JFK-SAN-LAX-JFK 03/20-03/25 Trip report

To start off this was my first time flying commercially in almost a year and a half, and my company directed which flights I was to take. So I got stuck with Delta.

Sunday March 20th JFK-SAN
I checked in the night before from my iPhone, but, still had to see an agent to check my bag, $25 fee. My flight out was on Sunday the 20th, at 9:30am, I got to the airport at 7:30am. Aside from the fee, baggage check-in went quickly, less than 5 mins, and getting through security was a breeze as well, there were 2 lanes open and if it wasn't for the next set of TSA agents getting ID checked, that line would have been less than 5 minutes as well. Departure was from terminal three, the old Pan Am Worldport, Gate #16. Now, I'll admit it, I'm an airplane geek, to get to the gate areas and realize that in terminal three, ALL the windows are etched with DL markings so you cannot see outside was a real downer. If you went up to the second level, to get food, you could see the top of the tails, and the "Delta number" of the aircraft. I quick search on my iPhone showed that my flight, DL2657, a B737-800, would be tail number N3748Y. Boarding started at 8:45am with the chaotic system. Okay, I can agree with First/Biz and Sky Priority members boarding first in that order. However, then they board by zones, first 3, then 4. The problem is that zone 3 is basically the last 5 rows of the aircraft, and then zone 4 is everyone else. That means the idiots in row 14 who don't know how to travel, block the aisles for everyone behind them, delaying the boarding process. So, even though a 737-800, which only had 128 pax on it, started boarding 45 mins early, they were still 5 minutes late off the gate. Thankfully at that time, there was no takeoff que, and we taxied right onto 31L @ KK and took off within 6 minutes.

The flight was uneventful, even though a bit longer than planned. The aircraft did offer GoGo Inflight Wifi $10, they had a IFE at every seat, and for $7 you could watch up to 25 channels of live TV. Someone had bought the IFE on the flight before me and it was still active for my flight. The food choices on board were pretty good for a morning flight, so I ante'd up the $8 for a sandwich (Turkey, Swiss & egg salad on a croissant roll). There were two beverage services, one about an hour into the flight, the second about 90 minutes before landing. Weather in San Diego for our arrival was horrible for southern California...2500' ceilings, light rain & mist, winds were 130 @ 30kts. This led us to the extremely rare Runway 9 operation. A nice crosswind landing was made, and a quick taxi to the gate had us in only 7 minutes late. Flight time per the crew announcement as we left JFK was to be 5:25, but with the bad weather in San Diego it came out to 5:52. Baggage recovery took about 30 minutes and I was out of the airport shortly after that.

Friday March 25 SAN-LAX-JFK
Another 9:30am departure, this time on Skywest to LAX to connect to Delta to JFK. Once again, I checked in the night before via my iPhone and this time I got an electronic boarding pass. I got to the commuter terminal at 8am, checked my bag in for the flight home and headed to security. A complete first for me...I get there and aside from the TSA, there is NOBODY else going through security. At first I wasn't sure if I had the right spot, but the friendly TSA agent said this was it. I put everything on the belt and was waiting to go through the xray, when they led me to the "dreaded" back-scatter machine. I don't know why people are so afraid of this piece of technology. It took 10 seconds, then I had to position next to another agent, they gave her the all clear within 30 seconds, and I was free to gather my belongings. There were no monitors anywhere in the public eye for "ooglers" to see.
This flight was on a Skywest CRJ-200 N466SW, which arrived at 9:09am. We were que'd up outside in a little penned off area, and as soon as the last person deplaned we were brought to the aircraft to board. Boarding was quick and efficient, and we started engines right on time at 9:30, quickly taxied to runway 27 and were airborne at 9:35am! A quick 27 minutes later we touched down on 25L at LAX, and blocked in at 10:10am.

Over to Gate 59A for departure and again, I was not impressed with Delta's boarding area. There were some windows you could see out of, but you could tell that this was not built by an aviation fanatic. This last flight home would be on a 757-200, however, the way the aircraft was parked, you could not see what the nose, tail or DL number was. Now, first off, here is where I saw DL at it's worst. The gate agents here were nasty, no smiles at all, no Thank You's to any passengers. Even the Captain who was in the boarding area waiting for his FO so they could board together, was a bit surly looking. The cabin crew boarded about 55 mins before departure, and 10 mins later the boarding circus stared again. This time it was worse. I don't know why, but the 737 seemed roomier than the 757, and when people blocked the aisles, it caused issues. Someone went past their row to put a bag up in an overhead, and then tried to fight the flow of traffic coming back to their seat. I thought the impending "collision" of attitudes was going to have fists thrown, however cooler heads prevailed. By the way, the FA's were either kissing ass in first class or hiding in the rear galley, with only 1 person at the door. They did NOTHING to facilitate a quicker boarding. Thankfully the flight was not completely full, about 75%, so we were able to push off on time. 12 minutes later we lifted off 25R headed back to NY. Food choices for the return were horrible, and the IFE was not working for the first hour of the flight. They rebooted the system twice in order to get it working. Thankfully we had a great tailwind home and I only had to suffer 4:26 flying time on that tube until we landed on 4R at JFK, and then had an 11 minute taxi to Gate 21 in terminal 2. It's a good thing we got in early as it took almost 45 minutes from arrival for the first bag to hit the belt.

Summary: If given the choice, I would NEVER fly Delta again. The piss poor attitudes of those working there as well as being nickel & dimed to death for everything was just ridiculous. Southwest may be known for its "cattle car" boarding process, however, it's much faster, you don't have people arguing that someone is in "their" seat, and when you ask for a soda, they give you the whole can. Not half a glass with half fizz. One final note, when we were getting off the aircraft in JFK, BOTH pilots were standing at the door with their bags waiting for a break in the passengers to get off the aircraft. Not a smile, from them, not a thank you for flying from the FA's, nothing. If I had a choice, WHY would I ever go back to them?