Booking The Trip: Runway to Boston
Review: United Club Lounge Mezzanine Level SFO
Review: United 757-200 Transcontinental Business Class San Francisco to Boston
Review: American Airlines 737-800 First Class Boston to Chicago
Review: American Airlines 737-800 First Class Chicago to Dallas
Review: American Airlines 737-800 First Class Dallas to Ontario
YOUTUBE: United Airlines: San Francisco to Boston
YOUTUBE: American Airlines: Boston to Chicago
YOUTUBE: American Airlines: Chicago to Dallas
YOUTUBE: American Airlines: Dallas to Ontario
Hello everyone and welcome back to the second flight of the return journey from Boston to the LA area. This flight is from Chicago to Dallas.
My last flight was relatively a disappointment and I was hoping this flight would be a lot better and I had significantly higher expectations given that this was a signature route for which AA has high demand given that it’s between two of AA’s largest hub cities. So let’s see how they did.
ORD-DFW
Boeing 737-800W
6/27/18
After boarding the aircraft, I turned right into the cabin. It looks like for this flight we had a new 737 based on the NG 737 window design and the sky interior I noticed overhead.
I already thoroughly reviewed the hard product of this aircraft in my previous review so I won’t go into detail here, other than to say the seat itself isn’t the most comfortable thing out there, but it does have some well placed and designed features.
Boarding was complete and we began pushback. This is the second flight in a row I did not get a pre-departure beverage on AA. I was really shocked as I thought the previous flight was an anomaly but it seems like AA doesn’t offer pre-departure beverages? I find this hard to believe given that on all of AA’s intercontinental business class flights they offer pre-departure beverages. So I really don’t know what to go off here.
We taxied down most of runway 28R and had a smooth departure out of Chicago.
After climbing out and turning south towards Dallas, we climbed through the clouds.
At this point, the crew came around and asked for our choice of drink and lunch. I went with sparkling water with lemon. This flight was one of AA’s signature routes for domestic first class so there were a lot of aspects of service present on this flight which wasn’t there on my previous flight and it was quite clear. The FA was working hard the whole flight to fit everything in and I can appreciate it.
After the water, she came around with a ramekin of nuts for each person. The mix included cashews, almonds, one pistachio (no joke), and some pecans.
After the warm nuts and drink, there was also a hot and scented towel that the crew had brought around for each individual in order to refresh.
And then was lunch service. There was a choice between a Spinach & Ricotta Cheese Pasta wheel and Asian chicken salad. I went for the pasta.
First things first, the pasta with the spinach and cheese was tasty. The sauce added a nice flavor to it, but in terms of the preparation, the food definitely tasted processed and the pasta was overcooked.
For the salad, the leaves were dry and rubbery and the parmesan cheese tasted like it had been sitting outside in the open for a while, but the salad sauce added a nice flavor to the salad.
For the bread, we had a choice between wheat, sourdough, and herb bread. I went for the herbs and cheese bread. It was warm and soft on the inside, and decently flavorful on the outside.
Overall, the meal was solid, and although it lacked clear elements of freshness, it was still a tasty meal.
About 10-15 minutes later we began descent. Yes, that’s how pressing this flight was for the FA. We were beginning descent and dessert had not been served yet. That’s not the fault of the FA but rather the flight was just so short.
She rushed around with cookies for everyone. They were still warm and soft and that was awesome of the FA to bring around on descent. I finished my cookie along with my glass of hot water and gave it to the FA to collect and sort out.
Then lastly she came around with a mint for everyone in the first class cabin for thanking them for flying American Airlines.
And finally, we landed into a hot 105 degrees Dallas about 5 minutes early.
Overall, this flight was a big step up from the last flight. The service was better, the food was better, and there were more elements to the service. However I’m still curious about that pre-departure beverage and why it wasn’t offered for 2 flights in a row. The next flight and final flight should be an interesting one as well and that’s coming up next. Stay tuned for that report. Cheers!