Delta In-Flight Entertainment...NOT

On a recent Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis to San Diego, passengers were treated to a new type of in-flight entertainment. Well, not actually new, since the silent pictures preceded the talkies for many years.

Problem here was that for a three hour and six minute flight, there were no headsets handed out either because the airline didn't stock them for the flight, or as the flight attendant noted, some aisles didn't have connections for the headsets. WTF? So if some couldn't listen, the idea would then be to have the rest of the almost 200 passengers look blankly at the pop-down screens in silence because we also could not listen, although our rows worked? For three long hours the screens showed what appeared to be television programming of some sort in silence.

Of course, this was aboard a MD-90 jet where many of the passengers were too busy trying to get warm or cool, depending on the moment, since those aircraft are notoriously horrible for maintaining decent cabin temperature levels. That has been the case since the DC9-31 and 51 series of which the MD-80 and MD-90 are variants, and simply newer models in my opinion.

Strangely enough, there was a gate change for this flight and when on board, the flight attendants began making excuses for the lack of luggage space on the plane, saying it was because of the gate change, etc. What the hell does a gate change have to do with a change in luggage space? It's the same type plane and the same seat numbers and seat configuration we booked 5 weeks before! It's absurd to think that moving a plane between gates somehow changes the luggage space! So passengers had no place for their luggage and it took extra time to depart because bags had to be checked. I do have to say the plane arrived on time.

Speaking of seats, our seats were not the correct seats for their placement in the plane. They had trays that swung out of the arms and we were not in exit rows or in the first row of the cabin. The center heavy metal trim piece was loose and hanging and could be lifted off; great in an emergency to have flying loose in the cabin.

It's always good to be on solid ground, better to be off anything that resembles a DC-9 and sadly, glad not to be flying Delta, whom I used to fly so regularly. Comparing the outbound trip via United to the inbound via Delta was like day and night. And I sure saw the light in this trip!