Flew on the E-175 for the first time today - DTW -> MBS. Surprisingly I really liked that plane! I think I like it better then the crj-900's!

I was standby at the A terminal and when I got on I was confused having never been on one before. I started freaking out since I had my suitcase with me and no one offered a tag. Surprisingly it fit!

I wonder if they will keep these planes going to MBS...

I fly the ERJ 175 a lot from DTW to MTY, and I think the plane is nice in 1st class as well.

My only complaint is it seems the cruising altitude of that plane, or at least that leg is usually at 29,000 feet, and for whatever reason it's never a smooth flight.

^My logical reasons would be:

Since the plane is smaller than any other planes, it needs to be flying lower attitude than any other planes. Maybe due to air pressure, wind, temperature and such (someone which a physics degree, or aviations, other related degrees might explained it better me ). That explains why it only flying at 29k altitude. Moreover, since it can only fly at 29k or less altitude, therefore the flight will not be smooth. Due to clouds and such, the more the plane near clouds, the more it'll shakes, which creates alot of turbulence.

But yes I do like E-175 simply because it's small, and when you get on there, feels like you know everyone faces. ^

The 175 is better than the 900 in every way.

I am in total agreement with that statement. Which brings me to a question for some of our aviation buffs and pilots on this board:

Why would NW choose to order two entirely different airplanes to begin replacing the DC9's? On the surface, to us lowly passengers, it would seem that.....

A) the E175 is a far more comfortable, and thus a far superior aircraft in my eyes.
B) a better price could have been negotiated for more of one aircraft, rather than a smaller number of each of two different models. Was delivery time an issue here?
C) there must be some significant differences in these two aircraft that are not apparent to your average passenger. Both have the same 76 seat configuration, but maybe that is where the similarity ends?

I know I am not seeing the whole picture here. Please enlighten me, and everyone else.

Thanks!

The 175 is more expensive, heavier, less fuel efficient and can go farther. The 900 is cheaper, lighter, more fuel efficient and can go nearly as far. Which do you think is more attractive to NWA? It's very likely NWA opted for both the 175 and 900 to be able to ramp up operation in the 70ish seat market. Remember they very quickly disposed of the avro and its 69 comfy seats. This created a gap between the 50 seat CRJ200 and the 100 seat DC9. The only way to get the 72 planes into the fleet in a short amount of time (1.5 years) would have been to split the order and operators. FYI - these are not the DC9 fleet replacement. While they might be flying on some routes that used to see DC9s, they're also on routes that used to see avros, no service, the 50 seat CRJ, the saab and even airbus. The true DC9 replacement has yet to be announced. My bet... Cseries.

Small plane does not = going lower. These planes are just as fast, or faster than mainline planes. These planes can as fly as high as mainline planes. This includes the dreaded CRJ200. Cruise altitude has a lot to do with winds aloft, length of flight, fuel burn calculations and many other things. You guys have to get away from the idea that smaller planes are some how less advanced, easier to fly and overall in a different league than a mainline plane. At the end of the day, they all do the same job in very similar ways.

If I had to make a prediction... there are more 900s and less 175s in the future. Get used to them.

Deserves repeating: "Small plane does not = going lower": press releases from 2000 report some Gulfstream models regularly operate at 51,000 and leave mainline airframes in their contrails...

Not really a 'fair' comparison, is it ... LOL!
/.

Re: planes with F going to MBS...

I was based out of that airport in the late 90's/early 2000's for a few years.

My Dow friends who would often fill up the First Class cabin with me on flights out suggested to me that, at least at that time, the Dow contract with Northwest specified x# of First Class seats will be flown out of MBS each week and that x# of their travelers would be given Platinum status to fill those seats.

So, it seems that F will continue to the Tri-Cities as long as Dow's in Midland and Dow flies NW or its successor.

29,000 feet not an issue in that part of the world anyway since I recall my DTW-FNT flights flew around 6,000 and DTW-MBS flights flew around 9,000 I think for the short 20-25 minute slingshots.

You're absolutely right. Delta owns no E-175s but has 11 CRJ-900s (with orders for three more).

(I know Delta has a contract with Shuttle America which flies E-175s, but as far as owning, Delta has none, and there's no guarantee Shuttle America survives the merger with the relationship intact)

I agree 100%.

I have my first E175 flight in a few weeks. I am excited about it.

Interesting concept...

Dow recently added a new hanger... Pretty good size too..

NW already had options (from pre-BK) on the 900 series and would have lost their deposit if the order had been downright canceled. In fact, I ** think ** they did not add a single CR900 to the Bombardier contract, but went instead with an entirely new contract with EMB.

Some operators of the EMB175 are apparently disappointed with the performance. I dunno if the machine underperforms w/r to specs, or if the economics are such that those specs are not so interesting any more, but the plane is not the run-away success it was hoped for.

Maybe they are disappointed since I didn't feel like I was crammed in there as much as I would a 900.

I was really surprised it was in the A terminal. Now I have no clue what makes a flight a B/C terminal flight, except maybe CRJ and smaller with the exception of the DL gate?

CRJ200/900 and Saab are in B/C
Everything else in A

Exceptions:
All DL and CO flights will be in B/C and the occasional NW Saab in A from non pre-cleared Canadian cities.