In my experience, ignorance is not always bliss. But today,
it made for a fantastic flight to Miami. See the full trip report, coming up.
We meet again this morning at LAX’s Terminal 5- mainline American Airline’s base at the airport.
4:30am certainly did not bring the peace and quiet I was expecting. Check in was a chaotic
mess. Poor signage and blunt check in agents lead to a less than ideal experience. Make
sure you tag your bag yourself before you get in line to drop it or you’ll get yelled at like me.
And if you’re flying internationally- get on the traditional check in lines and wait your turn.
The terminal itself is drab and the lighting ranged from bright white to rotten banana yellow
and does not give a great first impression. Luckily for me, that was all about to change.
American considers Los Angeles to Miami one of it’s premium transcontinental
routes which comes with many benefits. As we take a look at the Flagship Lounge,
I’ll briefly explain them for those not in the know- like me before this flight.
There are three main benefits. First off, the aircraft that fly the routes. This flight is the
first leg of my trip to Bogota and it left me with a 7 hour layover in Miami- but I chose this flight
specifically to check out their 787-9- just about every widebody American flies can be booked on
this route. Second benefit, the food on board as you’ll see very soon is quite a few levels above
standard domestic First class fare. And third, the lounge. A standard domestic first class
ticket gets you nothing except a chair at the gate. Some international business class tickets
will just get you access to the Admirals Club. For International or transcontinental Flagship Service
in Business Class or First Class you can access the full service Flagship Lounge that we see here.
By the time boarding time came, the plane was almost fully boarded already.
Let’s take a look at the best and worst seats on this 787-9. Today’s aircraft features 30
seats up front, 21 in premium economy and 234 between the Main Cabin and Main Cabin Extra.
Taking a closer look at the business class cabin, let me point out the seats to avoid, 5A & 5L- both
are missing windows. The middle seats in row 7 and the window seats in row 8 you might want
to avoid as they’re really high traffic areas. And the best seats, the bulkheads. I wouldn’t be
too worried about galley noise because the first row is pretty set back from the galley itself and
you’ll get a bit more personal space than typical seats. For me, I settled into 1L for the flight.
Arriving at my seat, I was pleasantly surprised to see it setup as if this was a long haul business
class flight. This is the standard reverse herringbone Collins Aerospace seat that you’ll
find on many airlines and after years of looking at these seats on screen and thinking they were
solid grey- it was nice to see they actually do have the tiniest bit of color in them. American is
rumored to be installing the version of these with privacy doors on their upcoming 787 deliveries.
I love this product. It’s super comfortable and has a ton of storage
and even without the door is very private thanks to the outer shell around the seat.
Seat controls are easy to use via a touch pad and the tray table slides out from in front of
you and can be used half size or full and locks into multiple positions as you bring it forward.
A really solid and well designed table ready for a long day of working if needed.
American excels with their Bang & Olufsen headphones that are super comfortable and
provide great noise cancellation. Only down side is they’re collected a solid hour before landing.
The remote control is inside your larger storage
cubby and when they’re closed there’s plenty of surface space to spread out.
Your outer armrest also moves up and down to make for easier sleeping
and has storage inside of it. Pre departure drinks were served by the exceptional crew
as we were getting ready to push back.
Our flight today which was a bit late, took off from LAX’s runway 25R and made it up to 39000
feet on this four hour and one minute flight that would touch down on Miami’s runway 9.
Pushback came almost an hour late, but we were entertained the entire time by the exceedingly
friendly crew- probably the best US airline crew I’ve ever had on any flight. They clearly
enjoyed their job and working together and it made for a really nice atmosphere on board.
By the way, if you’re not subscribed yet- please help out the channel by clicking
that button and check out some links in the description for the previous legs of this trip
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We took off today to the west and quickly made a turn to the
south and then east on our way to Miami. Time for the spool up.
Watch out next week when I will be launching a new channel devoted entirely to extended
take off and landing videos for the true aviation fans out there. After it’s launch
I’ll link this flights full take of and landing videos in the description below.
A proper paper menu was provided for our breakfast service with a decent selection.
Originally my choice of the enchiladas was already sold out when I ordered it-
but they were able to find one more portion for me in the end. Overall, the meal service
was fantastic. Starting out with a hot towel and followed by a drink service with some biscotti.
We started off with a beautifully presented fruit plate which was chased by the very
flavorful enchiladas that I had my heart set on.
Nice to see real cutlery on the flight and the biscuit was a nice southern touch.
After breakfast at least half of the cabin went to sleep
after my battle with the centrally controlled window dimmers was lost.
When we boarded, Shinola amenity kits were waiting at the seats.
I thought it was a great kit for a domestic flight-
but I think I’d be disappointed with it if it was given on a long haul flight, which they are.
The IFE system was top notch and had plenty of movies to choose from as seen
while I’m flying through them here. What I love the most about systems like this though
are the ability to watch the moving map on the handset
and a movie on the main screen. Truly one of my favorite things to see on board any flight.
Around 60 minutes before landing I was shocked
honestly to see that the pre arrival snack was being proactively served.
I assumed these would be on demand snacks only. At this point I’m not sure I needed
a cheese plate and a warm chocolate chip cookie- but I am sure I’d be foolish for passing them up.
The bathrooms were standard sized without extra amenities but they
were kept very clean throughout the flight.
American’s bedding is a mixed bag I think. The pillow is great. Cushy enough without being floppy
like the old thing United gave me the day before. The blanket though- it was substantial and plush-
but the fabric choice is horrible. Super scratchy and just not something that is comfortable.
And here’s a quick shot at that extra legroom for the bulkhead-
it’s not a lot extra, but it's definitely a bit more.
Our descent started as we crossed the west coast of
southern Florida and continued across the everglades below.
We landed on runway 9 so it was a true due east approach
straight into Miami which was sporting some beautiful partly cloudy skies.
A note about my fare today. I originally planned my trip to Colombia for October of last year
but had to reschedule and then finally cancel it due to Singapore transit restrictions.
So, I had around a $350 travel bank credit with American. When I came around to booking this
ticket in January, I thought it would be a simple process to apply the credit- I was wrong. For some
reason, it was impossible online and I needed to contact a call center. Three days in a row,
I tried and failed- with the automated system at one point quoting an 11 hour hold time.
I used the option to schedule a call back for the next day and the call never came.
I ended up having to goto an American ticket office in Saigon where after
paying an additional $30 fee, they ticketed the flight. Perhaps, the call center wait
times wouldn’t be so long if American made their website a bit better. Just saying.
Landing was smooth as butter and we started our long taxi-
passing up a plethora of colorful aircraft that I don’t see that often.
Finally we made our way to American land at the north terminal and found our parking spot.
Let’s get into that Flip Flop Score. The seat, flight crew and lounge were all top rate. The
ground service and the ticketing experience, not so much. Cleanliness could have been a
bit better in some details but nothing to fuss over. And the rest, all fantastic for such a short
flight. Overall I’m giving this one an 89/100- and even though the score is below a 90- I’m adding it
to my favorites as I think my ticketing experience was a one off issue. Truly loved this flight. If
you enjoyed this video, please give the video a like and subscribe for two new videos each week.
Join me next time for my Business Class flight from Miami to Bogota on American’s 777-200.