Originally Posted by
TWA Fan 1
Not only is there a fleet replacement strategy, but delivery of its order of new 739ER's began in 2013.
Second, all of DL's MD series a/c operate with Stage IV hushkits which meet noise regs in all airports in the United States.
Finally, yes the MD series is based on the old DC9, but then again, let's not forget that the 737 is also based on the old 737-100-200 series a/c that were introduced in 1967 (the first DC9 flew in commercial service in 1965) which had very loud and dirty non-turbofan jets.
I last flew in a DL MD88/whatever 4 years ago. It reminded me, again, of why it's my least-favorite plane in the sky. The cabin noise was atrocious... talk about engine "whine", this plane has it in spades. Now perhaps the hush kits were installed after that, although I don't know if the hush kit has much effect internally or just externally. And of course, I was towards the back of the plane; as an elite, I'm sure the noise would be much less bothersome.
The other thing surprising in this thread is lumping together all RJs. The -7 isn't all that bad. I have no issue with that plane on longer (SFO-IAH) flights. Most laptop batteries will last 3 hours, Channel 9 has become more miss than hit on mainline aircraft lately, and scheduling wins out over the marginal possibility of an upgrade on a mainline plane. Plus, on the RJs, you can play a guessing game of whether the pilot's old enough to shave.