Atlanta, an A350 and a Granola Bar: Transcon to DC via DL hubs

[RedEyeflight]

Hello esteemed SQTalkers,

It has been a while since I last posted here. Unfortunately, my previous trip reports have been missing some photos partly because I've changed my settings on my Flickr account. But, moving forward, I will be headed to Washington DC from my base here in Los Angeles in two weeks time. I thought of posting a quick trip report on my domestic transcontinental travel on... Delta Air Lines. I know domestic flights are nothing to shout about in the US (especially in Y) but I figure it might add to the diversity of non-SQ reports in this forum. Plus, it might be of interest to document my experience transiting through Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, DL's mother hub and the world's busiest airport. I've never been to ATL, and I am looking forward to seeing what it's like. So, this will be a nice quick report with some photographs for your enjoyment. My itinerary in Y is as follows:

1) LAX-ATL-IAD
2) DCA-DTW-LAX
(all on DL)

[RedEyeflight]

Things start at 5am. I call an Uber from my apartment in West Los Angeles and I am at LAX in a mere 15 minutes. LAX is split into 8 terminals, with DL operating from Terminal 3. LAX is busy, messy, and cathartic as always.



The check-in hall is extremely crowded with lines forming for baggage drop from the outside.



My journey starts with printing my boarding passes. As is customary when flying Y domestically, everything is done via automated kiosk.



Next I am through security fuss-free. Boarding gate for today's flight is 123, which is actually located at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). I am initially confused but then I follow signs that take me to a shuttle bus to get to TBIT. This necessitates walking onto the ramp which enabled me to get a shot of this B764.



Aircraft to ATL is an A350 registered as N513DZ delivered brand new in 2019. This aircraft had just arrived from SYD which is probably why we're at TBIT today. DL international flights arrive at TBIT to complete customs formalities.

[RedEyeflight]

Not much is open at this time of the morning except a Pret Manger where I grab a sandwich...



Soon I make my way to the gate as the terminal starts to wake up...



Aircraft being prepared...



Boarding commences around 45 minutes prior to departure. In comparison to the boarding process in SIN, announcements are often curt and utilitarian. Welcome to the US airline industry where competition is brutal (although there has been much consolidation in recent years).

I soon find my way to my seat 45G.



Legroom is decent for this 3 hour and 17 minute flight. Frankly, I wouldn't mind these seats for a long-haul journey. Only thing is my seat neighbor is rather brawny and a serious man-spreader.

[RedEyeflight]

Empty seat neighbors





Two power sockets are shared among the three passengers in each row.



Ear pieces are given out free of charge...



We are soon airborne when I start checking out the IFE. DL has this cool page that displays the ship number you're flying on...

[RedEyeflight]

IFE is quite extensive, although I didn't find anything I was terribly interested in watching...



Beverage service commences and I choose a glass of water and a granola bar, hence the name of the TR...



I visit the washrooms. They are mostly clean and tidy, and sleek.





Soon we are halfway through the flight. Our flight path over the southern US.



The crew then come around for another beverage service 1 hour before landing. This time I choose a pack of almonds...

[RedEyeflight]

We arrive into ATL just after the airport had been rained on by thunderstorms. My connecting flight to IAD is delayed by 2.5 hours and there are long lines that form at the customer assistance desks. Our arrival gate is in the E-concourse.

ATL is a very functional and nondescript airport. Its modest architecture belies the fact that it is the world's busiest airport...



My next flight would depart from the B-concourse so I thought I'd head there first. This necessitates taking the Plane Train, an underground people mover. The system mainly uses Bombardier APMs that were used on the older system of Changi's Skytrain.



System runs completely underground...





DL-land

[RedEyeflight]

FIDS at ATL.



Departure time is pushed back again to 8pm, we are now running three hours late. At about 7pm, after a meal of take-out American Chinese food (cue steamed rice, sesame chicken and mixed vegetables), I make my way to the gate where the plane finally arrives from CVG.



N354NW being readied. This A320 was delivered to Northwest Airlines in 1998 and then transferred to DL in 2009.


Seat pitch is tight on this narrow-body. Thankfully it is a short flight of 1 hour and 9 minutes.



The flight was so bumpy that there was no time for any service. At this point, I just wanted to get to IAD. We eventually arrive into an empty and deserted IAD. I catch the AeroTrain, another underground people mover, to the main terminal.



I soon find my way to the ride app pick-up point. I had initially wanted to try out the new Silver Line extension on the DC Metro into the city, but given how late it was, I was just in a hurry to get to my hotel in Dupont Circle. After several cancellations, I finally found an Uber driver willing to take me into DC. He asked me if I had waited a while and I complained about my inability to find a driver. He told me that many drivers refuse to go into town if the price was too cheap, in his words.

[RedEyeflight]

Oakwood Suites and Studios by Dupont Circle



As this is Cherry Blossom season in DC, after meetings, I head down to the National Mall to see them in full bloom.











The Cherry Blossoms were originally a gift from Japan in the 1910s.





The flowers line the tidal pool.



They were also to be found next to the Washington Monument.

[RedEyeflight]

My trip to DC soon came to a close and I would make my way back to the West Coast.

Stroll along P Street, near Dupont Circle.



Before leaving, I did have a chance to sample some of the local restaurant scene. Local DC food is essentially Southern in orientation so it includes many fried dishes, which I was not keen on having. I did visit a Japanese fusion place near the hotel that had been recommended.

Octopus balls at Rakuya (19th St)...



Shrimp and avocado rolls...



Lebanese fried rice at Unconventional Diner in Mt Vernon Square for brunch...



La Colombe coffee roasters...





DC is home to a large diasporic Ethiopian community. I chanced upon this mom and pop restaurant. Pictured below is a Sambusa, which is a Samosa filled with lentils.



I tried this white fish dish. Fish was tangy and quite peppery. Sadly, most of the meal was this side salad.

[RedEyeflight]

Had some time to kill before my flight back to LA, so I elected to visit the National Gallery of Art. Sadly, I did not act quickly enough to secure a timed-pass for the National African American Museum, which is very popular.

The National Gallery is free and boasts quite a large section of European art.





Van Gogh's self portrait...



Portrait of Ginerva Benci, the only Da Vinci piece in the Western Hemisphere...



I used the DC Metro to get around on my last day. All underground stations boast this iconic vaulted architecture.

[RedEyeflight]

My flight back would take my via Detroit with an evening departure at 6pm. I take the Metro from the city center to DCA. In only 15 minutes, I am at the airport. DCA is a much more convenient airport than IAD, with the latter being located significantly further away from the city. DCA is a domestic airport with some Air Canada flights that make use of US customs pre-clearance facilities at major Canadian airports. This is my second time using the airport since 2017, when I flew in on AC from YUL.

After printing my boarding passes, I head straight through security, which I can only describe as being slightly messy. 20 minutes later, I am airside.

The airport's famous roof designed by architect Cesar Pelli.



Our short hop to DTW would be operated by N326NB, an A319 delivered to NW in 2001 and transferred to DL in 2009.



Seat pitch was again tight for this 1 hour and 13 minute flight...





Another bumpy flight resulting in no service. We land in DTW just before 8pm.

First impressions of the terminal, typical Midwestern architecture. Functional but pleasing to the eye...

[RedEyeflight]

With 3 hours to burn, I head to a Japanese restaurant to have dinner and unwind. I spend most of time there.

I order this Chicken Teriyaki dish, which is not bad.



My waiter kindly allows me to charge my phone at the restaurant. I am a bit worried about the weather in DTW as reports were predicting stormy weather that night,

Once I'm done, I head straight to the gate. I take the Express Tram to bring me to the other side of the terminal. This cable-hauled people mover runs inside the terminal building.







Once at the gate, I am surprised that it is so empty. The gate agent simply calls all Y passengers to board as one group.

Aircraft for tonight's flight is an A321 with tail number N309DN delivered in 2016.



Aircraft is extremely empty and for a second I though it would be a light load to LAX... Flight time would be 4 hours and 40 minutes.





No inflight magazine on all the flights I've been on so far. Just a safety card and wifi information. Wifi is available free of charge for frequent flyer members...



Jus kidding, the flight instantly fills up with connecting passengers. We are told that we have to wait for another 56 transfer passengers from LGA who were delayed by weather. I move out of my window seat and back into my assigned place. Sigh, this will be another tight flight.



Eventually, we depart around 1 hour behind schedule. The flight is mostly uneventful and I watch Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation for the first 2 hours.
Service consists of snacks and a beverage with sandwiches for purchase.

Then I fall asleep and eventually wake up as we begin our descent into LAX.



We land at LAX 40 minutes behind schedule. Luckily, it is a short taxi and we are soon disembarking.

Irritatingly, a passenger in front of me is a professional wrestler who's carrying some golden belt that he won. As soon as he reaches the door, the flight attendants want to take a photo of the belt. And this delays me by a few minutes, but at 1.30am in the morning, such a minor inconvenience is incredibly annoying.

It is then a long-ish walk to ground transport. I take a shuttle bus to the Uber pick-up point as ride-app vehicles can only pick passengers up at a designated area.



My Uber driver quickly ferries me back to my apartment and I am home just before 2.30 in the morning.

[RedEyeflight]

FINAL THOUGHTS -

Well, my experience with DL was to be expected. I often find them to be the best of the US legacy carriers. Service was generally polite and efficient, and I've never encountered any rude FAs on DL before. Transfer experience is generally hassle-free and both ATL and DTW had ample eating establishments to fill the time. Setback IFE I feel is warranted on flights of this length and while UA and AA would have been cheaper, I am still not used to using my own device to stream entertainment. After this trip, however, I might give these other two options a try on a transcontinental flight as I don't really think DL is worth the slight premium just to have in-seat entertainment. There are other options like AS (via SFO) and B6 (via BOS), and these are also competitive products on routes across the US. In future, I might also pay more just to go non-stop to avoid the hassle of a layover (these flights were partially subsidised for me). While layover flights allow you to experience airports in middle America that few on this forum have probably been to, the ever-present delays that US airlines face, just make this a slightly more inconvenient endeavour. I also apologize for the lack of cabin shots and more extensive imagery on my trip. I try to photograph as discretely and carefully as possible, avoiding crew and other passengers, to be respectful of the security and privacy concerns on US carriers.

You might be asking when I will next fly SQ and write a real TR? That will likely be in either June or September on PEY or J from LAX to SIN. It could also include a short-haul ASEAN flight on SQ too. Till then, thanks for reading and hope to bring you more exciting content in future (though I hope there was something you found enjoyable in this TR)!

Cheers

[yflyer]

Great TR, RedEyeflight! I enjoyed reading it! I've only flown Delta once, but was quite impressed by the airline. I have a US-based friend who is a frequent flyer on Delta, and he loves them. They treat their frequent flyers very well, he says. Their A350 Y looks pretty decent (Though I wish I could turn back the clock and fly one of those old Delta Lockheed Tristars...).

Great pics of cherry blossoms in DC!

When I saw your pic of Claude Monet's Water Lilies, I thought that I had seen that pic before!

But after some Googling, I realized that the one I saw was a different painting of Claude Monet's water lilies, in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. I learned that Monet actually painted many pictures of water lilies (250!) and the Japanese bridge, which was actually the scene in his back garden at his home in Giverny, France. All that from Google and Wikipedia. Amazing what you can learn from a few mouse clicks these days.

Thanks again for sharing this TR!

[RedEyeflight]

Great TR, RedEyeflight! I enjoyed reading it! I've only flown Delta once, but was quite impressed by the airline. I have a US-based friend who is a frequent flyer on Delta, and he loves them. They treat their frequent flyers very well, he says. Their A350 Y looks pretty decent (Though I wish I could turn back the clock and fly one of those old Delta Lockheed Tristars...).

Great pics of cherry blossoms in DC!

When I saw your pic of Claude Monet's Water Lilies, I thought that I had seen that pic before!



But after some Googling, I realized that the one I saw was a different painting of Claude Monet's water lilies, in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. I learned that Monet actually painted many pictures of water lilies (250!) and the Japanese bridge, which was actually the scene in his back garden at his home in Giverny, France. All that from Google and Wikipedia. Amazing what you can learn from a few mouse clicks these days.

Thanks again for sharing this TR!

Thank you so much yflyer! I have been tempted to join Delta's SkyMiles before as I've frequented the LAX-SFO sector these past few months. Just never got around to it. Glad you enjoyed the TR and that you were able to find all that information on Monet and recognize the painting. The one in DC is The Water-Lily Pond, painted in 1899. Looking forward to your eating trip through Spain and Madrid! (which is also one of my favourite cities in Europe!)