I've written reviews on FT, but this is my first attempt at a comprehensive Trip Report with all the trimmings. Figure to start domestic before venturing international, but I really wanted to get some family travel perspective on FT because it seems few and far between. The planning began shortly after the New Year for spring break vacation with the kiddos. At the time, I had one middle schooler and one not yet in kindergarten, so we scheduled it during the middle schooler's break from March 26 through April 1.

Flight Details:
ORD to LGA on AA 114 in F
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
10:30 AM

With a family of 4, there was no way we'd be able to get upgrades on this elite heavy shuttle flight between Chicago and New York, so we purchased these fares outright. They were actually quite reasonable with advanced planning (purchased in January) and only 1/3 more than the non-basic economy fares for the flight. Check-in was uneventful and we settled into the Admirals Club at ORD before the flight. There was no avocado toast this morning (nor anything substituted in its place) due to the avocado recalls and shortage during this time. Then we boarded the flight. After most of first class boarded, boarding completely stopped. We don't know what happened, but it gave me time to completely wipe down the seats since my one child has a cashew allergy (which is served in first class on AA flights). I also got a chance to tell the FA's that we have a cashew allergy and that we don't need warm nuts in our seats. Boarding recommenced about 20 minutes later. The delay was due to a Sabre outage that cause AA's reservation/boarding system to go down. And now we are finally on our way.

Our flight was on an older 737. While it hasn't been Oasised, it didn't have seat-back IFE. It had the old drop down ceiling tv screens. The kids pre-ordered the cheeseburgers. Myself and Mr. TravelLawyer pre-ordered special meals. I ordered the diabetic meal and he ordered the gluten free meal. The special meals were one in the same, except for a piece of bread. The kids enjoyed the cheeseburger though - with the middle-schooler declaring that this was the best cheeseburger he's ever had.