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As things stand, Delta offers a double daily service between Atlanta and London using its Boeing 767-400 aircraft, but once the summer season rolls along, not only will one of these flights be upgraded to a larger aircraft, the route will get back its 3rd daily flight that hasn’t operated in seven years.
Right now, this is the schedule that Delta offers between Atlanta and London on most days:
DL30 ATL 18:05 – 07:15+1 day LHR (Daily)
DL32 ATL 21:55 – 11:10+1 day LHR (Daily)
DL31 LHR 12:30 – 17:20 ATL (Daily)
DL33 LHR 15:50 – 20:35 ATL (Daily)
Both of these flight pairs are operated by 767-400 aircraft.
As of 31 March 2024 (1 April 2024 for departures from London), DL32/33 will be operated by an Airbus A330-900neo instead of a 767-400 and this brings both good and bad news.
The good news is that the A330 offers Delta’s best Business Class seat (the Delta One Suite) which the 767-400 does not have, it offers 8 more Premium Economy seats than the smaller aircraft, and it offers twice the number of Delta Comfort+ seats than the 767 (58 seats).
The bad news is that the Airbus offers 5 fewer Business Class seats than the Boeing and that’s not good for those of us hoping to snap up good value award seats.
From 6 May 2024, this route will go back to offering three daily flights for the first time since 2017 and as things stand, the planned schedule from that date looks like this on most days:
DL30 ATL 17:00 – 06:25+1 day LHR (Daily 767-400 service)
DL32 ATL 21:40 – 11:10+1 day LHR (Daily A330-900neo service)
DL36 ATL 23:59 – 13:30+1 day LHR (Daily 767-400 service)
DL31 LHR 11:35 – 16:00 ATL (Daily 767-400 service)
DL33 LHR 13:55 – 18:20 ATL (Daily A330-900neo service)
DL37 LHR 15:55 – 20:25 ATL (Daily 767-400 service)
That’s a significant increase in capacity and interestingly, this doesn’t appear to be a seasonal move because right now, the schedules show Delta operating the Atlanta – London route with three daily flights into 2025.
Delta’s 767-400
Delta’s 767-400s were refreshed in 2019 so although some of these aircraft have been around since dinosaurs rules the world, their interiors are relatively new.
Business Class cabin
The 767-400s don’t have the popular Delta One suite in their Business Class cabin and instead, they’re equipped with the Thompson Vantage seat that looks like this:
These aren’t hugely different from the seats that they replaced (see below), but I’m told that in the upright position, they’re more comfortable.
The newer Business Class seats offer noticeably more privacy courtesy of a screen that has been introduced, the IFE screen and content have been improved, and the seats also offer a more meaningful divider between the center seats as well as a little more storage, so on those counts, the newer seat is an improvement.
Where this Business Class seat has issues, however, is in the footwell, and this is where Delta hasn’t improved on the seat that it replaced.
In simple terms, the seat’s footwell is too narrow and while when a passenger is seated upright this isn’t really an issue, when it comes to lying flat it’s hard to find enough room in the footwell to get comfortable.
For that reason alone, Business Class passengers on this route would be wise to try and book the A330 if their schedules allow.
Premium Economy cabin
The Premium Economy seats in Delta’s 767-400s are set out in a 2-2-2 layout but, other than that, they are pretty much identical to the Premium economy seats you’ll find on Delta’s A350’s and A330s.
All seats come with a retractable leg/footrest, two USB ports, and a power outlet (shared) and the seats themselves are 19″ wide with 38″ of legroom and 7″ of recline.
Bottom line
Starting from 6 May 2024, Delta will offer a 3x/day service between Atlanta and London for the first time since 2017. The third daily flight will be operated by a Boeing 767-400 aircraft, but with one of the other daily flights being upgraded to an Airbus A330-900neo, that will be the aircraft to book for passengers flying in Business Class.
Where is this extra slot coming from? Did they buy it or lease it?
I don’t know, but I suspect Delta already had this slot and was using it on another route.
OK, well it looks like Delta is cancelling their LHR-LAX flight to fund their 3rd ATL-LHR.