Review of Delta Air Lines flight Detroit → Washington in Economy

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

This is the return flight of my weekend trip to Detroit.
 
It's been a decade since I last flew out of DTW. Apparently, lots have changed. It is quite a beautiful, modern terminal now.

I arrived quite early for my flight as I wanted to try the new Priority Pass option here: Be Relax Spa. It was added to PP mid-May this year.

You can find the spa right around the corner to the right after exiting security. I had to wait a while at the entrance before being helped–the staff were all occupied with existing customers. The gentleman who helped me was very nice, but wasn't very clear about what was actually covered by Priority Pass. I had the option of 15- or 30-minute massages, but it seemed like the 30-minute option was only for the massage chair. I ended up going for that because it seemed like I was going to have to wait for some time if I wanted a human massage.

The massage chairs are wiped down between each customer and was actually quite comfortable. I don't think I would ever pay for this, but a nice perk from PP. I tipped the staff that helped me set up via Venmo as I left, but he seemed quite surprised I was tipping (I guess it makes sense not to tip if I was only getting a massage from the chair).

I walked back to the escalator taking me to the ExpressTram, which takes you to each end of the terminal. It was a fast trip and the Sky Club is conveniently located on the same level. Just FYI, the main Sky Club in the center of the terminal can be found immediately after security.

Delta sky club (Gate A68)

This Sky Club seemed leanly staffed, as the staff members were always bustling around performing multiple duties. The front desk agent was very nice, but unfortunately had to deal with any IRROPS situation. As he checked me in, the agent informed me my flight was departing from A70 and boarded at 3:15pm (which was 5 minutes later than indicated on my boarding pass).

The Sky Club by Gate A68 is one long and narrow room.  I understand the Sky Club at the other end of the terminal to be identical.  There are some seats around the check-in area as well as plenty of high-top seating with great tarmac views.

Turning right from the entrance leads to more tarmac-view seating as well as a coffee station.

At the end is a small dining area where the buffet and bar are.

There was a refrigerated shelf with to-go items in addition to the hot buffet. Deserts and soft drinks were right next to the bar. While I was there, the bar was out of all beers except for Michelob.

I grabbed a late lunch/early dinner. The chicken parmesan wasn't bad and the Thai coconut curry soup was decent as well.

The restrooms were kept fairly clean. One difference is that I did not notice any hand lotion and the hand soap was Purell instead of the Le Labo I saw last year.

While the views were good, there were these annoying little black spots across all of the windows here that prevented me from taking a good picture.

On my way out of the lounge, I found the Le Labo hand lotion! Unfortunately, it was out.

DL2377

Preboarding began at 3:15pm, which is what the Sky Club agent told me, but 5 minutes after the time it showed on the Delta app. After pre-boarding, elites, first class, and Comfort+ (not necessarily in that order), main cabin economy was boarded from back to front.

My ride home was N389DN, a 2 years-old A321.

For this flight I did not bother with a cabin shot because it was already very full. You can enjoy a picture of the very tiny mid-cabin lavatory on the A321 here. I wouldn't bother with it unless you had to.

I sat in 29A for this flight.

Compared to my previous flight in Comfort+, the only noticeable differences were the reduced legroom and the older overhead panel.

We were parked to N356NW, a Delta A320 bound for Indianapolis.

Doors closed at 3:45pm and we pushed back 2 minutes later. After a quick taxi, we took off at 3:54pm. 

I was falling in and out of sleep after takeoff and can't be sure when the service began for economy class, but the cart reached my row approximately 24 minutes after takeoff. The options for this flight were pretzels or a Cliff bar. This is new to me–is Delta changing their snack options all around?

We began our descent a short while after service was complete and landed at 4:52pm. We had to wait for a gate to open up and ended up getting to Gate 21 10 minutes after landing. My row in economy deplaned about 10 minutes after arriving at the gate.

Rideshare prices were through the roof on arrival. One of the nifty things about DCA is that if your destination is walking distance from a Metro station, it can be a very convenient (and much cheaper) way to get home.

The Yellow Line was very empty at this time.