There is one other thing I haven’t done in a very long time is fly to TPA. I know I’m getting old now. The last time I flew to TPA was on Valujet
Guess I dodged a bullet flying them down there and still living. Going down would be much safer this time around on a nearly brand new Delta A321.Once I got my parents and my stuff loaded in my car we headed for Hartsfield around 5:15 and parking about an hour later. Thankfully my TSA Precheck yielded the same for them. That's nice to not have the hassle when getting them through. I don’t have any photos from inside the airport since the concourse windows were all blocked up with renovations. I didn’t have a ton of time anyway. It was easy enough to get my parents to the gate and hang in concourse A. Today we were leaving from A12
Delta Air Lines Flight 2607
ATL-TPA
Depart ATL – 8:15 am (was actually 8:13)
Arrive TPA – 9:33 am (was actually 9:29)
Airbus A321
N303DN
Before 2017 I had never flown on an Airbus A321. Now with this trip I was logging my 5th flight on one just this year. I do enjoy the aircraft. It’s just a shame to see it replace the 757. I’m rambling.
I booked us all back in Peasantville in row 31. I will say even as a rather tall individual and generally bigger guy I find Delta’s A321s quite comfortable.
I had a nice view of a domestic 767. N144DA had just come in from Anchorage. I can’t remember if it was doing the Atlanta-San Diego run or Atlanta-Salt Lake City-Honolulu. I think that’s all the domestic 767s do these days.
People just kept cruising in. It was a 100% full flight.
Pushing at 8:13 I noticed the flight attendant giving the safety briefing kept calling the plane a “3-2-1 aircraft.” I mean, I guess she wasn’t wrong. “3-2-1 aircraft” would be something I would say, though, if I found a lamp with a genie in it rather than referencing a lengthened Airbus A320.
https://youtu.be/fZ8ZVlRJlwU
We taxied out to runway 27R for a pretty dull takeoff roll. It was a nice day for flying and yielded some great views, though.
We didn’t get very high, only up to 24,000 feet. The air was quite rough all the way down and enough to the point the only cabin service we got was a round of water. Really the way the air was I’m surprised they could even do that, or at the very least that we didn’t have any spills. I declined it just for that reason. On such a long flight though I could feel scurvy setting in with no snacks (and if that doesn’t set off your sarcasm detector nothing will).
Passing over TLH. Once we got over the Gulf of Mexico there wasn’t much to see.
Descending seemed so last-minute before I remembered we were only at 24,000 feet. At 9:12 we started our way down to runway 19R.
Seeing land for the first time in a little while.
It was a decent day in Tampa, though not as nice as what I left in Atlanta.
https://youtu.be/Sobn62UUkS8
There’s a nice 4k video of landing.
On the way to gate E62. N311DN was turning to Atlanta as well.
N303DN about to turn to Atlanta as well.
On the train back to the main terminal there was a decent view of our aircraft. If I was quicker on the trigger the photo would have been better.
From there it was a couple days of celebrating with family. Actually I ended up back at TPA later Saturday night to pick my brother up since he had to work Saturday morning.
I even got a photo of his A319 landing as I was driving over the Tampa Bay. He flew down on Spirit. Poor guy.
I didn’t really take any photos in Clearwater where we stayed. I probably should have. Monday morning we all flew back together as a family. That hasn’t happened since 2005. It’s been a while. We were back on Southwest. It would have been on Delta, but a schedule change after tickets were booked screwed that up. It was cheaper to buy a one-way ticket on Southwest than it was to pay $1000 to change us all.
Our flight was very early. Not my preference to go quite that earlier, but better that than the evening.
We were up and out of our hotel at 3:45 since we needed some time to drop a car off.
Not much was happening in the terminal at this early hour.
I mean early.
Southwest Airlines Flight 223
TPA-ATL
Depart TPA – 5:55 am (was actually 5:53)
Arrive ATL – 7:20 am (was actually 7:07)
Boeing 737-700
N716SW
Somehow everyone boarded in less than 30 minutes. I guess it was too early for people to be stupid.
My family all grabbed the exit row. I took the window behind them. It ended up working out. The seat next to me was empty. After heading to runway 19R we took off with some nice turns and views of the Tampa Bay area as we headed up to 40,000 feet.
Sunrise was nice.
Nothing to speak of. No rough air and no cabin service either. I just looked out the window and watched the world go by. We turned and cruised past the airport coming in to runway 27L.
https://youtu.be/AP_biTotRjU
And in to gate C21.
Good flights. Very short, but always better than driving. Thanks for reading
