KFLL (Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport / Broward County International Airport) ✈ KATL (Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport / The William B Hartsfield / Municipal / Candler Field)

FLIGHT DATA SOURCE (S):

1. PlaneSpotters.Net Airframe Data

2. PlaneSpotters.Net Airline Data

3. FlightAware Live Flight Tracking Data

4. The First & Business Class Experience | Delta Air Lines


FlightAware for this flight. Copyright © FlightAware 2014

I had booked a nice, comfortable 10:45-AM departing flight, so for once I was able to "sleep in" instead of catching a 4:00-AM 0-dark-thirty FLL-EWR flight, and it actually felt better to sleep in instead of rushing off to the airport. After having a small snack in the company of my always-grumpy father, I hitched a ride on a cab and 30 minutes later, was standing on the boiling concrete sidewalks of T2, the "red" building at FLL.


Delta and my phone have it down! It's the perfect time to leave for the airport! My Instagram is LPAviation, if anyone is wondering.


I'll be departing out of Terminal 2 today, the red terminal.


Heading into Terminal 2, Concourse D in FLL.

Terminal 2 had just finished a massive renovation project by the time I walked in, and the improvements are quite obvious: all new ticket counters for Delta and Air Canada, two new Starbucks locations installed (one beside the Sky Club, one at baggage claim on the ground level), and a candy store near the entrance to the security checkpoint. After receiving and re-printing several souvenir boarding passes for my binders, I headed through security and checked in with the agents in the Sky Club with my membership card. Finally, this was the first time I wasn't carded for ID upon presenting my credentials!

I've include some shots of what the old and new counters, decide for yourself which one look better:



September 2014 - November 2014




September 2014 (First Image) - November 2014 (Second and third images)



September 2014 - November 2014



Hitting the Sky Club up with my membership, so worth it!


Thanksgiving 2014 hours for the Delta Sky Club at FLL, note that they are in military time.



The DL SC at FLL is very comfortable! Plus, the senior agents always able to rebook you on the spot during IRROPS, the fact they have real food in the lounges worldwide, and free Wi-Fi is more than enough to make the $700 membership worth it.





Breakfast spread: Oatmeal, fruit salad, hard boiled eggs, pastries, various types of break (including bagels), and three varieties of cereal. Delta now has free "real food" spreads daily in every Sky Club worldwide, as opposed to AA who charge for read food, and United who still only has hamster food (but, as of this writing in late March 2015, should have something akin to DL soon enough). Not pictured: full bar, cappuccino machine, and hot beverage stand.


My teenage breakfast of daytrippers! I soon had more than double what you see in this picture. Why? Due to a near over active metabolism, it is impossible for me to gain lipid-weight (according to the doctor), and I will likely remain fit my entire life, so I pig out when applicable. Also, I used my passport because my driver's license was lost in MIA a few weeks earlier.




And on that day of January 23rd, 2014, during lunch, a young 18 year old high school junior began a lifelong love of solo-daytripping-and-nightripping. You can always hear the Saab 340B from a long distance away, it buzzes to the tune of a roaring beehive as it hums along. Why did this remind me of my first own, completely-financed-by-me, solo trip? Because most of Silver Airways' airframes are ex-Mesaba (IATA XJ, hence the last two letters of the registration) Delta Connection / formerly Northwest Airlink birds, and the first frame I ever rode on my own solo, independent trip it wasn't on N420XJ, but N442XJ -- FLL-EYW-TPA. Oh, the flashback feelings!

After spotting and eating free Sky Club food for a bit, I stored my bag in those nice little carpeted luggage storage racks, and headed out to do some spotting from the nearby windows. Concourse D at FLL is used solely by Air Canada, Delta, and seasonally by Condor, and is somewhat better than T3/T4--not for long though, as soon as the new massive Terminal 4 opens, CD will be one of the worst terminals at FLL! Still, it is at least "higher ceiling-ed" than T3/T4 were at the time, and has plenty of windows for airplane picture taking.

About 30 minutes later, I grabbed my green backpack from the Sky Club, printed a few more souvenir "79K - FIRST" souvenir boarding passes, and set off to Gate D1 to see my 757-200 come in. Boarding was a bit of an adventure -- when the gate agent announced pre-boarding, half the plane decided to attempt to get on before the staffer declared a few more announcements that fortunately thinned out the massive swarm. When first class was called to board, I meandered up to the podium, passed a "Have a good day!" to the scanning-agent and briskly strolled down the jetbridge to board my first flight of this amazing daytrip. Delta.com stated that this airplane had no IFE, but luckily I was nicely surprised by what I found when I turned left inside the ship.


Terminal 2, Concourse D at FLL. Luckily, it isn't as low-ceilinged as the rest of the airport, but it is still cramped at peak hours.



A Delta 757 is prepped for flight while a sleepy US ERJ-170 rests behind. The second image was taken in September 2014, when did USX begin flying their E-Jets to FLL?


Bahamasair 1997 Boeing 737-505 C6-BFC and 1989 De Havilland Canada DHC-8-301 Dash 8 C6-BFO, as well as the US Airways cream, maroon, baby blue, and charcoal mid-2001-model Airbus A319-132 N828AW, which was painted in the "America West Retro" livery in September 2006.


Delta Air Lines January 2014 - manufactured Boeing 737-932 (ER) (WL) N813DN, with Virgin America's mid-2006-manufactured Airbus A320-214 N623VA juxtaposed behind. I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn't be on the ultra-modern 739 with mood lighting, IFE, new PSUs, and the like, but it later turned out my disappointment was unfounded.
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Thanksgiving is also one of the largest cruising seasons, believe it or not, from left to right: Royal Caribbean International's M/S Oasis of the Seas, Holland America Line's M/S Eurodam (front), Holland America Line's M/S New Amsterdam (rear), Celebrity Cruise Line's M/T Celebrity Eclipse (ship with the giant white "X" on the smokestack), Holland America Line's M/S Zuiderdam, Holland America Line's M/S Noordam, and finally Princess Cruise Line's Diamond Princess. That is EIGHT cruise ships! I should really go to the Merchant Marine Academy to become a cruise ship captain...Which apparently takes forever. :P Yes, you start as a third mate and maybe 30+ years later they will make you a captain of one of these behemoths. Most cruise ship captains are approximately 50-60+ years old.



N813DN pushes back for ATL, as my own ride, Delta Air Lines 1999 Boeing 757-232 (WL) N699DL, taxis in



With N813DN out of the way, my 757 meanders into Gate D1 behind an-old livery Frontier 'bus.



Boarding, I remember when they only displayed the top right award, now Delta Air Lines has four awards to display on the sticker.



WHAT? This 757 wasn't supposed to have IFE!! :O I caught the new Delta 757-200 interior with new seats, IFE, and some other comfort mods!! This trip is just getting better and better and I've only boarded my first flight!




For those who do not know, DL has three -domestic- basic hard product first class seats on their 757s (with minor variations, I'm not talking about BusinessElite 757s, either). The first image is the new interior with exposed stitching and lack of a blue stripe, the second is the first old interior with IFE and smaller seats, and the third is the oldest PMDL 752 interior with gigantic seats but no IFE.




Legroom comparison shots. First Image: New Interior; Second Image: Old Interior; Third Image: Oldest Interior.

Delta flight attendants, whether PMDL or PMNW, whether Atlanta-based, Minneapolis-based, Detroit-based, Cincinnati-based, New York - JFK-based, or wherever they're based, nearly always seem to be perky and upbeat on flights departing from FLL. This crew wasn't much different, they all rung through the cabin with smiles and good attitudes, with two upfront serving PDBs, and one in Y directing passengers down to their seats. Once the boarding doors were closed, and we prepared to push back, the flight attendants gave a wonderfully-enthusiastic safety briefing interserped with Delta's safety video, which now features a slight cameo of Katherine Lee, the quintessential FlyerTalk - named "Deltalina".

As we rolled onto the runway and subsequently thundered down 10L, I couldn't help just smiling and laughing...I didn't know why! I just felt so happy feeling the sense of flight, the fact that I was in one of my favorite airplanes, the Boeing 757, or the fact that I'd very soon be aboard my second Boeing 747-400...I never stopped smiling and quietly chuckling even when we were nearing cruise...I was just so happy, I didn't know why (now I'm just repeating myself... :P ). There is a word for this, what do they call it? Oh yeah, euphoria, "noun - eu·pho·ria - \yü-ˈfȯr-ē-ə\ - a feeling of great happiness and excitement, a feeling of well-being or elation." Yes, that term describes our takeoff, climb-out, and rise to cruise altitude periods perfectly!
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-200 Pratt and Whitney PW2000 *PUSHBACK* from Gate D1 , Concourse D , Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport ( IATA : FLL , ICAO : KFLL ) - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click HERE / On this sentence to download it directly to your computer for viewing.
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VIDEO - Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-200 Pratt and Whitney PW2000 *TAKEOFF* over the Atlantic Ocean from Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport ( IATA : FLL , ICAO : KFLL ) - VIDEO
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If you are having trouble watching this video due to slow loading times on Flickr, Click HERE / On this sentence to download it directly to your computer for viewing.
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I am feeling very euphoric by just being on this very flight!


"What are those little lights below the exit sign?", I wondered aloud on the Airliners.Net Technical / Operations Forum. I now know :

Shoutout to him! Also, notice the IFE screen casing is now "toothed" or indented. Is that intentional (or damaga, probably not as the interior is so new), if so, what purpose does it serve?


This is one for Cubsrule of Airliners.Net -- thought you would enjoy this comparison of the two normal Southwest liveries, new (right) and old (left).



The current FLL airport diagram (as of this writing), with our taxi path to Runway 10 Left, our departure runway for this flight, marked in orange on the second image.



Pushback, notice the superb reflection of the fuselage beaming across the engine cowling as well as the "Chromie Livery" American Airlines Boeing 737-800 in the [hazy] distance.




We held short on the taxiway while a Delta 757-300 (Shoutout to 777Jet of Airliners.Net as this is his favorite aircraft -- Don't worry 777Jet, the fourth and final flight of today is a 753. ) and WestJet (Canadian Low Cost Carrier) 737 passed us on their way to their respective terminals.



Silver Airway's October-1997-manufactured Saab 340B+ N328AG zooms right past us....


...and takes right off out of nowhere. I wonder what they're in a rush for? :P



Now it is our own turn, and we zoom down the runway, with me grinning from ear to ear in glee. Also, the reflection on the engine is really made apparent by the baking-hot South Floridian sunshine!



Blasting off from Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport. Notice the 757-300 and WS (WestJet's IATA code) parked at their terminals, the new 30-foot-tall, zig-zagged, and sloped taxiway / runway, and finally a 3M (Silver Airway's IATA code) Saab 340B+ and Southwest 737 directly under our engine.


The weather was unusually cool on this day (and week) in Fort Lauderdale, reaching lows of 40 degrees on some weeknights and today it was about 50-60* Fahrenheit, that IS cold for Florida. In Minneapolis, it's probably -40* Fahrenheit right now. We'll see, won't we?



SkyVector Sectional Charts are Copyright © 2015 SkyVector
As you can see by the portion of the South Florida Airspace Sectional Chart (Credit Above), South Floridian Airspace is extremely crowded, thus, most departures involve departing east over the Atlantic Ocean, climbing for a bit over the deep blue sea, before swinging around to face the Floridian coast right before the airplane intercepts / crosses the Contiguous US ADIZ (the invisible border of the lower 48 Contiguous United States) and heading off wherever the flight is destined to (west for IAH and LAX, north for New York, etc.).




The airport below is Pompano Beach Airpark (IATA Airport Code PPM, not to be confused with West Palm Beach, Florida, whose IATA Airport Code is PBI), where the Goodyear Blimp (third picture) is based, which I have rode on and trip reported on here: Goodyear Blimp/Airship/Dirigible Ride PMP-PMP(Pics | Trip Reports Forum | Airliners.Net. The third image is to give you a better idea of where the gigantic structure is, and that picture was actually taken from the blimp itself.



With these shots, you can see just how over-developed South Florida is,Since the Everglades National Park to the west is legally protected under National Park, US Forest Service, and EPA law, nobody may build or develop anything past the Sawgrass Expressway, which means that all human development is mashed into this tiny strip of land that at some points is narrowed down to only 20 miles wide. It is a HUGE problem should the sea rise over the current beach.


Finally at cruise.

Service on this flight was the normal pass around of the snack basket, except it seems that the company that caters Delta (Gate Gourmet, I believe) has changed things up a bit. For one, they no longer use "baskets" in the wooden, "woven-straw" type that most people would think of, they just use gray, injection-molded plastic open-topped bins studded with the "Delta Diamond" pattern that is often behind the check-in desk of most Sky Clubs. Second, and more importantly, they now have this delicious Sheila G's Brownie Brittle in them, which tastes like heaven in a cookie - shard. I had three or four bags of the stuff, alongside my usual caffeinated choices of Coca Cola Classic, coffee, and tonic water. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of the refreshment and beverage service on this flight.