Review: Delta Regional First Class – Sacramento to Los Angeles

Sacramento Parking Garage level 3

I arrived to the Sacramento Metro Field airport early on a chilly New Year’s Eve day and parked in the airports only parking garage.

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Review: Delta Domestic First Class – Minneapolis to Sacramento

Delta 5775
Sacramento (SMF) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Thursday, December 31st
Departure Time: 6:00AM
Arrival Time: 7:30AM
Flight Time: 1hr30min
Aircraft: Embraer 175 (E170L)
Seat: 3A, Regional First Class

Terminal A is the older of the 2 SMF terminals and is home to the major 3 legacy airlines, American, Delta, United and newer JetBlue.

The main walkway into terminal A

SMF is really an easy airport to navigate and since there are zero lounges in either terminal there is little reason to arrive early. With TSA Pre Approved you can typically go from the parking garage to the gate in about 15 minutes.  I made my way through the TSA security line and into the terminal. The flight was leaving gate 10A and the terminal was busy, but not crazy for the holiday travel.

Gate 10A with a couple people waiting to board

SMF TSA Line

Delta with the help of SkyWest or Compass operates 5 nonstop flights on regional jets into LAX from SMF. Recently they have started using a Delta operated MD80 for this route, but again the majority of the time it is a regional. The regional jet receives a lot of flak from frequent flyers, but I have always liked the first class product on Delta’s regionals. The first class cabin is configured in a 1- 2 seat layout with the single side row fairly private.

Delta Embraer 175 configuration

The flight was scheduled to board at 5:30, but the boarding process was delayed to about 5:50. I made my way down the jet bridge and into the E170L first class section to seat 3A. On my way in I was greeted “Hello” by a friendly FA. After a few minutes she made her way to my seat, offered to hang my jacket and asked if I wanted something to drink. I’m always impressed by Delta’s attention to the pre-departure beverage and coat hanging service, even on a short regional flight in a small plane.

Embraer 175 FC cabin

Leg Room for seat 3A

The cabin was older and in pretty pronounced wear. Even so, every seat had Delta’s small domestic pillow and red blanket. I’m use to “pink” tagging a carryon bag with these smaller jets but the 175 had ample room in the right hand side for a roll aboard. It was also equipped with GOGO Wi-Fi.

After the plane had been completely boarded the captain came on the PA and apologized for the delay. He indicated that it was cold for Sacramento and that we would be de-icing the plane before takeoff. In over 20 years of flying in and out of SMF I’ve never seen that before.

Cold day for flying out of SMF

After de-icing we were cleared for takeoff. As we climbed out of Sacramento and we and reached 10,000ft. I hopped on the GOGO Wi-Fi and checked a couple items on my cell phone. The service worked well. I’ve had the monthly all you can eat GOGO plan for a couple years now, and appreciate being able to use the service at will.

As we progressed down to LAX the Sierra Mountains slowly became illuminated by the rising sun. It was glorious. I was tired from rising early that morning and as I watched the light show I fell asleep until we were close to landing at LAX.

Sunrise over the Sierra Nevada Mountains

After landing it took about 15 minutes to reach our gate. The captain had made up some time flying in route, but overall we were about 30 minutes late for the gate arrival.

In summary

Delta is very good with their domestic product. This is true of even feeder flights on smaller aircraft like the Embraer 175. On this particular flight the cabin looked a little worn, and we were 30 minutes delayed for our arrival. Regardless, the crews from the captain to the FAs were professional and attentive. This flight was in line with Delta’s better than average regional service.