If there’s one thing we love better than travel, it’s luxury travel. Since the inception of lie flat beds, we fully believe this is the best way to travel long haul, especially if you can get a great deal (or even go free with your loyalty points).
We’re always excited to hear another airline has added this perk to its flights, and particularly when it’s on a brand new route too. So, imagine our joy when we heard the news today about Delta and their new lie flat service from Detroit direct to Hawaii, landing at Honolulu.
What can we expect from the new Delta Detroit to Honolulu route?
The route will run from Detroit (DTW) to Honolulu (HNL) from June 29th, 2019. It is going to be served by a Boeing 767-300ER, which will seat 225 passengers. 171 of these are economy, 29 are Delta Comfort+, and for a lucky 25 the business class seats are going to be completely lie flat with direct aisle access.
Business class, or Delta One as the carrier prefers to call it, feature Thompson Vantage flat-bed seats which are renowned for being pretty darn comfortable. They’re not the best for very tall or broad people, and on this particular flight they look a bit squished, but hey, you’re lying down while you jet off to a tropical paradise!
The route is planned to run to the following schedule:
- Delta Detroit to Honolulu: Depart 12:00pm, arrive 3:43pm
- Delta Honolulu to Detroit: Depart 3:15pm, arrive 6:10am (+1 day)
Flying times differ on the outbound to the inbound route, which suggests the 767-300ER will only be operating in one direction. Or perhaps they plan to take the scenic route home?
You can’t book the route yet, but will be able to from September 29th, 2018. Awards availability are likely to be low value, seeing as Delta like to charge a billion SkyMiles for each award. But with fierce competition on these types of routes, you’re likely to find some pretty reasonable offers for first class travel from Detroit direct to Hawaii.
The best airport in North America
Although they are an Atlanta based airline, Delta have a deep love for the more northerly airport at Detroit. CEO of Delta, Ed Bastian, had this to say:
“I consider the Detroit airport to be the best airport in North America. The opportunities we have to grow are going to be global. There’s not many more places in the United States to figure out to fly from Detroit. Internationally, there's a lot of new opportunities for our future. Detroit will be a part of that.”
Delta has been gradually expanding services from Detroit Metropolitan, which is the second busiest hub for the airline. From Detroit currently, there are 455 flights a day, supplying routes to 127 destinations globally. Soon, there will be one more.
The Delta boss has said the carrier plans to expand its service to London’s Heathrow airport from Detroit next year too, with a twice daily service planned to start in May next year. They are also introducing a nonstop to San Jose from November this year.
The fifth longest flight from Honolulu
It’s a pretty long flight by American standards, with between nine and 10 hours on board time. However, it’s not the longest connection from mainland US to the island state by far.
The Delta Honolulu to Detroit route covers 4,475 miles, making it the fifth longest connection to Hawaii in the US. The longest route, when it launches, will be the Boston to Honolulu route from Hawaiian Airlines, planned to start next April at 5,095.
Other long haul connections include Hawaiian’s New York nonstop at 4,983 miles, United Airlines Washington service at 4,817 miles and Delta’s flights from Atlanta at 4,502 miles.