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Thanks to some great help from the great Sky Club reps in LAX and the amazing Captain Hank with Delta I was given access to the inaugural Delta 737-900 flight yesterday morning 01NOV13 from Atlanta to Detroit.
I had a post the other day asking if readers were excited about the new jet. Let me tell you, you should be!
The day was pouring rain in Atlanta but it did not dampen the day one bit for me.
This is a very nice plane.
The ride was smooth, quite and the first class seats are very comfortable.
The power ports in first class are easily accessible in front of you not under your seat as old one.
There is easy USB access and the monitors are gorgeous, HUGE and quickly respond to input.
The overhead bins fold out of the way more and hold quite a bit.
The Economy Comfort section is also very nice and on the left side of the airplane with NO bulkhead so you can stretch your feet out into 1st class.
However on the right hand side there is a locker/ bulkhead in row 1 of Economy Comfort, so it has very limited leg room.
The rest of the economy section is also very nice.
All have nice sized IFE or in flight entertainment screens. They have quick access to USB plugs and headphones left bottom of the screens.
Exit rows have more leg room but not as generous as other jets.
Also be aware that many of the emergency row seats are fixed position. The Delta seat map shows the two seaters to recline when they do not.
The cockpit is new and modern with screens replacing most of the old technology.
Avionics are state-of-the-art including heads up display.
Outside it is as sweet looking as on the inside of the jet.
Overall this truly is a nice jet to fly and will serve Delta well as a narrow body jet. A few issues did come up during the maiden flight but Panasonic technicians were onboard to identify what needs tweaking. Also, for a few weeks, there will be NO GoGo wifi thanks to the recent government shutdown. Delta told me:
“The 737-900ER is a new fleet type for Delta and for Gogo, requiring supplemental type certification (STC) in order to install and activate the Wi-Fi system. And because of the government shutdown, and subsequent backlog of STC requests, the FAA wasn’t able to grant us Wi-Fi STC before our 739 service commenced. We hope to have certification within 4-6weeks.”
Other thoughts. Row one of 1st class on the left 1B has a toe cutout but not much. 1A has partial. 1DC has none. I would avoid row 1. Also row 5DC has the storage / bulkhead behind limiting recline so another avoid if possible. It is nice that there are 20 first class seats in the cabin.
I will be flying this jet a few more times in January and am now very much looking forward to the ride. I am really impressed and look forward to seeing what you think of this new bird in the Delta stable! – René
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If I got on a plane & the pilot looked like the one in the first picture I would run back to the gate!!
@Mark – I think I looked great behind the wheel. 😉
I honestly can’t wait until I have the opportunity to book a flight on one of these birds. I LOVE how quiet they are. Engine and cabin advancements over the years have made planes quieter, and that is one of my biggest “likes” for many planes. 🙂
@James – yes is is much quieter!
I’m taking the long way home from northern California the week before Thanksgiving just to fly on this jet… LAX-ATL on a Friday afternoon. As Platinum, I hope to get an upgrade, but from your photos it appears that Economy Comfort will be just fine!
@CP – 1st is nice. I cleared at gate. EC is not bad but again left side front row EC if you can.
Would you say economy comfort leg room looked better than exit row? I had an aisle on the 2-2 exit row, but thinking of moving to economy comfort aisle for my flight tomorrow based on how I read your review.
@Jamie – keep in min the 2-2 is FIXED no recline. Ouch. And the leg room is no better than front row EC LEFT SIDE. I will shoot for that, then the back row exit as choice two on this bird.
Is it my eyes, your camera, or does the F pitch look small?
When the guy in front of you fully reclined, how much space did you have?
@Lark – not an abundance but I will take 5 rows of 1st over the 4 rows in the 737-800 🙂
I agree – 20 seats in F is good for the elite upgrader! 🙂
Row 20 on the Delta 737-900 is crap. No recline and no extra leg room. Row 19 has the extra legroom but probably no recline and row 21 A & F windows seats have extra leg room and probably recline. Row 21 B/C/D/E have no extra leg room and probably recline
Flew the newer 737 from DTW to LAX. Upgraded IFE was nice as was power and other features. Your post did a nice job calling these out. However the center asile seems like it was reduced. Sitting in asile seat I was shoulder hit by every passenger on boarding, had to walk sideways down asile getting to back bathroom.
I am on this plane from LAX to ATL in seat 2C. The flight date is 01 August 2014. Do you think WiFi has been certified by now? How about the seat choice?
Are the rear exits used to board and deplane?
I wonder whether I will deplane faster for my ATL connection in row 32 or row 41.
@Susan – I have only ever boarded from front door but maybe others can comment. (I doubt it btw).
I just flew this model from Atlanta to LAX and my daughters and I sat on the left side front economy (as shown in the picture above) just behind first class. I was not impressed. The only thing going for it is a little extra leg room, but the curtain (you can see it in the picture as well) kept floating back in my face everytime the flight attendents would walk between them so I was constantly brushing it off my TV. I am a little heavy so I also struggled in the seats since they are more narrow. I wasn’t very comfortable at all. Also, since I wasn’t in first class the Delta flight attendents would not let me use the restroom in the front of the plane, so I had to walk all the way back to the far end of the plane to use the facilities, and the isle is also more narrow, so I had to walk sideways all the way back. I was miserable the whole way. Honestly almost made me decide to never fly again, that’s how uncomfortable it was. Luckly, on the flight back we were on a different style where there were bathrooms in the middle and the seats were just a little wider. Also the isle was wider. Even though we weren’t sitting in economy comfort, I was more comfortable.
All this glitz and IFE and blah-blah. The overhead vents are COMPLETELY LAME! It’s like having someone blowing gently at you from a distance!
The old planes used to move some air out of that port… Just sayin’…
Do the arm rest move and do they have to stay down
If you have get down the isle sideways maybe its time to diet, sorry.
I flew on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 in 2018, from OAK-SEA (Oakland to Sea-Tac), in the back of the Economy/Coach section. There is a lot of legroom on that plane, but the experience is not as good as their Airbus A320.