February 22, 2019
American Airlines Economy Class ~ A330-200 ~ Charlotte, NC to Philadelphia, PA ~ 429p – 616p
American Airlines Business Class ~ 767-300 ~ Philadelphia, PA to Amsterdam, ND ~ 915p – 1055p ~ Dinner
The first time I visited Charlotte’s airport was back in 1977. I remember stepping down the mobile stairs that had been wheeled up to our blue and white Eastern Airlines 727 Whisperjet and walking across the tarmac to enter a long, low red brick concourse. Charlotte’s airport has come a long way since then, having grown into a major airline hub, first with Piedmont and subsequently with US Air(ways) and now American.
That said, I’ve made very few visits to Charlotte’s Douglas International Airport over the past 30 years – perhaps less so than any other major airline hub in America. I do remember logging my 2000th flight out of here back in 1991 aboard a United 737-300 between Charlotte and Chicago. The last time I visited an airline lounge here was the US Airways Club back in 2005.
Today I had just enough time for a quick visit to American’s impressive Admirals Club where I enjoyed a bowl of hot Chicken Pueblo soup while looking out through rain streaked windows at my waiting A330. It was an ex-US Airways bird that I thought looked much nicer in its original US Airways livery. It’s not that AA’s latest livery doesn’t look nice but – to my mind at least – it wears better on some planes than others.
Business Class award notwithstanding, I was sat back in the Premium Economy section of this airplane. Located in a small cabin immediately behind the Business Class cabin (There is no First Class on AA’s A330s) it offered larger more spacious seats arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration with approximately 40” of legroom. For the one hour and twenty minute flight up to Philadelphia, this seat was just fine. For a seven or more hour long trans-Atlantic flight, well, it depends upon your point of view.
A good friend of mine’s parents once flew over to the U.S. in Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic. They’d never flown anything other than Economy Class and to hear them describe their flight, you’d think they came over in the Royal Suite aboard the QE2.
I vaguely recall those halcyon days when even an Economy Class seat on a 14 hour trans-Pacific flight to Australia was cause for considerable excitement. Upgrades didn’t exist back then – at least not as we know them now. The only way to improve your lot was to actually purchase a higher fare or pray that the Air Travel Gods might send some good fortune your way via an op-upgrade. Regardless, I was happy with the cheap seats back then, all the more so given that the seat quality and inflight service were considerably better than that which we experience today.
These days, after having logged over 5.4 million miles aloft of which over two million have been in premium Business or First Class cabins – it takes a bit more than a Premium Economy seat to light my fire. That’s not to say I didn’t appreciate the extra space though – even on the short flight up to Philly. The flight itself was uneventful; most of it spent cruising through high clouds. It wasn’t until we’d commenced our descent in Philly that we finally broke into some pretty blue skies. I paused to take a picture of the big Rolls Royce Trent 700 engine churning just outside my window.
American’s A330 on the wing
Following a notably smooth landing (the airplane’s wheels practically caressed the runway) we spent the next 22 minutes taxiing around the airport and then waiting for a gate to become available. I only know the exact amount of time because I log and time my flights from takeoff to touchdown and happened to note our arrival time as I clicked off my stopwatch.
I don’t know what gate we parked at, but as is so often the case for me we were parked way down at the end of a long concourse. Upon checking a nearby airport diagram I could see that my connecting gate at A13 was a good half mile away on the other side of American’s sprawling complex at PHL. Sigh… story of my life. Better get walkin’. Imagine then my surprise and delight when an electric cart pulled up and offered me assistance. Yes, sir! Thank you!
American has four Admiral’s Clubs spread around Philly. Thankfully one of them – undoubtedly the smallest of the lot – was located just across the concourse from A13. Though small, it ticked all the boxes for the many attributes that make a visit to an Admirals Club such a pleasant experience. I helped myself to a bowl of soup with some hummus and crackers and then settled into one of the Business Center cubicles to put in a bit of work on this report.
American’s PHL Admirals Club at A13
Boarding was announced about 40 minutes out. I hung back in the lounge for another fifteen minutes before heading across the concourse to my waiting plane. The gate agents were also waiting. Just for me, it appeared. For my part, I’m like – what’s the rush? Unless I’m in international First Class aboard an airline of the highest caliber – where the preflight cavalcade of services justify boarding early – I reckon I’m more comfortable in the lounge. Besides, so long as you present yourself at the gate at least 20 minutes before boarding, everything’s cool, right? Or is it 30 minutes? Either way the gate agents didn’t seem too stressed over it and so off I strolled down the long and winding jetway onto the plane.
This was my first flight since April of 2015 aboard an American 767-300. As I’ve reported earlier, I was not overly impressed with the Business Class layout on that earlier airplane. Now, four years later, I liked what I saw as I entered the cabin.
American’s 767 Business Class Cabin
Photo courtesy of American Airlines
The 28 seats in this cabin were set up in a 1-2-1 staggered configuration, allowing each passenger direct aisle access. Although I’m not a fan of American’s rather drab cabin décor, the charcoal gray cloth upholstered seats on this plane were offset by yellowish white molded sidewalls and faux wood seat side tables. The seats were nicely padded and reasonably comfortable to sit in.
At each seat was a packaged pillow and blanket set along with the usual trappings of any premium class flight – to wit, a set of Bose noise cancelling headphones, an amenities kit, a pair of slippers, a bottle of water and a menu.
American’s 767 Business Class Suite
The only real downside to these seats is that the foot space is extremely limited when the seat is in its fully extended position, with the result being that your feet and calves are forced into a little box of very limited dimensions. Additionally, these are not true 180° lie-flat seats but rather they’re about 160° and, in their fully extended position are quite low to the floor compared to other seats I have stretched out in.
Oh, there is one other thing – quite surprisingly, the only inflight entertainment option was via a tablet mounted in the seatback in front of you. This wouldn’t surprise me if I were flying some third world airline from a small country south of the equator but for one of the world’s major airlines to be operating an aircraft outfitted such as this on busy trans-Atlantic routes between the U.S. and Europe was a bit surprising.
Inflight Entertainment System on American’s 767 Business Class Suite
Although the Business Class cabin was completely full, there were plenty of open seats in Economy allowing many of the folks back there a chance to spread out over two and – for a lucky few – even three empty seats.
Flight time was announced at an expeditious six hours and fifty minutes, good news for everybody I suppose except for me. If I’ve got access to a sleeper seat and a nicer inflight product, I like to have time to enjoy both. On a flight of our length, by the time you get done with the meal service, digest a bit, use the lavs and finally get to sleep, you
might have four hours to sleep before being roused in time to enjoy the breakfast service. If I had my druthers, a flight like this would last about 11 hours. I reckon I was born about thirty years too late - then I could have made this crossing aboard a Pan Am or KLM DC-7, though I would have had to depart out of New York as back in the 1950s the only nonstop service between the U.S. and Amsterdam was out of New York International Airport.
The two flight attendants working the Business Class cabin were fairly senior in rank and/or age. Both appeared to be over 60 years old and both were carrying a fair bit of extra weight. These ladies weren’t just a little bit chubby but rather were built like fire hydrants. To get a belt around either of them would’ve required a minimum of 50” or more. I wear a 38” and that wouldn’t have come close on these two.
While I don’t have any concerns about the ability of considerably overweight people to provide a quality inflight service, I can’t help but wonder about their fitness levels should an emergency situation arise. Then again, I suppose they could always supervise and allow a more fit passenger to do the heavy lifting such as maneuvering a heavy raft from the ceiling compartment to the doorway.
All that aside, I thought they both did a nice job throughout the flight. They were friendly, attentive and went about the service protocol in a timely manner.
So then, how about that service? Let’s check out the Wine List and the dinner menu…
WINE LIST
Champagne
Charles de Cazanove Tradition Brut, Champagne, France
White Wine
Scarpetta Pinot Grigio, Friuli, Italy
Bouchard Père & Fils, M con-Lugny, France
Red Wine
Benziger Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County, California
Portal Colheita Red, Douro, Portugal
Dessert Wine
Quinta do Noval LBV Port, Portugal
* * * _ _ * * *
DINNER
Philadelphia to Amsterdam
SMALL PLATE
Poached Shrimp Rémoulade
Presented atop arugula with a lemon wedge and New Orleans Rémoulade Sauce
Baby Spinach and Arugula Salad
Accented with strawberries and heart of palm
Assorted gourmet breads will be served with your meal
MAIN PLATES
Korean Braised Short Ribs
Presented with brown basmati rice, kimchi pickled red cabbage and Bulgogi sauce
Red Snapper Tagine
Celery and carrot couscous, sautéed vegetables
Buffalo Skillet Chicken
Jalapeño cheddar corn cakes, Gorgonzola, golden beet and carrot slaw
Bulgur and Feta Stuffed Portobello Mushroom
Roasted golden beets and crumbled fontina with Arrabbiata sauce
DESSERT
Häagen Dazs Caramel Cone Ice cream
Key Lime Tart
Gourmet Cheese Plate
Smoked Gouda, jalapeño Jack, sharp cheddar
Thankfully American has made it very simple to check out the menu for your flight at the time of booking and then order in advance if you like. There are no annoying apps to have to download. You can handle it all right from the website. So, back in January I took a few minutes to peruse the possibilities and then placed an order for the Buffalo Chicken. I had done a bit of research on American’s Business Class meals and the Buffalo Chicken not only looked good in pictures but it also got good reviews.
First however, let’s start the festivities with some liquid refreshment. I’ll have a glass of the
Scarpetta Pinot Grigio, please. Oh yes, mixed nuts would be great, thanks!
Still life with Scarpetta Pinot Grigio and Menu
The meal was served all at once, all on one tray. This was not quite the standard I was hoping for, but there it was. Perhaps it was due to the late hour in an attempt to expedite the meal service. Then again it could have been due to laziness on behalf of the flight attendants. Perhaps I’ve been flying too many four and five star airlines of late (American rates only three stars) and so had unrealistic expectations of how a premium class meal should be served.
Buffalo Skillet Chicken
Jalapeño cheddar corn cakes, Gorgonzola, golden beet and carrot slaw
Key Lime Tart for dessert
On a positive note, this was a good airline meal. The shrimp appetizer was quite tasty and the Buffalo Chicken entrée was both sizeable and delicious. As an added bonus, it was not overcooked and the jalapeño cheddar corn cakes and coleslaw were every bit as tasty as they were appealing. Only the salad fell short – a bit disheveled in its presentation and lackluster in its content. Otherwise, this was – by my standards - an excellent Business Class dinner. Well done, AA! ^
By the time the last of the plates were cleared, there were just five and a half hours left in the flight. Were that I could just fall fast asleep on the spot. Alas, that would not be possible without the intravenous administration of some knockout drug. So, after a quick visit to the loo to practice a bit of dental hygiene, I reclined my seat to its full extent, read for a bit, popped a 10mg melatonin and bit off a quarter piece of Ambien, then read for a bit more before lapsing off into a fairly blissful slumber – cramped feet and all.
I did not ask to be woken for the breakfast service. A good sleep is more important to me than a Business Class breakfast, so I figured I’d roll the dice. If I slept through breakfast - great. If I didn’t, then that was cool, too. Well, as things turned out I was awakened by the bustle of sounds, smells and activity around me while the breakfast service got underway. By the time I padded off to the lav, cleaned up my suite and was sat upright, there was just barely enough time to take advantage of the full breakfast service. Here’s the menu:
BREAKFAST
Offered prior to arrival
Traditional American Breakfast
Scrambled eggs, Canadian Bacon, roasted potatoes, herbed tomato
Fresh Fruit Bowl
Served with granola and Greek yogurt
Warm breakfast breads will be served with your meal
Of course I opted for the full breakfast. It wasn’t fancy but it was reasonably filling.
Breakfast over England
We landed on a beautiful spring day in Amsterdam. I know, I know – it’s still February but in every other respect it was spring. Warm, sunny, lots of green around the airport and at my hotel – a great start to my short stay in Amsterdam.
I normally fly First Class on longer segments, so this Business Class crossing was a bit of an aberration for me. Even so, American provided a pretty good service by modern day standards. Given the miles redeemed, I thought it was a decent value.