Friday I woke up quite early for my flight (at 3:30) and arrived at ATL just after 5 am
Apparently 2017 for me is “fly on all the aircraft you flew in 2009 again” year for me. My flight this morning was operated by N685DA, the same 757 that took me to San Francisco way back in 2009.
Delta’s domestic check in area was pretty quiet at this point in the day
As was the international side of stuff.
Back in domestic land at concourse A N685DA was ready to go from gate A20.
And N695DL next to us heading to FLL (and without one canoe).
Delta Air Lines Flight 1070
ATL-DTW
Depart ATL – 7:25 am (was actually 7:25)
Arrive DTW – 9:18 am (was actually 9:10)
Boeing 757-200
N685DA
We started boarding at 6:49 and despite that we somehow got everyone on and ready to go on time (and this was a 100% full flight). Despite being in zone 1 I’m not a huge fan of Delta’s zone systems. Everyone wants to feel special, but unfortunately it’s so inefficient. Then again I’m also confounded how long it takes people to board a plane. I boarded with zone 1 (again because I’m special) and took my seat in 32A.
Wing looks like it’s seen better days. It definitely didn’t look this bad in 2009 and it was still in Deltaflot colors at the time. Also check out 695 and that missing canoe
Some nice PTVs on the 75D configuration, but all blank. Hmm…
We pushed right on time at 7:25 and were treated to a live safety demo and informed the AVOD system wasn’t working. Actually the last time I flew on N685DA it had issues with the entertainment system too, though it was in the old ex-Song 75X layout. That time it was reset and came back up. No such luck on this one, so no TV for me.
We headed over to runway 26L for probably the most un-757 takeoff I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t slammed back against my seat. Heck it took what seemed like forever with the nose lifted up before we actually even got in the air.
https://youtu.be/QbuzkcHh33k
There’s your video for reference. Kind of disappointing.
Turning to the north under some clouds.
We took it up to 39,000 for a very uneventful flight. Unfortunately with clouds there wasn’t a whole lot to see on the ground. Cabin service came through at 7:50, but sadly I didn’t get any because the flight attendant became distracted the passenger behind me being impatient. I’m not one to raise a stink, so I just dealt with it.
Passing by DTW for landing on runway 21L
https://youtu.be/9_piYc_KU9I
Video of landing
I didn’t have a ton of time to screw around unfortunately because my cousin’s flight from IAD was only about 15 minutes behind me, but he was on United so I had to make it to the north terminal. Thankfully I came in at A38 right at midpoint.
N685DA about to turn to LAX.
I forgot how nice this terminal was.
N674US going to NRT. Was nice to see some metal that I don’t get at home.
From there my cousin and I met up and explored the Detroit area in the two days leading up to the race.
The Henry Ford Museum. Pretty hefty price tag, but once we say how long it took us to get through it all it wasn’t so bad.
When you see an A330 coming in you don’t just ignore it.
Or when you see N995AT which carried you STL-MKE many moons ago.
Walking by Comerica Park on Saturday afternoon.
Some Detroit-style deep dish pizza. It’s not as good as Chicago but it was quite good.
Finally came race day. Thankfully weather wasn’t an issue. We were a little afraid with the forecast being what it was and our flights being scheduled for Monday morning.
Time to go home came all too quickly. We arrived at DTW just after 8:15 for a 10:30 flight. For him flying back to Dulles would have meant flying direct on United much later in the day or connecting in ATL with me on Southwest. He chose to fly with me, so we got to have a little more fun before we parted.
There was no TSA line to speak of or much a crowd in the terminal either. This was my first time setting foot in the north terminal here. It’s pretty nice, but not near as nice as Delta’s sweet hookup. There were just a couple Spirit flights and an RJ or two for American, not much to speak of on the whole.
We wandered down to the north end of the concourse for a pretty good view of runway 22L and landings on 22R.
Our aircraft came in around 9:45 from Baltimore. Today it was N8314L, a 737-800 delivered in 2012. I’ve never flown an 800 with Southwest. I guess since the 737-500s got retired that now gives me a flight on every type in the fleet. The closest I get to a fleet bingo otherwise is with Delta missing only 4 (although soon to be 3 knocking out the Airbus A321 very soon). Ramble over.
Southwest Airlines Flight 450
DTW-ATL
Depart DTW – 10:30 am (was actually 10:28)
Arrive ATL – 12:25 pm (was actually 12:13)
Boeing 737-800
N8314L
Looking forward in the new interior. Boarding this plane took quite a while since it holds 175 people.
The view was ok though.
After we pushed back for runway 22L something caught me by surprise. Sitting across the way was N8027D, the A319 that carried me to Dallas in order to catch a 787 flight a few years back. It was going to Miami.
https://youtu.be/rT6b4YN2HI8
There’s a video to takeoff from 22L. I’ve had better but I’ve had worse.
Some views of the southern Detroit area making our way south. Actually our routing was not what I was expecting. After takeoff we pointed the nose east/northeast almost directly toward New York. The route I had seen originally had us going south over IND and SDF and that direction. The best I could figure was that since Atlanta was landing from the east that we were heading that direction for an easier arrival. Turned out to be right.
Heading east over Lake Erie
Cleveland as seen from above.
Life is nice at 31,000 feet.
With a round of cabin service you have to watch The Price Is Right don’t you?
Not much to see on the whole because of cloud cover. Air got rough and we climbed to 32,000 over West Virginia. We started descending to ATL 11:44.
Buford Dam
A part of Snellville, my hometown and my house in the extreme bottom left.
https://youtu.be/eL_QwguPWyM
To my surprise we landed on 27L. Given the direction we were coming from that means a landing on 26R probably 90% or more of the time. Kind of fun and a little unusual I guess. We took it to gate C5. Where there were huge renovations going on that were new to me even since March.
My cousin had a 3 hour layover before his IAD flight during which time we were going to get some lunch and just generally hang out. Unfortunately this didn’t happen. When we switched our phones out of airplane mode he got an email saying his Dulles flight was canceled because of weather. That being the case we hurried off our plane and went to talk to customer service. His flight to IAD was the last flight up there until the next day. Thankfully he was being picked up by someone and not parked at IAD and there was one seat left on the next flight to DCA that left in just under 30 minutes. He was booked there and we made our way to C16 where boarding was already under way.
We said our goodbyes and he stepped on to N243WN for the hour and a half flight to Washington-Reagan.
As soon as he pushed back and took off from 27R I went to the main terminal, got my car, and went home.
He and I always have fun on our Nascar trips. It’s a tradition we want to always keep alive. DTW is a great airport. I must admit this most recent flight with Delta left a little to be desired, but I will assume that was a one off. Good stuff on Southwest. I’m flying to BOS in just a couple days, so plenty more on the horizon for me. Thanks for reading
