Carfield
Nov 12, 99, 10:43 pm
Hi Everyone,
Here is another trip report. This will be Part I…
November 12, 1999
ABQ to DFW
I am not an elite member of American Airlines or any of the oneworld partners, so this trip report truly reflects the experience of an average traveler. I arrived at the check in counters of American Airlines about an hour before departure. The check-in line was rather short for Y class. It only takes me ten minutes or less. I was checked in by a friendly agent. All the boarding passes were issued correctly but the ITN network did not secure me a window seat. She got me a seat at 28A… all the way to the back of the plane and my seat was directly behind the galley area. Anyway, she grabbed me a new worldwide timetable. The size of the new timetable is smaller but is much easier to carry around. It has all seat maps including the ex-Reno Air aircraft and the airport maps. The experience is okay…
Boarding took place at 8:38pm - thirty minutes before departure. Our flight was full and slightly delayed due to the cancellation of the 7am flight. That flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Nevertheless, the flight was all set to go at 9:11am, only four minutes behind schedule. The P/A system was not working too well today, and the safety announcements were done in a rush, due to short taxi time at ABQ. This MD-80, N479AA, was in terrible shape. It had the old seats in both first and coach class. The overhead bin was really narrow and very worn down. However, I was told to expect that…
There were a total of three flight attendants for the whole flight and a full load of 149 passengers. No wonder the flight service was minimal… Our flight time was about an hour and twenty-three minutes, and we were cruising at an attitude of 33,000ft. The flight service was minimal. Only a cup of beverage was served with no pretzel and no nuts and no nothing. It was worse than a southwest flight. No wonder SWA gets all the passengers for those short flights. First class had a snack service, but what did you expect for 120 passengers with only two F/As? However, both F/As were friendly and it took them forty five minutes to serve the whole cabin drink. No surprise that there is no time for a continental breakfast.
Our flight arrived about twelve minutes early. I had plenty of time to take the train to A19 for my CP flight. This short flight was rated a 5… barely passing. AA needs to work on its short-haul flight because it really needs to define itself as a full service airline. Shuttle can have those minimal services because UA tells us about it in advance. But this flight is a regular AA flight… did Mr Carty ever wonder why SWA is such a threat?
November 12, 1999
CP 184
DFW to YYZ
Boarding had already started when I arrived at the gate. CP got about 14 transit passengers today on this flight and the boarding process was slightly delayed by that fact. Our aircraft today was a Boeing 737-200Advanced, C-GCPO. The plane was in a much better shape than AA's MD-80s. This plane had the new seats and color scheme. All seats, including Y class, feature a laptop plug-in. The Y class seat did not have adjustable headrests or those funny things. It was a plain good old seat with new cloth. The seat pitch was much better than MD-80 or United's Boeing 737-300/500. The flight attendants were very friendly in greeting each passenger. They were smiling the whole times. The F/As came around with newspapers before takeoff. They ran out of newspapers but at least they tried to have them ready. Blankets, pillows, and headsets were all fresh out of the plastic. They were in good shapes… no more connecting cords.
The flight was about third-forth full, and I was in 12A, with the next seat vacant. However, after a quick bathroom break before take-off, I got a neighbor. He had two giant pieces of bags and occupied both 12B and C with his laptop and notes throughout the flight. He also disregarded the safety rules at all times. First, his hand luggage was too big to fit under the seat and it was very inconsiderate of others and produced a possible danger, if we had to evacuate anytime. Second, he used his cell phone up to the moment that we took off. It produced a great danger for the safety of everyone in the flight. He could disrupt the flight's radar. Anyway, he was very inconsiderate, and he was a good example of what we should not do in flight. Lastly, he never cleared off his stuff during the final landing approach. His stuffs were still all over the place by the moment our plane landed. I had to hold on to his stuff when we touched down. The F/As were preparing for a quick landing, and they told him to store his stuff twice. He did not seem to care. I hope we will all be conscious about the safety of our neighbors the next time.
Anyway, our flight took off after fifteen minutes. The F/As passed out headsets for our viewing of the hour long Discovery programs. It was fun to watch about avalanche in Alaska. The lunch was a disappointment and CP had certainly followed its partner, AA's food style. We got a lunch basket, which consists of a pack of chip (Lay Classic), a turkey and cheddar sandwich (full-size), a pack of carrot sticks, and a small snicker bar. AC definitely does a better job in food catering. Despite of the smiling F/As, United can certainly do a better job in serving its snack. It should have labeled this flight as a snack flight, not a lunch flight. Anyway, the lunch service was completed with a tea and coffee service. Tea with milk and sugar at Y class - a first for me. CP used a silver pot to serve tea and coffee too. The F/As were very friendly throughout the flight, and they constantly made runs. For Business Class, they got a simple tray lunch, not the menu by design.
Our flight time was two hours and forty-seven minutes, with a cruising attitude of 33,000ft. We landed at 4:37pm and parked at B16. Terminal three was quite nice, compared to T1 and 2. The immigration and custom services were efficient. I will give this flight a 7 because of the outstanding F/A service. Consider their moods - their jobs may not be secured. One strange thing though - the pilot did not make any announcement during the flight. The flight just went on and on. The seat belt signs were on most of the time because of the light turbulence. I completed my AA segments for the 100K today. I booked my return flight through CP…
The return trip will be posted on Monday morning.
Happy Flying,
Carfield
Here is another trip report. This will be Part I…
November 12, 1999
ABQ to DFW
I am not an elite member of American Airlines or any of the oneworld partners, so this trip report truly reflects the experience of an average traveler. I arrived at the check in counters of American Airlines about an hour before departure. The check-in line was rather short for Y class. It only takes me ten minutes or less. I was checked in by a friendly agent. All the boarding passes were issued correctly but the ITN network did not secure me a window seat. She got me a seat at 28A… all the way to the back of the plane and my seat was directly behind the galley area. Anyway, she grabbed me a new worldwide timetable. The size of the new timetable is smaller but is much easier to carry around. It has all seat maps including the ex-Reno Air aircraft and the airport maps. The experience is okay…
Boarding took place at 8:38pm - thirty minutes before departure. Our flight was full and slightly delayed due to the cancellation of the 7am flight. That flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Nevertheless, the flight was all set to go at 9:11am, only four minutes behind schedule. The P/A system was not working too well today, and the safety announcements were done in a rush, due to short taxi time at ABQ. This MD-80, N479AA, was in terrible shape. It had the old seats in both first and coach class. The overhead bin was really narrow and very worn down. However, I was told to expect that…
There were a total of three flight attendants for the whole flight and a full load of 149 passengers. No wonder the flight service was minimal… Our flight time was about an hour and twenty-three minutes, and we were cruising at an attitude of 33,000ft. The flight service was minimal. Only a cup of beverage was served with no pretzel and no nuts and no nothing. It was worse than a southwest flight. No wonder SWA gets all the passengers for those short flights. First class had a snack service, but what did you expect for 120 passengers with only two F/As? However, both F/As were friendly and it took them forty five minutes to serve the whole cabin drink. No surprise that there is no time for a continental breakfast.
Our flight arrived about twelve minutes early. I had plenty of time to take the train to A19 for my CP flight. This short flight was rated a 5… barely passing. AA needs to work on its short-haul flight because it really needs to define itself as a full service airline. Shuttle can have those minimal services because UA tells us about it in advance. But this flight is a regular AA flight… did Mr Carty ever wonder why SWA is such a threat?
November 12, 1999
CP 184
DFW to YYZ
Boarding had already started when I arrived at the gate. CP got about 14 transit passengers today on this flight and the boarding process was slightly delayed by that fact. Our aircraft today was a Boeing 737-200Advanced, C-GCPO. The plane was in a much better shape than AA's MD-80s. This plane had the new seats and color scheme. All seats, including Y class, feature a laptop plug-in. The Y class seat did not have adjustable headrests or those funny things. It was a plain good old seat with new cloth. The seat pitch was much better than MD-80 or United's Boeing 737-300/500. The flight attendants were very friendly in greeting each passenger. They were smiling the whole times. The F/As came around with newspapers before takeoff. They ran out of newspapers but at least they tried to have them ready. Blankets, pillows, and headsets were all fresh out of the plastic. They were in good shapes… no more connecting cords.
The flight was about third-forth full, and I was in 12A, with the next seat vacant. However, after a quick bathroom break before take-off, I got a neighbor. He had two giant pieces of bags and occupied both 12B and C with his laptop and notes throughout the flight. He also disregarded the safety rules at all times. First, his hand luggage was too big to fit under the seat and it was very inconsiderate of others and produced a possible danger, if we had to evacuate anytime. Second, he used his cell phone up to the moment that we took off. It produced a great danger for the safety of everyone in the flight. He could disrupt the flight's radar. Anyway, he was very inconsiderate, and he was a good example of what we should not do in flight. Lastly, he never cleared off his stuff during the final landing approach. His stuffs were still all over the place by the moment our plane landed. I had to hold on to his stuff when we touched down. The F/As were preparing for a quick landing, and they told him to store his stuff twice. He did not seem to care. I hope we will all be conscious about the safety of our neighbors the next time.
Anyway, our flight took off after fifteen minutes. The F/As passed out headsets for our viewing of the hour long Discovery programs. It was fun to watch about avalanche in Alaska. The lunch was a disappointment and CP had certainly followed its partner, AA's food style. We got a lunch basket, which consists of a pack of chip (Lay Classic), a turkey and cheddar sandwich (full-size), a pack of carrot sticks, and a small snicker bar. AC definitely does a better job in food catering. Despite of the smiling F/As, United can certainly do a better job in serving its snack. It should have labeled this flight as a snack flight, not a lunch flight. Anyway, the lunch service was completed with a tea and coffee service. Tea with milk and sugar at Y class - a first for me. CP used a silver pot to serve tea and coffee too. The F/As were very friendly throughout the flight, and they constantly made runs. For Business Class, they got a simple tray lunch, not the menu by design.
Our flight time was two hours and forty-seven minutes, with a cruising attitude of 33,000ft. We landed at 4:37pm and parked at B16. Terminal three was quite nice, compared to T1 and 2. The immigration and custom services were efficient. I will give this flight a 7 because of the outstanding F/A service. Consider their moods - their jobs may not be secured. One strange thing though - the pilot did not make any announcement during the flight. The flight just went on and on. The seat belt signs were on most of the time because of the light turbulence. I completed my AA segments for the 100K today. I booked my return flight through CP…
The return trip will be posted on Monday morning.
Happy Flying,
Carfield