As I got off the Sky Link at Terminal C, there was a crowd gathering around TGI Fridays to catch snippets of the aforementioned Alabama/Texas A&M game.



My flight to Anchorage was departing from gate C2. Despite taking nearly 200 flights from DFW since 2009, I have never departed from the lower C Gates. One point of interest in that part of the terminal is the DFW Employee Store, which is located next to gate C2. The store is a must see for any airline/aviation geek. They carry all sorts of memorabilia, models, uniforms, etc. Steve, the owner, is actually a FTer after one of the guys on the AA board enlisted him in finding AA F pajamas for purchase. I had a chance to talk to Steve during my brief visit. He was a pleasure to chat with, and mentioned he’s located the manufacturer for the AA F pajamas so he just might be able to procure a few.


Tarmac View 738 pushed back


C2 gate area


My chariot awaits

Boarding began a few moments after I exited the store.

American Airlines 279
Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) – Anchorage (ANC)
Depart: 4:00 PM
Arrive: 7:40 PM
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200 (N658AA)
Seat: 5F (First Class)

One of the best features of flying on a 757 is being able to board from the mid cabin door, especially if you’re flying First Class. However, AA insists on boarding 757s from door 1L for some reason. It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it is a minor annoyance. The FA standing in the forward galley gave me a somewhat cold greeting just as turned right. I was pleased to find a refurbished cabin, as 6 plus hours in the old “Eisenhower” leather recliners didn’t sound too appealing. They’re great for short haul, but they lack the support for longer flights. Another great feature added by the refurbishment is availability of wifi, which would definitely come in handy keeping track of the all of the college football action going on that day.

Quite a few of my fellow passengers were glued to their smartphone and tablets for updates as boarding commenced. Since we were in Texas, it was no surprised most of many of these football fanatics were clad in the maroon and white of Texas A&M. Midway through boarding, my seatmate arrived clutching his iPhone, which was streaming the CBS feed of the Texas A&M game, and his iPad, which streamed the ESPN feed of the game. This is was fortunate for me as I was able catch snippets of the game up until the forward door was buttoned up for take off.

The DFW-ANC is categorized as a premium route by AA, so it gets a near full transcon treatment including printed menus and upgraded catering. Dinner menus and water bottles were passed out as we began our taxi, aka Tour de DFW. We finally reached the runway 36R a solid 20 minutes after pushing back only to hold in position for a minute to allow a Mad Dog to cross the runway. My Aggie seatmate and the Aggie couple across from us in 5AB spent the entire taxi time covertly getting game updates on their phones. They begrudgingly turned off their phones, as the growling from our planes’ RB211 engine began to crescendo. And what beautiful symphony it was between the pleasant growl from the engines and the sensation of acceleration only the 757 can deliver.

Just like Pavlov’s dogs, just about all of us immediately grabbed our smart phones as soon as the 10,000 foot chimed sounded. While Texas A&M was leading 14-0 when I boarded, a couple of interceptions by A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel helped fuel a furious Alabama 28 points onslaught by the time we were able to connect to wifi. Unfortunately, GoGo blocks streaming video so we settled for text based feeds of the game.

Service began about 30 minutes after we climbed above 10,000 feet, with the beverage cart being wheeled through the cabin. Personally, I don’t have an issue with aisle carts in the cabin as it does make for a more efficient service. But it does make it seem decidedly the service feel less premium. 757s do have a larger First Class cabin, but I’ve flown many flights upfront on the 757 where a cart is never sighted. So it can be done. But all was forgiven when I ordered a gin and tonic to go along with the delicious warmed mixed nuts, as the flight attendant pulled a light blue bottle out of the cart. Could it be… IT WAS! Bombay Sapphire! For as long as I’ve been flying American, the onboard gin was always Beef Eater, which was passable but not great. I asked the flight attendant about the change in gin, and she replied the change was made a week or so ago.

After my seatmate was served a drink, the flight attendant asked if I had decided what I wanted for dinner. Oh yeah, that’s right. Let’s take a look at tonight’s menu, shall we?

Starter:
Cajun-style Chicken Breast
Served on corn salad

Salad:
Seasonal greens and fresh vegetables offered with artichoke wild mushroom and pea salad
With your choice of pepper cream dressing or premium extra virgin olive oil and balsalmic vinegar

Choice of gourmet breads.

Entrees:
Stuffed Lasagna Roll
Tender lasagna pasta stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach, topped with a creamy tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella

Beef Filet
Grilled marinated fillet of beef with Merlot sauce, served over truffled wild mushroom ragoût accompanied by roasted potato wedges and baby squash

Dessert:
Traditional Ice Cream Sundae
Vanilla ice cream with your choice of hot fudge, butterscotch or seasonal berry toppings, whipped cream and pecans.

Gourmet Cheese Plate
An assortment of fine cheeses with garnishes

Light Refreshment
Offered prior to arrival

Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Cookies
Freshly baked on board

I preordered the beef online, which was acknowledged. My seatmate also went with the beef. At this point, we struck up a conversation at first on sports, and then our conversation drifted to travel. Like me, he was on mileage run taking advantage of the cheap East Coast to Alaska fares. He wasn’t a FTer, but he’s part of a Facebook EXP group whose mission is similar to FT but on smaller scale. Apparently, this group was able to buyout nearly all of the F cabin on the inaugural A321 transcon flight on January 6th of next year through a combination award tickets and cheap business class fares upgraded with SWUs because they had found out the date ahead of time from an inside contact. A couple of other things he mentioned, including Cathay Pacific starting 4 cabin 77W service from DFW, made think he was a little off base. But with AA’s recent announcement of DFW-HKG service, I guess he might have been on to something. Regardless, he was pleasant seatmate and a pleasure to talk to.

After drinks were refreshed and ramekins removed, linens were laid on tray tables before the appetizer and salad course was delivered along with a choice of cheese, French, or foicia bread. I chose French to go with this course. The chicken and corn appetizer was fairly tasty; however, the salad was a bit of disappointment. American has really stepped up their salads over the past year or so, but today’s salad was not very good.



The FA collecting the salad and appetizer plates informed us one of the ovens was not working so it would be a few more minutes before entrees would be served. The “few more minutes” turned into nearly 30 minutes, but to his credit the FA constantly roamed the aisles offering refills and apologized constantly for the delay. My seatmate and I took the opportunity to check up on the scores. Unfortunately for A&M fans, the Aggies put up a huge rally but ultimately fell short of clinching a victory.

Mains were eventually served from the cart. The beef was tender with a decent texture, but lacking in flavor. But the vegetables and potatoes were quite tasty.



Next up is the best part of any meal: dessert. I went with an ice cream sundae with butter scotch and nuts, which was needless to say awesome. I enjoyed it while catch on some sports news.



We crossed into Canada a little while after dessert dishes were cleared. One of my primary reasons for using a SWU was to ensure I had a window seat on the right side of the plane for the best views. Thick clouds obscured the landscape below for most of the flight, so I feared I was not going to get what I paid for. With less than two hours left to go, I raised my window shade to see if weather had improved. I was pleased to see it did.



My seatmate had already woken up from a nap by this point. He told me to be patient because the views were only get better. Man was he right.







My friends often ask why the heck I fly so much. The usual stones they throw are “Why do you want to be stuck on a plane so much?” or “It might be first class, but it’s still airplane food”. Well I love flying, period. The food is better than most people think, or maybe it’s because I eat just about anything. Also, where else can you see the above views, which in my opinion justified the money, upgrade instrument, and time I spent that weekend. There are some amazing views to be seen at 30,000 feet, if people cracked open their window shades every once in awhile.

The intoxicating smell of cookies being baked in the oven began to waft through the cabin, indicating about an hour to go before arrival. Soon the FAs began coming around offering fruit cups, a choice of chocolate chip or white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, and left over cheese plates from the main meal service. Mindful of the risk of waistline expansion while flying, I decided to choose the healthier option of the fruit cup. It was fairly fresh and tasty.


Shortly after the snack was served, we began to descend. While there was a fairly substantial cloud layer during our approach, there were still some nice views outside.


Mountain through clouds


Alaska greenery through clouds

Touchdown was smooth and taxi to the gate was quick. We deplaned from door 2L. I stopped at the gate to grab a picture of our noble steed in the fading sunlight.