atlanta hartsfield-jackson international airport
I arrived at ATL with about an hour to go before my connecting flight.
If anything captured what the pandemic was doing to flights, it was this departure board at the previously busiest airport in the world.
Delta sky club (Gate D27)
There are 2 Sky Clubs in Concourse D, one by Gate 12 and one by Gate 27. I chose to use the latter as it was the closest to my gate.
In comparison to what we're used to in the ATL Sky Clubs, it was fairly empty. Mask compliance was very poor throughout the lounge as several people simply sat with their masks off regardless of whether they were eating or drinking.
The buffet spread was all pre-packaged snacks and instant noodles, with a plastic cutlery dispenser.
The main constant was that the bar was still open at the Sky Club.
Here is the drinks menu:
I grabbed a few turkey sliders and some snacks along with a glass of Veuve du Vernay.
I was very hungry at this time and begrudgingly had a cup of the Maruchan instant noodles. It's been forever since I've had one of these.
Here are the restrooms, with Le Labo hand soap.
DL4870
My ride to Roanoke was N176PQ, a 12-years old CRJ-900.
Boarding started on time at 5:08pm at Gate D26.
Here is the DL CRJ-900 cabin: 4 rows of 1-2 first class seats followed by 5 rows of 2-2 Comfort+. I'm not sure how many total rows of economy seats there were. I was among the last to board so you are looking at pretty much all of the passengers on this very empty flight.
I was seated in 6A on this flight, the second row of Comfort+ seats. No IFE monitors on this CRJ, but otherwise a reasonably comfortable seat. Note that the window is somewhat misaligned.
We were all handed Purell sanitizing wipes.
The flight was incredibly empty. There was only 1 other passenger in the row behind me, no one in my row, and no passenger in the row in front of me.
After cabin doors were closed, we got a funny announcement from the flight attendant: "We need all passengers seated with their seat belts fastened at this time . . . that includes the gentleman going to the bathroom." I'll never understood why people wait to the last minute and don't just go in the airport before boarding or, if rushed, as soon as they board. We had plenty of time.
We pushed back at 5:36pm.
We took off at 5:44pm, after a short wait and a quick taxi.
Service began shortly after takeoff. Here is the snack bag that we received.
As most flights to Roanoke, it was very short and we began our descent 33 minutes after takeoff and landed 27 minutes later. We arrived at Gate 4 6 minutes later.
