jsmeeker

I can't recall the last time I flew main line American Airlines and wasn't on a Super 80. Of course, since last December, I have been flying nothing but Eagle to CVG, so my one trip to LAS back in June made the Mad Dog a welcome sight.

But seriously, it seems like the Super 80 will not go away. In the past few years, I've been on flights to SFO, LAS, PIT, and CLE. All Mad Dog. There was a time when they flew the 757 to LAS out of LAX, but no more.


How much longer does this go on? How do they decide to fly a Mad Dog DFW-LAS while the folks out of ORD get a new 737??

brp

If you pick flights that have different equipment scheduled, and don't get an equipment swap, then yes. If you continue to pick flights that are operated using MD-80, then that is likely what you will fly. Unless there's more to this question that I'm missing.

If you're wondering about replacement of the MD-80, that's obviously already been covered

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html

(Search term {"MD-80"})

Cheers.

TheBOSman

Actually the folks out of ORD probably get one of the slightly older 148 seat 737s (row 13-14 exit rows), though of course those are newer than the Mad Dogs. Fly out of BOS, AA has "banned" the S80 from here . SFO should be all 737 now as well, though the S80 isn't "banned" from there. My DFW-SFO flights were all 737s, including at least one 3 week old BSI 737.

Daze

Not a bad problem to have. The MD80 has 2-3 seating, 16 seats up front, and unless you get 29B, it's relatively quiet. I hope this "problem" continues to exist for me for some time to come.

jsmeeker

it just seems that all the routes I fly are Mad Dog routes.

supergrandslam

I prefer F seat on MD80 over on 738.

My preference on F seats is 757>MD80>>>>>>738

vxmike

Agreed. Not sure why the lack of love for the MD80. The two seat row in coach is also nice for those times in the back with a companion.

jsmeeker

I think I have only flown F on the 737 once or maybe twice, and that was several years ago. the MD80 F seems tight leg room wise. especially when the person in front reclines. It also seems a bit narrow. I actually prefer the old tan 757 F seat over the S80 F seat.

Plus, the Super 80s seem so beat up.

PotNoodle

It depends where your flying to, I believe Miami has zero S80 flights whilst DFW has a majority.

In a few years there will be people creating a thread complaining about how they get a generic 737/320 and want a rustic S80/757.

JDiver

Are you choosing F seats on the port (left) or starboard (right) side? Since the closet was removed and extra seats added, the port side has less legroom / seat pitch than the starboard.

As to replacement, AA is taking on new 737-823s, and has ordered a large number of aircraft (discussed in other threads). A number of MD80s are sitting in the desert - the used aircraft market for MD80s is basically the price of their engines (affected by time SMOH, etc.) avionics and usable component parts.

jsmeeker

I know they ordered a bunch of planes to have the supposedly "youngest fleet". I see the ads all the time. It's especially funny when you always see them at gates that operate Eagle flights.

it just feels like I won't ever fly on a young plane.

JDiver

According to Airfleets, AA has 183 active 148 or 160 seat 737-823s, one more on order in this batch (and one written off).

AA has 196 active 140 seat MD-80 family aircraft (110 -82s and 86 -83s), and 143 in storage (8 -81s, 128 -82s and 86 -83s), as well as 1 written off and 43 sold to other airlines. So they actually have 187 fewer Mad Dogs active currently.

I am sure AA would love to replace every MD80 type with a more economical aircraft, but that will depend on the orders they have out to Boeing and Airbus, as well as what ultimately occurs Chapter 11. In the meantime, they will continue to deploy the Mad Dogs on those routes where they make more sense than a 738, which holds a higher payload (people and freight), flies longer routes and saves significant money in fuel utilization and maintenance.

So, some routes are '80 heavy - DFW-ORD comes to mind, as does DFW-SAT or DFW-SMF. I suspect larger / newer aircraft on DFW-ORD are actually repositioning as well as carrying useful load. Meanwhile, we are stuck with the Mad Dogs for a while. (And I make sure I sit on the starboard side in F, port Exit row in Y as much as I possibly can.) And I will never bend to AA and call an MD-80 type, basically a DC-9 on some steroids, a "Super" anything.

Bttc

I personally like MD-80's as well. Reminds me of the younger days.

TheBOSman

It is a super gas guzzler . DFW-AUS is also a high MD-80 frequency route. Basically anything out of DFW where frequency matters more than payload gets MD-80s, your DFW-ORD example being the most clear one of that. I'm guessing the 737s fuel advantage is more important on longer routes, hence why BOS-DFW, a 4 hour route westbound, is 737s. But I think AA still operates a lot of MD-80s on DFW-SEA and that is even longer? I'm sure AA has some sort of logic for how they do things the way they do, they might be in bankruptcy but they aren't truly clueless.

grahampros

You live in Dallas, so no surprise there. It's where most of them are based. But things are changing. AA is down from a max fleet of MD-80s of about 350 to now to about 190 as they shrink and the Mad Dogs phased out.


The pace of retirement ( assuming BK doesnt screw it up), will accelerate even more mid next year as the new orders for the Airbus and 737's start coming online.

The big if here is the BK. Delivery s have only been approved by the court though the end of this year. Anything beyond that, there is some uncertainly involved.