Jul 12 AA 135 IAD-LAX 757 first
Jul 17 AA 76 LAX-IAD 767 business

This is the first time I flew with AA since last Sept. I tried to switch to UA but couldn't; I wasn't going to pay $400 difference out of my pocket. I have to wait longer to archieve Premier this year. Used 15K miles and $75 fee to upgrade from Y-fare.

AA 135 was my favorite flight to LAX. It's the least crowded flight I found on this route; I always had an empty seat next to me in the coach section. First class seats had very conformable width but it didn't have any leg support.

On the return trip, the flight was full. My two biggest complain on this flight were; first there weren't air vents in the cabin at least business section. It's got hot in second half of the flight. I haven't noticed this before on prior 767s on IAD-LAX run. Secondly, I wished there were a little more of leg room. One little annoyance is with audio quality of the in-flight entertainment system. There were too much noise. I couldn't hear the music clearly.

Even though flight service were nice, I didn't like AA's first class and business class seats. BTW both planes' cabin weren't remodeled yet. Since I haven't tried new 737-800 on this route, I can't tell how much the seats will be improved. Maybe it's unfair to compare to business class on 747 but I vote goes to UA business class on IAD-LAX run. The food is toss up but 747's seats were much more comfortable and its entertainment system's audio was much clear. Additionally it had Hawaiian channel.

AA's seats will improve when AA remodel all of its cabins but I'll try to stick to UA from now on when traveling Y/B fares. It cost much less to upgrade on UA.



------------------
Dan