I had received a decent amount of money for Christmas, and I had narrowed my spending choices down to two: 1) 16GB iPod Touch, or 2) iPhone. I was having such trouble choosing between which I was going to buy. I decided to give up thinking about it for the night. I got on to the A.net Trip Reports Forum, and started reading some of the TR's. I saw one that said, "Daytrip." It was at that point when I had made a sudden, unexpected final decision; I was going to forget about the flashy electronic devices and take a flying trip.

My first routing choice was on an American Airlines 757-200 flying DFW-STL, and then United via ORD on ERJ-145, and Airbus A319. This planned travel date was January 31. I had all of these flights picked out, and on-hold reservations with each airline. I decided to bring up the topic with my parents. It didn't go as well as I had planned. I'm sure you can probably all answer/guess right to what they had said would go wrong because they pretty much told me what everything is that "WOULD GO WRONG" as they put it the whole time they were shooting the idea down. Then, my dad comes up to me the next morning and asks me if I wouldn't mind him tagging along because he had slept on it, and decided it would be a fun thing to do. He told me we couldn't fly on January 31 because one of his assistants had already asked that day off. He told me to look at January 24th. To my surprise and pleasure, I found a more complex, more fun routing for us to take. After getting the go ahead from him, our final routing was DFW-ATL-STL on Delta, and STL-ORD-DFW on United.

I woke up at 4:30 am and packed my bag, my mom told me to take lots of great pics (which I think she was pleased.) We left the house at 5:10 am and were on our way to DFW. Early in the morning, it's about a 30 minute drive to DFW, but we stopped at a Wal-Mart to get packages of gum since it would be expensive in the airport.

We arrived at DFW at about 5:50 am. We parked our car in the 1-Hour Parking at Terminal B, and easily made it through security at the B30 checkpoint with Delta boarding passes. To my surprise and relief, we didn't have SSSS typed on our tickets. I had thought we might since we were flying a 757 to Atlanta, one-way, no checked bags, etc. When we showed our Delta Boarding passes to the TSA agent, he looked at us funny like he wondered why we were over here. He didn't bother to ask and sent us right through. Security was a breeze. After in the secure area, we immediately went up to the DFW Skylink station at Gate B30 to go over to Terminal D. I wanted to see some of the heavies that had just arrived from South America. There were definitely lots of people in the Custom's Hallways arriving in DFW. Other than that, Terminal D may have been the most quiet of the 4 Terminals I walked through. There were about 3 departing flights that I saw, and they were very empty it seemed like. Nashville and Miami on AA, and an MX A318 to MEX. I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of Terminal D. I wasn't really thinking about it at the time. After Terminal D got boring, we rode the Skylink to Terminal C where there were somemore early AA flights departing. Here is where the pictures start.

AA gate ropes at Gate C12

AA gate area at Gate C12. A flight to SFO was the next to depart.

Here are a couple of pictures from the Skylink headed from Terminal C to Terminal E.



Here is N648DL in DFW, preparing for a departure to ATL in about 2 hours.

The end-wall of Gate E14 at DFW


1) Delta 1916
DFW-ATL
Boeing 757-200
Load: About 50%
Seat 37A
Reg: N656DL

Right as we arrived from walking from the Skylink station, the automated gate system called for Zone 4, so I hurried up to take that Delta wall picture, and cut some Zone 5 people to get on the plane.

Boarding the plane




We left the gate about 6 minutes before scheduled, and were on our way to ATL.

Inside the cabin during the safety video

My view out of 37A, and a side view of N648DL preping for an ATL departure.

During pushback, the safety video was still being played while engines started. This pic might look a little foggy, but thats actually the smoke from the PW engines starting.

January 24th was a North operation at DFW. Runway 35L was having work done on it, so we taxied across it, and left on Runway 35C.
Taxiing to Runway 35C

2 American Eagle EMB-145's and a Continental Express EMB-145 taxiing and holding at Runway 35C ready for departure to Cleveland

A look back at Terminal E with N648DL in the distance as we hold for Runway 35C.

A look at Delta's old hangar, now AA's

Holding for an arriving AA MD-80

And with this picture, I was thrown to the back of my seat during the typical powerful 757 takeoff

See you tonight DFW!




Within a minute after takeoff, we were in the clouds

The cabin in the clouds

About 4 minutes after takeoff, we were through the clouds

Climbing to FL390


Within minutes of the seatbelt sign being turned off at FL240, the Delta Horizons video came on. And in-flight service began.
Cabin with the show 10 Items or Less playing on the screens

My meal. Pardon the kleenex in the top left corner (just now saw that there)

No ground was visible until we descended through FL040 on approach to ATL

Spoilers being deployed as we make a rather fast/rapid descent into ATL


Coming through the clouds close to ATL


Views of warehouses seconds prior to touchdown in Georgia

We lumber over I-75

Seconds after that, we touch down rather hard onto Runway 26L in ATL
Roll out

Some planes as we taxi into Gate A17


We disembarked the aircraft quick and expiditiously.
A 767-300 preping for a departure to PBI

One of Delta's 738's in new colors and winglet equipped

A Delta 757 taxiing past

A Delta logo board put over a painted wavy gray logo

Korean Air 747-400's 3 and 4 engines

Preping for an on-time departure to ICN

Beautiful aircraft

The following pictures are of Delta's first 777-200LR, The Delta Spirit

New to Atlanta, and New to Delta




A Delta 763 loading up for Lagos, Nigeria

The Korean Air 744 rotating off of Runway 27R with a long flight ahead of them

A view of the Atlanta Terminal North from Concourse T

Interstate view from Concourse T. I-20 goes home to Dallas.


1) Delta 1626
ATL-STL
Boeing McDonell Douglas MD-88
Load: 80-85%
Seat 31E
Reg: N997DL

We arrived at Gate A32 for our flight, and boarding hadn't yet started, but began about 5 minutes after we arrived. We were in Zone 4, and boarded the aircraft within 10 minutes.

Our MD-88, N997DL waiting for us at Gate A32


My view of a Pinnacle CRJ-900 that pushed about 5 minutes before us

No more CRJ-900 next to us

Cabin during final boarding process

Taxiing to Runway 26L


KLM A330 taxiing to Concourse E moments after touching down in ATL


ATL's control tower with an MD-88

Delta's Hangar, Famous sign, and Delta's fourth 737-700



After a notoriously loud, and fast takeoff... I saw this water tower in the city of East Point, Georgia

What airports are these? I know one must be Peachtree DeKalb Airport


The JT8D engine just 2 rows behind me

View Tennessee from above

Inflight on our MD-88

Rear galley of the MD-88

The Mississippi River



After making a slow descent into STL crossing between Missouri and Illinois many times, we made a hard landing on Runway 30L. I'm sorry, I didn't take any pictures of the snacks on this flight since I had someone sitting next to me. It was the exact same except I wasn't given the can. Kudos to Delta! All of my flights with them were early arrivals. They have clean airplanes, leather seats, tasty snacks, etc. I will always fly Delta if given the chance.

Delta's score: 9.5/10

I will finish the United part soon.

Happy flying to all!

[Edited 2009-01-25 13:04:50]