Review of Delta Air Lines flight Seattle → San José del Cabo in Economy

Airline Delta Air Lines
Flight DL357
Class Economy
Seat 22F
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 04:20
Take-off 07 Apr 18, 07:40
Arrival at 07 Apr 18, 13:00
DL   #27 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 833 reviews
lennoxw
By 891
Published on 20th December 2018
This trip is our nonstop flight out to San Jose del Cabo (SJD) from Seattle for spring break. I had been to SJD before, but it had been many years.
Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:40am, meaning we got to the airport at around 4:40. We got a ride to the airport, and got out at Delta's check-in area. They had a check-in stand outside, so we checked in there. We went inside, the airport wasn't too busy as it was 5am on a Saturday. We quickly got through security and rode the tram out to the South Satellite. Upon arriving to our gate (which I believe was S7), we realized we had two hours to spare.

photo 20180407_064452Our aircraft, N380DA, a 1999 737-832. I will be sitting in seat 22F in economy.

photo 20180407_070255Our neighbor, a Delta Connection/SkyWest E175, N244SY.

photo 20180407_075114Renovations at the North Satellite.

photo 20180407_075921The employee powered Alaska/Horizon Q400.
After a long taxi down to 16L, we took off no later than 8am.

photo 20180407_080627Cloudy climb-out, heading south.

photo 20180407_081427Breaking through the clouds.

photo 20180407_073118This 737 had the newer IFE screens. I put it on the flight tracker and left it there for pretty much the entire flight. The screen was clean, responsive, sleek and it worked just fine. I didn't use it to watch anything, because I brought my kindle with Netflix. Pretty soon after we got to cruising altitude, I got my obligatory Delta-branded Biscoff cookies.

photo 20180407_122144Descending over the Gulf of California, and an interesting group of clouds.
We arrived on time, but sadly parked at one of four gates that use jetways. I was looking forward to using stairs, but this was much faster. We walked down to customs, which was a very large, clean facility. There was almost no line. However, on the way to customs, it did feel very crowded. After clearing customs, we were on our way out of the airport. One interesting feature of SJD airport is that before you leave the airport, you get in a line. At the end of the line is a security officer and a stand with a button on it. You push the button, and if it flashes a green light, you are free to go. If the light is red, they go through your bags. As far as I'm aware, whether the light is green or red is random. We got lucky with the green light, and went outside to wait for our hotel shuttle.

photo 20180408_192006Sunset after arriving at our hotel.
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Verdict

Delta Air Lines

8.3/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering7.0

Seattle - SEA

8.8/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness8.0

San José del Cabo - SJD

7.5/10
Efficiency7.0
Access7.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

Overall, this was a very pleasant flight, the crew were very friendly and happy to help. This was somehow my first time flying Delta, and I was very happy with the flight. The south satellite at SeaTac was rather small and bland, with not a lot of things to do. It was, however, clean and comfortable. San Jose del Cabo airport was very clean, but it definitely had some more crowded spots.

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2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 481002 by
    Pilpintu TEAM 997 Comments
    Hi, Lennoxw!!

    Welcome aboard!

    The employee powered Alaska/Horizon Q400.

    Er... you mean... "powered" as in stealing the plane, doing acrobatics and crashing???

    heading south

    I recommend south. Way, way down south.

    This 737 had the newer IFE screens

    And it has USB charging ports. I'm sold to Delta!

    I got my obligatory Delta-branded Biscoff cookies

    Thanks for mentioning this! I'll show this to my mother. She just won't accept the idea that some things are an obligation when you fly, like these cookies in your case, or a blueberry muffin in mine.

    You push the button, and if it flashes a green light, you are free to go

    Very interesting system. With my rotten luck, though, I'm sure I'd get the red light every single time.

    Sunset after arriving at our hotel.

    I never heard about San José del Cabo before this. After some googling I learned that it's quite close to La Paz, the hometown of Kino, Juana, and Coyotito in John Steinbeck's "The Pearl". Boo - hoo. Poor Coyotito was left to... how does the saying go? "Carry the can". LOL

    Thanks a lot for sharing! It was an enjoyable report. :)
  • Comment 481003 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6744 Comments
    Hi LennoxW, thanks for sharing your first report here! Delta has really grown the SEA hub in the last few years. I didn't know they had nonstops to SJD. While AA and UA are receiving new aircraft with no IFE and ripping it out of existing aircraft, Delta is the only carrier installing PTVs on most mainline aircraft. DL gets it. Seattleites are lucky to have two good carriers hubbed at SEA with AS and DL.

    Welcome to Flight-Report!

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