Introduction
Hello, flight-report community, and welcome to the final segment of this six-segment trip to Hong Kong and back, featuring Cathay Pacific First Class. This report brings us full-circle — a journey that started with YYZ-DTW ends with DTW-YYZ.
Poetic, no?
Yeah, I didn’t really think so.
Let’s just get on with it, shall we?
Enjoy.
The Rundown
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6DL6217 - Domestic First - Detroit → Toronto - Bombardier CRJ-900
Booking
This was discussed in slightly more depth on the ORD-DTW flight-report, but suffice it to say, ORD-DTW-YYZ was booked as a Delta economy award for 18,500 miles and $5.60 USD.
The upgrade to Comfort Plus cleared immediately at booking, and then the upgrade to First cleared at the five-day window for Diamond Medallions.
When last we saw our intrepid flight-reporter…
… he had just arrived into DTW and was in search of Gate A35 for his flight home to YYZ. It’s a relatively short walk.
With a layover of less than an hour, I figure there’s not really time to hit the Sky Club, so I decide to just pull up a seat in the gate area. The WiFi is fast and free, so I’m able to keep entertained, and I actually wrap up the ever-so-brief ORD-DTW flight-report.
An agent shows up shortly after I do, and about ten minutes later, announces that we’re expecting a 15-minute delay or so because our CRJ is late getting into Detroit.
According to Flightradar24, our flight is assigned to N183GJ, which is due to show up from Madison at about 8:00 pm. So yeah, I can see how an 8:30 departure afterwards might be a little overly optimistic.
About 10 minutes past eight, passengers start appearing from the door at Gate 35, so I presume our plane has arrived, and reason that boarding should start in the not-too-distant future.
I turns out I’m correct. Boarding is called, and away we go. It’s been a fun day, but it’s been a long day, and I’ll be glad to be home.
The Flight Report
Flight: DL6217
From: Detroit Metro (DTW)
To: Toronto Pearson (YYZ)
Date: 1/30/2020
Aircraft: Bombardier CRJ-900
Registration: N183GJ
Seat: 2A
ATD (STD): 21:11 (20:29)
ATA ( STA): 21:53 (21:59)
I’m back ion 2A for this flight, the same seat as on YYZ-DTW a few days ago.
Legroom shot.
And yes, power and USB ports are confirmed.
Pre-departure beverages are offered, and I choose a ginger ale.
We push back at about 10 minutes past nine, so we’re about 45 minutes behind schedule. But the captain says we should arrive into Toronto just about on time, which would be great.
It’s a short taxi, and we’re off into the night.
Drinks and the snack basket are offered. So a day of flying that started with Deutz and caviar ends with Prosecco and CheezIts.
I jest, but the Prosecco is pretty good.
And unlike my YYZ-DTW segment on Sunday, this time, drinks are offered in glassware. How inconsistent. Is it random? Is it GoJet versus SkyWest? Is it ex-DTW versus ex-oustation? Who knows.
And speaking of inconsistencies — while one flight attendant serves First Class, the other one makes a number of aft with trays of glasses of water. I’m not sure if she got the whole plane, but certainly Comfort Plus at least got water.
And this flight is a few miles shorter than my ORD-DTW flight on the mainline, in which Comfort Plus clearly got nothing. Weird inconsistencies.
By the time I’m done my drink and my snack, we’re beginning our descent. It’s overcast, but soon enough, we break through the clouds.
Touchdown at about ten minutes to ten — we’re actually landing ahead of schedule. Hooray for padded slot times!
It’s a short taxi over to Terminal 3, where it’s instantly obvious that this trip truly is ending where it began — at the dreaded gate 6 at Terminal 3, which means we’ll get to take a stroll in the cool night air.
At least it’s above freezing by a whole single degree.
Arrival into YYZ
It’s a long walk from Gate 6 back to immigration — made even longer by the fact that renovations mean we have to walk around the first available escalator and stairs down to the customs hall.
Getting through immigration with my Nexus takes a bit longer than usual. They’re in the middle of setting up new machines that use facial recognition, and there are only three of them up and running at this point. And each passenger takes longer than usual to get through the process, since it has to scan our passports for the reference photo.
But soon enough, I’m through, and off to catch a pair of trains back home.
Thank you for joining me for this short final leg of this journey. I hope to see you on future adventures.
Cheers!
Thanks for the report Hometoyyz.
This and the ORD-DTW leg looked like fairly normal Delta flights. Though none of the snack baskets are spectacular, I've found that Delta tends to have better snack baskets than United on average. Not much else to say for such a short flight.
Looking forward to your next journey!
Hi George — thanks for stopping by!
They aren’t bad, generally. It depends month to month, and even flight to flight, and of course it depends on your preferences. Some times you get lucky, and there’s the good stuff, like the Pierre et Augustin shortbreads with caramel and chocolate, or beef jerky. Other times, the pickings are more slim. This flight didn’t have any favorites, but was okay for the segment length.
Cheers!
Glad you had a good flight to end this epic series, but the inconsistencies in service are curious for DL, who are usually so good at being consistent compared to AA and UA. Granted these are flights operated by regional partners, which in my experience can be hit or miss, but generally I've found service up front on the like of SkyWest and Gojet to be even more enthusiastic and attentive than mainline.
Thanks! Love these data points :)
I believe this is literally the best analogy ever for 5* Asian carriers vs US domestic flights LOL
And actually...I find it kinda fancy that DL had bubbly on a DTW-YYZ at all...back when I flew DL, they usually only had bubbly on long-hauls (Prosecco for PDB and then real champagne the rest of the flight). So yay, improvement?! LOL
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for stopping by on the last part of this trip.
Yeah. Could be a mainline vs. regional thing where the regionals “hustle” a bit more? Could be a specific crew thing?
I agree with this. I’ve had good experiences with the regionals in terms of attentiveness... sometimes getting two rounds of drinks in on YYZ-DTW flight, or having drinks topped up from wheels up to wheels down on YYZ-MSP. Maybe my MSP crew was trying to make up for Delta only offering the snack basket on the nearly-700-mile YYZ-MSP route....
They have seemingly offered Prosecco in F or for purchase in Y for the last year or so. I like it, although most of the time I’ll go for a tequila Bloody Mary mix, or a G&T, or a Woodfords, or a number of things before the Prosecco.
In my experience over the last year or so, on mainline flights TO Canada, they have water/OJ/Prosecco/Mimosa PDB options, although crews will generally get you something else if you request it. On regional flights TO Canada, it’s the usual “run of the bar” PDB. On flights to Canada, generally no booze is offered on the ground for obvious reasons, though sometimes crews seem to be amenable to offering a drink if it’s requested.. I’ve yet to figure out what makes the difference unless it’s some crews being willing to be flexible with service standards.
Cheers!