Background
I needed a flight to see a friend in Rochester departing from the New York area and decided to pick Delta over United since I could use the Sky Club with my AMEX Card. I booked Delta in the Main Cabin. I don’t have status with Delta, only American, but American doesn’t fly directly from New York City airports to Rochester. On the plus side, I was surprised to see that I got upgraded to Comfort Plus on the E175 shortly before boarding.
Flight Details
Delta Connection 5825
Operated by Republic Airways
New York (JFK) to Rochester (ROC)
Scheduled Duration: 1 hour and 39 minutes.
Status: On Time (20 minutes early)
Cabin: Comfort Plus
Aircraft: Embraer 175
Seat: 8B
Lounge at New York (JFK)
Delta operates out of Terminal 4 at JFK and the cool thing is that there are a lot of lounges at this terminal. I really wanted to try out the Chase Sapphire Lounge and use my one free yearly allotment from Priority Pass as I had never been to one before but they had a 45-minute wait. The new Delta Sky Club at Concourse A has also been on my list to try so I decided to head there and there was no nice wait. I loved the Sky Club, much more than the main one in Concourse B even though this one is smaller. You can check out my full review of that lounge here if you’d like.
Upgraded to Delta E175 Comfort Plus
Just 35 minutes before my flight I went back into the app to check if the flight was boarding and I noticed my boarding pass changed and I was assigned a new seat Comfort Plus. I lost my window seat and got an aisle seat which was fine because I’d get more legroom.
I noticed the flight was empty in Comfort Plus before the flight with more than half of the seats available, but the normal Main Cabin was quite full. I assumed that when they cleared standbys or assigned Basic Economy passengers a seat, they probably thought to upgrade a Main Cabin passenger first rather than give a Basic Economy passenger an upgraded seat? I have no status with Delta, so I definitely wasn’t entitled to an upgrade. It’s a bit funny because at check-in I was considering paying the $15.15 to upgrade for priority boarding and finding space for my carry-on. But then my friends reminded me that with the 2-2 Embraer 175, the bins don’t fill as fast as the standard 3-3 aircraft.
Even though my seat changed, it still showed Group 6 on my boarding pass and the app was a bit weird in not letting me add my new pass to Apple Wallet, so I just boarded with Group 3 which is where Comfort Plus gets to board, and my old boarding pass scanned and I was handed a seat change slip to Comfort Plus.
Boarding and the Flight
Boarding commenced 25 minutes before our scheduled departure. The boarding door closed 10 minutes early and we pushed back from the gate 7 minutes before our scheduled departure. Sadly we had runway traffic and didn’t take off for about 35 minutes.
I always like the Embraer 175, and Comfort Plus has more than enough legroom. There is also a power port and USB A in between the seat back. The ceilings are much higher and the seats are more comfortable than the CRJ 900’s. AeroLOPA states that the seat width is 18.3″ while the seat pitch is 34″. The seat pitch in Comfort Plus is an extra 2 inches more than in Economy.
For such a short flight, I was impressed that they did a beverage service. Bottled Water, coffee, tea, and snacks are provided. Alcohol is also included for Comfort Plus and First Class passengers. I liked the water bottle, that was a nice touch. Snacks included Almonds, sun chips, chocolate granola bars, and Biscoff cookies. I got the granola bar and it was pretty good.
WiFi was available for 30 minutes for $4.95 or the whole flight for $9.95, messaging was free, and also WiFi was free for TMobile customers.
I may have had too many drinks at the Sky Club and had to use the lavatory on this short flight. The lavatory was small, but clean and put together.
Next thing you knew, it was time for landing. We touched down about 25 minutes early and got to the gate 5 minutes later.
The Verdict
Overall, I had a solid experience flying on the Delta E175 Comfort Plus. The E175 is my favorite regional jet, and perfect for short hops. The solid Sky Club visit, surprise upgrade to Comfort Plus, beverage/snack service on the flight, and early arrival made for a great flight.
What do you think of the Delta E175 Comfort Plus? Or have you flown on the short New York to Rochester route before? Comment below!
Cheers,
Ty
Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. I’ve also started working with a travel agency, Fora Travel, and can assist in booking hotel stays or planning trips. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!
