tfung
Jun 21, 01, 4:44 pm
Trip report LAX-DFW AA174 June 21st
I left the airport hotel at exactly 05:00 and arrived at Terminal 4 a bit later. The American check-in area was quite nicely decorated. I checked in at the Business class counter, as there were quite a lot of people lining up in the First class one. The check-in agent saw the rest of the itinerary, and commented how crazy I was flying to all those places. I got my boarding pass and checked my bags to DFW. I proceeded then to gate 16b to wait for the flight. The departure time was at 06:23, but boarding commenced at 05:45, so I did not have to wait too long to board. I was the first passenger t get on the plane, and when I got on, the FAs were still standing around in the First class cabin chatting. When they saw me, they all hurried back to their posts. The plane was a 767-200, and I took my seat in 2B, which was strangely the first physical row, but numbered row 2. The seats are covered in what looked like sheepskin, but was quite comfortable, although odd looking. I would say that the seats are about the same width as the UA 767-200 F class ones, but a little more comfortable. The recline wasn't as good as the UA ones, nor could the leg rest go as high. The plane was configured as a 3-class configuration physically, but it was basically a domestic 2 class service. I think the business class seats were given to AA elite members.
My seat was not the best seat to sit in during boarding, as people would always hit you knees while trying to walk by. After takeoff, it was ok, but then I would advise people who get this seat to board at the end. Pre-departure drinks were served while we waited at the gate, and I asked for ginger ale. The captain came on the PA and told us that there was a problem with the air-conditioning system, and we had to wait a while to get it fixed. We ended up waiting at the gate till nearly 07:00 before we started moving. Taxiing and take off didn't take too long, and we were on our way. Flight time was 2 hours 35 minutes, and the cruising altitude was 35,000 feet. After takeoff, drinks and breakfast was served. We didn't get a menu for this flight, but had the choice of chive omelette or raisin bran cereal. Frankly, I would expect a breakfast to include cereal already, and was disappointed that they thought to offer this as a meal. I therefore chose the omelette for breakfast, ginger ale for the drink. The drinks came without any nuts or snacks, followed by the breakfast. The omelette was pretty disappointed and tasted quite bland. The fruit was alright, but the melon slices were very hard. Bagels were also served, and that was the only good part of the breakfast. I saw some other people having the cereal, and it was basically the same setup except the omelette was exchanged for a bowl of cereal. I've come to believe that breakfast on any airline was bad, but not as bad as this. It's basically worse than United in Economy class, and just placed on nicer plates! I think if AA is serving this kind of stuff for their domestic First class, they ought to be ashamed of themselves after serving such good food on their International service.
When the trays were cleared away, I spent some time reading my Tom Clancy book, and just relaxed on the remainder of the flight. I was quite disappointed with service, as the FAs just sat around in the galley gossiping. My seat had a good view of that, and not once did they come around to offer more drinks. Only 10 minutes prior to landing do they come around to collect the glasses and ask if we wanted anything else? I mean if we wanted something else, it was a pretty bad time to ask, just before landing. We landed in DFW from the southern approach, and touchdown was at 12:00, half an hour behind schedule. Taxi to the gate didn't take too long, and we were off the plane within a few minutes. I headed to the baggage claim to pick up my bag, but found that DFW was very big and confusing. There were no signs to tell you which carousel to go to. Luckily, there were only two (as far as I could see), and I found them after getting out of the secure area. The bags took about 20 minutes to come out, and after picking them up, I was on my way to the United check-in desks.
Overall, I was very disappointed with American's domestic service. Maybe this is just one bad apple, but the food and service was very lacking. If this is what American is like on domestic flights, I would suggest that most travelers avoid it. It's not a terrible experience, but I would much rather take United on their domestic flights over this. Just my $0.02.
I left the airport hotel at exactly 05:00 and arrived at Terminal 4 a bit later. The American check-in area was quite nicely decorated. I checked in at the Business class counter, as there were quite a lot of people lining up in the First class one. The check-in agent saw the rest of the itinerary, and commented how crazy I was flying to all those places. I got my boarding pass and checked my bags to DFW. I proceeded then to gate 16b to wait for the flight. The departure time was at 06:23, but boarding commenced at 05:45, so I did not have to wait too long to board. I was the first passenger t get on the plane, and when I got on, the FAs were still standing around in the First class cabin chatting. When they saw me, they all hurried back to their posts. The plane was a 767-200, and I took my seat in 2B, which was strangely the first physical row, but numbered row 2. The seats are covered in what looked like sheepskin, but was quite comfortable, although odd looking. I would say that the seats are about the same width as the UA 767-200 F class ones, but a little more comfortable. The recline wasn't as good as the UA ones, nor could the leg rest go as high. The plane was configured as a 3-class configuration physically, but it was basically a domestic 2 class service. I think the business class seats were given to AA elite members.
My seat was not the best seat to sit in during boarding, as people would always hit you knees while trying to walk by. After takeoff, it was ok, but then I would advise people who get this seat to board at the end. Pre-departure drinks were served while we waited at the gate, and I asked for ginger ale. The captain came on the PA and told us that there was a problem with the air-conditioning system, and we had to wait a while to get it fixed. We ended up waiting at the gate till nearly 07:00 before we started moving. Taxiing and take off didn't take too long, and we were on our way. Flight time was 2 hours 35 minutes, and the cruising altitude was 35,000 feet. After takeoff, drinks and breakfast was served. We didn't get a menu for this flight, but had the choice of chive omelette or raisin bran cereal. Frankly, I would expect a breakfast to include cereal already, and was disappointed that they thought to offer this as a meal. I therefore chose the omelette for breakfast, ginger ale for the drink. The drinks came without any nuts or snacks, followed by the breakfast. The omelette was pretty disappointed and tasted quite bland. The fruit was alright, but the melon slices were very hard. Bagels were also served, and that was the only good part of the breakfast. I saw some other people having the cereal, and it was basically the same setup except the omelette was exchanged for a bowl of cereal. I've come to believe that breakfast on any airline was bad, but not as bad as this. It's basically worse than United in Economy class, and just placed on nicer plates! I think if AA is serving this kind of stuff for their domestic First class, they ought to be ashamed of themselves after serving such good food on their International service.
When the trays were cleared away, I spent some time reading my Tom Clancy book, and just relaxed on the remainder of the flight. I was quite disappointed with service, as the FAs just sat around in the galley gossiping. My seat had a good view of that, and not once did they come around to offer more drinks. Only 10 minutes prior to landing do they come around to collect the glasses and ask if we wanted anything else? I mean if we wanted something else, it was a pretty bad time to ask, just before landing. We landed in DFW from the southern approach, and touchdown was at 12:00, half an hour behind schedule. Taxi to the gate didn't take too long, and we were off the plane within a few minutes. I headed to the baggage claim to pick up my bag, but found that DFW was very big and confusing. There were no signs to tell you which carousel to go to. Luckily, there were only two (as far as I could see), and I found them after getting out of the secure area. The bags took about 20 minutes to come out, and after picking them up, I was on my way to the United check-in desks.
Overall, I was very disappointed with American's domestic service. Maybe this is just one bad apple, but the food and service was very lacking. If this is what American is like on domestic flights, I would suggest that most travelers avoid it. It's not a terrible experience, but I would much rather take United on their domestic flights over this. Just my $0.02.