cmd320

The bins, overhead lighting, and PSUs sound pretty much like the typical (and I can't imagine them being any different than) the standard Boeing Sky Interior. Having been on many an AA 738 with these interiors, I can say that I definitely like the mood lighting and new PSUs. I like the design on the gasper vents and thing it's easier to maneuver and adjust. The bins are alright, my main complaint with them is that when everyone stands up in their rows upon arrival, you have to ask them to duck in order to open the bin.

brocklee9000

I flew one yesterday, SLC-LAX. I have the pictures somewhere on my phone, and I'll download those some time this weekend a post a review.

Just a few quick thoughts: the gaspers, while having a cool new swivel apparatus, don't have a lot of travel (i.e. they don't swivel as much as the old style, which allowed for multiple revolutions to dial in the right amount of air you wanted; these turn once or twice and are fully open). The air pressure didn't seem to be as high either, but I didn't really care as it was cold in SLC and I didn't want any cool air blowing on me.

And for all those who have been wondering for the past few months, yes, 5C and 5D might as well have no recline. I didn't sit in them (on purpose; I was in 5A), but they are right up against the coat closet. Again, I'll put up pics later.

The overhead bins are neat, because when they close, they are very out of the way. However, they come down quite a bit when opened, so be careful when other passengers open the bins when you pull up to the gate and are getting out of your seat. I got bopped on the head.

Very new, very clean plane. There was no grime anywhere, and it still smelled new. However, it is not and never will be a 757 replacement.

I think this thread is very different. That is older, has a lot of replies, and talks mostly about speculation of what the cabin would be like, speculatory outcries (it looks like there will be terrible legroom, from the seatmap and pic!), and a comment or two from a Delta rep on FT. This thread would be an appropriate place for those of us who have been on it to post pictures and thoughts.

DTWflyer

I had my first 739ER experience this past week on DTW-ATL.

I was seated in the exit row 19 and thought it had great legroom.

- Legroom in row 19 is very good for an exit row, and tray table in the seatback ahead will slide back to be closer to the seat.

- The PTV / IFE system is pretty cool and more advanced than the older system on the 757s. I only played around with it a litte, but the route map is cool and some of the flight info/fleet information is cool.

- Overhead bins are nice as they pivot up and out of the way. It makes it so people can stand-up in the aisle seats and not have to duck under the bins when they are closed. It opens-up the feel of the cabin in-flight.

- Seat comfort is ok, fine for the 1.5 hour flight on DTW-ATL, but couldn't imagine it being great on a DTW-LAX flight

Overall a nice, new, modern plane. Seems like a perfectly fine 757 replacement on the shorter stuff like DTW-ATL/MSP or ATL-TPA/LGA/PHL/MCO.

I do not have a desire to fly on a 739ER on the west coast runs like DTW-LAX/SEA/SFO, etc. I will still continue to seek out the 757/763 flights instead.

mudpuppy

I was sitting right across from the closet and I think I remember a taper to the closet to allow 5C/D to recline. Now I wish I'd gotten a picture.

StayingHomeIsBetter

Two observations:

The pattern of the wallpaper on the FC bulkhead appears to be emulating the four-sided pyramidal design that is used behind the reception desks of the "modernized" Sky Clubs.

Lot's of electronics for the cabin crew. FC FA spent more time paying attention to a flat panel control screen on the wall of the galley than he did paying attention to the FC PAX.

brocklee9000

There was a curvature to the wall, and you'll see it in the pic. Whoever had been in 5D on the inbound flight had 5D reclined and never put it back up. In my experience, I've never had a FA ask for a seat to be upright during takeoff/landing if it's against a hard bulkhead. But even if they did require it, it would be hard to perceive when they do their quick walkthroughs of the cabin. I noticed Mr. 5D boarded, buckled up, and was out cold before we even started taxiing, and he stayed in that (virtually) upright position the entire flight. If there was ever a textbook example of limited recline, 5CD should be it.

I made sure to snap pics of row 5 and row 1, just so everyone could see what they look like.

DL-Don

Obviously you didn't get past the first few pages. The last 4 or 5 pages of the thread are all about people's experiences on the 900ER.

tvnwz

And the same design on either the remodeled MD90's or 88s. Can't remember which.

brocklee9000

Okay, downloaded the pics and here they are, with my thoughts.

737-900ER SLC-LAX
N807DN ship number 3807

At the gate, waiting to board. From the outside, it sure looks an awful lot like a regular ol' 737, and I wonder to myself how they'll squeeze 180 of us on this plane.



I board and, sure enough, it looks just like a 737 inside, except with 5 rows.



After reading all the discussions (i.e. speculation) about row 1, I decided to take a quick pic as I walked by (hence, the somewhat skewed angle; I was trying not to get hit in the face by the guy in front of me who had suddenly stopped and was flinging his multiple carryons into the row 1 bins (he was seated in row 1).

Feel free to debate amongst yourselves, but here is my own honest opinion: Does it look as bas as many thought it would be? No, not to me. It looks like there is ample legroom (i.e. knee-to-bulkhead space). Is there ample footroom? No, not at all. I didn't have time to look for the cutouts and snap a pic, due to the aforementioned bag-dodging (I just pointed my phone sideways and hoped the pic of legroom turned out). Would I want to be here for a Transcon? Nope. 1 hr 15 min flight to LAX? Eh, not so bad, especially if you snagged it as an UG (can't complain about a free F seat).



My seat was 5A. I didn't take a picture, because you've all seen a typical F seat, and it has a soft bulkhead behind it (which is why I chose that seat when I bought the ticket). However, I did get a few pics of C and D. Here is a picture facing the seats as I walked down the aisle, about to turn to my seat. Notice that they both appear to be upright and at the same angle, and right up against the coat closet.



Now here's a profile shot of 5C and 5D. Note the slight curvature of the wall, but if you pay close attention you'll see that 5C is upright and 5D is reclined, albeit very very minimally. I'm willing to bet that's the maximum recline and the previous occupant left it like that (as did Mr 5D on this flight). C and D are right up against the wall when reclined, and probably have 2 to 3 inches of lateral travel, and maybe a pitch of 5 degrees upright vs reclined.



The next three photos show off the IFE.

The first pic shows how thin the seats are, and the placement of the IFE. In the other thread, the DL rep said the screens could not be tilted due to the design of the IFE and the Seat. I'm still skeptical, as I can't figure out how this would restrict the screen (you'll see why in the second picture). It was nice, though. Very large, very bright and clear, in HD. The touch controls were very responsive (not slow/clunky like the 75X and the 73H).



This picture showcases several features. First, the winged and extendable headrest (I know most of you know the headrest on many DL seats slides up and down, but I didn't know this until two weeks ago when I discovered this on my own, so I figured I'd share for those who didn't know). Every single seat ont the plane has the winged headrests, as well as AC power. The usb power and headphone jack are in the monitor (and what also looked like an S-video jack, but I don't know why it's there...).
Anyway, I wanted to include this pic to show the retractable screens that are in 10ABCD (and 21A and 21F, I presume?). They're nifty, because they are not the big thick heavy ones, but a very slim screen that folds out. Also, a note: when the woman in 5B reclined, 10C was not able to put away his screen; 5B had to go upright to allow 10C's screen to swing and fold down.
And looking at how thin those screens are, I can't understand why they didn't make them able to tile in the seatbacks. They're all like this. While it's not DREADFUL, it is definitely a nuisance. I already knew about it and anticipated it so it didn't upset me when it happened, but it was somewhat annoying.



And finally, here is 4A fully reclined into me (happened literally as soon as the "above 10,000ft" announcement was made). Would it have been nice to tilt the screen up? Yes, it would have been very nice. Was it impossible or difficult to view the screen while reclined? No, not impossible or difficult. I noticed it helped a bit if I reclined (and I didn't feel guilty doing it, since 10ABC have the same legroom setup as row 4 on A319s and A320s). I also closed the forward window shade to block out the glare of the sun and the reflection from my hands/watch, which added some glare to the screen. After getting used to the new viewing angle for a minute or two, it didn't really bother me and I watched the rest of my movie all the way to LAX. I'm not saying Delta and Panasonic necessarily did an AMAZING job with the screens, I think they at least did a little homework. For whatever reason, DL decided they couldn't install the screens with a tilt. But it's still watchable.



Overall, not a bad experience. I agree with those upthread, for a 1.5-2 hour flight, it's not bad at all. I would not want to do ATL-LAX or DTW-LAX or other similar long hauls, especially if I wanted to sleep. Avoid 5CD if you want any form of recline. The new overhead bins really open up the cabin, and it's neat how they swivel up and free up a lot of space. There's not a lot of pitch, but then again, what DL domestic F seat has tons of space between your seat and the one in front? It still will never replace the 757s. Wifi was on this flight. And the sky interior was a neat effect, but I hardly even noticed it (didn't think to look for it until I was getting off the plane). The lighting is in an oval-shaped vaulted area of the ceiling, and there are two of these in F (I don't know how many are in Y). It stayed a constant blue, but I'm not sure if that's because it was a daytime flight, or DL's color is blue, if they didn't know how to switch the moodlighting, or what. No idea.

I think a lot of people had no idea what they they were on, and the FAs made no mention of the new airplane: row 1 was the first row to be fully occupied on the seatmap, and was full days before the DM/PM window opened up. 5D was also occupied before UGs were processed, but 5C was occupied by an UG (as was 2A, since they were both pulled up from Y by a redcoat moments before we pushed back; he boarded and told the purser "19C and 19D are moving to here and here (points at the empty seats), but they don't know that yet.").

MS02113

Row 1 legroom doesn't look bad, and as always there's the advantage of not having anyone recline into your lap, but foot cutouts à la A319/A320 would be great. Do galley carts stored on the other side of the wall preclude such cutouts? I don't see why else Delta/Boeing would omit them.

Outside of row 1, it appears the seats, like those in the refurbished MD88s and MD90s, have dedicated, high-mounted pockets for magazines and the safety information card. Unfortunately, cleaning crews almost never bother to use them and instead toss everything into the larger, lower pocket.

I would prefer the tray tables be stored in the outside armrests. Opening and stowing center-mounted tray tables can be awkward when there are drinks on the small, fixed tray at the front of the armrests. I also miss the useful, pull-out extension found on the pre-refurbishment MD88s, among other aircraft.

Lastly, since the AVOD screens for seats 10A/B/C are not mounted on the row 5 seat backs, the soft bulkhead could be extended lower to the level of the armrests. The opening between the seats, the bottom edge of the partition, and the armrests looks odd to me.

brocklee9000

Delta Points has a review of the 739 on boardingarea.com, and his pic of the curtain looks to be the same, about shoulder-level when seated. I guess that's just how they come from the factory? And you're right about the pockets: the only time I've ever seen things placed in each individual pocket was in J on a TATL. I agree about the tray table, I had never thought of that. I'm trying to think, and all the flights I remember with in-arm tables seem to be center mounted. And row 1 wasn't too bad, but it's the footroom. Delta Points said there is hardly any, even with the cutouts.

TheMadBrewer

Noticed my flight ATL-LAX on Dec 30 is on one of these Was looking forward to it but now not so much

lolstebbo

Just flew in one on DTW-SFO a few hours ago in 11F. There wasn't a curtain between rows 5 and 10 on the plane I was on.

A lot of people commented on the lavatories being really small. I'm going to venture a guess that the lavatory units take up the same amount of space on the airplane as those of other 737s and that the amount of standing room is probably roughly similar, but the shoulder-level width of the lavatories is definitely less since there's no counter, and the so-small-that-it's-nearly-useless teardrop-shaped sink intrudes in on the foot space a bit.

brocklee9000

I think it's interesting to see the routes DL is putting the 739s on. 3807 is pretty new, only a month and a half old, but it's already got quite a few miles. I looked as far back as FlightAware would let me, and N807DN has done pretty much just been doing hops between combinations of ATL DTW LAX SLC, with a very occasional SFO or LAS.

However, Looking at the next few days in interesting. After I got off in LAX on Friday, 3807 kept doing its thing. But Saturday evening, it flew to SLC-SAN and early this morning it returned. It's scheduled to fly to SEA and back, and then SLC-MCO. I'm guessing this is all due to increased passenger loads as we get closer to the 25th. It's sad to see they really are starting to take over for the 757s.

brocklee9000

Another thing I noticed was the safety demonstration video. For whatever reason, it wasn't the holiday video. In fact, it was one I had never seen before. The last one I remember before the holiday video was the guy with a typewriter who stowed it underneath the seat in front of him. I'll admit I wasn't really paying attention to the video, until about halfway through when I didn't see the snowmen and Alex Trebek and other holiday themes. Still mentioned PEDs being turned off below 10,000ft.