Review of Delta Air Lines flight Salt Lake City Baltimore in Economy

Airline Delta Air Lines
Flight DL1189
Class Economy
Seat 21A
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 04:15
Take-off 09 Jul 19, 09:55
Arrival at 09 Jul 19, 16:10
DL   #26 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 833 reviews
jetcitytraveller
Published on 17th July 2019

Introduction


Hello everyone,
I took this flight heading to Baltimore, MD to visit family. I live in the Seattle area, and visit relatives in the southern Delaware area every summer, usually flying on Southwest or Alaska. This time, to shake things up a bit, I decided to take Delta eastbound, and Alaska home, on a Seattle-Salt Lake City-Baltimore-Seattle routing. My itinerary was as follows:
7/9/19 DL 1985 dep. SEA 6:00 am arr. SLC 9:00 am 737-900ER
7/9/19 DL 1189 dep. SLC 9:55 am arr. BWI 4:11 pm 737-800
7/23/19 AS 765 dep. BWI 5:20 pm arr. SEA 8:10 pm 737-900ER
I've already written a report for my SEA-SLC flight; a link to it is attached here if you haven't checked it out yet. https://flight-report.com/en/report/43107/delta-air-lines-dl1985-seattle-sea-salt-lake-city-slc
Now with that out of the way, let's get to the report itself.

SLC Airport


I had landed in SLC on-time, parking at gate D2 shortly before 9 am. After deplaning from my SEA-SLC leg, I made sure to check out the connections board in the terminal, so I'd know where to go. If you can't see it, my BWI flight was departing out of gate C6.
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Looking down Concourse D. I made sure to get lots of photos of the terminal, knowing it'd be gone in just a few years.
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The view in between concourses D and C, where the majority of Delta's mainline flights at SLC are. The 767 was heading to BOS, the A220 in the middle to DFW, and the A319 and 737 side-by-side to AUS and BWI (my flight).
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Looking at the departure/arrival board.
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Concourse C.
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Delta Flight 1189: SLC to BWI


I got to the gate at about 9:10, about 5 minutes before boarding. The gate agent was kind of funny for this flight, doing a "Bueller? Bueller?" impression when paging a passenger. I later boarded at about 9:35 with the Main Cabin 2 group.
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A closer view of the plane taking me to BWI, N3754A, a 17.9 year old Boeing 737-800. It arrived in SLC from DEN earlier that morning.
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The SLC-based cabin crew on this flight was a bit on the senior side and all-male (the first time that had happened to me). During boarding, one of them complimented me on a Delta plane pin I was wearing.
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Outside view from seat 21A.
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Unfortunately, the cabin had seen better days, with older (though comfy) seats, and an older IFE system that was usable, but didn't have as much content or as good touch sensitivity as on my SEA-SLC flight. Though old IFE is better than no IFE, I suggest that Delta consider redoing the cabins of these old 738s, if they plan to keep them into the 2020s.
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Legroom is okay.
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Boarding wrapped up a bit early, so we pushed back before schedule, while the safety video played, as before.
Taxiing past the Delta hangar again.
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There was a bit of a takeoff line, after which we took to the skies at 10:16 am heading southbound, then east. SLC's altitude was evident here, as we had a bit of a sluggish takeoff roll.

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For this leg, I chose to watch The Internship on the IFE. I'm not a movie nerd, but it was just okay. Good enough to pass the time on a flight, but I probably wouldn't want to watch it at home.
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Cabin service started over Colorado, first with the BOB menu, then the snack/drink cart. I purchased a Luvo chicken wrap for about $8, and it was good.
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After I ate, I continued watching The Internship on the IFE, intermittently checking the moving map, listening to music, or just relaxing and trying to nap. The crew came through the cabin once or twice offering water, a nice touch so that people could stay hydrated. It was a bit rough over the Rockies and western Maryland, but the flight was mostly smooth and unremarkable.
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Near the West Virginia-Maryland border, we started descending into the hot, hazy Baltimore area.
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We touched down at 4:02 pm EDT, with a 2-hour time change.

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Pulling into gate D23, next to a Delta MD-88.
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Cabin shot while deplaning.
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Looking back at N3754A before its next flight back to SLC.
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After that, I went to baggage claim to pick up my checked bag, and met up with my relatives shortly thereafter, getting out of the airport by 4:35. If you're interested, the FR24 stats for my flight is also attached below.
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See more

Verdict

Delta Air Lines

7.4/10
Cabin6.5
Cabin crew8.5
Entertainment/wifi6.5
Meal/catering8.0

Salt Lake City - SLC

8.1/10
Efficiency9.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness7.5

Baltimore - BWI

8.4/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

Overall, this was a decent flight on Delta. The cabin crew was friendly, service was appropriate for the flight lengths, and we left and arrived on time. This was my first time visiting Salt Lake City, and although the terminals were a bit crowded and dated, amenities were fine and it wasn't absolutely terrible, but I can understand why they're building new facilities. The 737-800 that I flew on was a bit tired, with an outdated IFE system and legroom that was just passable. Apparently Delta has refurbished about half of their 738s with new IFE, and like I said before, I hope that they refurbish the other half soon to bring them in line with the product offered on most of their domestic fleet. All in all though, I was satisfied with this flight, and I wouldn't hesitate to take Delta from SEA to BWI again. I hope you enjoyed part 2 of my trip report from SEA to BWI, and feel free to leave any questions or feedback in the comment section.

Related

4 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 511941 by
    Harry_He 66 Comments
    Nice report! I agree with you, the IFE system needs work. I think I had seen this nearly identical IFE on Delta's 777 when I was flying it from LA to Atlanta last year. https://flight-report.com/en/report/42678/delta-air-lines-dl194-los-angeles-lax-atlanta-atl
    • Comment 511944 by
      jetcitytraveller AUTHOR 13 Comments
      Yeah, they should consider refurbishing these planes. Luckily, Delta's been retrofitting their 777s, so they don't have that system anymore, but some 737s and 757s still have it (I had the same old IFE on a 757-200 from SEA to OGG last month, a flight which I have yet to review). Anyways, thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed my report!
  • Comment 512308 by
    jish.b 283 Comments
    Interesting to see that Delta keep their 20+ year old A320s in a crisp condition with new IFE, and yet there are some 737-800s like this which are just...left around. Nice report though - enjoyed the pictures!

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