This review will cover the return leg of my trip to Dallas. It will be brief, as I have already covered the American Airlines’ regional product here. I will cover differences in service and aircraft (MD-80 vs 737-800).
Boarding began on time at 0731. I was welcomed aboard the plane by the business class flight attendant, Cathy.
The seat was all leather, unlike the MD-80’s seats, which were a leather and cloth combination. I prefer the MD-80’s seats over this one.
At the seat was the same blanket, but headphones were prepositioned as well.
The air vents were different.
The tray tables were slightly different, but annoying to me. The small drink tray had a latch on it that was unnecessary.
There was a ton of legroom since I was at the bulkhead, seat 3B.
Again, there were no ‘seatback’ entertainment. The aircraft had prehistoric drop down screen for the safety demo.
The seat also has options to listen to music or the pilots’ communication.
A few minutes after boarding, I was offered a predeparture beverage.
Boarding was complete at 0755. The pilot announced that there was some frost on the wing so we needed to be deiced after we were pushed from the gate. We began our pushback at 0800. At that time, the safety video played, while the flight attendants talked in the galley.
Deicing was completed at 0810. We began our taxi at 0815. We taxied for 5 minutes and the plane came to a stop. The pilot informed us that there was a ‘flow control’ issue at Dallas and that we would be delayed 4 or 5 more minutes.
We were airborne at 0824, 23 minutes after the scheduled departure. Drink service began 8 minutes later. I had the same drink (Jack and Diet Coke) as above, but in proper glassware.
Snacks came 10 minutes after. The same spread as my previous flight.
We landed at DFW at 0929. After taxiing for 10 minutes, the pilot informed us that we were 20 minutes early, but we would probably be waiting for an aircraft to depart.
At 0951, the captain came on the PA fo say that the that the airplane occupying our arrival was gate due to a mechanical issue. Ahhhh…at 0956, we were rerouted from A39 to A14. After a brief taxi, we finally arrived at 1000, only 5 minutes more than the scheduled time.
Final Word
The flight was not bad. The thing that stood out to me was the flight attendants standing in the galley during the safety video. This may be over the top, but what if we had an actual emergency and passengers did not make it out of the aircraft. Who would have been to blame?
