| Date | Airline | Flight | Type | Regn | Routing | Time | Miles | Remarks | ||
| Back | 06 Nov 16 | DL | 1833 | A321-211(W) | N310DN | MCO-ATL | 01:03 | 447 mi | ||
| 06 Nov 16 | DL | 1772 | 777-232(LR) | N701DN | ATL-PHX | 03:23 | 1666 mi | The Delta Spirit | Next |
After a couple hours in the Orlando terminal my flight to Atlanta was preparing to board. My name was called and I received a complimentary upgrade to Economy Comfort, presumably due to my MVP status with partner Alaska Airlines. I even got a window seat so that was a nice plus. Given the short duration of the flight to Atlanta little more than a bit of extra legroom was all there was to reap from this benefit. Oh...and a free drink :-)
Once onboard and seated aboard this fairly new A321, I just looked outside. The windows were all covered with dew drops so photography through them was pointless.
Once we taxied out we pulled onto another taxiway and were told we'd have to wait for 15 mintues for flow control into Atlanta. Even early on a Sunday morning, Atlanta is a very buzy airport it would seem. Before long we were taxiing again and turning onto the active runway.
The flight up to Atlanta showed there were many clouds along the route. At some point, the clouds cleared away and I had a good view of the ground below. As we turned onto our downwind approach, ATL airport came into full view and I managed some photos of the sprawling complex. Below is one of my photos.
Below is my photo of N310DN at the gate in Atlanta after our arrival and below that is the FlightAware screenshot of the flight.
After arriving Atlanta I walked around for a bit in Concourse A and B before heading to my departure concourse E. I rechecked the departures board and found my gate had changed to E14. I walked over there and found an empty gate...not necessarily a bad thing since we were still at least an hour from the scheduled departure time. I asked the fella at the podium about the flight and found out my scheduled A330-300 was being substituted with a 777-200(LR). Hmmph. Internally I was not thrilled. The fella printed out my new boarding pass...I still had a window seat in the rear of the plane: 54J. From gate E14 I could see right the way across to airport to the north side and I noticed a 777 with a tug attached. I assumed that was the new plane for the flight so I waited patiently while the plane was slowly towed towards gate E14. I was right, it was the plane for my flight, and as it got close, an A330 was towed past... I took the opportunity for a grab photo to illustrate the swap between equipment types.
Out with the old, in with the new. (This A330 was probably NOT the plane I was due to fly in but I don't know for a fact).
Not that there's anything wrong with 777s. Cool jet...but rather "vanilla" from my point of view. I love the lines of the A330. Besides, just a few months ago I had the pleasure of flying a Delta 777-200(LR) from Sydney to Los Angeles. Been there, done that. I booked these flights to get a Delta A321. Mission accomplished. Ironically, the A330 was the inagural flight for the upgauge in equipment on this route so I was really looking forward to that. At least Delta didn't provide the same tail number (N702DN) that'd I'd flown in from Sydney. And it was a named aircraft, "The Delta Spirit", so there was that.
Anyway, it took the cleaners a bit of time to prep the jet at the gate so we were about an hour late on departure. But we all got to PHX safely and that's what counts.
Below is my photo of N701DN being towed into position at gate E14 at Atlanta prior to my flight to Phoenix. Below that is the FlightAware screenshot.
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