ATL to DTW commute

[flighttrainer]

I am considering this commute and wanted to know how tough it was. I know there is a lot of legacy NW doing this commute and needed some input. Thanks for all input.

 

[nwaf16dude]

I occasionally have to two-leg commute through ATL to get to DTW. Lot's of Non Revs going back and forth, but I've never had any trouble getting on. There's 9 or 10 mainline flights a day on pretty much all the airplanes in the fleet except the whale. Some days there are two 777's per day. They are running the 777's back and forth to position for Asia flying, and there are usually a lot of available seats on them. I'd think it would be a pretty easy commute.

 

[stall022]

I have been doing the commute for a few years and I have found it one of the more difficult commutes. My record is being bumped off 6 flights in one day from DTW-ATL. The DL flights have pre listed jumpseaters most of the time, plus a few other DL and DL express jumpseaters waiting with full airplanes. Most of the time I just end up going over to the other terminal to catch the Airtran flight but there are only 3 to 5 flights a day most of the year on Airtran.

 

[FmrFreightDog]

I agree that it's a very difficult commute. I did it for a few years. With Delta the issue is that seat availability fluctuates tremendously. If there's weather going on in another hub, count on people being rerouted through Atlanta. Being hub to hub means tons of misconnects/reroutes. Routinely flights go from wide open to overbooked overnight. I haven't done the commute since late last year, but I was on the jumpseat far more often than in the back. The 777s mentioned above often have open seats, but they go out earlier in the morning and not every day. I've been on the jumpseat on that also as the back filled up. Lots of commuters too, both fNWA and fDAL guys that are on the 777 out of DTW. Jumpseats are typically booked shortly after the window opens. Assuming you're an RJ guy, you won't be able to book them (obviously). I'm a fNWA guy, and there was a period where we didn't have any NWA equipment on the route and we couldn't book jumpseats on DAL metal. I two-legged it many times when that was going on. Airtran is a little better, but they fill up too.

It's not a commute I'd subject myself to without a really good reason.