Trip Report: Delta Air Lines (CRJ-900) Comfort+ ORD-MSP

The Details

Flight: DL3704
Aircraft: CRJ-900
Class: Comfort+
Seat: 5A and 5B
Route: Chicago O’Hare International (ORD)-Minneapolis-Saint Paul International (MSP)
Distance: 372 miles
Flight time: 1hr 10min
Departure: 8:44AM
Arrival: 10:08AM

The Preflight

My significant other and I were heading up to Saint Paul for a friends wedding and we decided to take advantage of a Delta Companion Pass that I had thanks to my Delta SkyMiles Platinum AMEX Card. With the vast majority of the United States reopening, it was no surprise to find O’Hare packed on this Friday morning. Luckily, most of the crowds were at Terminal 1 (United) and Terminal 3 (American) and Terminal 2 was relatively empty.

Thanks to my AMEX Green Card, we both had access to Clear which brought us to the front of the TSA PreCheck lane. There were just two people in the PreCheck lane and one person using Clear in front of us.

Once pass security, we headed to the Delta Sky Club which we had access to from our AMEX Platinum Cards.

The lounge was fairly empty with a good amount of seating and power ports.

In the center of the main room was an island with coffee and breakfast food. Options included donut holes, cereal, muffins, croissants, and pound cake. There was also oat meal, Cheez-Its, and fig bars.

Drinks included an espresso machine and Starbucks coffee.

Further into the lounge was a circular room with hot food, cold food, and the bar.

Hot food included turkey egg sandwiches and vegan breakfast sandwiches. There were also English muffins and bagels.

Cold food options included overnight oats, yoghurt parfait, smoothies, fruit, and hard boiled eggs.

There was a variety of alcoholic drinks available including two draft beers and house wine.

The lounge also had great views of the apron where Delta has their little operation at ORD.

With five minutes until boarding was set to begin, we made our way to gate E15. Our CRJ-900, registration N824SK, was operated by SkyWest for Delta Connection. She was 12.5 years old and was delivered brand new to SkyWest back in December 2008.

Boarding began exactly at 8:15AM with pre-boarding followed by First Class, Diamond Medallion members, then Comfort+.

The Seat

Delta Connection CRJ-900s feature 12 First, 20 Comfort+, and 44 Main Cabin seats for a total of 76 seats. Comfort+ and Main Cabin are arranged in a 2-2 configuration while First is in a 1-2 configuration.

We were seated in row 5, the first Comfort+ row. Seats were 17.3 inches wide and non-bulkhead seats in Comfort+ had 34 inches of pitch.

There was no cabin divider between first and economy class thus our row and a very generous amount of legroom. 5B jutted out into the aisle and my SO had virtually unlimited legroom.

There were no seatback entertainment screens (unlike most Delta mainline aircraft). However, there were ample literature pockets for storage.

The center armrest was rigid because the tray table was stored within. The recline button was also located there.

The tray table was incredibly floppy and well worn.

Below, in between the two seats was a power outlet and USB port.

The right armrest was standard.

The Flight

Upon boarding, we were greeted by the first class flight attendant but no sanitizing wipes were distributed. I’ve found that it is hit-or-miss across all domestic carriers on whether or not a wipe is given during boarding.

At 8:42AM the boarding doors were closed and we pushed back at 8:49AM.

The taxi to runway 9C was very quick and we took off at 9:04AM.

Due to COVID-19, Delta Airlines has cut back their inflight service. Currently, Comfort+ passengers get coffee, tea, water, beer, or wine on flights under 499 miles. Snack choices included either pretzels or a Biscoff.