alpen1

Just reached Miami for my connection to DFW, and found out a nice surprise. Though I'd lost my window seat due to the plane swap they've made up for it by swapping for the 777, and still in first! When I bought the tickets it was sold a 757, and still showed that yesterday on AA.com, is this a common swap or just positioning a plane coming off a South America route or something?

On a side note, it's a hell of a way to qualify for Gold for the first time, thanks AA!

TheBOSman

That would be pretty random. Perhaps there was a 777 sitting spare, and AA didn't have any other planes available to replace a mechanical issue on your original plane. AA has (once at least) sent a 777 DFW-BOS-DFW, and 777s haven't flown from BOS for some time. Some of the 777s from deep South America (GRU/EZE) might sit at MIA for a while (I don't know this for certain, before the FTer airplane route experts among us jump all over me as they are wont to do), so it might be better to send them on a quick MIA-DFW-MIA turn, especially if there were multiple flights with issues. How full was/is your plane? The 777 has quite a few more seats than a 757.

Tony3021990

There are a lot of extra planes sitting at MIA. Are there as many at DFW.

alpen1

TheBOSman - not sure on how full the flight is, but the AAngel at the AC indicated that first / business is full.

ESpen36

There used to be a daily 772 DFW-MIA-DFW turn; I took it frequently when I was in college. Very nice to fly in J for the price or Y, or upgrade to a Flagship Suite (although the service was just domestic F).


The DFW-ORD-DFW flight was a rare one, indeed. In fact, it was the only reason why a domestic 772 FA crew classification existed. I remember speaking with many of those FAs who had considerable seniority, loved their jobs and flew exclusively DFW-ORD-DFW same day, so they could wake up at a reasonable hour, fly their flights, and be home in time for dinner. When that flight disappeared, I don't know what happened to those wonderful FAs.... presumably they were offered the chance to become international-qualified to continue flying the 772, or else they started flying other domestic routes.

(All 772 flights involving MIA, even within the USA, are operated with international crews because of the substantial overwater portion of virtually all flights.)

FWAAA

At various times over the past decade, there were scheduled 777 flights between DFW and LAX, ORD and MIA. Until the 777s were removed from BOS-LHR, there was a Saturday 777 BOD-SDQ since the morning LHR flight didn't fly on Saturday. Currently the only scheduled domestic 777 flights are the MIA-LAX flights. Excellent result for the OP, as all too often, a 757 is the substitute for a broken 762 or 763.

TheBOSman

That would make me think that there might have been multiple cancellations, and AA is sending a 777 to get the backlog going. MIA-DFW is a majorly important, high-elite % route for AA (heck, you're adding another to the total on it! Congrats! ), and since a 757 would only have 24 F seats at most, to be full, either they upgraded a lot more people after the plane swap, or they are combining two plane loads. Expertflyer hasn't quite caught up with it, I don't see a 777 in for today either way, but F is full on all but one flight (of course, this close to the respective departure times, that could be all upgraders).

blakepilot

Basically, the original 75W (tail N5EL) is out of service, probably mechanical. I hope I decoded that right.

The inbound flight is AA1976, which is operated by a 772 as well. Original AC went mechanical in DFW. Enjoy the upgrade!

I_Can_Fly_US_Airways

Was the Triple 7 the Flagship Suite???

FWAAA

It's been several years since AA installed Flagship Suites on ALL 777s.

Time traveller

AA will also fly a 777 hub-hub domestically to rotate the planes to another hub for use on a long-haul flight. It's a nice bonus when you get a 777 subbed for a 757 domestically.

lovely15

Happened on my honeymoon: DFW-MIA. Quite the nice surprise indeed.

alpen1

In DFW - F and J were full, not sure about Y but what an upgrade. First time in AA's international F and those seats are comfy, yes the experience on the whole is a little rough around the edges but if you're flying F for comfort rather than luxury like I do I can't see any complaints about their current product, though the IFE screen is small.





For Domestic...I'll take it

_kurt

Off topic, but I was told that all domestic FAs are receiving the overwater training now. The US Airways landing on the Hudson was a wake-up call. So the staffing pattern you mention might not be necessary much longer.

Robt760

Happens more between LAX, DFW, MIA than it does with any to/from JFK.