Review of Delta Air Lines flight Detroit → Toronto in Business

Hello, and welcome to the final leg of this business class trip from Toronto to Tokyo and back on Delta. Need to get caught up on the trip so far? No problem. Here’s the rundown.

DL1822 YYZ-DTW 9/18/2016 - Right here
DL275 DTW-NRT 9/18/2016 - Sure thing
DL276 NRT-DTW 9/22/2016 - You betcha
DL1806 DTW-YYZ 9/22/2016 - You are here

We’re going to go pretty quick on this one, since, y’know… it’s the last flight of the trip, and it’s a whopping 214 miles.

When last we saw each other, your humble flight-reporter had just arrived back into Detroit from Narita, headed landside and then upstairs for Pre Check security — there is a transit security check off the baggage claim at DTW, but sadly, it does not include Pre Check.

The process is quick enough, and after just a few minutes, I was back airside at the McNamara Terminal.



At this point, we’re maybe 20 minutes away from boarding, so it’s not really worthwhile rehashing a look at the Sky Club, so let’s just head to the gate. It’s not very far from the security checkpoint.



My ride back home is already at the gate, so we’re on track for getting out of here on time, I’d say.



Sure enough, boarding is called about the time I expected — about 20 minutes after the Delta app claims boarding — and I’m on my way home.

Flight: DL1806
From: Detroit Wayne (DTW)
To: Toronto Pearson (YYZ)
Date: 9/22/2016
Aircraft: Boeing 717-200
Registration: N997AT
Seat: 2A
ATD (STD): 15:46 (15:35)
ATA (STA): 16:26 (16:40)

For this flight, I’m in seat 2A, port side window in the middle row of the three-row First Class on Delta’s 717 fleet. Again, DL has done a very nice job with the cabin of these older birds — everything is very aesthetically pleasing, and very clean. As usual with Delta, a pillow, a blanket, and a mini bottle of Dasani water is provided at the seat for each F passenger.



Legroom is quite reasonable. The 717 is a perfectly good domestic First hard product, except for not having seatback IFE. WiFi, however, was on offer above 10,000 feet (for the 15 minutes were up there), and that include streaming IFE on each passenger’s tablet or smartphone.



A look out my window. Between the 717s and the regionals, it’s almost all high-tail territory around the terminal at this hour.



It’s open bar for pre-departure beverages, and I order a gin and tonic. I don’t think there’s an outbreak of malaria in the Toronto area, but you can never be too careful.



Boarding is quick, and the plane is not anywhere near full — although as always, full in front. We push back pretty much on time.



It’s a short taxi, and we’re quickly on our way out of Detroit, getting a very good view of the terminals as we climb.



It’s a fairly nice afternoon on this short jaunt across Michigan and into Ontario — we don’t get very high on this flight, since it’s a very short 35 minute affair or so. But we do (barely) break through the clouds.



Service begins and ends with a drink and a pass of the light snack cart. Just like the reverse of this flight, which started this trip, it’s only cookies, pretzels, or peanuts on offer in the snack basket. I have a Coke Zero to go along with it.



By the time I’m done my cookies, we’re already on our descent into the Toronto area. We overfly Pearson before turning back around to land west-to-east.



Traffic on the 401 looks delightful. I’m so looking to driving home!



A look at the very noisy executive golf course nearly next door to Pearson.



And touchdown.



It’s a short taxi, and we arrive back to Terminal 3.



For once I arrive back at Terminal 3 at the right time — it’s just about dead quiet at this time in the afternoon. With my Nexus card, I’m through customs in no time, landside and headed home. Which took forever, thanks to traffic. But that’s another story.

Thanks for joining me for this trip — sorry this was so brief, there just wasn’t a lot to talk about, having offered more of my thoughts on the DL 717 First experience on the YYZ-DTW leg.

See you next time, for the next adventure.