Check-in

After a 13-year hiatus from flying American Airlines, and in part to achieve Platinum status through February 2012 via a challenge, I flew AA this past Saturday from Los Angeles to Chicago to Los Angeles. I was excited to compare my experience as a top-tier elite with United Airlines to that of being a non-elite “nobody” with American and interested to see what had changed since last flying them.

First up was the online check-in experience. Whereas United’s email to announce check-in is available 24-hour hours before your flight generally arrives within minutes of that mark, American’s took more than an hour to reach my inbox. Not a big deal, though. Also, being “programmed “as a United flyer, I checked in right at the 24-hour mark assuming I could come back later in the day and check-in for my return flight. That was a mistake. For non-connection itineraries operating on the same day such as mine, American doesn’t allow you to check in for such flights until that first coupon (flight segment) is shown as “used,” or scanned at the gate as having boarded, if you have checked in for an earlier flight in the day.

I called AA.com support and was advised I needed to check-in for the return in Chicago at a kiosk, but only up to one hour before flight time. After that, I’d need to see an agent to manually check me in because I technically missed the cutoff. Given I had exactly one hour from scheduled arrival to departure, I asked if they could offload me, or un-check me in, to which they responded no it wasn’t possible. Not satisfied, I called back to another agent who told me the same thing. Okay, not a big deal, but good to know for the future.

LAX Security

Upon arriving at the airport, I reprinted my boarding pass at the lobby kiosks just to experience that process and was given the opportunity to buy up to Zone 1 boarding for $9. I passed as I was in Zone 2 and only had my laptop bag, so overhead space wasn’t a concern to me necessitating boarding earlier.

Next up was non-elite security and although I had a brief wait in line, I was fairly quickly through and on my way to the gate. This was the first time in years I haven’t had lounge access, so instead visited Starbucks where I got coffee & surfed the net on my iPhone for a while. Not bad, but I did miss the lounge bathrooms as the ones in the terminal have a higher “ick” factor for me.

Legroom

Boarding time arrived and after waiting for First Class, Executive Platinum, Platinum, Gold, Priority Access, and Zone 1 to board, I was one of the first among Zone 2 passengers to be scanned for boarding. I settled into aisle seat 22C and immediately noticed the legroom. As you can see from the picture, my knees flushly touched the seat in front of me. I now have a much greater appreciation for United’s Economy Plus. It was tolerable for a 3-1/2 hour flight, but I wouldn’t want to fly much longer, let alone on an international flight, with only 31” of seat pitch being 6’1″.

The United “rush” to have the doors closed at 10-minutes prior to departure didn’t seem to be present on American, where doors closed a minute or two before. A pre-recorded announcement for cell phones & other devices to be turned off was made (other boarding announcements were also pre-recorded & standardized), and the aisle flight attendant went through the cabin activating the flight attendant call button above anyone she saw with phones still in use or on. Pretty clever procedure, actually. Moments later, a flight attendant did make the announcement, “we can’t close the cockpit door until all mobile devices are turned off and put away.” One by one the aisle attendant confirmed each row was compliant, deactivated the lights, and the flight deck door was closed & we pushed back.

Once airborne, the standard service announcements, cabin policies, welcome from the flight deck, and others were made. It was primarily a drink service flight, and although light snack items were available, the breakfast options were not. I asked a flight attendant about it & she replied, “Oh, it’s too early of a flight for those.” Interesting. Although I’ve flown United many times from Los Angeles to Chicago on the 6am flight, I’m usually in First and don’t recall the economy choices, however on the 6am flights to Washington Dulles airport United does cater the breakfast options in economy. Just a data point.

I’ll get into my impression of the flight attendants overall later, but for now, I’ll summarize that it was a fairly comfortable and non-eventful flight. We arrived early into O’Hare and I had enough time to visit a kiosk and check myself back in for the return trip to Los Angeles. Not having an Admirals Club membership, I got a bite to eat and walked the concourses to stretch my legs.

737 Astrojet

The inbound aircraft for my return to Los Angeles was late coming in, but I was thankful for that since it gave me a chance to get a photo of it arriving at the gate. Thankful because it ended up being the 737-800 “Astrojet” retro livery aircraft painted as such in part to commemorate delivery of American’s 50^th next generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Since I geek out on those types of things, I was happy to be flying on it.

Boarding time quickly came & I noticed a gate agent enforcing the carry on size rule by standing next to the sizer and pulling people aside after they’ve been scanned to board if they had questionable bags. She did end up tagging a couple. Missing from American’s boarding announcements, however, is the rather frequent United announcement, “If you’re in Seating Area 4, we will (may) have to check your carry on luggage.” That was a refreshing change.

ORD Gate H11A

When it was time for me to board, the agent scanned my ticket and even addressed me by name, a rare occurrence on United even for me as a 1K. I appreciated it, and went on my way this time to window seat 12A. It was a full flight, and here again noticed the lack of legroom that seemed more so because I was in the window seat without an aisle to stretch into. This aircraft was equipped with Wi-Fi and in-seat power, which are a major benefit although I didn’t have a need for them this trip.

Again the pre-recorded announcements played although the flight attendants this time seemed less interested in enforcing the mobile device policy. “Full” service was available on the flight and included the snack items, as well as sandwich selections with the standard beverage service. We were fairly quickly airborne and on our way. I started working a bit on my laptop and listened to music. Had I desired it, a movie played on both flights, along with some television programming and audio selections. We landed early in Los Angeles and were quickly to the gate.

Now let me discuss the flight attendants. I was positively blown away with their service and genuine interest in their jobs from both crews, an incredibly refreshing change from the inconsistency at United. Both crews had “senior” attendants on the flights, and unlike United where I’ve often received incredibly indifferent and sometimes rude service from the senior attendants, the ones I encountered on these two flights were exceptional. Now I know I can’t assume all F/As at American are as outstanding, but it was incredible for me to witness and experience. Job well done American!

Wingtip to wingtip

I have about 10 more flights with American before the end of July, so will better be able to provide a meaningful comparison between American and United at that time. This first experience, however, was a very positive one with no delays or other irregular operations. My report might have been different had I been “stranded” or misconnected with no elite status, but for now I’m very happy with American Airlines except for the seat pitch. Exit row seating awaits me though, once I climb the status levels.

Stay tuned for continued reports on American as I travel with them over the coming months, including on the premium transcontinental run between Los Angeles and New York’s Kennedy Airport.

Last weekend I was on yet another mileage run, but this time flying Continental Airlines. I had never flown Continental up until now, so I was actually pretty excited for the new experience. My itinerary was Los Angeles to Cleveland to Chicago, and back the same way.

Although I had checked-in online and printed my boarding passes for the outbound flights, I reprinted them at the kiosk at LAX since I save the stubs throughout the year and was hoping for cardstock. Nope… got the flimsy paper version. Security took longer than normal (no dedicated elite line), and while a couple of people did opt out of the full body scan, I’ve decided I’d rather have the image taken than being molested by the TSAeww.

Then I was off to the Presidents Club. I’ve actually been in Continental’s LAX club several times, since last year they started reciprocal lounge access with the Red Carpet Club. It’s a comfortable lounge and offers similar amenities to the RCC, but they do excel at stocking more newspapers and still offer packaged cheeses and chips (bonus!).

Pretty soon it was time for boarding, so I headed off to gate 64. I was trying to hear the boarding process, but the announcement was a bit garbled, so I just joined the elite access line. I settled into the roomy exit row seat 21D on this 737-800. Boarding finished up, the doors closed on time, and we sat… and sat, and sat. Eventually the cockpit came on and announced they were loading additional bags. Another 10-15 minutes passed, and we pushed back from the gate, only to sit a bit more. Finally we rolled very slowly out to the runway and took off. There was never an explanation of reasoning for the further delay, which I found odd.

Truth be told, I was dead tired, and got a solid 3 to 3.5 hours of sleep, so I completely missed any service cart coming down the aisle. I have a red-eye routine down pretty well, actually, and had my usual eyeshades, earplugs, and form fitting neck rest that prevents your head from bobbling from side-to-side. Pretty soon we were on the ground and taxiing in to the gate. So, this flight was great, the legroom was fantastic, and the flight attendants were friendly for the little time I experienced them. Oh, and the middle seat in my row was empty, which made the flight even that much more comfortable.

This was also my first time at Cleveland’s airport, and it was actually larger than I assumed it might be. I was exclusively in the C-concourse, and although it appeared a bit dated, it was clean and roomy enough. Given the 45-minute delay, I spent just a little bit of time in the Presidents Club there, with which I was very impressed. Incredibly roomy, nice furniture, and I like the “theatre” seating for the TV room. Also a bonus was the take-away coffee cups with lids!

Now I was back in my usual territory, flying United Express (ExpressJet Airlines) for the quick one-hour flight to Chicago. I had my 12A exit row seat (and yes, the seat map was wrong from my previous post… the A-seat was the solo seat), and settled in for the quick flight. In O’Hare, I spent my time in the C16 Red Carpet Club, then headed over to the B6 club nearer my gate back to Cleveland.

This time I was on a mainline United Airlines flight, an Airbus A319, and seated in first class in 2A. The crew was very friendly, I was addressed by name when asked for my beverage, and she even thanked me for being a 1K. Nice! That hasn’t happened in a while. Even though this was a quick flight, she still brought around the now-common basket of snacks, which consisted of bananas, chips, chocolates, and I can’t remember what else. I had a banana and chips with my water.

Back at Cleveland, I again spent a little time in the Presidents Club, hydrated up, and then went for an extended walk around the terminal. I didn’t actually go over to the D-concourse, but went down the escalator to the tunnel/walkway to see if they did anything uber nifty like United at O’Hare or Delta (Northwest) at Detroit, but no… it was a boring concrete walkway.

Back at the gate, I boarded with the rest of first class and settled into seat 2E, an aisle on my 737-900. The flight attendant hung my jacket and took my pre-departure drink order, and was incredibly friendly. We soon took off, and I was thrilled to play with the live DirecTV (a first for me on an airplane), and caught an Australian Open tennis match… nice! Dinner was very tasty, actually, and consisted of salad, soup, a beef entrée with veggies and creamy rice. Dessert was a cheesecake-like slice of heaven with coffee. Perfect! Throughout the flight, service was frequent, friendly and attentive. I was impressed with this crew!

The seat itself was comfortable enough, but I have to say I prefer United’s first class seats better. It didn’t feel like the padding on Continental’s seat was too significant, and I much prefer United’s sturdier headrest that you can manipulate to your comfort more easily.

This was a fantastic introduction to Continental, and I’m glad I was able to get a purely Continental experience under my belt before the carriers merge into some hybrid of both. I had a great experience on both of the flights, and look forward to a few more I have booked in the next couple of months.

Finally, here is a picture & video summary of my trip. Enjoy!

This week brought a few noteworthy items from Southwest Airlines. First, they announced their frequency and city selections for all 18-slots they leased out of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). In August this year, Continental and United satisfied antitrust regulator concerns about their merger by granting 18 of their coveted EWR slots to fare-war-favorite Southwest. They will begin with Chicago and St. Louis service in March, followed by the full schedule in June 2011. Here’s how it will look at that time:

Next, it has been speculated for some time that Southwest is interested in serving the Hawaii market, and that speculation has pretty much given way to reality this week. CEO Gary Kelly announced the carrier will be taking delivery of its first 737-800 ETOPS aircraft in March of 2012. Additionally, they posted a job opening looking for an ETOPS program manager, who will be responsible for the process of earning certification in “extended twin-engine operational performance standards” over water.

Separately, but also expansion related, Southwest announced their plans to acquire AirTran Airways earlier this year. Still pending government approval, this effectively buys their long-missing presence in Atlanta, but also throws a wrench in their common-fleet strategy. AirTran operates Boeing 717 aircraft (really “DC-9s”) and also offers two-cabin aircraft. My prediction here is that Southwest will sell-off the 717s and eliminate the business class cabin.

Mexico is likely next on their radar, especially given the bankruptcy of Mexicana Airlines earlier this year. Having studied airline management, I have to say I’m incredibly impressed with Southwest’s performance this last decade, and their now more aggressive expansion plans. Herb must be proud!