There’s a meaningful difference for me in the shoulder room of a window seat of a DL Airbus and 737, so this is certainly a minor negative. Of course, this can vary by row too depending on window/sidewalk placement so there’s no real guarantee. But I think even “good” window placement on the 738/9 is tight for me. I can always choose an aisle but all else equal prefer window.

I want to be excited about this, but I'm not a fan of the MAX and DL tried to "F9" the interior of the -900s so my expectations are low.

Boeing has needed a new narrow body design for over a decade. The 737 is tired and been stretched well beyond its design (with some disastrous consequences that have since been mitigated).

IMO the A320 family has a much better narrow body platform. It's wider (great for pax), higher off the ground (great for new larger engines). I would have much rather Boeing mafe a new iteration of the 757s than the large 737 MAXs. Looking back, they might agree with that now (hindsight being 20/20).

Some operators might but as far as Delta goes A32X seats are 1" wider than 737 seats, and this is per the Fleet Details on Delta's website. The 737 900 ER is also significantly louder than A321's, I've measured it myself, 75DB's for level flight in a 321 versus 86DB's for a 737-900, both taken at exit rows over the wings.

So the 737 is an objectively (True, definite and based on facts) worse aircraft from a passenger comfort perspective than the A321. Same goes for the 757 except it's even louder!

737-900 is an old plane.
A321 is much newer (at least Delta's are).
Agree with width and objectivity.

I've actually argued the same point in similar threads and in the OMNI/PR thread regarding Boeing as I don't disagree that most passengers will select flights based on price and/or schedule. Very few actually select a flight for an aircraft type or to avoid an aircraft type and for the few that do, it's probably not enough to move the needle. But for me, at my height and with my shoulder width, passenger comfort is a factor and I choose my flights accordingly. I also plan to do all I can to avoid the MAX for the foreseeable future, regardless of operator. I just recently bought island hopper flights within Hawaii. I looked at both HA and WN since they were close in fare. I opted for HA for 2 reasons. On HA I was able to get a window/aisle pair but the other factor was when I looked at Southwest flights, I saw the island-hoppers were operated by 737 MAXs. That was a "nope" for me and I went to HA.com and booked those flights. Again, I recognize my singular decision isn't going to be enough to drive WN to change its fleet or operations but it did matter to me so I made that choice.

For DL's 737 MAXs, they won't have the same issue as other MAXs (no MCAS) but given that I find the 737 series to be uncomfortable compared to the A32X series, if other important factors to me are equal, I'll be opting for the routing with the A321X (or A220 or other aircraft far more comfortable) over the 737 MAX, at least if in Y. Admittedly, these are less of an issue if in F where one has enough space for the difference in cabin width to be a non-issue when sitting in the seat (the lavs on the 737-900 are still pretty awful though - I won't hold me breath for them being improved on the 737 MAX 10).

Interesting, the only official study I've seen reference to is that the A320ceo is 0.9dB (10%) than the 737, though, where the measurement was taken (and I have no idea on the MAX vs NEO) will likely make a big difference.

As agreed by most, for the passenger, the Airbus rules, but Delta would likely have got a great discount (and likely delivery far sooner) for the Boeing

The Max flies just fine... the basic reason for the MCAS software was to make the handling characteristics of the MAX similar to the NGs so that no significant extra training would be required. A couple of hours of simulator time to emphasiz the relatively minor changes in handling with power changes would have been money well spent by Boeing, but somehow the Rube Goldberg like MCAS was the plan instead. All MCAS was supposed to do is force the plane to handle like an NG.

Keep in mind that this deal also allows TechOps to become an MRO partner for the LEAP-1B engine: https://news.delta.com/delta-techops...n-leap-engines

DL probably got a good deal, but more importantly from their perspective is letting airbus know they will still purchase Boeing planes, so don't think you can up prices too much on the next bid.

Boeing only has themselves to blame.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that Delta will be configuring the MAX10 with only 182 seats total…that is only two seats more than the current 739s…and I believe the MAX10 is longer than the 739s by more than a row or two…

The MaX will have more Comfort Plus seats (33 ve 21) but most of that looks like it will be compensated for by a reduced Y (MAX will have 10 seats fewer (129 vs 139)). Would be interesting to see the seat map etc…

Awful news. Looks like I'll now need to be avoiding Delta

AA, AS, UA, and WN all have Maxes. Frontier and Spirit only for you?

Yes.

Allegiant has them on order too.