AA2414
DFW-PHL
Departure: 0730
Arrival: 1146 (+1 hour)
Flight Time: 3hrs 16min
Seat: 18A
August 11, 2019
I had to be in Virginia for work this week, but due to the location, it would take me three segments to get there. The first segment was on an American Airlines ERJ-140, which I have reviewed before so I will not be doing so again.
After arriving at Terminal E (old United Airlines Terminal) at Dallas Fort Worth, I stopped at the customer service counter to swap from seat 33C to an exit row seat for a bit more room. The agent quickly moved me to seat 18A, an exit row window seat.
There was about 70 minutes until our flight to Philadelphia so I went by The Club in Terminal D for breakfast. It was really empty. I grabbed eggs, bacon, and a parfait. Essentially everything that went against my diet.
I stayed at the lounge for 15 minutes then made my over to Terminal A via the Skylink. The gate, A15, was a few steps from the train. I arrived 20 prior to boarding and found most of the passengers seated in the first half of the boarding area.
Boarding started two minutes behind schedule with Concierge Key, followed by Group 1. Group 5, my group, was called seven minutes after boarding started.
I boarded through the left forward door where I was greeted by one of the flight attendants. By boarding through the forward door, it meant that every passenger passed through the business class cabin. The cabin was arranged in a 2-2 configuration. The seats were slightly angled towards their respective walls. The age of the seats was apparent, but they still looked comfortable. I could not take a picture because the cabin was full (was able to get pics after landing).
After a few minutes, I arrived at my exit row seat.
This is where the age of the aircraft showed. There was no seatback entertainment.
There were monitors throughout the cabin for the safety demo and movies.
Additionally, the small tray table came out of the right armrest. It was REALLY small and flimsy.
The highlights of the seat were the legroom, electrical outlet, and extra armrest on the door.
Boarding was complete at 0716, 24 minutes after it began. At this point, some pretty bad boarding music was played. One of the flight attendants came by to verify passengers in row 17 and 18 were willing and able to assist in case of an emergency. Everyone provided verbal confirmation.
I was pretty happy that the middle remained open. The day was really looking up. LOL.
The captain made his welcome aboard announcement six minutes after boarding finished. He informed us of a smooth, 2hr 45min flight to Philly. The safety video was then played. Our pushback soon followed.
We taxied and held behind quite a few airplanes. The process took 15 minutes. We had a smooth rolling takeoff. The heavy 757 use a lot of runway. We took off to the south as we turned back over Dallas.
Snack service began 30 minutes after takeoff. The attendants offered drinks and cookies. If passengers wanted something more substantial, they could order off or the inflight menu that was in the seatback. As a passenger seated in a Main Extra Extra seat, I was offered complimentary alcohol.
I ordered a vodka water and the breakfast sandwich. As usual, the breakfast sandwich was served cold. I find this took a lot away from the sandwich. How hard would it be to warm the sandwich when a passenger orders it?
Anyway, I ate the egg, bacon, and arugula while leaving the bread and honey mustard. The sandwich set me back $9. I really needed to get more food in my system so I over paid for it.
After the service, there was not too much going on. All of the passengers around me either fell asleep or read books. I did not see anyone stream shows with their devices. I tried to get some sleep as well, but the cabin was freezing cold. It was too cold to focus on anything.
Keeping with the ahead of schedule theme, the pilot came on the intercom to announce the beginning of our descent into Philadelphia. We would be on the ground 20 minutes early.
The final approach was beautiful, but the touch down left a lot to be desired.
To make matters worse, the landing music was just as bad as the boarding music. I could not wait to get off of the airplane.
Final Word
American Airlines 757-200 was ok on this sub-three hour flight between Dallas and Philadelphia. The service was typical of an American Airlines’ domestic flight. While the plane needed to be updated in many ways, I found the legroom in the exit row to be the highlight of the flight. I would definitely fly aboard this airplane on a similar route.
