Last month I took my sister to Florida for a few days, to visit a college. We originally had ourselves booked on a CRJ-200 to JFK, and then an A320 to FLL. The college ended up changing the date of the orientation, so we had to move our flight up one day. We would be going down the night before we had originally planned. We would now be going on a 717, and my favorite plane the 757. My sister was looking forward to seeing the college, and I was looking forward to a few days in South Florida.
My sister was working the afternoon we left. As soon as she got home, we left for the airport. Our flight was leaving at 7pm. The plan for the day was a connection in Atlanta, before flying into Fort Lauderdale. I was excited to be flying the evening flight to ATL again. Delta had just started flying this flight again, after having stopped it in the spring of 2020. When I would fly back to college in Arizona after being home, I would take this flight a lot. Then I would usually take an A321, 757 or 737 to Phoenix. The flight from SYR-ATL was usually on an MD-88, or an MD-90. I wish it was still a Mad Dog. But, I guess the 717 is the next best thing, and the closest we'll get to the MD-88 anymore
Delta 680
Syracuse, NY (SYR) – Atlanta, GA (ATL)
Boeing 717-200
N977AT
Seat 26A
Scheduled Departure Time – 6:55pm
Actual Departure Time- 6:57pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 9:24pm
Actual Arrival Time- 8:46pm
1 hour 49 minutes
N977AT at gate 24
The flight was about 3/4 full. The door was closed about 10 minutes early, and we quickly started the push back. Once the engines came to life, we started the taxi out towards runway 28
26A
Instead of giving us the runway heading, they gave us our initial turn right after taking off
“Delta 680 turn left heading 230, contact departure”
It was a smooth climb up to 34,000ft, where we stayed for the entire flight. This was the first flight I had taken since Delta restarted the full service, as opposed to just the pre - packaged bags they had been giving out for the last year
It was a nice sunset, as we flew south
About 25 minutes before landing, we started a gradual descent down towards ATL
Descending on the ONDRE1 arrival
Final 26R
Touchdown
Pulling into the gate next to N926DZ, getting ready to depart to Philadelphia
N977AT gate B20, before its last flight of the day to Greenville-Spartanburg
Our flight to Fort Lauderdale was delayed 20 minutes, because our crew was running late. We got some dinner, and then headed to our next gate to wait until boarding. The airport started to get pretty quiet, as we were one of the last flights out for the night.
Delta 2241
Atlanta, GA (ATL) – Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)
Boeing 757-200
N820DX
Seat 34A
Scheduled Departure Time – 10:54pm
Actual Departure Time- 11:30pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 12:42am
Actual Arrival Time- 12:49am
1 hour 19 minutes
N820DX at B6, after arriving from Seattle
Eventually the crew showed up, and boarding started right after. The crew were friendly and apologized for the short delay. They also added they were based in Fort Lauderdale, and also wanted to get home, so the sooner everyone boarded the better. Once everyone was onbaord the door was closed. We quickly pushed back, and started the taxi out to runway 27R
34A, next to N358DN that had arrived a little while before from San Antonio
Climbing out of ATL
We climbed all the way up to 39,000ft, for the entire flight. Just like on the first flight, another full service was done. By the time they were done collecting trash, we were starting the descent down into FLL
Cruising past Orlando
Descending on the JINGL6 arrival
We flew past the airport out over the water, before turning back towards the airport and landing to the west
Final 28R
N820DX spent the night at gate D1, before flying its flight back to Atlanta the next morning
By the time we got our bags and got to the hotel, it was almost 2:00am. The orientation was early the next morning. After spending a few days in Florida, it was time to head back. For the flight back we were flying jetBlue out of Miami. It was my first time flying them out of MIA, since they had just started service two months prior. We got to the airport around 2:30pm. Everyone at check in was really rude and unhelpful. They would not take your bag unless you self-tagged it at the kiosk. Finally after taking way to long to drop my bag, we had our bags dropped off and headed towards security. TSA was not much better. I had pre check, and once I got through, they took my bag. They said I needed to take my iPad out, and send it through separately. No one had told me this, despite being told by the agent that “I need to do a better job of listening to directions”. The last rude person was a pilot, as we were getting off the train. A woman asked him how she could get to baggage claim. He said “I fly airplanes, not give directions. You can find someone who works at the airport to ask.”
jetBlue 2692
Miami, FL (MIA) – New York, NY (JFK)
Airbus A320
N775JB
Seat 8A
Scheduled Departure Time – 4:30pm
Actual Departure Time- 4:45pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 7:24pm
Actual Arrival Time- 7:15pm
2 hours 30 minutes
First time seeing Southwest at MIA
N775JB arriving from JFK
8A
It took a while for everyone to board, and the door was closed right at our scheduled departure time. A few minutes later we pushed back
Taxiing to 8R
“jetBlue 2692 heading 090, runway 8R cleared for takeoff”
Before we departed, the captain told us about the possibility of turbulence throughout the flight. We initially climbed to 35,000ft, for the first hour of the flight. As we approached the coast of the North Carolina it started to get a little bumpy, and we descended down to 29,000ft. it didn’t start to get pretty bumpy until the end of the flight. We continued down to 25,000ft, before starting all the way down.
Starting the descent
Final 22L
Pulling into the gate next to N955JB, about to depart to Santiago, Dominican Republic
N775JB spent the night at gate 18, before leaving the next morning to Cancun
We had a little over an hour, until boarding would be starting for the last flight back to Syracuse
jetBlue 2516
New York, NY (JFK) – Syracuse, NY (SYR)
Embraer E190
N324JB
Seat 16A
Scheduled Departure Time – 9:00pm
Actual Departure Time- 9:06pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 10:18pm
Actual Arrival Time- 9:57pm
51 minutes
N324JB had spent the entire day sitting at gate 21. It had flown down first thing in the morning from Boston, and sat all day before our flight to Syracuse. This would be my 3rd time on N324JB. I had flown it once before from SYR-JFK, and one other time from JFK-SYR
16A, next to N2084J that departed early the next morning to Santo Domingo
A pretty full flight tonight. This was my first time on a jetBlue E190 in a year and a half. The last time was in October of 2019, when I flew from BOS-ATL
Before we pushed back, the captain made his announcement. He mentioned that there were some thunderstorms that were moving in from the west, covering the usual route this flight takes. They had just gotten a reroute from dispatch, and would need a little bit to update it. We still ended up pushing back about 5 minutes ahead of schedule
About to taxi
There was only one plane ahead of us, so it was a quick taxi out to runway 22R
Just after we took off, another plane told the tower they might want to consider changing runways because there was a 20 knot tailwind. We were one of the last departures off of 22R. Right after this, they switched it around to 4L
Climbing through the cloud layers
First we climbed to 22,000ft, before continuing the climb to 24,000ft. It was pretty bumpy throughout the flight, so the flight attendants were not able to do any service. The flight passed quickly, and before long we were descending
The day of this flight they closed the main runway at SYR, for the next 5 months. It will be closed until September for repairs. So, they are using the secondary runway. Tonight, we would be landing on runway 15
It was a rainy night in SYR
Pulling into the gate, from the airport on the webcam
N324JB spent the night at gate 1, before flying back down to JFK the next morning
It was a good trip down to Florida for a few days. It was nice to spend a few days in the sun and warm weather. It was cool to be able to take a special livery jetBlue plane. This is the second one I have been on. The other was the Red Sox plane. I flew it 8 years ago, back in 2013 on a flight from SYR-MCO. I was also glad that it ended up working out that I had to change the flight, so I got to take the 757.