Time to travel home from Cincinnati. Originally I was scheduled to ride home on a Delta 737-900 and had already been upgraded to first class, but work ended early so I changed to this earlier flight home. Yes, I lost my upgrade, but I get home 5 hours early, I’ll take that trade any day of the week. I’ve also reviewed the 737-900 in First Class if you want to check that out.
On this trip I’ll be reviewing the Delta 737-800 in Economy. I reviewed the Delta 737-800 in First Class on the way up here so now I get to see the same route, but in the back of the plane. One great thing about this particular trip, the plane seat map looks mostly empty, hopefully I’ll end up with an empty seat next to me. Another great thing about this 737-800 trip is the exit row is wide open, lots of leg room for me.
Anyway, let’s get into this review.
Date of travel: August 2022
Cincinnati Covington Airport
I arrived at the CVG airport about 90 minutes ahead of my Delta flight down to Atlanta. The Cincinnati airport is really pleasant. This entry atrium just has that old US Midwest airport feel.
CVG has Clear and Pre-Check so I was through the line quickly. However it was a little slow actually getting through the x-ray and scanner. For whatever reason people were a little slow here.
I then walked downstairs to the underground walkway. Delta uses the B Concourse here at CVG. There’s a train, but I just walked.
I hung out at the CVG Airport Skyclub while waiting for my flight. If you’d like to check it out, I have a full review of the CVG Delta Skyclub.
Delta 737-800 Economy Exit Row Seat Review
I got the boarding notification on my phone so I made the short walk down to the gate. There was no line and I walked right onto the plane.
I found my seat on the right hand side of the plane. This is seat 18A, this is the rearward exit row. I like this row better than 17 as the seats can recline an you have a pile of leg room.
The exit rows on the Delta 737-800 are fantastic. Lots of leg room, even with my backpack on the floor, I have plenty of space. One thing to note is the left arm rest is attached to the wall and not the seat, this can be a little awkward.
Delta 737-800 In Seat Entertainment
Does Delta have in seat entertainment on the 737-800? Yes, they do. This plane has nice modern screens too. Some of the Delta 737s have the older smaller ones, I was glad to see these super nice ones.
This Delta 737-800 is starting to show some age, but it has all the amenities that would be expected. There’s power in each row, 110v near the floor and then USB in the seat backs.
Great news everyone! The door is closed and there’s no one in my row. There are few things in this world better than not having a seat mate. On a short flight like this I might even prefer my own row over first class. The bad news is that I have lost my aux cable for my headphones. I must have left it on a flight. So looks like this flight will just be podcasts.
Delta 737-800 Departure
Our flight down to Atlanta pushed back right on time. The pilots told us the flight would be 74 minutes in flight and that it should be pretty smooth once we’re airborne.
We headed towards the runway. CVG is an interesting airport, lots of cargo transits through here including a hub for DHL and Amazon Air.
Once in the air the flight attendants gave their announcements and we headed South for Atlanta.
Delta 737-800 Economy Snack Service
A few minutes later the flight attendants came through with their snack service. There was the option of soft drinks along with some snacks. Because I’m boring, I went with water and Sun Chips. I fucking love Sun Chips, I might even like them as much as Cheez-its.
Delta 737-800 In Flight
I settled into the rest of this somewhat short flight down to Atlanta. Here above the clouds is very smooth and the pilots turned off the seat belt sign for a few minutes while on our flight.
Nice and quiet day here onboard this Delta 737-800 flight. The Economy Cabin here today is not very full, nice to be able to spread out and relax.
Delta 737-800 Arrival Into Atlanta
As we began to descend into Atlanta it got cloudy and a little rough. The seat belt sign was turned back on and the flight attendants did one more pass through the cabin to collect any remaining garbage.
We arrived at the gate a few minutes early. We parked next to a lovely Delta 757-200 at the gate next to ours. There’s also an interesting piece of ATL history at this gate, but that’s for another time.
Delta 737-800 Economy Review Final Thoughts
The Boeing 737 is a real workhorse in the Delta fleet. While older, the 737-800 is still a great ride, even back here in economy. The exit row on the Delta 737-800 is fantastic, lots of leg room and row 18 has a regular amount of recline. In each seat there is power along with in seat entertainment.
The snack service provided was more than adequate for this ~hour long flight. I really do love Sun Chips and I’m glad that Delta has added them to the rotation. While I’m lucky that I had no seat mates on this flight, even when full, I wouldn’t call the 737-800 cramped like some of the other 737s in the Delta fleet.
At the end of the day, the Delta 737-800 is glamorous, but it’s good for the flights it’s deployed on.
If you’d like to see a comparison of all the 737-800 classes, you can check out my comparison.