Ok, for better or worse, I have a customer visit that I need to make in Virginia. This is my first work trip since the COVID pandemic started. We’ve done some personal travel and vacations, but nothing related to work. I knew what to expect with flying, but I’ve not stayed in a generic hotel in a while.
This is a trip I’ve driven before and other times I’ve flow. It’s a little faster to fly, and I really didn’t want to drive for 6 hours the day after getting home from Bermuda. I chose to fly to ROA even though I’m working in Lynchburg. It’s about a 45 minute drive and LYH is only serviced by AA at pretty infrequent times.
In this trip
1 :Back to work travel: Delta 717 and CRJ900 Economy. GSP-ATL-ROA business trip
1.1: GSP Airport
1.2: Delta 717 Economy Review
1.3: ATL Airport Transfer and Skyclub
1.4: Delta CRJ900 Economy Exit Row Review
1.5: Final Thoughts
2 :Back to work travel: Lynchburg VA Hilton Garden Inn
3 :Back to work travel: ROA-ATL-GSP Delta CRJ900 and Delta 717. World Record run
GSP Airport
Welcome back to GSP. This is an early afternoon flight on a beautiful September day.
Security was completely empty. Not unusual for a Monday afternoon during COVID.
Really empty airport today. The Escape lounge is understandably still closed. The only restaurant open is the Dunkin.
Upstairs at the gate. Boarding had already started. Little back story about me, I miss flights. I don’t like spending time it airports, I find it boring. I miss them because I’m late and I book short layovers. I didn’t miss this flight, but I was the last one to board.
Delta 717 Economy Review
The baby mad dog looks great. I honestly like riding in these. 3+2 seating is just better than 3+3.
Last one to board should get a prize.
Standard economy seat. The nice thing is that during COVID Delta is blocking seats so you don’t have to sit next to a stranger.
All very boring.
Lots of space. Power in every seat is really nice on these flights. I’m backpacking it for this trip. I boarded late, the super nice thing about being backpack only is that I don’t have to worry about getting overhead space. It’s not really an issue right now, but during normal times it’s a huge advantage. With no one sitting next to me, I can put my backpack away from my feet.
Pushed back and ready to go. Before COVID, we’d often push back from the gate and then wait. GSP is very close to ATL and incoming traffic was often throttled to avoid congestion. This was all taken into account in the gate to gate times, but these days, landing 15-20 minutes early is pretty common.
Off we go, these 717s climb quickly. It’s especially when they are very lightly loaded.
The Greenville area is pretty from above. The foothills coming into view is always welcome.
Scattered clouds but a very smooth flight.
These flights are short, no real service on these flights. They often don’t even turn off the seat belt sign.
They did give us my favorite snacks. Cheez-its and water, perfect for this 28 minute flight.
Starting to get a little more cloud cover as we approach ATL.
And on the ground in ATL. Very boring flight.
Coming into the B terminal, for only being 200 miles from GSP, the weather down here isn’t as sunny and nice.
ATL Airport Transfer and Skyclub
I had a good amount of time for this layover so I headed over to the D terminal where my and most Delta Connection flights are leaving from these days.
Unfortunately the skyclub right across from my gate was closed. I really need to check on that before I walk to these places. Anyway, I turned around and walked to the other skyclub around gate D25.
This club is small and in the lower level of the concourse. I don’t really mind as long as it’s not crowded.
Down the stairs I go.
The Skyclubs have gone to all grab and go food. I kinda like it, I’m not a big fan of the large amount of plastic waste. I would love to see something similar stay around long term, hopefully with paper products.
Unfortunately I neglected to snap any pictures of the club as a whole. It was lightly trafficked while I was there.
After my late lunch I walked back up to the departure gate.
Delta CRJ900 Economy Exit Row Review
These CRJ900s aren’t bad. They come in 2 flavors, the newer ones are nicer but at the end of the day, it’s still a CRJ900. This is the older style.
Down onto the plane. Another advantage of going backpack only is I don’t have to valet check my bag. My usual pelican will fit in the overhead on the CRJ900, but many gate agents and flight attendants will push back. When I’m short on time I’ll insist, but it takes lots of overhead space so I usually don’t bother.
Tons of space in the exit row on these planes.
These tray tables are inoperable. The usable ones are in the armrest making the seats a little more narrow, but still just fine for me.
Very empty flight today. I don’t think in the best of times this is a very popular route.
Away we go to Virginia.
Things started to clear up as we traveled north.
I declined the service on this flight. I was plenty full from my skyclub snack.
I do enjoy a good window view.
Descending into this part of Virginia is always a little rough. It’s a little mountainous and ROA is on a plateau.
Looks like it will be a nice day here.
Into the gate. I like small airports, they are quick and easy to use. Unfortunately they have some downsides as I’m about to see.
Out into the world.
Here’s the downside of the small airport, line at the rental car counter. This is pretty common at small airports that lack a “pick your own” car section. Hertz and Dollar share a counter with a single agent. So it took a solid 15 minutes to get a car. Yea, there’s worst things happening in the world, but it all goes back to me not liking to spend time in airports. I also have a 45 minute drive ahead of me and it’s nearly rush hour so I want to hit the road.
Final Thoughts
This is a pretty boring work trip for me. Everything was perfectly on time. Delta just announced that they will be retiring the 717 in the next few years. That makes me a little sad, they are they last of the DC9 breed. It looks like I’ll get to sped lots of time on them in the future though. They are doing lots of ATL-GSP flights.