Review of American Airlines flight from Miami to Los Angeles in Economy

Report No: 2020-704E

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This report would contain a flight review of one of American's Flagship domestic routes, Miami to Los Angeles, onboard the 777-300ER in Main Cabin Extra. In this flight, I was lucky to get a Premium Economy seat for free and I was able to experience the Admirals Club in Miami as well.

During my travel date, American had 5 daily MIA-LAX flights, one of them was the Flagship service with the 777-300ER and the 4 others with a mixture of 737-800 & A321's.

Here is the routing

Loads for this flight

Flagship First: %10-15
Flagship Business: %70-75
Main Cabin: %40-45

ONLINE CHECK-IN

This alert was available before I started checking-in online.

Thanks to my Expertflyer membership, I have created a seat alert for Premium Economy window-aisle seats and as soon a double of them got empty, I selected 18J and 18K. Also an anecdote that, American had blocked row 16 and other emergency exit rows to protect their crew as there are crew jumpseats in front of those rows.

And here is the confirmation of OLCI

Boarding pass

The next morning, I've spotted our aircraft which over Europe at that time.

MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - MIA

About 2 hours before the flight, me and my travel companion were driving to the rental car drop off point.

At that time, some AA aircraft were visible from the road

After dropping the car, we both used the MiaMover to access the terminal as the rental car center is not near the terminal

Here is an idea about the operation of the MiaMover

The MiaMover was empty and we were the only one in our car during the 5 minute ride to the terminal.

And I was able to spot some AA aircraft during the ride

Low D gates

After arriving to the terminal, I've walked to the Priority check-in desks to drop bags and I realized that the Flagship First counters were closed. In normal circumstances, non-AA oneworld Emerald members could use the Flagship First check-in desks.

However, the priority desks were open with a couple of agents serving passengers. The wait over there was about 5 minutes and after then we were served.

Later on, we've headed to the regular security checkpoint as the priority checkpoint was closed during our visit at MIA.

And after a wait of 5 minutes at security, it was time to head to the lounge.

Most of the airport vendors were closed, however, some were open.

Luckily the lounge was across our gate so we had 10-15 minutes to spend there.

However, the bad news was that the signs of the Flagship Lounge was covered with black tape so this meant that we would be using the Admirals Club.

After entering the lounge, we were welcomed by the front desk downstairs and after taking up the elevator, we were greeted by another AA staff that told us that we are not allowed to leave our seats during our visit except for visiting the restrooms. In my previous report, at DCA, the system was different as passengers were allowed to take a walk within the club but they could only sat at the same place as they did previously.

Shortly after we took our seats, one of the lounge staff took our drink orders and handed in our food bags. As you might know from my previous report, AA temporarily suspended the premium drink allowance of non-AA oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members so only soft drinks, house beer and house wine was free of charge.

For all other premium drinks in this menu, you would need to present a credit card to the server.

And here is the food box: Chips & Guac, a lemon cookie and some sweets.

And here is a view of our aircraft which was visible from the club. N726AN would be the aircraft that would take me to LA.

While leaving the lounge, I have realized that the children's area was closed to service, however, there were magazines that were still available to read.

GATE AREA & BOARDING

The gate area was crowded before boarding

Another shot of N726AN

FIDS - As you might realize from the FIDS, AA is the only carrier operating direct service from Miami to Los Angeles

While I was boarding the aircraft, all passengers up to Group 4 were invited to board. American Airlines is one of the rare carriers that does not board from back to front during post-COVID, instead they are maintaining their original boarding process.

AA 1061 mIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO Los Angeles INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

After being welcomed by the crew at the aircraft door, I've headed to my seat 18L which was the last row of the Premium Economy cabin.

The American Airlines Premium Economy seat has great legroom compared to the Main Cabin seats and the seats are obviously wider. Unlike Delta and United, American does not market these seats as a separate class so passengers eligible for Main Cabin Extra could select these seats for free.

The seat has an IFE screen

As well as a remote

A power outlet and a USB port

And in the seat pocket there was something rare that you could see, besides the safety card, there was the American Way magazine available at every seat; though, the Spanish version of the magazine, Nexus was not available.

And it was time to wander around the pages of the magazine, starting with the fleet page

Maps of MIA & LAX

It was my first time seeing this ad as this was my first oneworld flight after COVID that had an inflight-magazine

American destinations within the US

And here is the IFE screen

For the majority of the flight that the air flight time was 4h28mins, the route map was open in my screen.

And, it was interesting to see personal AC units at the top as most airlines do not install these on their wide-bodies.

A view from the window

And after boarding was completed, there was an announcement made that the flight was delayed for 15 minutes because of the delay of paperwork arriving at the cockpit. At that time a cabin crew was verifying if passengers seated in the Premium Economy seats did not upgrade themselves as there was an issue with another passenger that was solved quickly.

And later on, single-use earphones were distributed

And it was time to push-back

At that time, the safety video was playing in English and then it was repeated in Spanish as well.

And we took off about 15-20 minutes later than our scheduled departure time.

Some photos from our takeoff

A last shot of MIA

And a gallery of some other photos that was taken after takeoff

And after taking off the usual welcome announcement video was played from the personal screens.

The flight also had Wi-Fi supported by Panasonic, and here were the prices for our flight. During this flight, personal mobile entertainment did not work and passengers who were willing to watch a movie or TV show should have done it via the IFE screens.

Shortly later, the beverage service had started with a full selection of soft drinks, coffee and tea. I've opted for an apple juice which was served with pretzels and Biscoff cookies. This was the only service made throughout the flight

Shortly later, I visited one of the lavatories which were clean at the time I visited

And flight information at that time

Shortly later, I took a nap and when I woke up I had enjoyed the chips&guac that were handed to me at the club. Also, the cabin crew was constantly touring the cabin to collect trash.

And flight information

A photo over eastern California

And the seatbelt signs were turned on and the cabin crew did a final run of trash collection.

A photo before landing

The new SoFi stadium

And we've landed at one of the southern runways at LAX

TBIT which mostly had Asian carriers at that time including Asiana, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines and Philippines Airlines aircraft

And AA aircraft was present at T4

An AA A321

And another one with a special livery

More AA aircraft

The closed Flagship Lounge at LAX. We were going to park at gate 41 that day.

And interestingly the TV's in the closed Flagship Lounge were open.

And we were parking next to this A321.

And a final glimpse at aircraft at TBIT

Los Angeles INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - LAX

After saying goodbye to the crew, I left the aircraft and headed to the baggage carousel and after a wait of 20 minutes at the carousel bags arrived with the respect of priority tags.

Also for those who wonder, there was no row by row deboarding at this flight and deboarding the aircraft was done in the usual pre-COVID way.

And later on, it was time to leave LAX

This report has come to an end.
This series would continue with the next report.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.