"Old Delta Plane"...

[Jennifer Frommer]

Hello all,

Question to all... how would you feel if a Delta rep told you that you were flying on an "old delta plane"? Hhhhhmmm... leaves me to wonder!?!?

The rep was able to confirm that my seat assignments, etc. had not changed at least since the last time they reticketed me. However, when I asked about having booked my flight with Song expecting a Song plane... she reviewed the flight info from her screen and told me that it was a Boeing 757 with 199 economy seats aboard... it appeared to be an "old delta plane".

Doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies!! Anyone else!?!?

(this message is posted inside another thread so sorry if I bored you with an 2nd posting... I'm just really curious what people think!)

 

[CarolA]

The agent doesn't really have a clue how "old" your plane is. LOL! They don't give them the tail numbers which is the only way that you could know the age....

The age of an airplane is actually pretty useless. That's just the day it rolled off the Boeing line. Since then at regular intervals it has had ALL kinds of things replaced. Engines, seats, tires, etc. At regular intevals it is actually xrayed for any structure issues.... So basically you can be flying an entirely new plane, but it keeps the "date" of birth. DL rebilt the "Sprit of Delta" plane a BUNCH before they finally retired it and it was really a nice plane. (This was the plane the employees bought for Delta about 20 years ago. It retired this year to the DL Museum)

Also, all those charter airlines... USA3000, Alligent, the old TMA... most of them are flying "old" major airline planes... And the Song planes weren't new.. just remodeled "old" Delta jets...

 

[Lewisc]

SONG was never really a different airline. Delta has already said the planes with the TV sets are going to be used on the longer flights.

I'd be surprised if you get TV sets, you really won't know for sure until you board the plane.

Given Delta's financial problems I think you should be happy to have a flight on the day of your reservation for the fare you reserved.

I wouldn't worry about the actual age of the aircraft.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Well if its a 757 with 199 seats then its what will be a"old" song aircraft.So you should have Tv's. Also no way is a agent able to tell its old.

 

[manning]

Don't worry about it, unless you show up at the gate and there are propellers on it. If there are less propellers than engine mounts on it then you may want to think twice about getting on.

Seriously, a plane life cycle is rated on the number of takeoff and landings. It is the compression and decompression that stresses the fuselage. On top of that these planes get completely overhauled after so many hours, plus in between inspections. You should be so lucky your car is in as good a shape as an airplane.

Depending on the route the plane is assigned to a plane in the fleet for 5 years could have 500 take off and landings and another in the fleet for 1 year have 800 takeoff and landings. (numbers made up).

If you go to this site you will see the oldest 757 was delivered to Delta in May of 1984 and the most recent in Jan of 2006.
http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Delta Airlines-active-b757.htm

If you print this out and take it to the airport when you fly you can look at the tail number on the plane and know when they got it.

 

[kaytieeldr]

"Old Delta plane" just means a plane that's always been Delta, instead of a Song plane that's being converted to Delta.

 

[Jennifer Frommer]

Thanks for all the info everyone! I was more venting than anything b/c I'm so tired of all the ticket changes, plane changes, and especially talking to 10,000 different cust. svc. reps w/ 10,000 different answers to the same questions.

Thanks again! Now, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we just get where we want to go, when we want to get there!!

 

[hegs65]

Not to be a downer but, I hope you have a better time flying delta than we did this past Dec! They were clueless on even how to board the plane! They said " this is one of the old delta planes that we haven't been on in a while- so be patient while we try and figure this out". I went into total panic mode when they said that! NEVER again! They changed our flight times and numbers way too many times for us to even want to ever deal with that again. Hopefully, now that they have switched over, they at the very least can board the plane properly!
I am hoping that Jet Blue will be far better organized this August!

 

[Jennifer Frommer]

Yikes - I can understand how you must have felt! We just are so anxious to get going on our vacation and have waited so long.

We've flown Jetblue a few times in the past and have absolutely loved them every time!! We are flying them on our return. If it had been possible, we would have taken them on the way down too but it just wasn't an option at the time.

Good luck with them... I think you'll be happy! Have a great trip!

Not to be a downer but, I hope you have a better time flying delta than we did this past Dec! They were clueless on even how to board the plane! They said " this is one of the old delta planes that we haven't been on in a while- so be patient while we try and figure this out". I went into total panic mode when they said that! NEVER again! They changed our flight times and numbers way too many times for us to even want to ever deal with that again. Hopefully, now that they have switched over, they at the very least can board the plane properly!
I am hoping that Jet Blue will be far better organized this August!

 

[Disneyjosh229]

Also, all those charter airlines... USA3000, Alligent, the old TMA... most of them are flying "old" major airline planes... And the Song planes weren't new.. just remodeled "old" Delta jets...

Add Northwest to that list. The DC-9-30's that make up the majority of there short-medium haul service date back to the 1960's. They were bought from Eastern and Southern Airlines when they went out of business. I never feel in danger when flying on them, because McDonald Dougless (Boeing) still creates the same aircraft under the "Boeing 717" Nameplate (Obviously everything is digitized now, but essentialy its the same aircraft )

 

[snowbunny]

Add Northwest to that list. The DC-9-30's that make up the majority of there short-medium haul service date back to the 1960's.

You beat me to it...if you want a real vintage experience, take a Northwest flight say Detroit to Philly. 757s weren't even dreamed of when these DC-9s were made!

 

[Disneyjosh229]

You beat me to it...if you want a real vintage experience, take a Northwest flight say Detroit to Philly. 757s weren't even dreamed of when these DC-9s were made!

You want even a better flight (actually, ive been on the phily-det flight ) is the Detroit to Flint flight. The DC-9 blasts out of Detroit, climbs to about 4k feet and comes right down 15 mins later!! Its a blast and you really get a feel for what the plane was like back in the 60's!! Ive gotten a chance to fly on one with original seats. They had been recovered but still had ashtrays with "ash residue" in them.

 

[CarolA]

Add Northwest to that list. The DC-9-30's that make up the majority of there short-medium haul service date back to the 1960's.

You beat me to it...if you want a real vintage experience, take a Northwest flight say Detroit to Philly. 757s weren't even dreamed of when these DC-9s were made!

I didn't know ANYONE was flying the DC-9's anymore. I bet those suckers DRINK jet fuel LOL!

 

[Disneyjosh229]

Add Northwest to that list. The DC-9-30's that make up the majority of there short-medium haul service date back to the 1960's.

I didn't know ANYONE was flying the DC-9's anymore. I bet those suckers DRINK jet fuel LOL!

That might have something to do with there financial problems

Out of NW's 451 aircraft (mainline, not including Mesaba or Pinnacle) 155 are DC-9's. Here in Detroit, those serve mostly as flights around the midwest (rarely will you see one in Florida or out West)

 

[La2kw]

Not to be a downer but, I hope you have a better time flying delta than we did this past Dec! They were clueless on even how to board the plane! They said " this is one of the old delta planes that we haven't been on in a while- so be patient while we try and figure this out". I went into total panic mode when they said that! NEVER again! They changed our flight times and numbers way too many times for us to even want to ever deal with that again. Hopefully, now that they have switched over, they at the very least can board the plane properly!
I am hoping that Jet Blue will be far better organized this August!

JetBlue is awesome and is always our first choice.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

You want even a better flight (actually, ive been on the phily-det flight ) is the Detroit to Flint flight. The DC-9 blasts out of Detroit, climbs to about 4k feet and comes right down 15 mins later!! Its a blast and you really get a feel for what the plane was like back in the 60's!! Ive gotten a chance to fly on one with original seats. They had been recovered but still had ashtrays with "ash residue" in them.

Getting off topic a bit, but I have to ask -- does anyone fly that route outside of catching a connecting flight? I've driven from Detroit to Flint and it's only about an hour.

 

[Disneyjosh229]

Getting off topic a bit, but I have to ask -- does anyone fly that route outside of catching a connecting flight? I've driven from Detroit to Flint and it's only about an hour.

Haha!! I know!!

Its actually about 10 miles less from my house to FNT then to DTW. Also, the terminal has only 8 gates and parking is right up front, so I usually take the inconvience of another flight to get the smaller airport. Usually, the flight is empty because like you said, no one just books from Detroit to Flint (its all connections!!)

 

[snowbunny]

The DC-9 blasts out of Detroit, climbs to about 4k feet and comes right down 15 mins later!! Its a blast and you really get a feel for what the plane was like back in the 60's!! Ive gotten a chance to fly on one with original seats. They had been recovered but still had ashtrays with "ash residue" in them.

That's like the old Madison-Milwaukee flight on North Central in the 70s
If I ever did Detroit-Flint flight (I was born in Flint), it was probably in a DC-3 as a child. Still have vivid memories of flying...somewhere...in the gooney bird. Showing my age now. My older brothers were airplane nuts. Still remember how we lined up at a window at O'Hare to watch one of the first 747s land.
I can't think of a 757 as anything but a very new plane.

 

[ducklite]

Here's your plane...

They've recently brought them back into service due to public demand. Don't you love the retro paint job?

Anne

 

[Disneyjosh229]

I can't think of a 757 as anything but a very new plane.

Yep, thats what I say!!

To the op, bottom line, i wouldnt be worried about any 757, they are still fairly new aircraft...