Let’s go back to Omaha. Today’s planes are a Delta CRJ900 and Delta ERJ175. The first flight will be a review of the Delta CRJ900 in comfortable plus. The second flight and the subject of this review will be a Delta ERJ175 in first class. Here’s a Delta CRJ900 Comfort Plus Review from a recent flight if you want to check it out. I’ve not done a Delta ERJ175 First Class review in a while, so that’s the flight I’ll be focusing on.
Bottom Line: The ERJ175 in first class is probably the best regional jet in the Delta fleet. The seats are comfortable, the cabin is large enough, and the service is good enough for the short routes the plane services.
LGA Airport Departure
Flying from South Carolina to Nebraska via NYC is not a good idea. It’s not a good routing and it involves LGA, not a great airport for connecting. But unfortunately this was the cheapest routine and I’m flying for work. The long layover in LaGuardia did allow me to leave the airport and get some pizza, that’s always fun.
It also sucks a little bit to be flying out less than 12 hours after arriving at home from my previous trip. I’d obviously rather be at home for a few days, but work calls.
Today I’m departing from the D Terminal here at LGA. This section of the airport is scheduled for demolition and will be replaced with an all new terminal. As I walked to the gate I got a boarding announcement on my phone that we are boarding, perfect timing.
When boarding the gate agents asked if anyone was willing to be a little flexible and accept $1400 to fly out tomorrow morning. I wish I wasn’t traveling for work, I’d jump all over that. I boarded with the other first class passengers.
Delta ERJ175 First Class Seat Review
I was seated in 2A on the Delta ERJ175 in First Class. The First Class cabin has 12 seats over 4 rows. The seats are arranged into a 1-2 configuration with the seats on the left side of the plane as solo seats. These seats are great if you’re traveling alone and the 2 seat section is great for people traveling together.
Onboard the ERJ175 to Omaha the leg room in these seats is good, but not amazing for first class. There’s plenty of space for my computer bag along with my feet. The flight attendant came around and collected our coats.
Waiting in my seat was a bottle of water. The pilots came on and told us that the flight would be 3:20 minutes. That’s a pretty long flight for a regional jet but the ERJ175 really doesn’t feel like a regional, it’s much more comfortable.
There’s also power in each seat, though this particular plane was a little bit grubby. It’s an older plane and needs a little love. The pilots also told us there might be some bumps on departure but smooth once we’re at cruising altitude.
One of the biggest advantages of the ERJ175 is the head level windows instead of the low ones on the older CRJ900s. The overhead bins are large enough to hold a carry-on straight in. They will sometimes gate check bags too, but often everything will fit overhead. We pushed back a few minutes early and the flight attendants gave their welcome announcement and safety presentation.
In first class the overhead on the left is small, only really good for backpacks or jackets. We pushed back a few minutes early and the flight attendants gave their welcome announcement and safety presentation.
Delta ERJ175 First Class LGA Departure
We took off to the north and turned west. We got a great view of Manhattan, the Bronx, and New Jersey on our way out of New York. Also got to see Anna Delvy’s old house, Ryker’s Island.
The flight attendants told us that they had been requested to stay seated for the first few minutes as it might be a little rough as we climbed. The ERJ175 is pretty comfortable in mild turbulence. I put on a podcast and settled back into my seat.
Delta ERJ175 First Class Meal Service
The flight attendants soon got up and distributed a second bottle of water. I hadn’t used the one sitting in my seat yet anyway so I declined. The flight attendant then came and asked if I wanted a drink, I opted for a Coke. Nothing fun tonight, work travel and all that. Way home is one thing, on the way to a customer just seems questionable, even if I’m not working tonight.
Snack boxes were distributed. Little strange honestly. I thought these had gone away. The sandwich and salad boxes are much better than these. It’s also a little odd because if this flight was on a mainline Delta aircraft, it would get a hot meal.
I got the “Market” snack box. Honestly not a fan, I like the “Bistro” snack box much better. The jerky and almonds were good. But the chips were not. I’ve had the gummies in the past and like those. The protein bar was fine, but very sticky and sweet. I’ll save the fruit bar as a snack for later.
Not that I really care, I just had excellent NYC pizza. Plane food doesn’t live up to NY pizza. The snack is fine, unlikely I’lI eat much of it anyway.
Delta ERJ175 First Class Flight Review
I finished my soda and did a little window watching from our Delta ERJ175. It’s a pretty clear day and since we got to our cruise altitude, the ride has been smooth. The flight attendant came through and collected the garbage from the snack service. I settled into the remainder of the flight, we have just over 2 hours left on the way to Omaha.
Delta ERJ175 Bathrooms
The bathroom on the ERJ175 is adequate. Like most smaller planes, there’s not a ton of space in the lavatory.
While the sink is a little stained, the rest of the bathroom was clean. The ERJ175 does have 2 bathrooms one in the front and one rear, so that’s nice if the aisle is blocked with a drink cart.
Delta ERJ175 Sunset Into OMA
As the sunlight dimmed outside the cabin grew dark. It was a pretty quiet flight in all, I’m glad to have a nice easy trip.
Outside we had begun to descend into the plains. The flight attendants passed through the cabin a few times to collect any remaining trash and do their safety checks.
As we got closer to Omaha it became fully dark out and it also got a little cloudy outside.
Delta ERJ175 OMA Arrival
We touched down into Omaha right on time. Sorry about the poor photo.
We arrived at our gate into a somewhat wet and raining night.
Delta ERJ175 First Class Final Thoughts
The Delta ERJ175 is a great plane for the short routes it flies. LGA-OMA is one of the longer ones, but at just about 3 hours, is by no means a long flight. The First Class cabin on the ERJ175 is good, the 1-2 cabin arrangement is one of the most comfortable short haul experiences you can have.
I was a little disappointed with the snack box that Delta provided on this flight. On a mainline flight there would have been at least a sandwich or salad box. Some would even get a hot meal.
I do like riding on the ERJ175, it’s a comfortable plane that fills a need. I especially like that the overhead bins are quite large and can pretty much accommodate all of the legal sized carry on bags. At the end of the day, I like to ride on and review the Delta ERJ175.