Delta Song Review Boston to Orlando

[mcnuss]

I hear they may switch to assigning seats in which case I may consider flying with them again....

Nope, not happening, the president of the company put an end to that rumor a few weeks ago.

I am not the biggest fan of SW, but have begrudgingly given them some of my ample flying business this year despite the lack of seating assignments. First of all bc of price. My flt to BWI from MHT costs $87 walk up on SW, $785 on US Airways. Even with a 7 day advance, it's over $500 on US. Second, SW has improved checking in and making connections with their kiosks. It used to be that you stood in line to check in, again to get your boarding card, and again if you connected. Now you get the boarding card at check-in whether from an agent or the kiosk, so one line is eliminated, and if you connect, you go up to the closest kiosk and print out your next boarding card. Not too bad, really.

The only thing that drives me crazy is the line up. In airports that have retrofitted gate areas for SW's system, it's hard to make a proper line, and you're bumping into seats, pillars, etc... But I recently flew them from Midway, and it was very nice in their new gates which are made esp. for their boarding system.

I have really come to the decision that the full service carriers are just glorfied LCC's now, and that if that's all I am getting for service, I might as well get a low fare too.

Finally, I'll bet you'll see those TVs and gameboys and whatever else on Song starting the day that JEtBlue arrives in Boston, or JB is going to eat Song's lunch!

 

[castlegazer]

I know that the flight attendants won't strap my child in. It is important to me, though, that I get to get on prior to the rush and be able to have time to get everything situated. I should have been clearer. I have checked with SWA and they say that my entire family will be seated prior to the full seating of passengers - ensuring that we will be seated together.

 

[seashoreCM]

You don't have to work up a sweat.

Put the carry ons in the overhead bin first. One can go under the seat in front of where the child seat will be.

Since the child safety seat must be as far in as possible (window seat), you probably won't be in the way of others trying to come down the aisle. Other family members can stand between other people's seats while you are doing this.

It is OK if the child seat wobbles from side to side a bit.

If you are denied early boarding, still don['t work up a sweat. Also don't say anyting to the stewardess. If it takes longer to depart, pretty soon it will dawn on the airline to preboard families with small children again.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[mcnuss]

I have checked with SWA and they say that my entire family will be seated prior to the full seating of passengers - ensuring that we will be seated together.

If the flight is full, they may not let all of you board together. I've seen this happen and I don't want you to be badly surprised. If they don't let you all on together, just save the seats. It's done frequently and will be ok.

I know that the flight attendants won't strap my child in.

Just so we are all clear, they won't help you strap in the child or the seat.

 

[summerrluvv]

I flew Song recently too (JFK to MCO) and wasn't very impressed at all. I too expected tvs and was very dissapointed that they weren't installed. I would have chosen Jet Blue had I known they wouldn't be installed by October.

The "Talent" wasn't overly friendly as I thought they would be...in fact, I think we had some newbies on our flight, as they kept messing up the safety instructions etc.

Our flight took off a few minutes earlys on the outbound and return, which was nice, but in the future I will be booking Jet Blue.

 

[sueg]

I am reading this thread with great interest because we are long time Delta flyers. It seems if we want to fly non-stop from Newark to Orlando, we will now be long time Song flyers. I am also clearly a flyer who votes with her wallet and it seems that Song prices will be OK, but not great. In fact, I found no fluation at all. The lowest price is $112.50 one way. I used to strive to get less than $200. per person for my family of 4. I've yet to explore whether it will be easier to use our growing Skymiles. I felt that Delta had gotten pretty restrictive on my ability to use my miles. The entertainment features are only of minimal interest to me because EWR to MCO is a short flight. I hope Song works out for us. I've become increasingly unhappy with airflight, in general. So we drove to WDW & Hilton Head in August. Not a bad drive, but I'm not willing to spend our March vacation time driving again, so its back to the skies.

 

[Poly Pal]

Hi LoriZH,

I think I am the person you referred to about my Song review from Hartford to Orlando. I was not unhappy with Song as you stated. I merely meant to convey that Song did not live up to the hype. The 757's are better than the old Delta Express 737's and the all leather seats do have a bit more leg room. I did not think the food was outrageously priced. You would pay the same to buy a sandwich in an airport to take onboard.

We will definitely be flying Song again. But that said, until the video entertainment systems are installed (which they always said would be "beginning in October '03") the flights are merely pleasant (as pleasant as fling is these days!) and nothing extraordinary.

Have a fun next trip whichever carrier you choose!

Poly Pal

 

[dahirsh]

I flew Song out of Newark recently. I had no problems with the flight. I was actually a little concerned that "the talent" might be just a little "perky" for my tastes, especially at 7:00AM, but I thought they were fine. Polite and professional.

As far as the entertainment issue, please understand I'm not picking on anyone, but I've been checking Song's website since May. They've always said that beginning in October they would begin retrofitting one plane at a time with the screens. I took that to mean it was highly unlikely either plane I was on would have the screens.

I choose Song because out of my two choices for non-stop flights, their prices were by far the best when I booked.

Deb

 

[Castillo Mom]

I read the same thing. Hopefully everything will be ironed out by August.

 

[goofy4tink]

Originally posted by castlegazer
Goofy4Tink I am from central mass too and I flew PanAm once from WOR and am very happy to report that I am still alive! Flying PanAm for all of you in the Northeast corridor should be avoided - our engine blew up while enroute to Sanford - yes, I said blew up - big news in Norfolk where we emergency landed - no news here.

We flew PanAm out of WOR a few years ago. They had a problem with the runway being wet. Seems if it didn't dry off, we would either have to stop in Allentown PA or they would just bypass Worcester. Evidently they would have to use more fuel than normal to get off that short runway if it's wet!!! So, we got to see Allentown. I don't think it's such a bad thing that PanAm isn't flying out of WOR anymore!!!
Hopefully, Song will be fine, as it was in Aug., in Dec. when we fly them again into Orlando.

 

[LoriZH]

Originally posted by Poly Pal
Hi LoriZH,

I think I am the person you referred to about my Song review from Hartford to Orlando. I was not unhappy with Song as you stated. I merely meant to convey that Song did not live up to the hype. The 757's are better than the old Delta Express 737's and the all leather seats do have a bit more leg room. I did not think the food was outrageously priced. You would pay the same to buy a sandwich in an airport to take onboard.

We will definitely be flying Song again. But that said, until the video entertainment systems are installed (which they always said would be "beginning in October '03") the flights are merely pleasant (as pleasant as fling is these days!) and nothing extraordinary.

Have a fun next trip whichever carrier you choose!

Poly Pal

Hi, yes I think you may have been, sorry I must have mistook what you were saying.

I'll have to say that all though I was not impressed with Song, and I didn't feel comfortable on the airline, my decision was to just not use the airline again, I certainly didn't get upset over my flight or stress out that's for sure, I was just expecting a little more that's all.

Thanks for the responses!