If you follow American aviation, Project Oasis are probably two words that send chills down
your spine.
Join me on this quick trip report to Miami and find out what it’s like, coming up.
Good very early morning on this drive to Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport.
With low clouds and darkness, it does kind of feel like you’re driving towards an alien
crash site with this giant green roof’s glow visible from miles away.
As this is Delta land, you’d at least think it would be blue.
Anyway thanks for joining, let’s go checkin.
Today we are flying on American Airlines’ First Class down to Miami.
I’ll admit, it does feel a little intimidating flying American from Atlanta- kind of like
trespassing in enemy territory or something.
Check in- or rather, my bag drop took around 20 seconds with the very friendly agent at
the Priority line.
Included in the price in the intro was a $90 upgrade that I purchased a few days before
departure.
Yes, it’s a very short flight, but when you consider the $30 checked bag fee and fee
for Main Cabin Extra, it’s not that much more for a bit of comfort.
Once out of security it’s not much of a walk at all as American uses gates in the
A concourse, which is attached to the departure hall.
When I fly domestic first in the US I honestly never know when to expect lounge access so
I just always give it a try.
Today, I was incredibly politely turned away- no problem, just need to find coffee.
A quick word about Project Oasis if you don’t know what it is.
This was a retrofitting program American launched in 2018 when theydid three things to their
entire narrowbody fleet of over 400 planes: installed slimline seats, reduced legroom
to almost comical levels and removed all in flight entertainment screens.
It has never been well received and for good reason and was one of the reasons I was happy
to upgrade today.
Technically speaking the 737 Maxs weren’t part of the project because they weren’t
retrofitted, they just came with the new interiors installed from the get go.
The first class seats might look familiar to you as they are essentially the exact same
seat as American’s long haul premium economy- but I am not complaining.
As far as narrow body recliner seats go, I think these are one of the most comfortable
and spacious with not exactly generous legroom, but enough.
Let’s check out the best seats up for grabs.
These Max 8s feature 126 Main Cabin Seats, 30 Main Cabin Extra and 16 First class seats
in a 2-2 configuration- super standard.
There aren’t really any seats that stand out as being better than the rest, but as
a general rule on 737s, I avoid the first row as the cabin begins to narrow and there
will always be a bit less legroom for the window seats.
Not a big difference, but, something.
For today, I was in 3 Foxtrot.
I’ll get to what you’re supposed to do without a monitor in a moment, but first just
want to show a sturdy and large seat pocked which I appreciate.
Often they’re floppy or just too tight.
Also appreciate the overhead individual air nozzles.
Pre departure drinks were offered and passengers were able to choose the drink of their choice.
I went for a vintage water served in an extra cheap plastic cup.
Push back was just a few minutes late which was a relief.
This is just a repositioning flight for me.
After a few hours layover in Miami I’ll be flying on a separate ticket to Sao Paulo,
so this flight being on time was greatly appreciated.
Today’s flight would be taking off from Atlanta’s runway 9L before a cloudy climb
to 37000 feet for this 90 minute jump down to Miami’s runway 9.
A pretty quick and uneventful taxi and we were ready to line up.
Today we’d be heading east and straight into the clouds before turning south and then
breaking out of the clouds at around 8000 feet.
The spool up is up next.
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Alright, onto the entertainment options.
American does offer in flight streaming but you’ll need your own device which the tray
table and seat back is well designed to hold for you.
No matter the phone or tablet’s size, you’ll be good.
Meal service- I mean snack service started soon after our bumpy climb smoothed out a
bit.
The standard American snack basket items were on offer and I am always a fan with anything
that has figs in it.
What I wasn’t happy with and probably the worst part of Project Oasis is what they’ve
done with the bathrooms.
737 forward bathrooms have always been tight due to the curvature of the fuselage, but
this is a bit ridiculous- and keep in mind, the ones in the back of the cabin are significantly
narrower than this.
Such a short flight the next thing you know we are already descending while over St. Pete
and Anna Maria Island.
Flying into Miami on a partly cloudy day is one of my favorite things to do and we’d
be doing the standard approach from the west today, with plenty of fluffy cloud action
to keep us entertained.
Exiting the runway and we had a bit of a well timed product placement for me as you can
see Aerolineas Argentinas which I’ll be reviewing from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro
and also Latam which I’ll be taking from Sao Paulo all the way across to London.
Stay tuned for those trip reports in the next month or two- plenty of other flights and
hotel reviews from Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Rio in the mean time.
Firmly back in American land, we find out gate after a lengthy taxi and I begin my walk
straight across to the other side of the airports to checkin with Avianca.
That’s all there is to write today, let’s get into the Flip Flop Score.
Overall, it was pleasant.
Pretty sure all of the scores here will be as you’d expect but I will give a special
shout out for American’s website which I do believe is generally the best of the three
US carriers to use.
I know that’s a weird shout out, but it’s something I really appreciate.
Overall a decent 83/100.
I have no problem flying American again but will always try to avoid their narrowbody
economy cabins.
I hope you enjoyed this video and will subscribe and click the notification bell to see my
next report on an Avianca 787-8 in Business Class.