Pricey Delta flight veered from path of eclipse’s totality

A special eclipse flight operated by Delta Air Lines on Monday deviated from the path of totality, the airline confirmed, causing passengers to miss a prime view of the moon obstructing the sun.

Delta told The Washington Post on Friday air traffic controllers would not allow the plane traveling from Dallas to Detroit to make the turns it had planned to accommodate both sides of the plane.

The flight was slightly offset from the path of totality, Delta said, as air traffic control managed congestion and a flood of special maneuver requests along the path of the eclipse. While another Delta flight from Austin, Texas, was permitted to climb to the right altitude to complete a maneuver called an S-curve, the airline said the Dallas flight was not.

The Federal Aviation Administration did not comment on the Delta flight’s path specifically, but said the agency was focused on safety as jets and noncommercial planes filled the air to view the eclipse above the clouds. The FAA had previously warned about congestion and possible impacts to air traffic.

Instead of its planned maneuvers, Delta’s Airbus A321neo flew in a circle to give both sides a look from 33,000 feet. But passengers didn’t get the view they expected.

“I kind of immediately suspected the positioning was off,” said passenger Dimitrije Ratkov, who raised the possibility the flight missed totality to The Post on Thursday. “I knew something had gone wrong, but wasn’t sure what.”

Delta had warned about such a possibility, even as passengers paid more than $1,000 in some cases for a seat. For both the Dallas and Austin flights, the airline included this disclaimer: “While Delta flight plans have been designed to maximize time within the path of totality, this is subject to change due to factors outside of Delta’s control such as weather and air traffic control that could impact timing and aircraft.”

Several people captured photos of the sun partially blocked by the moon, later showing off thumbnails of glowing orange. They chalked the difficulty up to the tricky angle of the sun high above, speed of the plane and confines of the aircraft.

Ratkov, who paid just over $1,100 for a refundable ticket, said he started traveling from Minnesota early Sunday, slept that night at the airport in Dallas and made it home around 6 a.m. Tuesday. He said the mood in his row was chatty and upbeat leading up to totality but downcast afterward.

After the airline put out a celebratory news release and much coverage was positive, he said he wanted the record about the flight to be corrected and for Delta to provide an explanation for what happened.

“It was a major disappointment,” and a big financial investment, he said. “It had been obviously promoted as the second eclipse flight.”