Trip Reports - American Airlines Flat Bed/ Domestic Trip Report

AA 1402 SFO-DFW dep 0610

I flew this past weekend SFO to Kansas City via Dallas and return (Dallas is IMHO always a superior connection versus Chicago when flying American), and my trip began with a pleasant surprise: seat 3A on a 767-300 with the fully flat sleeper 2-1-2s in F. AA1402 is one of AA's 3-class aircraft where an upgrade nets the coach traveler a first class seat. The aircraft's business class cabin gets coach catering/ service for non-upgrading elites.

Actually, my trip began with 2 pleasant surprises. My 4 large duffels of Christmas gifts were clearly overlimit, so I decided to try my standard avoid-the-overlimit-fee approach of a substantial up-front tip to the skycap. With just a few words, he took all my bags and checked them through to my destination. He even issued my upgraded F boarding pass on the floppy cashier-receipt paper that the skycap terminals now have.

The 767-300 was newly outfitted; the head flight attendant indicated it was only the 2nd fully-flat-bed aircraft she had seen. The seats are similar to the usual new F blue seats, with a "cabinette" covered in a gray fabric and edged with blue padded leather. The cabinette is shaped something like the Marina City bowling alley in Chicago--it rises in a catenary curve around the back. On the window-aisle doubles, there is no divider (or at least none was implemented on this flight) between the two seats. The "D" center seats have a complete arch of privacy.

The recline is complete. In fact, it is so flat, that I felt the need to elevate the back a bit so as not to feel like I was rolling downhill. The electronic seat controls also include four pre-programmed settings: Dining; Takeoff/ Landing; Bed; Massage. Dining is slightly more upright than the Takeoff/ Landing setting. Both move the footrest to the stowed position. Bed is fully flat in the recline, and full extension in the footrest. (NB: the footrest still has a strange flaw--when the kick pad is up, even with full footrest extension, the leg length is far less than what could accommodate an average man; my female seatmate couldn't have hers up either) The last auto setting is massage. This button activates alternating cycles of inflate and deflate for the upper and lower lumbar air pillows in sequence. Actually worked quite well.

The meal on this flight was the normal non-transcon F breakfast: omelette (no choice) served from the galley. The meal was fine, but the galley service meant that I always ended up with ice in every beverage. I find that extra requests, e.g. lemon with the mineral water or no ice with the orange juice get lost when the service is galley as opposed to cart (more on this later).

Pullback was T+5 (ontime in my book), and takeoff was about 15 minutes later. Arrival was ontime. The full recline really does encourage sleep. I slept from tray clearance until the landing announcement.

After arrival at DFW, I relaxed momentarily in the C-terminal Admirals Club, then headed for my departure gate to MCI. Most operations from Dallas are Super 80s, and this was no exception. I for one feel that the MD80's blue-seat configuration in F is acceptable, except for the seat recline - it needs another 10 degrees or so. In the short (<500 mile) flight we were served lunch. It was pleasant, and the service was the non-transcon domestic first service (all from the galley) with one wine each white and red. The wines came into play a bit later.

As we were waiting for pushback, the pilot made an announcement. He wasn't feeling "100 per cent" and had decided to walk away from this flight. He got his things and left the plane as soon as the GA brought back the jetway. The FAs appeared surprised, and several passengers made comments. The co-pilot remained on board a bit longer, then he too left. Passengers remained on board, although the front door was left open. About an hour after our scheduled takeoff slot, the head FA announced that the crew from the next MCI-bound flight was being assigned instead to our flight, and that they were on their way. That flight crew boarded, did their checks, and we were underway around 90 minutes late.

I prefer cart service to galley service for several reasons. The primary reason is the delay that galley service causes between ordering whatever (drinks, meal choices, anything) and delivery. I am no fan of ice cubes, and as many FTers know, ice cubes are ubiquitous on US-based carriers. My usual requests: club soda, no ice, lime; or orange juice, no ice; or whiskey, neat -- these tend to become on-the-rocks and without garnish when the service is galley-based. With cart service, the FA of course makes it right then and there and in that case the result reflects what was requested.

On AA 646 from DFW-MCI, I learned a bit more about in-flight service. The FA handling F was in a talkative mood, and I eavesdropped as she explained to the passengers in front of me the meanings of the codes on the passenger manifest. She then segued into a discussion of an event this summer that had just resulted in disciplinary action against her by the airline. Apparently, a DFW-SEA passenger this summer in F (on an MD80; I was surprised that AA used this aircraft on that long route) got so irritated by the lone white wine available during the service, that he had some sort of tantrum. It was the same white wine that was served on my flight. (I have forgotten the vintner - it was a California chardonnay). Words were exchanged; later a letter was sent; and just last week, the FA was reprimanded. She will only serve coach from January on. The whole incident intrigued me: 1) why would a passenger raise hell with an FA over the singular white wine available (incidentally, the wine had a heavy white burgundy-like after taste, which could easily displease people not familiar with that nose); 2) how did this situation escalate into a confrontation. The FA had a funny anecdote about how she retrieved some coach splits for the passenger (it's the same wine apparently), and that calmed him for a while; 3) writing letters apparently has a significant impact in some cases: FTers, be advised to be aware of the consequences of your letters to the airlines.

All in all, an interesting flight. We landed an hour late because of the pilot incident back at DFW. It was almost an hour after that before all luggage was on the carousels at MCI.

Your letter comment is interesting. Thanks for a great report. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I learned a lot from your trip report. Thanks.