From: carol
Date: 9/26/2013 1:45:32 PM
Subject: west coast Delta Shuttle
See pictures and read more on how the west coast
Delta Shuttle is working out for flyers ...
Earlier
this month, Delta launched a west coast Delta Shuttle
operation between LA and San Francisco with hourly service and a few *gasp* frills.
Delta had already built up significant service in the market, but it wasn’t
attracting its share of business travelers. The Shuttle was meant to change
that. I was invited to try out the new operation, and I did a quick roundtrip
on Monday. I think Delta has done a really nice job here, but I do wonder if it
will sway the business traveler.
Disclaimer:
Delta provided the flights for free.
When I
originally received my tickets, they were in First Class both ways. I wasn’t
happy about that so I asked to be put in coach at least one way so I could
experience it. Delta agreed, and put me in coach on the return.
I was
determined to try out every part of this service, including the piece about a
dedicated check-in counter with a mere 30 minute check-in cutoff. For that
reason, I left home a mere 1.5 hours before departure and sat in terrible
traffic all the way to LAX. Traffic was even worse inside the airport. (This is
why I fly out of Long Beach anytime I can.)
Since
I was only going to be gone for a few hours, I parked in the $29 a day short
term lot and got into the terminal 35 minutes before departure.
The
dedicated counter was easily visible (and it appears to share agents with
Delta’s premium SkyPriority line), though the signage seemed pretty goofy to
me. Most people don’t care if they’re on the Shuttle. They know they’re going
to San Francisco. So the destination should be in a big font while Shuttle
should be smaller. This isn’t the east coast where the Shuttle name means
something.
I
walked up and a friendly agent asked if I needed a boarding pass. She pointed
me to an open kiosk and my pass popped right out. There I saw the magic words.
I would be able to use Pre Check for the first time. I headed up to security
and then was shown to the Pre Check line. It was glorious. Remember flying in
the 1990s? That’s what this is like. Belt on, shoes on, laptop in bag, liquids
in bag…. It’s amazing what that can do to the whole feel of the trip.
Once
through security, the gate was right there on the left. (Another promise of the
Shuttle is that close-in gates will be used.) Despite cutting it close, I was
there with 25 minutes to spare and boarding hadn’t even started.
Nice............................
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