I’ve wanted to hit the Delta Flight Museum for a while. The only issue, its in Atlanta, and I’m in DC…

The Plan

The plan, is to fly down to Atlanta, hit the museum, then head back to DC. A day trip.

Now, if you’re thinking that flying for a day trip, is a little crazy. You aren’t entirely wrong. Flying is expensive, and the trip has to be worth it. A museum run, generally isn’t. Unless you can get a cheap flight. Both of my previous day trips were discounted, and this one is no exception.

To date, this is going my cheapest flight (cash wise). I booked basically the whole thing with points. That’s the base flight, and an upgrade¹ on the way to Atlanta. I payed cash for the 9/11 security fee², and an upgrade for the flight back. With tax, I payed $48.83. That’s less than the $50 Spirit flight I did in 2022³.

So, what’s at this museum? The big items they have, are an prototype Lockheed L-1011, the fist Boeing 747-400, and a fully functional 737 motion simulator.

This place has been on my hit list since I heard about it. So, let’s head to the airport.

Dulles

I’ve grown to like the drive to Dulles. At least after you get on the access road. Overhead Color LED signs with airline checkin info. The Train right next to you. And the reveal, of the iconic terminal at the end. It does a good job of building up the airport experience that I love.

But now, where to park?

I typically park in garage 2. It has a pretty good balance of price, and being really close to the terminal. But for today, I decided to go a little fancier, and booked the valet. At $39 per day, there’s no way in hell I’d do this for anything other than a day trip. Hell, normally I wouldn’t even do it for a day trip. But, I want to do it, just to say that I did.

Pulling into the valet lane, an attendant magically appeared. My reservation was validated, my key was taken, and I was given a ticket. All and all, it was painless. So, I walked straight into the terminal, and headed for security.

A Slight Change of Planes

Originally, I was scheduled to fly on N330DU. The same exact aircraft that flew me to Seattle six months ago. However, last night that flight got delayed for over 90min. So sadly I rebooked to an earlier flight, on a different plane.

On the bright side, I did get a pic of 330 on the way to my gate.

Atlanta

Landing in Atlanta, I have two issues. Okay, three really, but one will have to wait. The two current ones, I have some time to kill (as the museum isn’t open yet), and I’m hungry. Luckily, both of those problems can be solved with a trip to Five Guys.

With that out of the way, it was time to tackle that third issue. I have to get to the museum. Unfortunately, there’s really only one decent option. The local train does go there, and the bus drops you pretty far from the place. That leaves me with Uber.

I have, opinions on Uber. Opinions, that I’ll leave for a post I’ll likely never write. But until that unlikely time, I ordered one to take to the museum.

The Museum

After getting dropped off at the museum, I headed in.

It’s not all that big, and doesn’t have a whole lot. But, it does have some really, big planes.

The big one when you get inside, is a Douglas DC-3.

Moving further in, they have a big Delta badge, made out of smaller badges.

While the DC-3 was big, around the corner was something far bigger. Something too big for the 90mm lens I had attached. A Boeing 767.

And you could go inside it.

Now, at the beginning of this post, I mentioned a 737 motion simulator.

I, did not give it a spin. Because it cost $250 for 30min… Yeah, I’m good.

After looking at everything in the little museum, I headed outside. I was on my was to see

The Big One

The big Boeing 747, that you get to go in.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been inside a 747. I went inside the one at Houston Space Center on my Great NASA Trip. But this one, is a passenger plane, not a shuttle carrier. So that means it has seats, and not just any seats. But the Delta One seats.

The ones that turn into a bed.

And you bet you ass I tried both modes. The seat, is pretty damn nice. The bed, was a little cramped. But, it’s a bed, on a damn plane.

This 747 has two Delta One sections. This pics were from the lower deck (which had a coat closet), the other section, is upstairs, along with the flight deck.

The 747 is just so damn cool.

The museum also made a pretty big modification to this aircraft. The put a deck on one of its wings.

The deck is actually full supported, by the wing.

After the 747, I decided to head back to the airport. This place was pretty cool.

Back To ATL

Now that I’m back at the airport, I need to get inside. ATL tends to have some crazy long security lines. And even though I have CLEAR and TSA PreCheck, I want to try something.

I read online that the International terminal, normally has shorter security lines. The only catch, is if you have bags to check. If you do, you better be flying Delta, as they are the only airline at both terminals⁴. Since I just have my camera pack, I’m good. I just have to get there. The train only goes to the domestic terminal. Luckily, they have a free shuttle bus.

Walking into the International terminal, it was pretty dead. Unfortunately, the TSA PreCheck lane here closes at noon. And doesn’t reopen till 14:00… It’s currently 12:08, and I don’t feel like doing standard security. Nor do I want to take the shuttle back. So I guess I’ll just wait a couple hours and edit some photos.

Time Time Time

So, one issue with doing a day trip on points. Is that you have to kinda take what you can get in terms of flight times. I arrived at Atlanta at 08:21. My return flight is at 22:45. Yeah. A fair amount of time has past since that last section. Passing the time hasn’t been an issue. Between working on this post, and walking the airport, that’s used up a good chunk of time. But I’ve also been trying to take some naps. That’s not as easy as I thought it might be.

ATL is noisy⁵. But I was able to get a touch of airport sleep here and there. Using my AirPods Pro with some ambient noise helped drown people out. The only issue I had, was when I went to take a sip of water while lying on the floor. I waterboarded myself… Not my proudest moment. It did wake me up though.

It’s been fun Atlanta, but it’s time to go home.

Back To Dulles

The flight back was just as uneventful as the flight out. My plan was to try and get a touch of sleep⁶, but I was halfway through The Fellowship of the Ring when I landed at ATL, so I had to finish that. I still had some time to kill after that, so instead of sleeping, I put on Full Metal Jacket. I forgot how funny R. Lee Ermey is in that.

The last thing I had to do, was pick up my car. The instructions on the ticket was to text my ticket number to the listed phone number when I get off the plane. So I did that, and started the journey out of the airport.

Stepping out of the airport, it was cold. 12F. I just followed the instustions to get to the valet center, but now I know I can actually take the first terminal lot elevator up, and minimize the time in the cold. Walking into the valet center, I handed them my ticket, and I was given my key. My car was just out side the center, waiting for me. To my surprise, it was running, and warm inside… Valet was worth it.

Looking Back

Was this worth it. Absolutely. I love any time I have to get on a plane. The museum is pretty small all things considered. But if you look into how it started, that kind of makes sense. It was started as a passion project by retired Delta employees. And it shows. So yeah, I highly recommend it.

Now if you excuse me, I’m going to spend the next two days recovering this.