Flight Review: Delta Air Lines First Class New York (JFK) – Phoenix
One of the charms of leaving from Terminal 2 at John F. Kennedy International Airport is that it is faster to get from curbside to a relaxing seat in the lounge, in this case the recently renovated Delta Sky Club, than anywhere else.
On a sunny winter afternoon, I arrived at Terminal 2 well ahead of schedule thanks to a dearth of traffic and therefore had time to visit the Delta Sky Club prior to my flight. The terminal – formerly used by Pan Am and the oldest now at JFK – was built in 1962 for Northwest Airlines, Braniff International, and Northeast Airlines. It was taken over by Pan Am after Northeast Airlines, a major U.S. carrier based in Boston, merged with Delta and Braniff shut down.
It took exactly four minutes to clear security at the PreCheck checkpoint and walk over to the elevator that leads to the Sky Club. Once boarding started, I headed to the gate.
SkyPriority Check-in Desks at Terminal 2
BOARDING
Delta invites its first-class passengers to board first and boarding was just about to start as I walked over so I was the first on the aircraft, a refurbished Boeing 757 (757 OW in Delta parlance). Indeed, the gate agents apparently didn’t tell the cabin crew that boarding was in progress because they seemed a bit surprised that a passenger was coming their way.
Regardless, both of the flight attendants working up front were gracious and immediately began directing passengers to their seats, hanging up the heavy winter coats people were wearing given the sub-freezing temperatures in New York.
I was settling in my usual seat, 1A, when Chad, the flight leader (equivalent to purser on a narrow-body domestic flight), offered a choice of pre-departure beverages. I sat back and enjoyed my pre-departure ginger ale as we readied for departure.
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