Our Delta Air Lines 737-900 journey from Los Angeles to Los Cabos in economy class was solid, even as a bit of rough air meant that the service onboard was not quite what we were expecting.
Delta Air Lines 737-900 Economy Class Review
I gave you my first impressions of this flight earlier, focusing on the bumpiness, but I’ll tell you a bit more about the entire flight experience. The ticket cost 174 USD, a 50 USD premium over the basic economy fare that would not have earned miles.
We arrived at LAX quite early, just as the sun began rising, and made our way to the check-in counter in Terminal 3.
A couple of business class seats had opened overnight and were being offered at a price of 380USD each. That’s not bad considering they were close to 1000USD a week earlier when I booked the tickets, but hardly worthwhile for a flight with recliners that would be in the air for less than two hours.
I find the security layout in LAX T3 so bad, with a long walk required from the check-in counters to the PreCheck area, only accessible from the far end of the terminal. Even so, the security screening was painless and we were soon enjoying a hearty breakfast in the Delta lounge (another good reason not to upgrade).
It came to board we showed up to the gate–36–at 7:39 am, 21 minutes before departure.
THERE WAS NO PLANE AND THE DOOR WAS SHUT!
Did we miss our flight?
I noticed a 737-900 parked at gate 38 along with a gaggle of people boarding there. Even though gate 38 said “New Orleans” on the screen, that was our aircraft…
Come on now, Delta!
Delta Air Lines 1875
Los Angeles (LAX) – Los Cabos (SJD)
December 2024
Depart: 8:00 AM
Arrive: 11:36 AM
Duration: 02hr, 36min
Distance: 911 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 737-900ER
Seat: 32E (Economy Class)
We were among the last to board and I was thankful the gaggle did not stretch onto the jetbridge, but only once stepping onboard.
Seat
Delta’s 737-900s have 20 premium cabin seats (five rows in a 2-2 configuration) and 160 seats in economy class, including 36 Comfort+ seats (in rows 10-13) with extra legroom (34 inches). The rest of the cabin, including my seat, had 31 inches of pitch and 17.3 inches of width.
I took the pictures below after the flight:
The passenger service unit had individual air vents which came in quite handy as the passenger seated behind us had some flatus issues…
31 inches is tight, but the seat was sufficiently padded and the recline sufficiently restricted that I was able to work efficiently with my laptop on the tray table during the flight.
Each section of three seats had two universal A/C between seats and each seat had a USB-A charging port a the base of each monitor.
The flight was almost 100% full.
IFE + Wi-FI
Delta offers complimentary and fast Wi-Fi via Viasat for SkyMiles members and it worked flawlessly during the flight. That alone, coupled with the power outlet, made it a very good flight for me.
Join the “DeltaWiFi.com” network and click the red “Connect” button in the pop-up window:
Simply enter your SkyMiles number and password:
Watch a short ad:
and voila, free internet:
If you do not want to connect to the internet or use your seatback screen, you can also stream movies and TV shows from the onboard intranet network.
The seatback screen offers a comprehensive library of TV shows, live TV, movies, games, and audio via Spotify.
Free headphones are provided and these are comfortable because of the soft plastic inserts at each tip:
It was also a very beautiful day for flying out the window:
Food + Drink
Unfortunately, I did not get to experience much of Delta’s “premium” service on this flight thanks to some (very light) chop. Flight attendnats hastily came down the aisle after takeoff cups of water, then disappeared for the rest of the flight.
Later in the fight (it was quite smoth anf there was more than enough time to do a ful beverage and snack service) I went to the reare of the plane and asked for some cookies for Augustine and some snack mix for me. I was obliged, tough with the comment that it was too rough for service.
No, it was not…
Service
The flight attendants were friendly and of course, I don’t want to see anyone hurt over a cookie or cup of coffee, but I thought it was quite unreasonable there was no service on the flight and therefore cannot give high marks to the crew, at least in economy class.
Lavatories
The seatbelt sign was off for much of the flight and I did go back to the lavatory when I got the snacks. It was pretty messy, with toilet paper and water (or maybe something else…) on the floor.
CONCLUSION
We landed early in SJD, but had to wait several minutes for a gate, ultimately pulling up to our jetbridge on-time.
My 737-900 journey on Delta was a good flight thanks to the fast internet and plug, but the lack of service onboard seemed a bit of an overreaction to light chop for me. If there was heavy turblence foreceast, the captain or first officer shuld have least made that known over the PA system.
Off-topic, but any plans to review the new LOT lounge at ORD once it opens in a few days? Lord knows it could be a very welcome addition to that terminal.
I will in early January. Looking forward to it!
I find DL service lack luster most of the time, to the point of being skipped during beverage service (I was looking in my backpack) and when I called back to them that they missed me, it was oh, we are getting ready to land (we had another hour). I find it funny that everyone say’s DL is the leader, when AA brought Flagship Lounges, Check-In and Dinning 6 years before DL did, Premium Economy 5 years before DL did (and it’ s still not across the board on DL planes) and now DL is using the same boarding as AA, which has been around the last 2-3 years. Leader. . .I think not, resting on past success. . .pretty much. If AA would just do free WiFi. . .
I hate the “we are gettinh ready to land” an hour before excuse.
Are you sure your seat pitch was 31″?
https://www.delta.com/us/en/aircraft/boeing/737-900er
most of the seats in Economy are 30″ on that Delta aircraft
I use Aerolopa as my reference, but I think you are right – Delta is probably more reliable in this case.
DL lists your version as 30″-31″, while Aerolopa lists all Y seats as 31″. Similarly, the two other versions of the 739 are 31″-32″ at DL and 32″ at Aerolopa.
Unclear what happened. Gate change over the PA but not on the video signs?
I get a lot of the Delta 737-900s that don’t have screens and only have 1 row of Comfort+, and no divider not even the half-curtain between cabins.
It’s not about what you think is “light chop”. FA’s are ruled by pilot orders. Not yours! Sometimes predictions are off but unfortunately you have to prepare for the worst. Sometimes it ends up being quite smooth but unless FA’s are given clearance, they must keep those 200+ lb carts stowed away. Always bring your own snacks just incase. It’s bigger than just you and your families need. Look at the bigger picture. Just because it feels smooth to does not mean it will remain that way to complete an entire service.
I do get that – but it appears Delta takes a far more conservative approach than American Airlines…and I don’t like that. I’ll try to address that thoughtfully in a follow-up post.
I totally agree! Too conservative if you ask me but I believe it’s solely to cover themselves. I’m sure if you research AA vs Delta FA injuries and on the job related incidents, the numbers support Deltas conservation. There are many times FA’s feel pressured to deliver service simply bc passengers like yourself feel “it is smooth enough”. Management across aviation are starting to interrupt inflight service to prevent avoidable injuries of FAs. If an FA gets injured while working and cannot do the job per FAA, that flight becomes inoperable and most likely will divert. Also some FA’s get injured once trying to go above and beyond and end up out of work for months without any support from these airlines companies bc the management and legal team will refer the to employee manual stating employees should not get up and deliver any service once instructed by Pilots and or Seat belt sign on. they literally have these steps in place and after a certain point in the flight all service is discontinued. I appreciate your insight and POV. And I thank you for responding but please help bridge the misinformation. Please do not encourage or support this narrative.