Delta Airlines question

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NSSD70ACe
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Delta Airlines question

Unread post by NSSD70ACe »

Hey all,

I know we have a few aviation people on the board so I thought I'd ask here.

I was just told that for Thanksgiving Break, we're going to London. We're flying Delta from DTW to LHR and coming back we're flying Delta 4360, which is "Operated by Virgin Atlantic", according to the Delta app.

What specifically does this mean? Is it a Delta aircraft and a Virgin Atlantic crew (like the Delta Connection setup) or what? I've never been on a long haul flight that wasn't operated by Delta or off the continent, so this is all new to me.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

-NS
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PatAzo
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by PatAzo »

It means they are "code sharing" with Virgin. A given flight can be booked under multiple airlines. You have a Delta ticket and flight number, but you will be riding on Virgin Atlantic equipment with Virgin Atlantic crews.

London's a good place to visit. How long are you there?

NSSD70ACe
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by NSSD70ACe »

PatAzo wrote:It means they are "code sharing" with Virgin. A given flight can be booked under multiple airlines. You have a Delta ticket and flight number, but you will be riding on Virgin Atlantic equipment with Virgin Atlantic crews.

London's a good place to visit. How long are you there?

Hey thanks for the info. I'm there about 5 days. I'm not sure what we're doing yet.
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fmilhaupt
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by fmilhaupt »

Have you been to London before? If not, and also for the benefit of anyone else considering a first trip, here are a few tips from my trips over.

If you're going to spend any real time in London proper, get an Oyster card. It makes taking the Underground and the buses around London much easier. It can be set with a daily cap so that it costs you no more than 6.5 pounds per day for unlimited trips in the central London area, with only additional charges for travel beyond zones 1 and 2. We use the Oyster card for "prairie dog" touring-- take the Underground to a likely-looking station, explore the surrounding area and visit what we want, then get back to the Underground to the next.

I strongly recommend visiting the Transport for London web site (https://tfl.gov.uk/) to get a feel for the available transportation options.

Also, have you made plans for getting from Heathrow into central London (assuming that you're going into London first)? The last time my wife and I were there, we took the Heathrow Express (https://www.heathrowexpress.com), which took us into Paddington Station with no fuss at all. Paddington Station is about as good a place to start from in London as anywhere else. You can save a good deal on each ticket if you buy them in advance.

Our general strategy has always been to pack lightly enough that we can take our bags on the Underground to get to and from the hotel at the ends of the trip, then we rely on the Underground and the buses for travel around town. We've only wanted or needed to take a cab twice in a combined 25 days over there.
-Fritz Milhaupt

GTWChris
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by GTWChris »

I would suggest the Transit Museum as well. Also, look out for weekends when the Transit Museum's Museum Depot is open. The Transit Museum has a vast collection of buses, trains, and subways, but only a handful can be put on display. The rest of the collection is housed in the Museum Depot and is only open certain days. If you get lucky with your timing and have the option of visiting the Museum Depot, I would definitely suggest it.

If you plan on spending any time outside of London while in the UK, The National Railway Museum in York is arguably the best railway museum in the UK. York is also a really neat city to visit and is only a 2 hour train ride from London.

As mentioned above, the Oyster card is a must. You pre-load the Oyster card and scan in/out when using the transit system. It automatically calculates the best fare. You can also get the remaining balance back at the end of your trip.

TC Man
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by TC Man »

So, currently at Traverse City airport, we have a Delta 757-200 from Newark landed, a 757-200 from MSP landed, a CRJ200 for MSP taking off, a CRJ 900 taking off for DTW, and a B717 on the way from DTW. This is just Delta, in September, in Traverse City, in the last 2 hours! Impressive. Neat to watch those 757's land here. Normally 737, 717, MD-90, A321 is as big as we get.

There are the usual AA and UA CRJ-700/900's and two 737's here- One "Swift Air" (???) from STL and one Swift Air from Chicago (also 737). It's a mini DTW!
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NSSD70ACe
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by NSSD70ACe »

GTWChris wrote:I would suggest the Transit Museum as well. Also, look out for weekends when the Transit Museum's Museum Depot is open. The Transit Museum has a vast collection of buses, trains, and subways, but only a handful can be put on display. The rest of the collection is housed in the Museum Depot and is only open certain days. If you get lucky with your timing and have the option of visiting the Museum Depot, I would definitely suggest it.

If you plan on spending any time outside of London while in the UK, The National Railway Museum in York is arguably the best railway museum in the UK. York is also a really neat city to visit and is only a 2 hour train ride from London.

As mentioned above, the Oyster card is a must. You pre-load the Oyster card and scan in/out when using the transit system. It automatically calculates the best fare. You can also get the remaining balance back at the end of your trip.
Unfortunately, I do not believe we are going anywhere outside of London. I do know we are going to the HMS Belfast and Downtown Abbey, but that's the extent of it for the moment.
TC Man wrote:So, currently at Traverse City airport, we have a Delta 757-200 from Newark landed, a 757-200 from MSP landed, a CRJ200 for MSP taking off, a CRJ 900 taking off for DTW, and a B717 on the way from DTW. This is just Delta, in September, in Traverse City, in the last 2 hours! Impressive. Neat to watch those 757's land here. Normally 737, 717, MD-90, A321 is as big as we get.

There are the usual AA and UA CRJ-700/900's and two 737's here- One "Swift Air" (???) from STL and one Swift Air from Chicago (also 737). It's a mini DTW!
Lucky man, you are. We don't get much in terms of interesting aircraft in Kalamazoo, although Delta recently started using CRJ-900s for DTW and MSP flights and apparently a Delta MD-88 flew in from Washington National a couple weeks ago. Not sure for what. Supposedly the new Bombardier CS-100s and -300s are able to take off and land on 17/35 at AZO without difficulty. With the increasing demand for Delta flights to Detroit and Minneapolis, I wonder if Delta will start using those to connect to the two hubs. They look pretty sharp with the red "Delta" emblazoned on the tail.

Image
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TC Man
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by TC Man »

Traverse City (TVC is listed as the 5th busiest airport in Michigan for the last several years in terms of commercial passenger loadings. I pretty much stick with Delta, but I've done AA and UA from TVC as well, and I can't remember the last time I have NOT heard "..this is a completely full flight...". Delta seems to like to use an MD-90 or sometimes an MD-88 for the earliest flight out (5:33am currently, sometimes 5:15). Then it's a mix of A320's and the Boring 717 (DC-9 before those rolled out). About every other flight is a regional jet (CRJ 700 or 900 for the most part- though 200's still make an appearance. United seems to have settled on CRJ-700's up here or ER175's (something like that), and AA (American Eagle) is a wide range of regional jets. It's the "off season" now up here for the airlines, to no LGA, DEN, ATL, NJR flights until spring, but looking at today for example, Delta has 4 to/from MSP, 5 DTW, UA has 3 ORD, and AA has 4. Not bad, though in the season, you can easily triple that.

I did see a Delta flight from TVC to Marquette scheduled (already landed) today. only a 22 minute flight. Odd....

I heard DAL bought quite a few of the CS-100 an CS-300's to replace the CRJ-200's (to be phased out per FlyerTalk).
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PatAzo
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by PatAzo »

Delta still lists almost 200 MD88/MD90's in their fleet. American is down to less than a hundred MD80's. I'd take an MD80 over most of the beat up RJ's the regional carriers are flying.

GreatLakesRailfan
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by GreatLakesRailfan »

Your flight to LHR wouldn't be numbered 018, would it? I was in Florida last week for work, our flight back to Detroit was continuing to LHR from Detroit. Our plane was an A320, and even though the flight number was 018, several additional numbers were displayed at the gate for Virgin, KLM and one or two other companies whose passengers would also be on the flight if they were connecting out of Fort Lauderdale. I think the following days' version of the flight had Boeing equipment, and hopefully you'll have one of the refitted planes by the time you go, with the displays on the back of the headrest of the seat in front of you.
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NSSD70ACe
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by NSSD70ACe »

GreatLakesRailfan wrote:Your flight to LHR wouldn't be numbered 018, would it? I was in Florida last week for work, our flight back to Detroit was continuing to LHR from Detroit. Our plane was an A320, and even though the flight number was 018, several additional numbers were displayed at the gate for Virgin, KLM and one or two other companies whose passengers would also be on the flight if they were connecting out of Fort Lauderdale. I think the following days' version of the flight had Boeing equipment, and hopefully you'll have one of the refitted planes by the time you go, with the displays on the back of the headrest of the seat in front of you.
That is correct. Flight Number DL 018 transfers from the Fort Lauderdale flight to the DTW-LHR flight and the equipment changes to a 767-400ER. If I remember correctly, the -400ERs have the PE screens in the seatbacks. I've only been on a 767 one other time that I remember (DTW-SEA) and I'm not sure if it was a -300 or a -400.

It seems like the DTW-LHR leg of the flight uses the same type of aircraft every time. I keep getting emails that say there was a schedule or equipment change but nothing ever actually shows up different.

I've always been hoping that I'll hit a home run and somehow get a 747, but I'm pretty sure that they're only used from DTW for the Far East flights. Virgin Atlantic has a fleet of them, although not very big. I'll still take an A330 though...I've never been on an Airbus bigger than an A320. :D
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PatAzo
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by PatAzo »

NSSD70ACe wrote:It seems like the DTW-LHR leg of the flight uses the same type of aircraft every time. I keep getting emails that say there was a schedule or equipment change but nothing ever actually shows up different.

I've always been hoping that I'll hit a home run and somehow get a 747, but I'm pretty sure that they're only used from DTW for the Far East flights. Virgin Atlantic has a fleet of them, although not very big. I'll still take an A330 though...I've never been on an Airbus bigger than an A320. :D
You'll probably get a 767 DTW to LHR. The Delta 747's primarily work the longer flights to Asia. You can look on Delta's web site and see the aircraft type they schedule. The 747' is gradually being replaced by more efficient two engine aircraft.

NSSD70ACe
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by NSSD70ACe »

Today is the day. DL0018 arrives in DTW from BWI sometime today and then is assigned to the DTW-LHR flight. Looks like the equipment used today won't be the 767-400ER but rather a 767-300ER. As long as it has the PE screens, I'll be happy.


We're going to see the London Eye, HMS Belfast, Downtown Abbey, Buckingham, BIg Ben, and most of the other downtown London attractions. We might even be taking a train out to Salisbury for Stonehenge.


See you all in a week.

-NS
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NSSD70ACe
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by NSSD70ACe »

Good Morning. I seem to have a bit of a problem on my hands.

We leave tomorrow to return to Detroit. Our flight is at 0930, and we need to get there early to accommodate security. However, the Piccadilly Line for the Tube reportedly doesn't start running until 7:10 and even then that line has been stricken with major delays because of a lack of available equipment. I've checked out Heathrow Express as well, but Network Rail (in their infinite wisdom) has shuttered line line until noon.

Is there another relatively inexpensive way we can get to the airport tomorrow morning? My mom is hoping to avoid a cab but if it's the best option we'll take it.


Thanks,

-NS
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SW
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Re: Delta Airlines question

Unread post by SW »

Check the bus system online. Check the airport website for bus information as well. I've taken a bus to and from airports in the past, including Glasgow. I double checked schedules and talked to the people at the hotel front desk just to be sure. And also knew that I could always take a cab if plans backfired.
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