don’t know that I would just have my phone sit here while I sleep since someone could easily just grab it. And if you hit some turbulence, it might move off the charging panel. But it’s nice to have the option to charge.

Underneath the wireless charger is the headphone jack, a universal outlet, and a USB-C charger. In my experience, some outlets on planes don’t output enough power to charge a laptop, but this one had no problems charging my laptop.

There are also many seat controls on the arm rest. Moving the individual components of the chair can be a little confusing, but just stick to the pre-set positions and it’s easier. The button to release the table is also here.

Under the arm rest flap is the TV remove and a mirror. Does anyone ever use these TV remotes these days when the monitor is a touchscreen and more responsive?

While we’re here on this side of the seat, I should point out that you can easily close the suite door once you’re in flight and the flight attendant unlocks the door. For parents, you don’t need to worry about closing the door while you have children in the cabin. Some airlines are strict about this, but you’re fine on Delta.

Hidden under the tray table are a few extra controls. This is probably easier to operate if your seat is in bed mode.

The seat lies perfectly flat and has enough cushion. It can use some extra padding for sleep (and I completely missed that they give you the bedding) so that’s my bad.

The footwell gets narrow, which makes it a little less than ideal for those who are taller.

Above the center seats are no storage bins. That’s always a double-edged sword. Sure, it opens up the cabin a bit more, but on the downside it forces all the bags over the window seats and it can get a little crowded. On top of that, the center seats do not have individual air nozzles.

Not trying to stalk, but you can see that the window seats have individual air nozzles. If that matters for you, sit in the window seats.

Amenities in Delta One business class

When we first entered the cabin, a friendly flight attendant came by to offer us a welcome beverage. There were three options:

• Prosecco
• Mimosa
• Orange juice

Nothing like turning two drinks into three options. I had a glass of prosecco, which was fine enough. The champagne used for the flight is Taittinger, but all alcohol served on the ground costs the airline money in the form of taxes. So, you sometimes see a cheaper pre-departure beverage on the ground with the better stuff up in the air. I didn’t get the name of the prosecco, but it was fine.

A bit more on the bedding you get at your seat. Each seat will get a pillow, a mattress topper that’s rolled up, and a comforter.

You can see that the bedding (specifically the comforter) is branded with Missoni.

But it’s this mattress topper that I thought was just a long pillow. So, I just used it as a long pillow and thought it was interesting that they give two pillows for the journey. Hey, I was tired, so cut me some slack. Jenn later laughed at me at the end of the flight and said I had to open it up.

You’ll see what the seat should have looked like with it properly set up. Whoops!

The Missoni amenity kits come in a variety of colors. It seemed like each row of seats had a different color kit. Thus, between the 4 seats we had 2 orange kits and 2 pink kits. The contents are all the same, though the socks and eyeshades are color-coordinated with the bags.

Inside the kit are some pretty standard items like socks, eyeshades, toothbrush and toothpaste, a pen, and earplugs. You’ll also get sample sizes of Grown Alchemist products including lip balm, hand cream, and a pair of hydra-restore eye patches.

The food in Delta One

The menu

Delta offers the ability to pre-order your meal as early as one week before your flight all the way up to 24 hours before the flight departs. Some options in their online pre-ordering system are exclusively available only if you order in advance. I preordered the meals for everyone to make it easier when getting on board. And, of course, given the late departure, I didn’t expect the kids to eat much. Not like they normally eat dinner anywhere close to 11PM at night.

Dinner

Our flight departed at 10:37PM and took off at 10:56PM. I will base all the times off the earlier timestamp.

At 11:15PM (38 minutes after departure), the flight attendant walked the cabin to hand out hot towels. These are not nuclear hot that you get from some airlines (*ahem* Singapore Airlines).

At 11:24PM (47 minutes after departure), I received some nuts and a drink. This time, I ordered the Taittinger, which was much smoother than the prosecco before departure. The nuts were just OK.

At 11:30PM (53 minutes after departure), we received the dinner trays. Delta generally doesn’t do coursing, where you get a salad and appetizer first before the main shows up. That’s consistent on this route, where everything but the dessert showed up at once.

This one is hundred layer lasagna, which sits sideways in the dish so you can see the layers. I tried counting some of the layers, but I’m pretty sure the number doesn’t add up to 100. It’s fine–works if you want something cheesy and soft. When you eat it, you’ll be craving some texture in the dish.

As for the sides, the salad is fairly basic and is missing some seasoning. The poached shrimp is good and comes with an aioli that pairs well with it. The creamy onion soup is fine but makes me want French onion soup instead.

Next up is the Italian braised beef, which is a better choice than the lasagna, especially if you’re looking for some red meat. It’s tender and the green beans in the dish offer enough of a texture difference to be an interesting dish on its own.

If you have a pasta lover, I’d argue the Jon & Vinny’s braised meatballs are the dish to get–not the lasagna. Of course, this dish is one that you must order in advance if you want it. I’d say it’s worth it.

Desserts

At 11:53PM (76 minutes after departure), dessert was served. There are three options for dessert:

• Ice cream sundae
• Fruit and cheese plate
• Berries and cream cake

Jenn ordered the cake, which might not look all that promising, but I think it’s arguably the best option. The cake isn’t too sweet and was small enough to not be overly filling after dinner.

On the other hand, I went with the ice cream sundae with all the toppings. Yeah, this ended up very rich and a bit too sweet. The kids got the ice cream without toppings and maybe that was the better decision. But when they offer all the toppings, how can I turn it down?

On top of that, I ordered a glass of port, a 10-year option from Portugal. Again, between this and the ice cream, I probably should have stuck to just this.

I ordered the port as everything else was taken away, so it was a bit lonely. But dinner service ended at 12:10AM (93 minutes after departure). Efficient, even if they didn’t need to be on this flight given how long this one is (14 hours in the air).

Second meal service (breakfast)

Since times based on the departure time are awkward on such a long flight, I’m going to instead switch to times before arrival.

At 73 minutes until arrival, the flight attendants came through once again to hand out hot towels (not pictured). Then, just 3 minutes later, we received breakfast.

There are two breakfast options to choose from:

• Cheddar scrambled eggs
• Overnight oats

The eggs are honestly the better option. While the eggs aren’t all that interesting, it’s nice to have something warm after such a long flight. Next to the eggs is a hashbrown casserole and chicken date sausage. It almost feels like they’re trying too hard to have something elevated when a simple dish of eggs, potatoes, and sausage would be enough. Along with the dish came some fruit and a pastry.

The other option was the overnight oats, which I purely ordered just to be different from everyone else. I found it a bit unsatisfying. The nuts offer some texture contrast, but the oats just felt a bit lacking to me. There’s a berry compote but I would have much preferred fresh berries.

Wi-Fi and Entertainment

If you’ve flown a Delta flight in the last few years, you’ll recognize that everyone gets free Wi-Fi if they’re a SkyMiles member. It doesn’t matter which cabin you’re in, you’ll get it for free. That’s great, but don’t expect lightning-fast speeds. It’s still years from when Amazon-powered high speed internet will become available.

However, note that you will not have internet on most of this voyage. You can expect internet between roughly the Continental U.S. and Hawaii, and then nothing else until you’re about an hour outside of Sydney. But even then, once you’re around Sydney, internet connections were spotty at best.

As for the entertainment system, it’s good. Again, the look and feel you get isn’t that far off from a typical domestic flight, but you do get some more content on an international-equipped flight.

The mix of movies is pretty good between new releases and classics. And there are generally enough episodes for the series they have to make binge-watching possible.

The kids also have their own entertainment options. The number of choices is limited relative to the length of the flight, but it should still be plenty.

Service

Overall, service was pretty good. Despite the size of the cabin, the flight attendants seemed to have an efficient flow but still had the opportunity to connect with each passenger. The flight attendant on my side of the aisle was Jason, and I found him pretty enjoyable.

While Delta generally gets credit for having happier and better flight attendants on average compared to American and United, I’d say that otherwise the crew didn’t stand out more than other flights we’ve had. In fact, I could make the argument that we’ve been on flights on both American and United where the service was better than what we got here. I want to be clear that it’s not a criticism of the service on this flight, which was still good, but you shouldn’t come in with the expectation that it will blow you away compared to the other U.S.-based airlines.

I should also note that while the menu promised some chocolates to welcome us at our destination, we never received them. Perhaps they’re worried that someone might take it into Australia and get in trouble?

Timing of flight

This is a long flight. The LAX-SYD route is blocked at roughly 15 hours, and you’ll get about 14 hours in the air. You’re scheduled to depart at 10:45PM and arrive in Sydney at 6:50AM two days later. Don’t expect to stay up the whole flight.

In our case, we had our kids with us, so getting them the right amount of sleep can be a challenge. Thankfully, I made it a bit of a game, which helped. I told them to stay up as long as they possibly could on the flight, then get practically a full night’s sleep (at least for an adult), and then still have time to enjoy themselves before arrival.

That strategy seemed to work. We stayed up about 3 hours after departure, then about about 6 hours of sleep, and still had around 5 hours after waking up. Char ended up sleeping a couple of hours more, but she still had plenty of time to relax. This strategy might not work well if your kids get cranky from lack of sleep, so adjust accordingly.

Arrival to Sydney, Australia (SYD)

I wish I could say “before we knew it, we were landing in Sydney”, but it might not be true on such a long flight. That said, arrival into Sydney was quite simple. Since we were one of the first off the plane, it was a quick entry through immigration, up to where we needed to wait for the bags to come out.

And after clearing customs, we were able to leave the secure area quickly. If you happen to be connecting to Virgin Australia, there’s a transfer desk you can access before leaving. But since we weren’t traveling on Virgin Australia that same day, we just exited as normal.

Recommendation: Yes, but only if the price is right

This is the part where it’s tough to come up with a recommendation for everyone. That’s because Delta doesn’t exactly make it cheap to fly up front, especially on this routing. If you’re booking purely with miles, expect to pay over 300k miles per person for a one-way journey in Delta One. Ouch!

At that price, we’d say it’s not worth it to specifically fly Delta, even if comes with extras like private security and an excellent lounge.

But, if you have access to GUCs like I do, the price becomes much more affordable. Sure, it might not be as cheap as a saver award flight with other airlines, but if you need to fly the family, saver seats simply are not an option. Thus, using your GUCs to fly down to Sydney constitute a good use. Arguably, it’s the only reason I kept Diamond Medallion status with Delta.

You could also try buying economy and just waiting to see if you get a cheap enough upgrade to Delta One. Low upgrade prices aren’t quite as common on Delta as they are with American, but it is possible. In the past, you could first start your trip in Mexico and get a lower award price, but I haven’t seen that as an option lately.

Happy hunting!

What do you think of Delta A350-900 business class?

View other posts in this series:

• A Brief Programming Note: Secret Trip 2.0 Is Here
• Trip Introduction: Secret Trip 2.0 is Back with New Players
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #1
  • Air France Lounge LAX Review: Great Food, Poor Location
  • Delta One A350-900 LAX-SYD Review: A Long But Great Flight (this post)
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #2
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #3
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #4
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #5