Review of American Airlines flight from New York to Washington in Economy

Report No: 2019-310E

Ladies and Gentleman,

Welcome to another series that would include 2 transatlantic flights on Lufthansa Premium Economy on the newest version of the Queen of the Skies and 2 Frankfurt-Istanbul flights again on Lufthansa and one American Airlines regional flight. All 5 reports would include lounge reviews of their respective airports.   

The last part of this series would include the report of the smallest aircraft of American Airlines's mainline fleet onboard a short flight from New York to Washington DC. This report would also include a review of the Admirals Club at LGA Terminal D.

The routing for this series would look like this

Pax for this flight:

Domestic First: %100 
Main Cabin: %100

ONLINE CHECK-IN

I have booked my ticket on the 19:00 flight as it's impossible to know the wait at JFK immigration which could take hours at some circumstances but also you could end up with a 10-minute wait which was my case. I have completed my OLCI for my original flight as didn't change my pre-reserved seat 9A.

Boarding pass for that flight

New York LA GUARDIA AIRPORT - LGA

For the first time ever in my life, I have arrived to La Guardia Airport. The American priority desks were located at the end of Terminal D.

When I have entered the queue, in 2 minutes my turn has come and I was checked-in by a friendly agent. I've asked if there was a seat in an earlier flight but the answer was: "Sorry sir, they are fully booked." So, I had asked to be placed inside the standby list and headed to security which the wait took 10 minutes in the Priority lane.

FIDS for the day

FIRST VISIT: ADMIRALS CLUB TERMINAL D - New York LA GUARDIA AIRPORT

While being welcomed by the agent, I was asked if I was Sapphire or Emerald; I have answered Sapphire so no drink coupons were handed to me. Sometimes, agents are generous handing drink coupons to Sapphire pax as well. However, this didn't mean that I couldn't benefit from the coffee, tea or iced water option.

Two types of soup were present that day at the Admirals Club.

The free options for the day. Cheeses, veggies, chips, crackers

As well as cookies and brownies

The paid options. I am not sure if there are people paying for hot dishes at the Admirals Club. That day, I have noticed several families with small or young children buying fried chicken from the fast food stores at the gate level and they were eating them inside the club. It didn't smell where I was seating so it wasn't an issue for me. I thought that outside food is not allowed at Admirals Club locations.

A view of NYC from the lounge

My standby document

FIRST ATTEMPT: AA 4322

I was number 1 on the standby list for the AA 4322 service which was scheduled to depart at 17:00. I have arrived to the boarding gate of that flight 25 minutes before the scheduled departure time of that flight.

However, I had bad luck. Number 11 in the standby list was the only passenger cleared for this flight. When I asked the gate agent if that passenger had a special condition as I was number one on the list, she had told me that that passenger was a pilot. I didn't know that AA prioritized their off duty staff over their passengers in these type of situations. However, my bags did make this flight but I was still in LGA.

SECOND VISIT: ADMIRALS CLUB TERMINAL D - NEW YORK LA GUARDIA AIRPORT

Never mind, I went back to the Admirals Club. The agent recognized me and didn't ask my boarding pass again.

For a while, I have seated at the couches as I was charging my phone.

Then, I have headed to the quiet area where long chairs were present.

While I was having a rest, I have checked the menu for the paid options.

And the drink options

SECOND ATTEMPT: AA 2145

I was still number one on the standby list for this flight.

I have arrived to the gate 25 minutes before the scheduled flight of this flight. The same gate agents as AA 4322 were there. One of them made an announcement that they were looking for overbook volunteers offering a 200 USD voucher to travel on the next flight. First, I've thought that I still had bad luck. However, after regular boarding has ended, me and number 2 on the standby list was called by the gate agent. I was assigned seat 6C and the other passenger was assigned a seat in the back.

AA 2145 NEW YORK LA GUARDIA AIRPORT TO WASHINGTON RONALD REAGAN AIRPORT

So, I have boarded the American Airlines ERJ-190 and took my seat which was comfortable for a 45 minute flight.

This was a Main Cabin seat and it had decent legroom compared to other AA mainline aircraft.

So, the seatback pocket content

AA Fleet

LGA Terminal Map.

And AA Northeastern destinations

Despite regional services on this route, as this was a Mainline flight, Main Cabin passengers had received pretzels and a choice of drink from the drink cart on this 45-minute flight. If this was a Republic Airlines flight, I would have probably received nothing. By the way, both of the cabin crew members were friendly to customers compared to most other AA crew that I have ever seen.

I have slept for the rest of the flight and we had arrived to gate 32 at Terminal B.

WASHINGTON RONALD REAGAN AIRPORT - DCA

A last view of our aircraft

Arrivals FIDS - What is the sense of posting gate numbers for arriving flights?

The DCA corridor

The ad boards welcoming me to DCA

As my bags were loaded on the previous flight, I had to pick them up at the Baggage Services office. They were waiting for me. When I have handed my bag tags at the agent and pointed my bags, she made the joke that the bag tags don't match. However, I've heard her making the same joke to the previous passenger and smiled.

Later on, as I had lots of bags, I had called an Uber and left the airport.

This report has came to an end.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.