LPDAL

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Routing for this trip to visit my brother.
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Delta First Class, BusinessElite-equipped 767-300, 757-200, MD-90, Boeing Sky Interior 737-900ER, Sarasota - Bradenton International Airport, SRQ, Sarasota, Florida, Delta Sky Club, The Club at ATL, United Club, and American Airlines Admirals Club.

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FOREWORD
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Two weeks ago, my brother called up my mom in a distress similar to what you'd hear from an EPIRB squawking a distress signal, only it was a 22-year-old college kid, not a vessel (or airplane ) in a state of stress. My brother had been completely overwhelmed by the rigorous coursework of his university classes, and also the responsibilities of being a full-time student while trying to maintain a part time job and keeping his shared house clean. Because of little available dorm space, a local Realtor decided to buy up a massive cache of working-class-neighborhood housing and rent it to current college students at (somewhat) affordable rates per month.

I guess I haven't really written about why I'm going to SRQ, why I am backtracking from ATL, and why I listed BusinessElite seating in the cover of this trip report. The first answer is....because I had desired to visit SRQ for a long time, but never had the available resources for quite awhile. My brother began at Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida in late summer/early fall 2012, long before I had became employed at my own first part time job. Needless to say, my parents and I have returned to Sarasota multiple times to visit my brother and enjoy the unique beaches that this side of Florida has to offer.

My family usually decides to reside in the SRQ Marriott Courtyard, which, quite literally, is a stone's throw away from the airport. Thus, I've always gazed in awe at the sign outside the entrance proudly declaring, "SARASOTA - BRADENTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - srq" (the airport stylizes its logo as srq✈ in all-lowercase bold characters) and wanted to atleast be able to tour the pre-security facilities--and I did a few months back when we went back to the SRQ metro area to see my brother yet again. When my mom announced that me, my granny, and her were going to SRQ, that was the straw that broke the camel's back and I decided I had to go to SRQ before I no longer had any reason to!

Actually getting to Sarasota - Bradenton International Airport isn't as easy or cheap as it might seem. There are no IntraFloridian flights leading into the tiny strip, and service has been nothing but cut in the last few years as competition from nearby PGD, PIE, RSW, APF, and TPA tightens the ring. Going to the Wikipedia page for SRQ, you'll notice that most non-fortress hub service is either nonexistent or seasonal. Yes, for all intents and purposes, Sarasota pretty much is a very seasonal destination. Air Canada direct mainline service from all the way up in YYZ is set to resume November 1st, 2014, as of this writing. However, although I'd love to go on Air Canada, that simply wouldn't make any sense considering the length and purpose of this trip.


Competition is stiff between counties, county comissioners, airports, and Charlie Crist alike...

That said, I looked to the nearest airline hub not in Florida (MQ once ran MIA-SRQ-MIA on ERJ-145s, but the service has long since gone by the wayside), and seriously considered the "Peachy" capital of the South (no pun intended) : ATL! Since ATL was the closest hub that I could fly up from South Florida from, I decided to look at tickets on DL. While I would have loved to add some more FLL-ATL-FLL flights on FL, AirTran/Southwest/whatever was charging way too much--and I already have confirmed seats on the last AirTran flights on that turn anyway, so it didn't bother me too much.

What did bother me, however, was that when I used DL's booking system to search FLL-SRQ-FLL, the website kept spitting out an error message saying no flights were available. This happens to other interesting airports that I have wanted to try within the realm of Florida via ATL on DL, such as FLL-EYW-FLL (73G on a 4,000 foot runway?! Yes!!), and FLL-MCO-FLL (gotta love those domestic widebodies!). I finally managed to make Delta.dumb scrape together the itinerary I wanted by going to the multi-city search page and scribbling in FLL-ATL-SRQ-ATL-FLL. What I saw next was a complete shock!

Delta usually runs the mainline MD-88, MD-90, 717-200, 757-200/300, and the odd 767-300 domestic-configuration flight every once in awhile. However, the 1:50 FLL-ATL flight had a tiny blue bed icon--denoting that the equipment had BusinessElite seats??? No way, I thought, Delta would never use a Contour 763 on FLL-ATL!! And as always, as my heart pounded as the seat selection page loaded, I stumbled across the seat map and oh my gosh yes it was a Countour-equipped aircraft. Not only that, but I also snagged the last window seat available, 7A, and despite the nature of my itinerary, I'd be collecting four unique airplanes: N195DN, an internationally configured and winglet-equipped-767-300, N695DL, an IFE PTV and winglet equipped 757-200, N904DA, a McDonell Douglas MD-90 ( ))) ), and the final topping on this delectable aircraft ice cram sundae would be N820DN, a very, very young infant 737-900!
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*I've been sent a lot of questions on both Airliners.Net and Flyertalk asking if I make these custom trip report covers. The answer is yes, I do, and they are all made with love in GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program Stable Version 2.8, which is a great completely FREE open-source image editing program which I would argue is better and easier to use than Adobe Photoshop.
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LPDAL

KFLL (Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International AIrport) ✈ KATL (Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport / The William B Hartsfield / Municipal / Candler Field)

• Airline: Delta Air Lines
• Airline IATA Code: IATA Code # DL
• Airline IACO Code: IACO Code # DAL
• Airline Callsign: Radio Callsign DELTA
• Airline Flight Number: # DL 1827
• Aircraft / Equipment Used for Flight : Boeing 767-332(ER)(WL)
• Aircraft / Equipment Registration: Registration # N195DN
• Airline Aircraft / Equipment Fleet Number: # 195
• Aircraft / Equipment Nationality: United States of America - FAA - Registered A/C / Equipment
• Aircraft Manufacturer: The Boeing Company
• Aircraft's First Flight: September 24th, 1997
• Aircraft's Age as of Date of Flight: 17.1 years old as of Friday, October 10th, 2014
• Aircraft Test Registration: Test Registration N195DN
• Aircraft Config: C26W29Y171
• Total Number of Passenger Seats: 226 Seats
• Aircraft Construction Number (MSN) : # 28452
• Aircraft Line Number: # 676
• Aircraft Delivery Date: September 30th, 1997
• Aircraft Powerplant (s) : 2x Pratt and Whitney PW4060 High-Bypass Turbofan Engines
• Aircraft Owned by / Leased from: OWNED By Delta Air Lines
• Meal: Beverage Service / Refreshments
• Seat Assignment: Suite 6D, BusinessElite Cabin
• A/C Equipped with IFE: Yes, PTVs in all classes
• A/C Equipped with Wi-Fi Wireless Internet Access: No
• Airline Flight Date: Friday, October 10th, 2014
• Boarding Call Time: 1:55 PM EST, October 10th, 2014
• Boarding Zone: Boarding Zone # 1, Sky Priority
• Departure Time: 2:30 PM EST (35 minutes late), October 10th, 2014
• Departure Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway D5, Concourse D, Terminal 1, FLL
• Arrival Time: 3:52 PM EST, October 10th, 2014
• Arrival Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway A21, Concourse A, Domestic Terminal South, ATL
• Time Aloft: 1 hour 22 minutes (88 minutes)
• Filed Speed: 450 KIAS
• Filed Cruising Altitude: 37,000 feet
• Flight Distance: Direct: 583 SM | Planned: 689 SM | Flown: 760 SM
• Routing Waypoint (s) : FLL ARKES3 ARKES ORL J81 VQQ ONYON1 ATL

FLIGHT DATA SOURCE (S) :

1. Planespotter.Net Airline Data

2. Planespotter.Net Airframe Data

3. FlightAware Live Flight Tracking Data

4. Airline Fleet Data

5. Airline General Class of Service Info

6. Airline Seat Map Data

7. SeatGuru Seat Map Data


FlightAware for this flight. Copyright FlightAware © 2014
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Pulling up into T2 at FLL.
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Arriving on the curb in FLL is always an adevnture because nobody seems to know how to drive and snaking yourself into the beehive of buzzing cars is always an exercise of not causing a collision. I walked into T2, which handles DL, DY, DE, and AC, fully expecting a conundrum of long lines of snaking people and boisterious voices. Instead, I find a very quiet ticketing hall instead, and since it is 9:30 AM, I can't check my little rollaboard bag yet, so I head up to the FLL spotting deck.

FLL is very friendly towards spotters. In addition to a well-marked spotting deck on the final level of the open-air parking garage, the entire U-shape of the four-terminal layout is lined with sidewalks and overpasses providing clear views of all the aircraft wandering around throughout the airstrip. While I took a few hundred photos from the deck, I'll only share the most interesting images to cut down on load time:


The leftmost portion of the spotting deck. When people say seating in some airports is as hard as a rock, most of the time they are joking, but FLL takes the allusion quite literally!


Dual sharks near the alleyway created by the new sloped runway--construction equipment working hard to complete the paralell taxiway.



Caribbean Airlines (BW) 738 9Y-GEO. What does everyone think of this livery? Personally, I love it--kind of like F9, but with a tropic theme. Fido is utilized to sniff the cargo hold for dangerous goods, as well.


The international terminal is coming along quite nicely--shame NK is leaving to MIA (or is that just a rumor???). As usual, the CBP needs 30 vehicles in case a suspicious popsicle stick makes a run for it.


Peter Nygĺrd's Winglet 727--more on this later.


N802DN, Delta's second 739ER, and Air Canada. AC has been rapidly expanding at FLL in recent years--I saw atleast five unique registrations from the airline come and go on this day.


Must-have-US Airways-in-a-report :P. Why do rudders have a tendency to free-fall sideways when the aircraft is parked at the gate?


DL 752--what a sweet girl! And notice the size comparsion between a midhaul truck and the skinny yet tall girl herself!

After an hour and a half of spotting, which really feels like it passes in three seconds for me, I lurched down back to T2 and entered in--and the scene had completely inverted itself! Lines, lines, and more lines of people wound throughout the terminal and curb. Sky Priority services even had a bit of lines as well--Friday mornings are never slow at the airport! After a short while of queueing I'm up to the desk area and have my green suitcase checked while receiving some receipt paper boarding passes. Glancing at my FLL-ATL pass, I quickly noticed that I was assigned to 6B instead of the correct 7A! Had my aircraft been subbed?!? Why am I in an aisle seat?!?

Before I inquired about my non-window seat, I wanted to make sure my "case" was correct, so to speak. I always carry a folded-up copy of my booking confirmation in my wallet, so I rest my eyes on it and yes, it does say 7A for FLL-ATL. Next, I checked out Passbook on my iPhone, and it too said 7A. Finally, just to be extra-sure I went onto the Delta App and refreshed the booking page--7A. So after I'm sure I'm not going to look like a jerk to the DL agent, I walk up to her and politely inquire about my seat assignment, citing all three pieces of evidence. After a few strokes on her keyboard, she apologizes to me profusely saying that while the aircraft is the same, a BE 763, the config is slightly different--this bird only has 6 rows of suites on either window side and seven in the middle. While I was relieved that the aircraft remained the same, I was dissapointed at my seat assignment. However, I was glad that the gate agent was so kind--promising to switch me into any window suite available should the load factor be reduced from its present value of 100%-yes, a full flight!

After I bid the very nice agent goodbye and cleared the nudoscope test, I went into the FLL DL Sky Club. Inside the lounge, my PNR was checked and my daypass was validated, so I settled in for a bit of device-charging, eating, and resting. After I had enough breakfast food, I slid my backpack into the luggage storage area and hit the left side of the terminal up to see if I could find anything interesting.


Never noticed this sign before until now--Mackey unfortunately is long gone...


Sky Priority lane at FLL-taken before I went spotting.


T2 at FLL, the next-nicest terminal at our airport becides the neweset one, Terminal 1 (The "New" Terminal built in April 2001.....).


The well-hidden hidey hole leading into the SC.



Even airline professionals need to improvise sometimes--I can't even tell what area the map is portraying?! I had a good laugh at their ingenuity.




DL's New Breakfast Service. For those not in the know, Delta has recently begun taking baby steps toward providing real, filling food within the Sky Club. And not just hub clubrooms, but every lounge--yes, literally every Sky Club is getting the new buffet. For breakfast, we have fruit salad, yogurt, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs (which I learned to love in Civil Air Patrol Encampment / Boot Camp -- when there's nothing else to eat, you learn to adapt ), pastries, and snack mixes.


An extremely dirty Bahasmas(Desp)air Dash-8 C6-BFJ. I call it BahamasDespAir because quite frankly this is probably the worst airline at FLL--dirty planes, cursing crew members, no onboard service...The list goes on, read about it here: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ad.main/251162
Also, Udo's (PlaneHunter on Airliners.Net) report is pretty nice as well: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ad.main/253889


Out of pure hunch, just like the UA captain in the 1980s who refused to lower the landing gear of his 747 out of fear of running out of altitude, I spun around from the window and entered my SkyMiles number just for the heck of it--and 6D was open!!! I immediately switched my seat assignment and garnered a few more boarding tickets.





The next phase of Delta's catering improvements is the dinner and lunch spread. While I'm sure many A.netters and Flyertalkers would be quick to shoot it down, I quite enjoy it: Italian Wedding Soup with Meatballs, Tomato Soup with Roasted Vegetables, Spicy Cajun Corn Salad, two varieties of olives, garden greens salad, crackers, cookies, fresh snack veggies, snack mixes, and popcorn leave more than enough for a teenager to fill himself!


Yes, teenagers do have huge appetites. Yes, I am fit and in shape--can't be out of shape when you're in CAP!


Here's what DL (or rather, XJ) is throwing down to FLL from Cincinnati--sad, but it is what is I suppose. When you have to start sending RJ's to a place like FLL, I have to wonder about the continued profitability of such a route...Also note an airworthy 1954 Beech 18 and Shorts SkyVan in the background, used for skydiving ops--why jump out of a perfectly good airplane???



Him and her, MDs in love <3! Shoutout to MD80 from Germany, this shot is dedicated to him!


At this point, AirTran barely has over forty birds remaining....Again, just the brutality of this market segment I suppose. Luckily, I already have confirmed tickets for the last FLL-ATL-FLL turns on December 28th, but it's still sad to see the green a-tails go. Miami Dolphins BBJs are in the hangar in the background as well.



Have I told anyone how much I despise heat haze and APU exhaust as I snap these pictures of my 763, N195DN, arriving? Now I have! >:[


Aah, everybody, get on the floor
Let's dance
Don't fight the feeling
Give yourself a chance



Gorgeous girl gets serviced, and the Fort Lauderdale skyline outcrops behind her tail.

There was a bit of a problem at the gate area. N195DN had originally planned to complete her journey from ATL at 1:50 and board a short time later, but even after the passengers from the inbound ATL-FLL flight had been completely emptied, the fleet service clerks still had not swept the frame for trash. The station manager soon shows up and quietly demands to know where her cleaners are on the radio, and two men show up to clean the plane.

Finally, boarding began at 2:20 PM EST. But even then our flight was further delayed because three wheelchair passengers had no escorts to help them safely board--another ten minutes and I'm finally walking down the jetway. Strangely, we boarded from the L1 boarding door instead of the usual L2 door, so I turned right into first class and settled into 6D. I was thoroughly shocked, however, to see a full-sized pillow and Westin Heavenly duvet waiting in my suite. I had totally expected that I would see the standard red sheets of sandpaper and cottonball-sized pillow, but no, they loaded this flight with international bedding! Kudos to Delta!


Boarding through the first left boarding door.


26-Suite BusinessElite Cabin, note the new Delta bulkhead branding.



The smallest suite product I've ever been in. The lack of a third window was a non-issue, the further one provided quite sufficient views outside, of the wing, and the powerplant.


A large PTV screen with oodles of entertainment for your viewing pleasure.

As I settled in for a comfortable hop up to Atlanta, Amanda (attractive name!), the chief purser, handed out PDBs and introduced herself to us. She also made us aware of the fact that she would be on this same airplane in ATL heading across the pond to MAN (Manchester, United Kingdom), which I thought was a nice touch. As per my usual rituals, I order a glass of coke and it is quickly delivered with a smile. As soon as the last Medallion upgrade takes their seat, the tirade of Y passengers files down past our seats but surprisingly they take their seats just as fast as we do--seems that everyone but me wants this flight to be over as soon as possible...


PDB of Coca Cola.


DL Widget on the side table.


Electronic doo-dads, top to bottom: Reading light, ethernet / USB power port, headphone jack, and eMPower port charging my phone.


Karl and Lucy were our pilots steering us up to ATL today, and as soon as they ended their drivel with dispatch we are taxiing down Bravo Six towards 10L. I had hoped that we would take off from the new runway, but it just wasn't on the cards. Compared to my last 767 takeoff ( http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ad.main/257473 ), this old casa took a bit of a siesta on takeoff roll, slowly gaining speed before we swooped up over the Atlantic Ocean and swung to the left to head north to Deltaville / Atlanta, Georgia.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines 767-300 *PUSHBACK* from Terminal 2 at Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click HERE / On this sentence to download it directly to your computer for viewing.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines 767-300 *TAXI 1* from Terminal 2 at Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click HERE / On this sentence to download it directly to your computer for viewing.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines 767-300 *TAXI 2* from Terminal 2 at Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click HERE / On this sentence to download it directly to your computer for viewing.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines 767-300 *TAKEOFF* from Terminal 2 at Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click HERE / On this sentence to download it directly to your computer for viewing.
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Don't be fooled by the AA paint - this bird is still operated by US.


Boeing 727-17(RE) Super 27 VP-BPZ, a highly modified and suped-up B727 owned by multimillionaire Peter Nygĺrd, the owner of Nygĺrd International.


Waiting alongside a WN 73G--see how wide this taxiway is?!? I bet we could slide in two Silver Airways ( 3M ) Saabs in and still have some room left over to work with!
Also, notice the superbly clear reflection of the landing gear onto the engine cowling.


Turning onto the runway past a small blue "Herb". XD




Later, Laudy. Looks like we're turning to the north early this time, and watching the gear go up in the engine reflection was a huge treat for me!


Every time I look at one of these cruising pictures over America I can't help but hear a 90s and early 2000's-esque "Cruisin' USA" Arcade Game theme song rebounding throughout my mind...


Cabin during cruise.

FLL-ATL-FLL is much too short of a turn to qualify for DL's meal service, so the dreaded wicker basket of doom is brought out instead and passed through the front-end cabin after drinks were served. I believe they did three passes of the straw-wood container before the F/A's retired to the galley. Amanda, however, kept active throughout the entire flight, and constantly asked us if we needed a refill or another small snack.

I didn't have very long to experience the features of the Contour Suite, so I got down to business right away. The first thing I wanted to do was see a movie many, many females have reccomended to me--The Fault in Our Stars, a movie and book that has girls going through puberty everywhere giggling, smiling, desiring things that won't happen, and generally just making them go on a hormone filled rollercoaster, just like I will on the return journey later in this report. One of the greatest features of the IFE in the Contour Suite is that you can view both the moving map and the currently-playing TV show and/or movie, so I wouldn't have to be bored to tears by a teenage girl chick flick.


"The Fault In Our Stars" wasn't as bad as I thought it would be--it was pretty good, actually.


Amanda passes around the snack basket, filled with Biscoff Cookies, Cape Cod Kettle Chips, Peanuts, Kit Kat and Milky Way fun-size candy bars, pretzels, and Milano Cookies.



Snacks and a glass of Coca-Cola.


Made my bed for the last portion of the flight.

I didn't get to sleep for even thirty minutes before the flight attendants announced our fall-down into Atlanta, reminding us for the thousandth time to return our seatbacks into the upright and locked position, stow our tray tables, and telling us that they would be coming through the cabin for any remaining service items. We didn't really take any sort of unique approach into ATL, just the usual mostly-VFR straight-in.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines 767-300 *APPROACH* into Atlanta International Airport
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click here/On this sentence to download it.
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http://VIDEO - Delta Air Lines 767-3...tional Airport
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click here/on this sentence to download it.
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Turning down into our initial approach fix.


Long final, with Stone Mountain at the wingletip.


Downtown Atlanta.


Almost there....with our shadow beneath us.


Reverse thrusters unsheathed and spoilers extended as we coast to a stop in ATL. No one is on drugs in the south, because everyone is on the porch.


Ack! Which one are you Herb, FL or WN?


Not my flight down to SRQ, although SRQ-ATL will be on an MD-90 much like this one!





N195DN's Flight Deck. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be filthy! However, I would gladly grab some Windex/Brawny paper towels to clean it up, for free of course.

LPDAL

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KATL (Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport / The William B Hartsfield / Municipal / Candler Field)
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As we deplaned, the chief purser urged us to let passengers with delays pass by us so they can make their connections. Knowing how stressful it is to miss a flight (and/or ultimately being required to sleep in ATL), I remain seated and let several Economy passengers scurry past 6D, before I myself deplane and head into Concourse T.

I have a slight rant to make about ATL, and maybe DL as well. Whenever I go to book a DL itinerary, unsurprisingly, DL always wants to route me through ATL. And with my parents being loyal to DL (Dad is a DM and mom is a plat), I've had my fair share or more of visits to Atlanta. Thus, I'm always trying to route my trips through Delta's other hubs, Detroit, LGA/JFK, Minneapolis, and (somewhat) CVG. But it never pans out, and I always have to pass through ATL. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing, just a personal pet peeve.

Going off my last point, I am always looking to experience new scenarios in ATL, and on my last trip report, one of the most requested features was a compare/contrast section. So on this leg (ATL-SRQ), I'm going to review the contract lounge "The Club at ATL", and the Delta Sky Club. On the way back, I'll be reviewing the United Club and the Admirals Club. As I neared the Plane Train station I was feeling energetic, and so I stretched my long 18-year-old legs and walked all the way to the F concourse. Once I was inside The Club, I swiped my debit card for a (somewhat) measly $35 and sauntered in.


Entrance to The Club at ATL. Very classy white backlighting and glass doors makes for a pleasant first impression.


Snacks in The Club include cheese cubes, fruit salad, chips, and munchies.

I've seen a ton of individuals express confusion over what "The Club" lounge is, how it compares to other clubs, etc. So I'll attempt to explain the perks and downfalls as quickly as I can.

After the Lufthansa Senator lounge closed its doors (when?) in ATL, all premium LH and British Airways passengers needed a lounge, so The Club stepped in and opened their own doors in Concourse F. For all intents and purposes, The Club serves premium passengers from non-Delta/SkyTeam aligned airlines, Priority Pass holders, and daypass consumers.

Is The Club at ATL better than its Delta Sky Club competitors? If I really had to be frank, I would say a flat-out "No way!". First, the food options in this club are very underwheling. While reviewers on both TripAdvisor and Yelp promised sandwiches and hot soups in the buffet, no such items were to be found when I patronized the establishment. Next, there are very few windows in this club compared to the very open-ended design of the DSC locations. Finally, AvGeeks will be dissapointed to hear that the few windows looking out onto the tarmac are coated in Detroit dots, ruining any chances of a decent shot. In conclusion, avoid The Club at ATL unless you are desperate to gain access to a contract lounge with meh food and bad window views.

Walking over to the Delta Sky Club, I was thoroughly impressed to see that not only had the same "real food" options as the FLL club were present, but were joined by fresh locally-baked cupcakes. However, by this point, I was not hungry at all (with a teenage boy, that's probably going to last about ten minutes at the most) and my real "target" or point to coming to the F Concourse lounge was to use the SkyDeck. The SkyDeck is an outdoor viewing platform with excellent views of the tarmac and very impressive vantage points for the international widebodies brushing about against the taxiways. I was a bit shocked to feel the same weather as I had a few hours earlier in FLL, just a lot less humid. I had been under the false impression that it would be chilly up in ATL, not so...


DL has its own touch of sophisticated design across the atrium.


The lack of humidity out here makes it feel a bit cooler, actually. Now that I think of it, I remember feeling the same way in Copenhagen when my parents took my brother and I for a 4-week-long trip to Europe in July 2009. The lack of humidity across the pond really makes it feel less magma-like outdoors.


Later that night, the disadvantage of the lights behind me become apparent even if I press my camera lens up to the glass. The glare made it quite difficult to capture even a decent image of the 767 right infront of the glass panes.


Just before my flight down to Sarasota, I scooted over to the B-Concourse Club, which featured similar amenities, albeit sans SkyDeck.


Just as nice as the one that preceded it.


Pretty interesting to see a Volvo Wheeled Knuckleboom Loader tearing up massive concrete slabs off the tarmac. Does anybody know why they're doing this? Expanding the B Concourse perhaps?

LPDAL

KATL (Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport / The William B Hartsfield / Municipal / Candler Field) ✈ KSRQ (Sarasota / Bradenton International Airport)

• Airline: Delta Air Lines
• Airline IATA Code: IATA Code # DL
• Airline IACO Code: IACO Code # DAL
• Airline Callsign: Radio Callsign DELTA
• Airline Flight Number: # DL 776
• Aircraft / Equipment Used for Flight : Boeing 757-232(WL)
• Aircraft / Equipment Registration: Registration # N695DL, formerly with Delta Air Lines D/B/A Song as of October 14th, 2003 as N695DL, formerly with Delta Air Lines as N695DL at delivery as of December 11th, 1998
• Airline Aircraft / Equipment Fleet Number: # 695, formerly transferred to Delta Air Lines D/B/A Song as of October 14th, 2003: 695, formerly with Delta Air Lines at delivery as of December 11th, 1998: 695
• Aircraft / Equipment Nationality: United States of America - FAA - Registered A/C / Equipment
• Aircraft Manufacturer: The Boeing Company
• Aircraft Sub - Manufacturer: Boeing Commercial Airplanes Division
• Aircraft's First Flight: November 19th, 1998
• Aircraft's Age as of Date of Flight: 15.9 Years Old as of October 10th, 2014
• Aircraft Test Registration: Test Registration N1795B
• Aircraft Config: F26Y158, formerly with Delta Air Lines D/B/A Song as of October 14th, 2003: Y199, formerly with Delta Air Lines at delivery as of December 11th, 1998: F26Y158
• Total Number of Passenger Seats: 184 Seats
• Aircraft Construction Number (MSN) : # 29727
• Aircraft Line Number: # 838
• Aircraft Delivery Date: To Delta Air Lines as N695DL: May 1st, 2006, to Delta Air Lines D/B/A Song as N695DL: October 14th, 2003, To Delta Air Lines as N695DL at delivery: December 11th, 1998
• Aircraft Powerplant (s) : 2X Pratt and Whitney PW2037 High-Bypass Turbofan Engines
• Aircraft Owned by / Leased from: OWNED by Delta Air Lines
• Meal: Beverage Service / Refreshments
• Seat Assignment: Seat # 7A, window seat, last row of first class
• A/C Equipped with IFE: Yes, PTVs in all classes
• A/C Equipped with Wi-Fi Wireless Internet Access: Yes, GoGo Inflight Wifi Available for Purchase
• Airline Flight Date: October 10th, 2014
• Boarding Call Time: 9:02 PM EST, October 10th, 2014
• Boarding Zone: Boarding Zone # 1, Sky Priority
• Departure Time: 9:42 PM EST, October 10th, 2014
• Departure Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway A9, Concourse A, Domestic Terminal South, ATL
• Arrival Time: 11:29 PM EST, October 10th, 2014
• Arrival Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway B6, Concourse B, Terminal 1, SRQ
• Time Aloft: 0 hours 59 minutes (59 Minutes)
• Filed Speed: 463 KIAS
• Filed Cruising Altitude: 38,000 feet
• Flight Distance: Direct: 446 SM | Planned: 464 SM | Flown: 625 SM
• Routing Waypoint (s) : THRSR8 LUCKK SZW TEEGN1

FLIGHT DATA SOURCE (S) :

1. Planespotter.Net Airline Data

2. Planespotter.Net Airframe Data

3. FlightAware Live Flight Tracking Data

4. Airline Fleet Data

5. Airline General Class of Service Info

6. Airline Seat Map Data

7. SeatGuru Seat Map Data


FlightAware for this flight. Copyright FlightAware © 2014

After resting in the SkyClub for a bit, I took to the downward stairs and walked up to Gate B12, only to hear a dismembered voice making terminal announcements that at any airport other than Atlanta a real gate agent would make. This is another one of my dislikes for Atlanta, everything is way too streamlined and impersonal. However, the agent himself did supplement the recording with human-PA's, and soon I was aboard N695DL, a personal-television-equipped 752.



Boarding DL776 to Sarasota.


My seats, 7A and B. Looks like my scheduled 752 sans IFE was replaced with a PTV-equipped bird, hooray!


Decent legroom here, always.


Delta's first-generation Linux-based PTVs, now loaded with the "Delta Studio" operating system.

As I sat down, I heard a booming PA announcement from an unnaturally cheery chief F/A in the forward galley. Her name was...well, I can't even remember, because it was 10PM EST and I was so tired that I barely heard her "please step out of the aisle"-style messages. I fall asleep during board but am I awakened by her--"Would you like something to drink, sir?" Yes, I'll take a tonic water as it's way too late for caffeinated beverages at this point!

The seat next to mine, 7B, remained empty throughout the boarding process, and I was looking forward to a somewhat-private feeling of having a premium row to yourself. However, that vision was quickly turned upside-down as an extremely-attractive college brunette shows up at the last second and sits in 7B. I as a high school senior am very intimidated by such an attractive college-aged girl, but she doesn't say much as we push back for a somewhat-late departure down to SRQ.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines 757-200 *TAKEOFF* from Atlanta International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click Here / on this sentence to download it.
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Tonic water PDB--the sweetheart next to me ends up ordering the same thing!



My best attempt at a pushback shot was muddied by the obtuse cabing illumination.


Oh look, an AirTran 737-700-as of this writing, only 7 of these birds remain.



Blasting off from ATL.


Strangely, the captain turns on the engine landing lights to perform his turn to line us back up with Florida?


Snack basket service, quiet girl reading her Kindle on the right.


Cruising right along the west coast of Florida.

The hop down to SRQ from ATL is relatively brief, but the captain came onto the horn anyway and announced his attempt to have us arrive earlier into Sarasota despite the late departure from ATL has succeeded, and that we'll only be at cruise for "oh..about 10 minutes or so." Because I'm upfront, the snack basket and a few round of drinks is performed as standard. The girl next to me reads her Kindle the entire time , occassionally glancing over at my laptop screen where I was writing this report. About five minutes after the second round of the snack basket, the characteristic chime of the 752s cabin altitude sounds, and I stow my tray table, trying hard not to doze off.

SRQ's diagnal runway approach is relatively amazing--during the daytime, that is! At night, the turqoise color spectrum of the baywater below gives way to the pitch black of nocturnal darkness. On short final we hit a small patch of tough air, but soon we were taxiing into the single deserted concourse in Sarasota - Bradenton International Airport.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines 757-200 *APPROACH* into Sarasota Bradenton International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click Here / On this sentence to download it.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines 757-200 *LANDING, TOUCHDOWN, AND ROLLOUT* into Sarasota - Bradenton International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click Here / On this sentence to download it.
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Beginning our initial descent into Sarasota.


Intercepting Bradenton bay, slightly smaller than TPA-Bay.


The flight crew drops the slats as we are on long final over a relatively dark Sarasota.


Short final over the beach town's main thoroughfare.


Touchdown, spoilers deployed, and reverse thrust engaged as we slide to a halt.


Taxiing into the only concourse at this tiny strip.


May I please have your job? I would love to marshal 757s all day.


Parked, jetway attaching.




Since I couldn't catch the reg in ATL due to a window blind-spot, I captured it upfront as I express my thanks to the flight crew for a great flight.



Deplaning while catching some shots of the massive 26-seat First Class 75N cabin. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this DL configuration is the largest domestically-configured first class cabin on a narrowbody in America. Also note the large amount of life rafts - two in the overhead bins on either side and one in a celing mounted locker.

LPDAL

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Sarasota - Bradenton International Airport (IATA: SRQ, ICAO : KSRQ)
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Stepping out into SRQ, the first word on my mind to describe the terminal facilities is spartan. Once I walk through the length of the terminal and exit the secure area, my opinion is turned upside-down--they really have a clearn, efficient, and beautiful terminal at this lesser-known field. I walked around the entire terminal and ticketing hall snapping away and nobody seemed to mind at all. Out on the curb, I was about to call a cab when I realized that I had to claim my baggage! I had been on so many daytrips that the concept of checking baggage had became quite foreign to me. At SRQ, the rental car hall and baggage claim are in the same large room, and I luckily arrive just as the conveyor belt springs up. Suitcase in hand, I wandered over to the cab stand, but nobody was there to help me, so I went outside again, and got a minivan with a Frenchman who had flown in on from CDG. You'll find out how I knew he came in from CDG in a moment...


Bye, N695DL...


Quite a basic-looking terminal.


A warm welcome!


Floridian-themed baggage claim.


Bags in hand!

After I removed my bags from the minivan, the cab driver, who barely spoke English, had a lot of trouble with my debit card and his swiper. My debit card was in pristine condition and had been reissued after the old one fell apart a week earlier, and the account has sufficient funds, so I tried to help him by providing a bit of impromptu IT (Information Technology) support. I must have looked particularly Hispanic, because he inquired, "żHabla usted espańol?" to which I respond "Sí, hablo un poquito de espańol." in my best artificial Hispanic language--this is one of the few times I thank my Spanish teacher in 10th grade for making me pay attention! Anyway, I wouldn't say I'm fluent in Spanish, nor am I Hispanic myself, but I do know enough to get by, as my best friend himself is a Colombian native and we hang out down in Miami with our friends and his family all the time. Anyway, he basically tells me I need to pay cash, and I hand him one of the bills I was planning to use at the farmer's market tomorrow (most merchants don't accept DCs/CCs).

As the cab pulls away, my phone beeps and I respond to a question sent by text message to me. Mid sentence, I glance up and notice something is seriously wrong--the cab driver is pulling away with the trunk open with the guy's luggage in there!!! In my desperation, I forget that the guy doesn't understand English and shout at the top of my lungs, "WAIT!!! THE TRUNK IS OPEN!!!" but he doesn't hear me at all and continues pulling away!


Your trunk is open!!!

I end up watching in disbelief as the guy still pulls away and drives down the driveway with the trunk open! There is a dip at the end of the driveway and due to the cabs old suspension, the Frenchman's suitcase falls clean out! At this point I am thoroughly sick of incompetent foreign cab drivers and I run down to the suitcase, pulling it to the side of the driveway so as to not block any traffic. It was 12:30 AM MIDNIGHT by that point, and I was tired, hungry, parched for water, and exhausted, just wanted to go to sleep. But my morals prevail and the little voice in my head states, "Stay with the suitcase." So that's exactly what I do. And I wait, and wait, and wait some more. My phone is at 2% battery and I don't even know the name of the sketchy cab company that brought me here so I stay with the suitcase on the side of the driveway.


My rollaboard on the left and the French dude's checked baggage on the left.

My phone died at 1:30 AM EST. At that point I was becoming desperate, but I just couldn't stand to think of a person's luggage becoming lost in a foreign country. Finally at around 2 AM the cab comes bouncing up (with that old suspension no less) and the cab driver jumps out at 100 MPH, only to see me with the guy's suitcase. The Frenchman thanked me, and I replied "Merci Beaucorp" which I think means the same thing in English (?). I then sluggishly went back into the hotel, found my mother's room, and fell asleep on the pull-out couch, not even bothering to take my business attire off...


Arriving at the Marriott Courtyard Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.

LPDAL

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Sarasota, Florida
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I woke bright and early the next morning at 10 AM. My mom hadn't bothered waking me up after I told her what happened, so she postponed us going to the farmer's market until 10:45 AM EST. As we drove downtown past SRQ I was humored to see N695DL taxiing for takeoff, and explained to both my mother and grandmother the concept of RONning A/Cs.


Enjoying some great home-cooked food at the Sarasota Farmer's Market.


A portion of the Sarasota Skyline.


All-natural sea sponges. I love these, they do a much better job of scraping muck off of dirty dishes at home!


Walking downtown, see below.

Sarasota is somewhat known as a retirement home city because a good majority of the population is of the senior citizen demographic. However, I would call it a "Young City" because in the last few years the local municipality has shown a ton of growth in new families and college students. In this regard, the city has opened a ton of new shops and venues. Whether this growth with continue or stagnate remains to be seen.

In the fourth image above you'll notice a sign discouraging donating to panhandlers. Yes, SRQ has had a very major problem with homeless people littering the streets, begging, using drugs, prostituting, you name it. So this would, in essence, drive people away, especially young families with children. The local authorities have been taking major action against homeless people to clean up the city for further growth to occur, but it's still a very prominent issue in the area. You won't find any hobos in the farmer's market or city center, but down the street, you'll regularyly see panhandlers and drug use. Here's to hoping they can solve that problem so the local SRQ area (and airport ) can grow even more...

After my mom, grandma, and I got our fill at the farmer's market, we headed into the neighborhood to visit my brother, who attends The Ringling School of Art and Design. Dorm space at Ringling is at an ultra-premium, so a local Realtor decided to buy up a large amount of broken-down houses, fix them up, and rent them to university students.


100% Awesome college pad with my brother's car on the right (you can't see it here, but the driveway is full, hence why he parked it on the grass).

After we chilled with my older brother for a few hours, we headed back to the hotel, refreshed ourselves, and went to my brother's work for dinner.


My brother works at The Blue Rooster, a comfort food restaurant that serves mostly chicken-based dishes. Not just any frozen chicken though, they use never-frozen local farm-raised birds. If you're ever in SRQ and decide to stop into TBR, ask for "Andy"-that's my bro!


Delicious fried chicken honey-infused sliders.

After we had enough fried chicken for one night, we headed back to the Courtyard and had a good night's sleep. I could get used to doing these one night trips...

Before I went to bed, I received a message from one of my long-time Airliners.net rolemodels, Transpac787, alerting me to the fact that DL was planning four 744 flights, two in each direction on the hub-to-hub ATL-MSP-ATL turns. After inputting a rather simple FLL-MSP turn I came upon the results, and all they had left was F-fare-class tickets. But it included two 744 flights, so how could I pass it up? I secured upper-deck-seat 79K on ATL-MSP and nose-seat 1A on the return leg, along with a 752 AND 753 for the boring transfer flights to and from ATL from South Florida.

A word to the wise, these flights are selling like hotcakes, so if you need to catch a 747-400 flight, grab your tickets fast.


Ah, the sweet feeling of security....I later changed MSP-ATL to the nose section seat 1A, to experience both unique 744 seating locations.


The following morning, my mom says her final goodbyes as my brother hands her some of his artwork as we have breakfast at The Toasted Mango Cafe.

LPDAL

KSRQ (Sarasota - Bradenton International Airport) ✈ KATL (Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport / The William B Hartsfield / Municipal / Candler Field)

• Airline: Delta Air Lines
• Airline IATA Code: IATA Code # DL
• Airline IACO Code: IACO Code # DAL
• Airline Callsign: Radio Callsign DELTA
• Airline Flight Number: # DAL 1725
• Aircraft / Equipment Used for Flight : McDonell Douglas MD-90-30
• Aircraft / Equipment Registration: Registration # N904DA
• Airline Aircraft / Equipment Fleet Number: # 9204
• Aircraft / Equipment Nationality: United States of America - FAA - Registered A/C / Equipment
• Aircraft Manufacturer: McDonell Douglas
• Aircraft's First Flight: March 20th, 1995
• Aircraft's Age as of Date of Flight: 19.7 Years old as of October 12th, 2014
• Aircraft Test Registration: Test Registration N904DA
• Aircraft Config: F16W15Y129, formerly F12Y138 pre-2011
• Total Number of Passenger Seats: 160 Seats
• Aircraft Construction Number (MSN) : # 53384
• Aircraft Line Number: # 2096
• Aircraft Delivery Date: March 24th, 1995
• Aircraft Powerplant (s) : 2x IAE V2525-D5 High Bypass, Rear-mounted Turbofan Engines
• Aircraft Owned by / Leased from: OWNED BY Delta Air Lines
• Meal: Refreshments / Beverage Service
• Seat Assignment: Seat # 4A, First Class
• A/C Equipped with IFE: No
• A/C Equipped with Wi-Fi Wireless Internet Access: Yes, GoGo Inflight Wi-Fi Available for purchase
• Airline Flight Date: October 12th, 2014
• Boarding Call Time: 12:47 PM EST, October 12th, 2014
• Boarding Zone: Boarding Zone # 1, Sky Priority
• Departure Time: 1:22 PM EST, October 12th, 2014
• Departure Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway B6, Concourse B, SRQ
• Arrival Time: 2:31 PM EST, October 10th, 2014
• Arrival Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway T5, Concourse T, ATL
• Time Aloft: 1 hour 9 minutes (69 Minutes)
• Filed Speed: 462 KIAS
• Filed Cruising Altitude: 30,000 feet
• Flight Distance: Direct: 446 SM | Planned: 497 SM | Flown: 665 SM
• Routing Waypoint (s) : SRQ SRKUS2 CTY WARRR1 ATL

FLIGHT DATA SOURCE (S) :

1. Planespotter.Net Airline Data

2. Planespotter.Net Airframe Data

3. FlightAware Live Flight Tracking Data

4. Airline Fleet Data

5. Airline General Class of Service Info

6. Airline Seat Map Data

7. SeatGuru Seat Map Data

FlightAware for this flight. Copyright FlightAware © 2014

Since I have been holding off on providing a nice, long, detailed summation of SRQ's history, I shall divulge into the history of the airport.

SRQ started itself off as a municipal airfield constructed by the authorities of Sarasota and Manatee County to fill the much-needed void of suitable landing locations in the area. Like all Florida airstrips, SRQ was reclaimed by the US Government when WWII struck to be used as a training site for dogfighting pilots. Post war, in 1947, control of the airport was handed back to the municipalities of Sarasota and Manatee counties. The first airline to begin scheduled service was National Airlines, and throughout the 20th century, the airport always had a decent amount of destinations served from the airfield from a number of air carriers.

Sarasota - Bradenton International Airport shares a large piece of the airline industry pie because on the terrible date of 09/11/2001, Air Force One was parked on the ramp as the honorable President George Bush was in town as part of a program to encourage reading skills nationwide. President Bush entered the second-grade classroom of teacher Sandra Kay Daniels, sat down with the students, and read the story The Pet Goat with them.


Here 28000/29000 (?) is on the ramp at SRQ on September 11th, 2001, resting in the humid Floridian air. In a nutshell, there are two highly modified Boeing 747-200B aircraft redisgnated into the military moniker of VC-25, which are referred to colloquially as "Air Force One". Their regs are 28000 and 29000.



Thirteen years, five mergers (HP/US, DL/NW, UA/CO, FL/WN, and most recently, AA/US), dozens of airline bankruptcies, wildly changing oil prices, and three Presidential terms later, SRQ is in a bit of a pickle. Most service has been cut at SRQ in favor of TPA, PIE, RSW, PGD, and APF ops, leaving mostly seasonal service. Nearly all regularly scheduled service is either to high-yielding routes or fortress hub, and Sarasota county has been desperately vying to get more nonstop service to the airstrip. To this end, they have renovated the entire airport, added a huge new atrium and shopping plaza pre-security, and a host of other "Improvements". Whether these improvements lend themselves well to the overall experience of this airfield has yet to be seen...


So far, so good! Looks very nice and clean inside SRQ's ground-level ticketing hall.


The very small Delta check-in area at SRQ.

While I check my baggage, I strike up a friendly conversation with the very senior DL employees. They seem dissapointed at the lack of service at the airport, but mentioned a new Delta Connection Service to NYC (forgot which airport in particular) starting in the winter. Since I really don't know what is past TSA and I want to spend some time outside on the spotting hill, I simply watch as the CSA's slap a "SKY PRIORITY" tag on my luggage and stroll out the sliding doors into the fresh Florida air.


I have to say, this arrangement of flowering native Floridian plants around the green SRQ logo looks pretty beautiful...


SRQ's spotting area is located on top of a big grassy hill near the end of the terminal, with a paved walkway and covered seating for easy access and comfort. Due to the size of the hill, it isn't necessary to use a ladder or poke your lens through a random chain link fence hole to get a good shot, now if only FLL and the likes could install a similar hill...

Even though the terminal was completely quelled of planes, I expected just a sprinkle of aircraft to show up and dock anyway. Nope, nothing happened, and the silent factor ringed throughout the deserted field. Only a few Cessna 172/182s were out and about, flying patterns over and over again, so I just went back into the airport and cleared security.


"ContiUnited." Reminds me of UA's "new" livery, half UA and half CO!


Two defunct airlines, ASA / Comair (Regionals), but Air France and SwissAir? I can't seem to find any information on AF and LX serving SRQ? Does anyone know what routes they served? CDG-SRQ-CDG? ZRH-SRQ-ZRH?


An overview of the ticketing hall, still with a very warm and welcoming vibe.



A surprisingly gargantuanly-large atrium with a peaceful waterfall and fountain surrounding it. I am liking SRQ more and more now....(Second photo taken on the way in)

When I walked into the pre-security shopping mall I noticed a little display with SRQ-branded bag tags lying about. I didn't want to take any, so I took a stroll over to the airport information desk, where an elderly woman was handing out information pamphlets. I politely requested to buy some tags, but to my great shock she handed me two for free! Not only that, but she also said, "Those look like some nice cameras you have there, young man! We have an observation deck on the third floor if you want to take a look!" Yes, of course I do!


The sort-of hidden door up to the spotting deck.


A very clean area, even with shades if you don't want to revel in the Florida sun.


Very first airline arrival of the day, JetBlue (B6)'s "I ❤ New York" / "I Jet ❥ Blue" / "Spirit of Blue York" Airbus A320 N586JB arriving from JFK.



Second arrival of the day, Delta MD-90-30 N942DN.

I moronically believed that N942DN was my MD for today and went down to clear security. Like the ticketing agents and airport workers, the TSA agents here are of a high degree of seniority but very friendly--actually, if I had to say, the friendliest I've seen in awhile (unlike the awful ones at CLE). I even tried to board the first flight out to Atlanta not knowing that I would be taking the next flight out instead. The DL agent discretely corrected me and told me not to worry about it, happens all the time around this neck of the woods apparently. With about an hour to go, I headed into the Gulf Breeze Bar and Grill, which had one of the best views of one of the runways. I didn't want to fulfill any "Teenage Freeloader" stereotypes, so I bought a few cokes and an order of fries then tipped the waitress well before leaving to board my MD-90 up to Atlanta.


The slogan of Sarasota - Bradenton International Airport is Do you SRQ? As a matter of fact, I do.


Looks like Delta had almost an all-McDonell Douglas operation here post-merger. Did NW serve here pre-2007? I don't remember Delta operating -40s, only -50s?


Tracking my inbound flight on FlightRadar24. Looks like the airspace by here is a stuffy mess! :-D


Watch out SRQ Ground control, there might be too many aircraft on the airline ramp...United Airlines legacy A319 (well why would I call it legacy if CO had no Airbii) N846UA arriving from ORD. It's a bit relieving to know they're not sending an ERJ-145 down here.


Atta girl! There's my ride up to ATL, Delta Air Lines MD-90-30 N904DA arrives right on time for a quick turnaround back to Georgia. She's almost two decades old by this point.


Taking on some extra fuel and taking out the baggage from the last flight.


100% on time effiency for this flight? SRQ Delta ground staff, you should feel proud of yourselves.



Boarding my shuttle to Atlanta. Surprisingly, this flight boarded rather quickly despite no less than 15 wheelchair passengers (!!!) on the manifest. You can clearly see how talented the ground handlers are here...


A rather beat up first class cabin, installed in 2011 according to PlaneSpotters.Net.


Luckily for me, the last remaining premium seat on this flight just so happened to be 4F. More info about this below.

According to a video review from Jake Redman from ModHop, the DAL MD-90s USED to have fold down monitors throughout the cabin as well as a completely different hard product, that apparentelly looked sor of like the old cabin on the PMNW DC9 fleet, but with armrest audio controls. I don't think any MD-90s have this old cabin anymore, which is a shame.

On an Airliners.net TechOps thread, somebody asked if it would be possible to rework the cabin on the MD fleet to add the PTVs seen on the 738/752 (this was way before the 739 and 753-era large-screen monitors). The basic answer was, yes, it is possible, but they basically would have to rewire the entire electrical system and add a much larger fuse box to accomodate the wattage used by the apparatus, which DL did not want to do. Considering that Delta just announced it had placed its very last order for Super 80 parts, it's very unlikely that we'll see anything more than GoGo and audio entertainment on these airplanes.

Back to 2014, the new seats on the MD-88/MD-90 fleet are/were the first "slimline first class seats"--I had never heard of such a thing but apparently the trend of shaving seat thickness has reached far beyond coach class. To be completely honest, these seats didn't feel much different from other domestic first class chairs I've experienced on other airlines. Actually, the first leg of my very first trip report ( http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ad.main/217437 ) was on them, and they seemed comfortable as ever two years later. The F/A team in the front consists of a male and female who both seem extremely entuisiatic about the fact that they're working southwest Floridian flights. And of course the SRQ ground staff don't want to ruin their 100% on time record, so in a jiffy we are taxiing out of the stand and out onto the bay-facing runway.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines MD-90 *TAKEOFF* from Sarasota - Bradenton International Aiport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click here / on this sentence to download it.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines MD-90 *CLIMBOUT* from Sarasota - Bradenton International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click here / on this sentence to download it.
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All Delta safety cards are color coded, the MD-90 pamphlet is mustard and royal blue.


Pushback and waiting for ground clearance to start our engines. I must say, even when the blades did start spinning, I could barely hear a peep out of the nacelles on the back of our airplane.


Riding in one of these puppies is definitely a unique experience, I almost could imagine we were a Blanik glider being towed out by a Maule Super Rocket for a fun-filled day of soaring.


Now when you're taking off, you always want to check the sock and make sure the front of your aircraft is aligned with incoming wind, always want to take off into the wind, son.....



And takeoff into the wind I shall..you're welcome, SRQ.


Liftoff.


Later, Sarasota. Looks like a USX or DLC regional jet has just arrived, can't tell which...


Rocking past downtown Sarasota and Bradenton bay.


Halfway through the U-turn to head up north, we entered a tiny weather system that really packed a turbulent punch--frightening many of the elderly passengers onboard.


One last overview of SRQ.


The beauty of Bradenton bay. The large spots are not muck, but cloud shadows, and notice the large amounts of boaters enjoying the Sunday afternoon sun.


This is real, real, real, real love


At cruise altitude after climbing through the seaboard of southwestern Florida.

Though I have described the non-meal-qualifying flight service in first class on Delta way too many times, here I go again. :P Once we reach cruise the F/A announces the usual "you can use your gizmos, but keep your seatbelt on" spiel before taking our drink orders and passing the snack basket around a few times. Just as on ATL-SRQ, SRQ-ATL is probably one of the shortest Floridian-bound hops from ATL, in the style of MLB, VPS, GNV, TLH, PNS, PGD, EYW, ECP, DAB, JAX, and EYW.


Albert Whitted Airport (IATA: SPG, ICAO: KSPG) in Saint Petersburg, Florida. The square-looking building jutting out into the bay is the St. Petersburg Pier, better view here. The Pier itself is a fun place and has a few intresting shops, but the best part about my most recent visit in Tampa was seeing the spot where the first airline flight in the world occurred.


St. Petersburg / Clearwater International Airport (IATA: PIE, ICAO: KPIE) also in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Despite being only a mere ten miles from TPA, Ultra-Low-Cost-Carrier Allegiant (G4) has 35 destinations served (33 regular, 2 seasonal) from here, so I guess you could call it a small hub.


A nice glass of Coca-Cola Classic really hits the spot at this point.


Mark, the crew chief, passes the junk food around.


I'm not feeling the hunger vibe, so I take only a couple of mini-pretzel bags.


Very quiet up here during cruise, I must say.

[img]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3929/15333093750_23bc11719d_c.jpg[/img
This PSU is in surprisingly oustanding condition factoring in the age of the refitted bird.

The rest of the flight really didn't have any notable events to speak of, and before I knew it the flight crew were on the horn telling us that we had just begun our descent into Georgia. However, the chief purser, upon reaching long final, launched into a long winded speech about Delta's October Breast Cancer Awareness support, and ended the announcement that he himself was fighting breast cancer (isn't breast cancer more prevalent in females than males?) and was seeking out cash donations to complete his last round of chemo. Having had my own grandfather almost die due to melanoma (the doctors caught the infected cells before it got out of hand), I open up my wallet and take out a bill to throw into his bag--but he passes right by me after my seatmate throws a few coins in. I tried to find him after we deplaned but I just couldn't. Wherever you are, Mark, I truly hope you win the tough battle against the tumultous disease, and enjoy many years working at Delta.

As we taxied into the T Concourse I noticed the new Spirit "Bare Fare" yellow livery as well as the Delta Susan J. Komen / Evelyn H. Lauder "Pink Plane", so I was looking forward to a fun afternoon of spotting before I boarded my late-evening flight back to Fort Lauderdale.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines MD-90 *APPROACH* into Atlanta International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click here / on this sentence to download it.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines MD-90 *LANDING, TOUCHDOWN, AND ROLLOUT* into Atlanta International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click here / on this sentence to download it.
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Beginning our descent into ATL with a mid-level cloud layer below.


What airport is this? Looks like a purely GA strip.


Long final.


I didn't know Firestone Tires had their MFD facility in Atlanta!


Race to the bottom....


Touchdown, spoilers deployed, and the first time in a blue moon that I'm not able to see the thrust reversers work their stopping-power magic!


Bazooka-zooka bubblegum in the distance.


I cant decided whether I like the tiny "AA" letters on the tail or a ruby widget?


Parked, and Delta clearly wants to make it known that ATL is their turf and all other airlines need to get off their lawn.


Walking up front to secure a cockpit visit, and ultimately search in vain for a disappeared Mark.








Delta Air Line's MD-90 N904DA's Cockpit in detail. This bird has clearly been with the airline through all of its motions.


I remember someone asking awhile ago why you can't board an aircraft from the right side. Yeah....

LPDAL

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KATL (Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport / The William B Hartsfield / Municipal / Candler Field)
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After I left the somewhat frosty jetway behind and didn't bother to look at the FIDs as I knew I had a much-needed 5 hour layover in Atlanta, I accidentally forgot I was in Concourse T and made a beeline for D instead. For those who don't remember, in the first half of this report I made a point to compare and contrast all four clubs at ATL, and the first two were "The Club at ATL" and the various Delta Sky Club locations. As promised, I am now going review the final two, the United Airlines Club (United Club), and the American Airlines Admirals Club. At the time, I didn't know that the ATL Admirals Club was in T, and unkowingly started heading to CC D for the United Club location. Once again I decide to walk the entire length of pathway between T and D, good to get some exercise after sitting so long, right?


Not, however, without getting an image of the Breast Cancer Awareness Pink 764, N845MH.


She even has a special parking space marked with a BCRF Pink Ribbon.


AA Super 80 going up to ORD or down to DFW--I'm sure this kind of shot would be much easier to get at DFW, is DFW a DL M88 station?


Now I'm in Concourse D, and I'm entering the United Club.


The Check-in area at the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackon International Airport United Club.

The United Club at ATL is probably the second worst airline lounge at ATL, and I'll try to explain why in a condensed format: Basically, the service is bad, the food options are cut to the max, and the whole lounge is regularly over-capacitated, such as right now:


It feels so claustrophobic and stuffy with all these people in this small room!


Food and beverage options are just as bad as well, and this is probably the first time I have regretted purchasing a membership...



UA (UAX???) presence at ATL--Two ERJ-170 series aircraft, a Canadair 700, and an ERJ-145. I'm really not an expert on finance, accounting, or even airlines themselves, but I'm pretty sure running all of these fuel-parched regional aircraft is running UA itself an arm and a leg, surely a few of these RJs could be replaced or consolidated into a few 737 or 320?

I was thoroughly disappointed with the subpar United Club (the first time in a few months I've been disappointed in UA) experience, so I hastily exited and spotted for a bit in Concourse T, which also happened to hold the little bits and pieces left of FL (AIrTran, the "other" airline at ATL). After which point I started my trek down back to Concourse T to review the American Airlines Admiral's Club, again electing to walk the long stretch of underground passageways instead of taking the Plane Train. Halfway through my journey, my (now-ex) girlfriend texted me and requested a picture of me "just to be sure you're okay". I texted her back telling her I would take a picture "In an airline club", totally not expecting what was going to happen next...


Spotted this sign right outside the United Club, on one of the UA-branded gate walls. May I ask what is "emerging", UA?


A very, very worn-down AirTran 717-200 N942AT.


Someday, we'll be just like that guy behind us.... Two FL 717s and one DL 712.


I noticed this error message just outside the Concourse C escalators. Looks like some pax journeying to DHN, DUS, EVV, FAY, FNT, and RSW are going to have a difficult time finding their gate on this FIDS screen...


There are a few nicely-sized skylight windows near the top of the A-Concourse stairs, and the Delta Air Lines SkyTeam Alliance 737-800 just happened to be taxiing by.


The lovely under-construction decor in ATL's Concourse T should have been my first signal that something was seriously amiss here.



Looks are deceiving, remember that.

Entering into the club I was immediately beckoned over to the desk by a snappy agent, and asked to show my daypass or membership card. Previously, I had purchased one Admirals Club Daypass that expired in October 2015 and an US Airways Daypass that expired in October 2015 as well, and they were both linked to my AAdvantage Miles number and Dividend Miles number, respectively. But the agent claimed that I had to have a paper daypass in my posession for it to work, so I just purchased another daypass instead. I then photographed various areas of the lounge, making sure to capture as little strangers in my shotts are possible, and I headed into the backroom where a bathroom was located to both relieve myself (as I had not gone since I was in SRQ) and take a selfie for my (now-ex) girlfriend.



The okay buffet selection is supplemented by the Admiral's Club surchaged intraclub restuarant menu.

WARNING: The following content may not appeal to all audiences. Reader's discretion is advised.

I've already wrote about what happened in the Admiral's Club on this day on both Airliners.Net and FlyerTalk.com. On Flytertalk, I endured a 13-page flamewar, most of which was 30-40-50-60-year-old users taking potshots at me for taking a selfie in the *EMPTY* bathroom. On Airliners.Net, I received much more compassion. And if I haven't mentioned it already, I have Asperger's Syndrome, so bear that in mind as you read this. I'm going to try to describe this in a concise, shortly-worded, basic formatting as possible so as to avoid any ambiguities or discrepciences. PLEASE read the entire thing before commenting, and for heaven's sake PLEASE do not turn my trip report into a flamewar. Thank you.

After viewing the clubroom for a bit, I remembered my (now-ex) girlfriend's request and went to the bathroom as surely holding a phone out infront of myself would look strange in a public space. Since ATL is a very small station for AA I assumed that the club didn't have showers and just went into the regular bathroom instead, which was *EMPTY* and I knew it was *EMPTY* because all the stall doors were 100% open and it was silent inside. After I finished up my business, fastened my dress belt, and washed my hands I took my phone out of my pocket and snapped this picture:



I slid my phone back into my pocket, grabbed the DSLR (larger camera ontop of the smaller one in the above picture) with my right hand (the flash is up because it automatically flips upward when in AUTO mode), while reaching for the door handle with my LEFT hand. I am surprised to see the door open without any force applied to me and...a HUGE man looking around two heads taller than me (I'm 5'11", almost 6') stormed in (WHO WAS NOT AN AMERICAN AIRLINES OR ADMIRALS CLUB EMPLOYEE) and started shouting, "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE? YOU CAN'T TAKE PICTURES IN HERE! COME WITH ME!" I reply saying I am not coming with him and stay put, in a daze. Was this really happening? But I fell out of the daze and for the very first time I felt afraid as to what was going to happen next, so I just went back to the sink area and waited a few minutes.

Once I gathered the courage to leave the bathroom I hear the same guy shouting at the lounge agent, "HEY! THAT'S HIM! HE WAS TAKING PICTURES IN THE BATHROOM, I ASKED HIM TO COME WITH ME AND HE WOULDN'T!" I very calmly explained to the agent what I had did and showed her the exact ABOVE IMAGE, and she growled at me about "The Membership exclusivity/Club exclusivity" before "setting me free" and I went to the buffet area in another daze. But since the seating and buffet area was so close to the check-in desk, I overheard the old dude continuining: "HE COULD BE A SECURITY THREAT! WHERE'S HIS BOARDING PASS?????" and the old guy just won't put it to rest so the agent comes into the seating area and demands to see my boarding pass, so I show her my SRQ-ATL virtual BP in Passbook, and she stalks off back to her desk. After I fully realized that this had indeed happened and I hadn't been dreaming, my daze turned to rage and I went back up to the counter, and waited patiently in line for the agent, finally asking her for a complaint form--and she sneered "There ain't no complaint forms, boy!" And to top it all off, guess who was behind me? The guy himself!

At this point I was sick of both of these people and just wanted to get away from it all, so I walked out of lounge, only to discover the man was following me. At that point my "Rebellious Teenager" filter was torn in half and compltely obliterated so I turn around and barely shouted "Do you have a problem with me, %^&#%&#^**^#^#%?!?!?!?!?!?", and I made a run for it to the Plane Train, conveniently catching it just as it arrived. I rode it all the way to Concourse F. I was done, at that moment, with both UA and AA.

Read before commenting

I'm sure a good amount of people will find the action of a teenager taking a "selfie" in an *EMPTY* "public" (...) restroom to be an abomination and a result of "kids these days" and our generation being the worst ever conceived. However, please remember before you comment that "I'd like to hear the other side of the story", "This story has holes" (it does not), "I don't believe you", etc. that this report is about airplanes and my love of aviation. I'm a plane geek, and going to the airport is comforting for an Aspie who frankly finds several things to be obnoxious at school etc. So for someone to verbally assault me over such a frivolous matter truly frightened and upsetted me at a place (or places) that I come for comfort. Don't give me any garbage about how I was "disturbing the others" by taking photos with NO flash and NO shutter sound or how I could possibly be perceived as a pedophile because I took a picture of myself fully clothed in formalwear in an EMPTY EMPTY EMPTY bathroom. This report is supposed to be about airplanes, so I kindly ask both sites members to not start any flamewars because any flamebait or other such defaming nonsense WILL NOT be replied to and will be reported instantly. Thank you.

Moving on...


Thankfully, he didn't try to chase after me.


Composure regained 100%, I always wonder why fully-automated trainsets have human signals...?

Once I got to Concourse F I headed straight up to the DL Sky Club, which is the only decent airline club in ATL, and went up to the very sweet agent. Maybe it was just my blood-red cheeks or something but the agent inquired, "What's the matter sweetheart, are you lost?" After telling her about the miserable experience in both clubs she agreed with my sentiments and even told me that she helped match three elite AA and UA status to DL as they were so impressed with DL's service at ATL. By that point I had regained my sense of composure and decorum, and I decided to buy a DL Sky Club membership. Since I've been buying a ton of daypasses lately, it only made sense that I could save some pennies by obtaining a membership card. The transaction is approved through my debit card soon enough and I went inside only to discover that I had chosen the wrong Sky Club in my daze--I really wanted the one in E, to take a nice, relaxing hot shower, so I bid the first agent goodbye and cautiously exited out of the DSC making sure no one was following me. (Seriously, that last part was NOT A JOKE.)


Concourse F, arguably the most luxurious CC in ATL.


After obtaining a shower suite in Concourse E's club, I take a much needed hot shower and fully forget about those nonsensical people back in A.


My flight back to Fort Lauderdale, Delta Flight 2327, seems to be right on time.


Some day, some way...I already have two Airbus A340-300 OR -600 flights (it was in December 2004, too young to remember which one) in my log on South African Airways from JFK-JNB-JFK (In Y--longest Y flight in my life.......................................), but I'd like to add a lot more. And LH Business / First Class is looking mighty good from this Sky Club over here.


An hour and thirty minutes later, I took my last one-way ride on the Plane Train for the day, to position myself closer to my return flight to FLL.


Delta Air Line's MD-88 N921DL greets me as I tour the food court before heading to the Concourse B Sky Club.


ATL CC B.


View from the furthest-back portion of the lounge. A Delta MD-88 has the finishing touches of the ground sevice applied while a winglet 752 taxis behind.

A few hours, a lot of yummy Sky Club salad and soup later, I walked down to the gate area and boarded my flight back to home sweet home.

LPDAL

KATL (Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport / The William B Hartsfield / Municipal / Candler Field) ✈ KFLL (Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport)

• Airline: Delta Air Lines
• Airline IATA Code: IATA Code # DL
• Airline IACO Code: IACO Code # DAL
• Airline Callsign: Radio Callsign DELTA
• Airline Flight Number: # 2327
• Aircraft / Equipment Used for Flight : Boeing 737-932(ER)(WL)
• Aircraft / Equipment Registration: Registration # N820DN
• Airline Aircraft / Equipment Fleet Number: # 3820
• Aircraft / Equipment Nationality: United States of America - FAA - Registered A/C / Equipment
• Aircraft Manufacturer: The Boeing Company
• Aircraft's First Flight: April 11th, 2014
• Aircraft's Age as of Date of Flight: 6 Months old as of October 12th, 2014
• Aircraft Test Registration: Test Registration N820DN
• Aircraft Config: C20W21Y139
• Total Number of Passenger Seats: 180 Seats
• Aircraft Construction Number (MSN) : # 31931
• Aircraft Line Number: # 4883
• Aircraft Delivery Date: April 23rd, 2014, ferried BFI-ATL on April 23rd, 2014 on delivery
• Aircraft Powerplant (s) : 2x CFMI CFM56-7B27E High - Bypass Turbofan Engines
• Aircraft Owned by / Leased from: LEASED from CIT Group Inc.
• Meal: Refreshments and Beverage Service
• Seat Assignment: Seat # 5A, Window Seat, Delta Domestic First Class
• A/C Equipped with IFE: Yes, PTVs in all classes, Audio Entertainment in all classes
• A/C Equipped with Wi-Fi Wireless Internet Access: Yes, GoGo Inflight Wi-Fi Available for purchase
• Airline Flight Date: October 12th, 2014
• Boarding Call Time: 8:03 PM EST, October 12th, 2014
• Boarding Zone: Boarding Zone #
• Departure Time: 8:43 PM EST, October 12th, 2014
• Departure Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway B11, Concourse B, ATL
• Arrival Time: 10:02 PM EDT
• Arrival Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway D1, Concourse D, Terminal 2, FLL
• Time Aloft: 1 hour 19 minutes (69 Minutes)
• Filed Speed: 465 KIAS
• Filed Cruising Altitude: 35,000 feet
• Flight Distance: Direct: 583 SM | Planned: 646 SM | Flown: 627 SM
• Routing Waypoint (s) : ATL BRAVS8 WALET OTK JINGL4 FLL

FLIGHT DATA SOURCE (S) :

1. Planespotter.Net Airline Data

2. Planespotter.Net Airframe Data

3. FlightAware Live Flight Tracking Data

4. Airline Fleet Data

5. Airline General Class of Service Info

6. Airline Seat Map Data

7. SeatGuru Seat Map Data


FlightAware for this flight. Copyright FlightAware © 2014


Six month old baby girl Delta Air Lines 737-900ER (Extended Range) N820DN, arguably the youngest frame I've been on in a while,



Boarding the almost-brand-new 39.


No scratches or dirt marks to speak of at all on my assigned seat of 5A in First.


I love the very clean lines of the Boeing Sky Interior.


Great legroom and even function-specific seatback pockets.


Gorgeous 9" PTV.

FLL-based flight attendants always seem to love their jobs, and despite it almost being 9 PM EST at night he seems as bright as ever, passing out pre-departure beverages and even small bags of snacks while on the ground! "He" is Michael, and is yet another DL flight attendant with 20 years of seniority--so of course his service is outstanding. Since we're on the last bank of departures for tonight, it doesn't take long before the rampers attach the bar, we reverse out of the gate, and roar down the taxiway then onto one of the runways for an ontime departure back to South Florida.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900ER *TAKEOFF* from Atlanta International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble viewing this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click here / on this sentence to download it.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900ER *CLIMBOUT* from Atlanta International Airport - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble viewing this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click here / on this sentence to download it.
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Moving right along to take off on this crisp Georgian night.


Liftoff into the eternal darkness of nighttime Atlanta.


Bye, Atlanta. Bye, creepy old man.

After we pierced through the 10,000 feet, Michael tried to begin the first class service but almost lost his footing when we hit severe turbulence, so severe in fact, that I took a video of it within the cabin and the outside view of our engine lights illuminating the weather system we were flying through!
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900ER *FLYING THROUGH TURBULENCE* over Georgia, United States of America - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video, Click here / on this sentence to download it.
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The constant vibration combined with the engine lights, mood lighting in the cabin, and my shaky camera hand all leaded to some pretty interesting light effects in my shots.


I only realized until I was coding this report that the moodlights were set to fuschia to match DL's October theme of Breast Cancer Awareness month.


Now they're a more-orangey color.


Mike passes around the wicker container (can't think of anything else to call it at this point :P ) filled with the usual Biscoff cookies, lightly salted peanuts, mini pretzels, fun-size Kit Kat Bars, Milano fudge cookies, Nature Valley Granola bars, Goldfish Snack Crackers, Cape Cod kettle chips, and bananas.


I'm feeling in a "sweet and salty" kind of mood (okay, that sounded a bit wrong...) so I hit up the Kit Kat bars (not shown), pretzels, and Biscoff cookies.


Here's my attempt to use my writing style to portray a rather diminutive drink in fancy-shmancy lexicon: My favorite drink, tonic on the rocks with a splash of lime garnish. And have a mentioned how I love that the USB power port on the PTV is backlighted with a soft sapphire light? Saves me a lot of time from fumbling around in the dark and potentially bending an USB cable jack from trying to jam the receiever end into a nonexistent socket...


Ironically, it looks like we'll be passing right over or near SRW on our way back to FLL. Was backtracking more fun then driving the simple FLL-SRQ hop? Absolutely, I love flying. Anytime there's a chance to soar among the clouds, you can bet your cahooney that I'll be on the airplane.


Right over TPA and PIE, and heading towards SRQ, which is near our first approach fix for our drop-down into Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport.


Checking out the stats on the airshow.


Well, somewhere in that fleet of 1,300 aircraft, someone has disappointingly forgot to enter the information about the brand-new DL '39ERs, and I'm pretty sure the B712 isn't in there either.


Beginning our falling into the straight-in approach lineup.

30 minutes out from the end of the flight as we slowly chugged along over the pitch black expanse of the Everglades Conservation area below, Michael grabbed the intercom handset and announced our landing intentions, finishing up just as we intercepted the Sawgrass Expressway. For a new bird, N820DN performed very well in the windy conditions prevailing at the time as we flew the usual Runway 10 Left approach into FLL--a constant race against the nearby cars on the parallell Port Everglades Expressway before finally jetblasting the hundreds of cars lurching by on the perpendicular Interstate 95 and touching down hard on the grooved surface. Before I deplaned, as this was my first 739 flight, I inquired about my usual cockpit visit. One of the first questions I ask the flight crew is, "Have you heard of Airliners.Net?" The first officer told me he uses some of the photos in the database for Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, but does not belong to the site. When I asked why, he said in a thick southern accent, "Well, son, when you work around planes all day like I do, the last thing you want to do is go home and look at more airplanes." I was a bit shocked by this at first, but when the gears started turning in my head I began to see why it made sense for him to say that. And that is probably one of the reasons I am considering pursuing other options instead of working in the field--I don't ever want to lose the passion for my aviation hobby.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900ER *EVERGLADES CONSERVATION AREA EASTBOUND APPROACH INTO RUNWAY 10L* at Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport - VIDEO
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900ER *LANDING, TOUCHDOWN, ROLLOUT, AND TAXI INTO GATE D3, TERMINAL 2* at Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport - VIDEO
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900ER *PARKING, ENGINE SHUTDOWN, AND DEPLANING IN GATE D3, TERMINAL 2* at Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport - VIDEO
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We're now fully aligned with the Port Everglades Expressway, gently glliding down to ten-left.


We've buzzed the commuters on I95 and are almost on the ground, still have that Georgian dust from the takeoff back in ATL!


And all of the Maynard Jackson dust is blown away and replaced with South Floridian salted air as we strike the surface of 10L with the two of our mains.


Engine lights off, we begin our taxi-in leaving the "New" Terminal 1 (which ironically, despite being the newest, cleanest, and most modern Terminal at FLL--at the time of this writing--compared to the 20th-century-built T2/T3/T4, is deemed by ridiculous Broward County Comissioners to be in need of renovation) behind for the mediocre Terminal 2.


Deplaning.



Overview of Delta Air Lines B737-900ER N820DN's cockpit with the yellow floodlights on, while the F/O calls ATL DL dispatch to let them know that we're safe and sound on the ground in South Florida.



The prettiness of the B739ER's flight deck comes out when all the backlighted warning lights, printed letters, etc. are all set to maximum brightness.


One last shot with the DSLR's flash, incase you missed anything.


I'm back in the utilarian/Palm tree-esque Terminal 2 at Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport and I'm not so happy to be stepping off such a brand-new, mint condition airplane.


US Airways, another wonderful airline being crushed by the ruthlessness of this industry...(the "AA" Airbus in the center is simply an US Airways aircraft with an American Airlines wrapper, it is still operated by Pre-merger US Airways.)


Back down at the FLL T2 baggage claim, I'm sauntering over to join the mounds of people waiting in angst for their own cheched luggage.


Checked bags in hand? Check! (okay, again, that was really bad pun xD )


Dragging my tiny lime rollaboard up top to the spotting deck.


Bye sweetheart, I'll miss you... </3



One of forty remaining AirTran (FL) Boeing 717-200 (McDonell Douglas MD-95) aircraft, Boeing 712 N992AT (?). I'll see you here at the end of the year on December 28th, last day of FL scheduled Ops {crying} (and a tear was shed for the loss of AirTran Airways -- not literally, though, I don't cry).


Last picture of the report, taking Yellow Cab home before blithely passing out in bed at home and resting for next Sunday's trip, Delta FC Mileage Run PBI-ATL-CVG-ATL-MEM-ATL-MIA.

LPDAL

===
I have listened to your concerns, comments, critiscism, critiques, and suggestions on my last report
===

First off, I'd like to thank you, as the reader of this trip report, for taking the time out of your likely-hectic day to read my hard work. Second, I'd like to sincerely thank the following Airliners.Net AND FlyerTalk Members + Moderators for their help:

Longhornmaniac (Cameron), Member, Airliners.Net
Miami, Member, Airliners.Net
E38, Member, Airliners.Net
JetsGo, Member, Airliners.Net
FlyMIA, Member, Airliners.Net
PlaneHunter, Member, Airliners.Net
Triple7Man, Member, Airliners.Net
SpeedbirdABZ, Member, Airliners.Net
EinsteinBoricua, Member, Airliners.Net
Lugie, Member, Airliners.Net
TusDawg23, Member, Airliners.Net
FBGDavidson, Member, Airliners.Net
JoeyTaffy93, Member, Airliners.Net
Ozark1, Member, Airliners.Net
DLX737200, Member, Airliners.Net
N62NA, Member, Airliners.Net
Ben123Planes, Member, Airliners.Net
CF-CPI, Member, Airliners.Net
SXDFC, Member, Airliners.Net
AirAFreak, Member, Airliners.Net
N1120A, Member, Airliners.Net
PManChuk, Member, Airliners.Net
RB211524G, Member, Airliners.Net
VisualApproach, Member, Airliners.Net
MAH4546, Member, Airliners.Net and MAH4546, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
Sulley, Member, Airliners.Net
A318, Member, Airliners.Net
TigerGuy, Member, Airliners.Net
9W748Capt, Member, Airliners.Net
JFidler, Member, Airliners.Net
Iowaman, Moderator, Airliners.Net
IADCA, Member, Airliners.Net
MesaFlyGuy, Member, Airliners.Net
KaiGwyer, Moderator, Airliners.Net
KPWMSpotter (Kevin P.), Member, Airliners.Net
Transpac787, Member, Airliners.Net
DTWPurserBoy, Member, Airliners.Net
Sky303, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
NachosDelux, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
GlenSea, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
PaceLaw2012, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
PsychoAndy, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
Quirrow, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
TheMapelliGroup, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
MattHandy, Moderator, FlyerTalk.Com
JetAirways77W, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
Ceasy, Member, Flyertalk.Com
ARLFlyer, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
CMD320, Member, FlyerTalk.Com
HairPeace, Member, FlyerTalk.Com

I thank all the members above for their advice, knowledge, and general suggestions on how to better myself. So now, I'm going to list the changes that have been implemented in this new report:

1. I have down my best to remove MOST Pretentious-sounding sentence structure from my writing style, although I may slip up from time to time, I'm definitely not perfect and do not plan to be, although I CAN try to be good at least.

2. Unecessary financial details and bragging has been removed as well^, but again, I may slip up every now and then, so please help me spot these mistakes.

3. Flight Template has been truncated-I have removed redundant and unnesscary information from the flight template such as "MFD, Sub MFD, Fare cost, etc..."

4. Amount of pictures has been trimmed down-I have attempted to remove redundant photos, so let me know how it works.

A final thank you to all you guys and girls out there, you guys are the best. Thank you for not giving up on a young'un....

-LPDAL / COLBY MCCORMACK

Loose Cannon

Thanks for taking the time and effort to do an excellent Trip Report

steveman518

btw, that map is just an upside-down map of the US :P

Glensea

Thanks for another fine trip report. I appreciate the detail which you've provided.

Thanks for graciously acknowledging the suggestions from your previous ones.

I found that your Post #8 is a repeat of Post #7 but didn't mind reading it twice.

IMO, that really sucks that you were harassed about the selfie in the empty bathroom. Similar verbal and physical harassment happened to me once on a separate issue and I called for the airport police to deal with the other passenger and to make his day a lot less enjoyable than he had planned.

LPDAL

Yeah, it felt very distressing to be frightened and upset in an airport. Airports are supposed to give off a safe and secure vibe, NOT the other way around.

Thanks for your comments, guys.

-LPDAL / Colby

NoLaGent

Another great report, your love of Aviation is a fantastic thing and obviously one that I can safely say many, if not all of us here share.

The only thing that troubled me (well, the 2nd thing, your treatment in the AA Club was horrible) is the fact that a flight attendant solicited donations from pax for his treatment. I can't imagine that management would approve of such behavior. It's incredibly unprofessional.