The flight from the LA area to Las Vegas is one of my favorites! With All area airports having direct flights to Las Vegas, airfare is ALWAYS Cheap, the competition is steep, and the
flight is never more than 1 hour, with ground time! On an average week, 7 days before departure airfare can be found for a mere $45 one way! Some week deals can be found for a as little as $39 on JetBlue from Long Beach. However either way there are plenty of seats and a plethora of options on the LA to Vegas route!
Normally I fly JetBlue (B6) from Long Beach to Vegas. I choose them because B6 is normally the least expensive, LGB is only a few miles from my house, I can park my motorcycle across the street from the airport for free for the weekend, and being such a small airport I can arrive 45mins before my flight and not feel rushed to make my plane! However this time I decided to fly Delta out of LAX for it was the same price as B6, gave me an excuse to use my Sky Club membership one last time before it expired, and would allow me to test Delta’s in-fight service on such a short flight.
For this flight I checked in via my Delta mobile application and used my mobile boarding pass to board the plane. This not only saved me time, but allowed me to skip Delta’s crowded lobby at the airport. Security was a breeze and with access to the sky priority line I had no problem making it through security in less than 10 minutes. My upgrade had cleared six days before departure, so i was happily confirmed in first class for this short little flight.
Before my flight I checked out the LAX Sky Club on last time–a true disappointment–and then about 15 minutes prior to departure I headed to my gate. Upon arriving they had just announced Pre-boarding for 1st class so I happily boarded the plane. My carry on was to big, so I had to gate check it, but this was expected for the plane was a CRJ-900.
Boarding was efficient and the flight attendants were very friendly and punctual and offered all 12 passengers in first class a preflight drink. I ordered my regular delta drink of a Jack and Diet and the FA actually carded me! I laughed, not because I am old (25), but because I had never in my life been ID on a plane! Soon after drinks arrived and within a few minutes boarding was completed, drink cups were collected and we were on our way to Vegas.
Once airborne, we circled around LA, above the water ascending in a spiral flight pattern looping back over LAX and headed east towards Vegas. Airtime for this flight was just a short 39 minutes and shortly after takeoff the FA welcomed everyone on board and announced there would be no in-flight service due to the short flight time, but said they were willing to accommodate any special requests. However at the same time the other FA was up and quickly filling drink requests for the passengers in first class.
Drinks were in the standard Delta china and as satisfying as ever. Once all drink requests were filled, the standard snack basket was passed through the first class cabin with Sun Chips, apples, Twix, Toblerone chocolate, peanuts, etc. About 10 minutes later the FA came through the cabin again refilling drinks! I was shocked to have my cup refilled twice on such a short flight, but I wasn’t going to complain because I was getting in my groove for Vegas!
Overall this was a great flight and I would recommend it if you have elite status with the airline. Tuesday morning on the return trip from Vegas I was also upgraded and there were actually 3 seats left empty in first class! Even if you were Silver Elite you would have been upgraded (rare these days)! However I would say I was shocked that Delta did not offer any drink or snack service in Coach.
I understand it’s a short flight, but JetBlue not only offers free direct TV and Sirius XM radio in every seat, they also offer an express drink and snack service on LA to Vegas flights (Meaning a choice of 3 drinks and 2 snack options). Not to mention it’s 3 FA serving an Entire A320 vs 2 on Delta serving a tiny CRJ!
