Delta Air Lines has increased baggage fees on domestic and some international routes, becoming the latest airline in the United States to do so.
19.02.2024 - 21:05 / thepointsguy.com / Airlines / April
Parts of the country will experience the phenomenon of a solar eclipse in less than two months. Now, a major U.S. airline is tweaking its flight schedules to allow 130 lucky travelers the chance to see the event from a 30,000-foot vantage point.
On April 8, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth, completely blocking the sun's face. The spectacle will be visible to more than 31 million Americans along a path stretching from Texas to parts of the Midwest and sections of the East Coast.
For close to a year now, TPG has warned of sky-high hotel prices at destinations along the path, as travelers try to secure their chance to witness the eclipse from the ground.
But what about trying to witness it from the air?
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On Monday, Delta Air Lines announced it has added a special flight to its April 8 schedule that's designed specifically to allow for peak eclipse viewing.
The flight is Delta flight number 1218, which will take off at 12:15 p.m. CDT from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and fly to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Metropolitan Airport (DTW).
The route is specifically designed to give passengers the chance to spend as much time within the eclipse's path of totality as possible; for comparison, people on the ground in Dallas, thought to be one of the best viewing cities for the event, are expected to get about four minutes of totality.
To give travelers a better view of the eclipse and a better shot at taking incredible photos, Delta plans to operate this flight with an Airbus A220-300 aircraft, which has larger windows than many other narrow-body jets.
"The April 8 eclipse is the last total eclipse we'll see over North America until 2044," Delta's lead meteorologist, Warren Weston, said in a statement. "This eclipse will last more than twice as long as the one that occurred in 2017, and the path is nearly twice as wide."
It's true that this solar eclipse is shaping up to be an even bigger event than the one many Americans witnessed in 2017. During that solar eclipse, many memorable images came from flights, including Alaska Airlines Flight 9671, which departed Oregon's Portland International Airport (PDX) on Aug. 21, 2017.
Spots along this spring's eclipse path were among the high-demand destinations noted in TPG's 2024 Travel Trends Report.
If you do want to book a seat on Delta's special eclipse flight, it's certainly not going to come cheap.
The one-way ticket from Austin to Detroit starts at $579 for a main cabin ticket.
Not surprisingly, scoring a top-notch mileage redemption on this flight won't be easy. Award pricing starts at 52,000 Delta SkyMiles one-way.
Still, if you have a stash of
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On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will sweep across areas of North America.
Delta Air Lines added a second flight to view the total solar eclipse from 30,000 feet after the first flight the airline announced sold out in less than 24 hours.
Many astronomy events will grace the sky this year, but the total solar eclipse is hands down the highlight for those even marginally interested in celestial happenings. On April 8, 2024, the total solar eclipse will cross North America, and many are trying to get in on the action (though the options for where to stay along the path of totality is already limited).
If you missed your chance last week at a seat on Delta Air Lines' solar eclipse flight, you may want to head right back to the airline's booking site.
Alaska Airlines is making it easier to see April’s epic solar eclipse with a series of flights heading to destinations along the path of totality — and they're selling out. The specific routes, which fly to places like Mazatlán, Mexico, Texas, and Ohio, have seen a threefold increase in demand compared to previous years, Alaska Airlines shared with Travel + Leisure. And that increased demand has led to increasingly sold-out flights.
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