As I checked in 24 hours prior to departure, I was offered a load factor based upgrade for a very reasonable about for my YUL-DFW leg. Having already paid for MCE, the total cost was even less after the refund (plus the 2 free checked bags don't hurt either).
AA operates a 737-800 out of YUL (old livery for anyone wondering). On domestic U.S routes this is F, but on international itineraries it's J.
AA 1045
YUL-DFW
4F (J)
11/16 in J cabin
Scheduled Departure: 7:45am
Actual Departure: 8:10am
Schedules Arrival: 11:15am
Actual Arrival: 11:15am
I had slept basically all of Christmas day and was not tired one bit. That being said, I tried my hardest to at least get a couple of hours of sleep, and by 2am, my body decided to reward me with 1 unfulfilling hour of slumber. At around 3:30am I was up, showering, and packing for the trip.
My grandfather was actually also flying out the same day at 7:30am so we carpooled to the airport. Arrived at Trudeau at 4:45am, and made my way to the Transborder departures area. After getting in line for Priority AAccess (and been given looks by hundreds of people waiting in the regular line) I was taken by an agent almost right away. She confirmed my itinerary and printed my boarding passes and tagged my luggage to LAS. With my 2 FlyerTalk luggage tags, and the AA priority tag, my bag sure did look important. Went over to baggage drop, gave the attendant my boarding pass, and watched my bag go down an elevator to the mysterious CBP screening room underneath the terminal. Anyways this whole process took all of 5 minutes, so by now it was 4:50am and I headed over to CATSA and CBP.
Having JUST applied for NEXUs and getting approved the 24th, I didn't have the card so I had to use all the regular lines
. The line was about 20 minutes long but was moving fairly quickly. Got to the checkpoint and was through at 5:15am. Upon entering the customs hall, I went up to the automated passport control kiosks, printed out my receipt and went to see an officer. Oddly, after taking my receipt, he didn't bother taking my declaration form (the blue one) which was taken from everyone else.
After meeting up with my grandfather post customs, we decided to just have a quick breakfast at Montréal En Scène. Nothing special here, just eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast. I also started on my fist coffee of the day. Plenty more where that came from!
After breakfast, I saw the horrifically long line at Starbucks and decided I'll pass and go for plane coffee later on. I made my way towards gate C83, and then quickly walked past in to gate C85. At 85, they have these daybed like things to lounge on rather than those classic uncomfortable airport seating chairs. After relaxing for 20 or so minutes, I made my way to the gate just as boarding commenced.
After taking my seat, I found out one of my friends was also on this flight. He was doing a convoluted YUL-DFW-FLL trip, and also had a crazy long layover. After agreeing to go for lunch in Dallas, I settled into seat 4F and anxiously prayed to the sky gods for an empty 4D. As luck would have it, empty. Soon after we began taxing to runway 24L (from the absolute farthest gate at YUL) and ending up leading a convoy of 6 aircraft ready for departure (haha, first!). At around 8:10am we went wheels up and climbed to thirty something thousand feet.
Cabin service commenced soon after we levelled off. I started off with a black coffee (#2) and a glass of OJ.
YUL-DFW Breakfast
1) Vegetable Frittata with Roasted Red Potatoes and Turkey Sausage
2) Oatmeal with Cranberries
Served with your choice of Croissant or Biscuit
I chose the frittata. It wasn't half bad, but I wasn't that hungry after just eating breakfast. After the meal I decided to start writing this TR so I don't fall behind.
About halfway through the flight, I decided to try the other seat, because I had a faint suspicion that my seat wasn't reclining. I was right. Rookie mistake I guess.
We landed at DFW right on time and I made my way over to the Admirals Club in Terminal D to see if I could change my flight to an earlier flight.
After about 10 minutes on the phone, the switch was made and the AAngel assured me my bag would be retagged...