Flight Review: Delta Airlines MD88 and CRJ700 BHM – ATL – ABE

The most important thing I learned from this trip when dealing with a connecting flight, don’t get overly ambitious during flight delays and change your second flight before your first flight takes off. My first Delta flight was from Birmingham, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia. Then I had an hour and a half layover before flying Atlanta to Allentown, Pennsylvania. My flight from Birmingham was delayed several hours and me trying to be proactive, changed my Atlanta to Allentown flight. Turns out, huge mistake.

Quick Details
Flight Number: DL 1713 and DL 9881
Flight Path: Birmingham (BHM) -Atlanta (ATL) and Atlanta (ATL) – Allentown (ABE)
Date: Thursday July, 14 and Friday July, 15
Departure Time: 7:05 PM on Thursday and 3:20 PM on Friday
Aircraft: MD88 and a CRJ700
Seat Number: 24 E (exit row) and 17 C
Paid: $178

To give a little bit of back story. My plan was to fly from BHM – ATL – ABE all after a conference I went to for work. The layover was a good amount of time, 90 minutes. The weather outside looked good, I figured this would be an easy flight and connection. Then while at the Birmingham airport, it poured for about 30 minutes. The plane I was going to be taking didn’t take off from its original airport (ATL) because of the rain, causing delays with my flight. Because of the delay, I was going to miss my connecting flight, the last one of the night, and had to start the process of finding a hotel room in Atlanta. I found a hotel in Atlanta airport for a decent price, and rescheduled my connecting flight for the next day, everything was set.

After landing in Atlanta, I went to my original connecting flight gate out of curiosity only to find out it had been delayed an hour for bad weather. Turns out, I could have made my original flight. But since I changed the ATL – ABE flight to the next day, I would have to go on stand-by for my original flight, and that was a 30 some person list. Plus, I booked a hotel room for that night, and wouldn’t have been able to cancel it. Sigh, well now I know. Don’t get ahead of yourself and change flights.

The first Delta flight

My first seat assignment was seat 18 C. While waiting in the boarding area, the gate agent announced my name and she handed me a new boarding pass. At first I was confused but I realized that the new seat was an upgrade from my previous one, I was now exit row. Whatever, I’ll take it. Side note: I have no status with Delta, this was my second flight with them all year.

The exit row features a ton of space, as to be expected. It’s about a 45 minute flight and we still received full beverage and snacks, something that United won’t do on a flight less than an hour (in my experiences). The space under the seats seemed a bit small, but also there was no metal bar divider between you and your seatmate which gives you slightly more space.

Seat back

Space underneath

My bag is the exact regulation size for personal items and it barely fits under the seat

Great space as expected

The second Delta flight

My second flight, the next day now, was on a CRJ 700 and was in seat 17 C a regular economy seat. Once again they offered beverage service and let you choose between cookies, pretzels and salted peanuts. The leg room was OK at best. My knees were close to the seat in front of me, but I still had some room.

Delta Aircraft

Seat back

Seat cushion

Not as much legroom as before

The bottom line

Both flights were comfortable flights to sit in, one more so than the other. The exit row space is fantastic, even if it seems like there is less under the seat space. But the most important thing to learn from all of this, don’t change your connecting flights before you get there!