akarneboge

On my drive into O'Hare today, I saw a heavy AA triple-seven on final for 28C. It was a bit too far south of the I-190 ramps for me to make it out, but I could have sworn it was a bit long for a 772. When I arrived at the AC, I looked out the window and low and behold, a 77W was pulling into gate L10 (aside from K19, the only AA ORD widebody gate that can accommodate the stretched T-7 AFAIK. It turns out the flight was 1076 from Miami. The return was on the same plane, AA 1263. FlightAware still shows these flights as operated by a B738, but if you look up today's flights for N729AN, it was definitely a 77W turn. Aside from some massive cancellations or cargo shipping needs, can anyone with access shed some light as to why these flights were swapped today? With no 77W flights out of ORD, it was definitely an MIA-originated swap.

FWAAA

Looks like "Operational Reasons" is the official line.

Sunday is a busy travel day and that 77W had nothing to do all day but sit in MIA, so why not do a quick turn to Chicago?

akarneboge

Thanks. I wish they'd put it on the permanent schedule! I've been the beneficiary of two equipment swaps on ORD/JFK flights lately. 772 on 12/30/14 and 763 on 1/4/15. Both normally B738 flights, of course.

IceTrojan

I'm surprised that no one has complained about the reduction of 16 F seats to 8, and what compensation they should get...

fedechat

Well last night I was at SFO, before boarding to LAX I got an alert on my phone (a change on my seat), I tried to change it back but it was a mess (on AA.com, getting errors), then before boarding I went to the AC and I was told that my LAX-MIA flight (AA384) was swapped from a738 to a 77W, I had exit seat (cabin extra, flying in economy). They reprint my BP, then when I was on the air I decided to change to a J business seats (I had that option, it was like a economy seat), I did the change, my BP was reprinted, then... I flew on a 77W in J ;-)

I don't know if this is a trick, a bug... or is this normal? I saw a list of 10 ppl on the upgrade list, and over 30 for standby.

FWAAA

That is, without a doubt, one of the most advantageous aircraft substitutions ever. A 738 redeye transcon became a 77W. And your "upgrade" cleared. Wow. You're a lucky person.

So was it sold as 2-class (where you, an elite, got a business class seat but Y service) or did they treat you as if you were in J?

fedechat

I thing I (and all J pax) got a Y service, no dinning/breakfast, but I was so tired (biking on SFO for 8 hr as my first MR/long layover) that I sleep all the way. When I saw the change (electronic BP and flightview app), I tried to change my seat, all J was blue (not all, but many seats), and when I tried to switch it, I got an AA error. I thing at that time they were moving the pieces (aka pax seats).
When I was "over the air", I was able to do it, it was a hit and miss, with a high possibility of lost my exit seat (nothing ventured, nothing gained).
In other words, I did not have to request and upgrade, I just changed my seat ;-), I didn't care about the service, all I want was sleep, because after arriving at MIA, I had to take another flight to LAX with a stop at CLT (2nd MR, writing from LAX at this moment waiting for another LAX-MIA).

chicagoflyer1976

A friend of mine was on said flight, and he said the downgrade to passengers received $300

IceTrojan

Talk about a windfall... lucky them.

Being the armchair ops manager, I would have placed revenue F then upgraded EXPs in Row 1-2, then everyone else who would've been upgraded into remaining Rows 1-2 seats, then fill out Rows 3-4 (for 16 total catered meals, same as a 738). Then Rows 5-19 would be treated as MCE (with EXPs, PLTs, and full Y actively moved into Rows 5-15).

For those who know, I take it the "domestic config" of a 2-class 77W is 8F/302Y or 8F/82MCE/220Y?

arlflyer

Awesome! Would love to start seeing more widebodies on domestic routes...

itchief

A couple of years ago DFW-ORD-DFW had a 772 scheduled every day. J was sold as Y and elite's could get the seats with no problem. The down side was upgrades, at ORD I saw an upgrade list of over 80 on one flight.

IceTrojan

Indeed, took it a few times and only missed the upgrade once. Those were the days.

ElmhurstNick

I miss the 1x/day ORD-SFO and ORD-LAX 3-class 767 sold as 2 class, often for $199 RT.

marnold3

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread but I was sitting in the H/K Admirals Club at ORD today (5/10/15) when I saw what appeared to be an AA 77W. The time of the sighting was about 1310 Central time. Anybody have any idea what it was doing there?

ty97

AA51 LHR-DFW diverted (presumably due to the weather woes at DFW). Arrived M17A at T5 at 13:26.