AA495 ORD-SFO - Are you kidding? (aircraft change, increased fare)
 

Happy New Year, All. It's been a while since I posted here, but I just had to vent.

So I'm a frequent Monday AM ORD-SFO flyer and late last year, we had a few weeks of the 788. What a nice change as this meant more FF would get a chance at an upgrade. Did not mean a lot to me as I book in F anyway, but I thought it a good move as there are so many FF on that flight.

Fast forward to 2019. 788 gone; fare increased; flight moved about an hour earlier; replacement plane? Old USAir 321 - not an outlet in sight. Beyond annoyed that AA would offer this major downgrade on such a popular flight.

I really hate this airline sometimes!

*Vent over*

No worries, all 321 and be the same - power, tot toilets, decreased pitch in all classes, Meridian seats in Coach. ;)

Strange. When I flew SFO-ORD recently on December 31, a pmAA 737 was offered, complete with outlets and all.

I seem to recall that the morning ORD-SFO and evening SFO-ORD times changed (and frequencies were temporarily lost) a bit seasonally but eventually returned to "normal times". Granted that was a couple years ago but it did revert back in the sprig. Perhaps this is the normal pattern of this route in play there?

They have done that in the past, but the change has never been this drastic. For an F ticket, we've gone from $390 to over $500, flight time was changed from ~ 7:20am to 6:30(too early for bad seats), 737-800 to 321... Now for a flight of over 4 hrs, you're worried if you have enough power on your device by landing time. It's just such crap service. I regret sticking with AA for so long, but we really don't have much of a choice - United?

What do you mean you don't have much of a choice?

This route is hub-to-hub for UA and I know in the past UA had a fair number of widebodies on ORD-SFO (albeit hub-hub widebody flights are more prone to last-minute equipment swaps) and certainly much better frequency than AA. As a paid first passenger, why wouldn't you book better equipment on UA?

AA's domestic fleet is going to scheiss. They're reducing pitch in F as well as MCE. Time to start voting with your dollars and booking away from AA.

Just because it's full/"popular" doesn't mean it's profitable. Especially if F was going for under $400.

Yep, same as the transcons out of CLT. Annyoing to have a 4-5 hour flight without any power, especially in F. Fortunately, I can now fly UA from my home airport and not have to deal with poor planes all the time.

This sounds like a route UA owns and probably has the best frequency on. Maybe AA doesn't want to compete.

Or they attempted to compete but then gave up.

$400 OW

AA has 5 ORD-SFO flights. 5 flights isnt "doesnt want to compete". UA has 9, as it's a hub-hub route so the OP has an option (although the 2 morning flights are on a 739 and 753)

Also a lot of widebodies will return to Europe service. That's how it is every year.

that's still quite cheap. HOU-SFO regularly runs around that rate.. in Y.

The last time I flew out of SFO on UA it was in a really beat up and very worn A320 series. Ugh.

5 vs 9 daily flights is a big delta.

There's a big difference in gauge, too. Tomorrow's flights:

AA, 2x 321, 2x 738

UA, 1x 738, 4x 739, 3x 753, 1x 772

Ugh. I am regular on this route as well (although usually Tuesday mornings). Very disappointing to see this.
The 787 sure was nice while it lasted, but we always knew it was going to be temporary.

My country for a 738! ;)

This is quite cheap...would love to have four hour F flight from large metro to large metro for $800 r/t

I have been taking the early morning flight from ORD-SFO for many years, and this seasonal reduction isn't new. The reality is that the loads are extremely light in the winter months on this route, even with <$100 advanced fares.

ORD-SFO on the 788 was a fun novelty, but the primary reason for that flight and the other DFW-SFO flights on the 788 was to have a surge in seats in order to maintain gate allocations. Yes, there is a bit of a spike in demand on the route in December, but for the rest of the winter the flights that remain have maybe 50% load. I've seen flights which have more passengers in First than in the Main Cabin in both directions on this route.

UA's flights are hub to hub and have a bit higher load factor, but it's just the complete lack of demand in this season. AS has the same problem, with three flights going down to one.

We really can't blame AA for the seasonal reduction, and I'm personally fine with the LUS A321. Armed with a 99 watt hour USB-C battery pack, the lack of power is no issue for me.

My only real complaint is that of the early timing - 6:30 AM is just a bit too early for me. Five years ago this flight was AA1585 and departed at 7:30 AM and it has bounced around between that and as early as 7:05 AM. Thankfully, with the ATS at ORD being shutdown, the shuttle buses from parking lot G go straight to the terminals which makes up for some of that time. The downside though is that there's still some rush hour traffic on 101 going into San Francisco when this flight gets in, but that's not added more than 10 minutes or so to my commute.

Hopefully we'll see the currently scheduled timing for the flights in May and beyond stick!

More and more now. Last three ORD/DFW flights and next one are on LUS 321's

Flew this on Tuesday morning this week. Less than 100 people on the flight, all but one row had empty middles (naturally I was in the one row with a middle seat occupied).
Rows 5-8 were blocked for weight and balance issues, so row 9 was first occupied row in economy.

I was 14 of 31 on the upgrade list as PlatPro with middling EQD. Only 1 person cleared at the gate, as usual. So basically 1/3+ of the plane was likely elite.

Flight was over 5 hours as we had to do donuts around the Bay Area for almost half an hour waiting for SFO to clear us to land.

Good times.

And to add insult to injury I am flying the same bird on the way home now, because the earlier flight is leaving later than this one.
Original flight also got switched to an Oasis 737, so maybe this is a blessing in disguise?
Can't win this week. :-(

I'm not sure I'd be so eager for the retrofits. While I use power in flight occasionally, I've never understood the fascination with it being a "must have". I'd MUCH rather have more comfortable seats than power.

I was stuck in coach on a LUS 321 a few weeks back, and must say it was very comfortable. Not sure if the pitch is 31 or 32, but an inch or two really makes a different (I'm 6'0 tall), and my knees did not touch the seat in front of me. I'd much rather have that than have power, since I can always bring my own, or make sure I'm charged up before I go.

Comforting to know there were plenty of EXPs in coach with me ;) I don't think I've ever cleared on an ORD<-->SFO flight during the week. You have to buy F on this route if you want to sit up front.
I was lucky enough to get 10F exit row. At least the view was nice during the holding pattern :D