Review of American Eagle flight Washington → Syracuse in Economy

Hello and welcome to another Flight Report! This report will cover my travel up to Central New York for the Thanksgiving Holiday a few days ago.

I arrived at DCA via the Blue Line at around 8:20pm, plenty early for my 10:10pm departure.



I printed my boarding pass from a kiosk just inside the terminal, then headed for the Terminal C security checkpoint. The security line was rather long, but was moving and I was through in about 15 minutes.

The Great Hall as seen from the security line.



Terminal C was rather busy, but there were plenty of open seating areas around. I found a seat near gate 40 and watched a late-departing CRJ-700 board for Cincinnati.

As soon as the CVG-bound CRJ had taxied out of the aisle, our four-month old CRJ-900 took its place at gate 40, completing its inbound flight from CHS. Boarding began at about 9:50 and was quickly completed.

I generally find leg room on CRJs fairly decent, as I can put my under-the-seat bag in the overhead bin since my larger carry on gets valet checked. However, even with my feet all the way under the seat in front of me, my knees were still nearly touching the seatback. I was disappointed as well by the lack of lumbar support in such a new seat, and by the end of the 50-minute flight I was pretty uncomfortable.



I was, however, pleased with the new LED cabin lights, as they were much cooler temperature-wise than older cabin lighting.

Unfortunately, the cabin lighting created some nice glare. Note to self: get a black phone next time.



We pushed back a few minutes past schedule.



The cabin lights were dimmed as we began our taxi to runway 1.



A look towards downtown DC as we clear the aisle. The Washington Monument can be seen in the distance.



An AA 738 waiting to taxi to its gate, with the US Capitol visible off its left wing.



An arriving WN 73G.



An AA E175 taxiing with a Delta E175 arriving.



An E175 tail, with the US Capitol and Washington Monument barely visible in the distance.



We taxiied into the holding area near the end of runway 1, where we waited for about 15 minutes before being cleared for departure. Also waiting were several AA CRJ-200s and an E190.



After an AA E175 landed, we taxied into position and departed to the North. Of course, the one time a flight I take departs to the north from DCA, I'm in a window seat on the left side of the plane. One of these times I'll get a view of downtown.

Climbing past Terminal C.



Banking left just after departure.



The Pentagon.



Looking down at Rosslyn.



Climbing through 10,000 feet as we pass Tysons Corner, Virginia.



Looking down at Dulles Airport.



I believe this is Frederick, Maryland.



My seatmate then turned on their reading light which made any more outside pictures impossible due to glare. It also became cloudy, so I wasn't too bothered.

During our short cruise, I tried to use the streaming IFE system onboard. Despite confirming with the @AmericanAir twitter team before boarding that all I needed was the American Airlines app, I was prompted to download a Go-Go app to actually view content. I could have downloaded the app over the plane's Wi-Fi, but part of that process was enabling app-installs from unknown sources in my phone settings, which I don't like doing. Not a very good system on a brand new plane in my opinion, and of course, the twitter team didn't know the correct requirements for streaming IFE.

Service was the standard American offering of beverages and pretzels. Since the only galley on the plane is at the front, the flight attendant started service at the back of the cabin working forward. Shortly after the beverage service was completed, we began our descent into Syracuse.



The Syracuse area coming into view.



We did a small s-turn after we were lined up with runway 28. There were quite a few arrivals in quick succession, including a Delta A319 and CRJ-900.



Over the threshold.



Snow! The Syracuse area got up to 20 inches of snow (50 cm) the day before my flight from a lake-effect snow band.



A Swift Air 737-300 parked at gate 15, probably resting after a Syracuse University sports charter mission.



Above the end of Terminal A, there is a neon "Syracuse" sign, but since we parked at gate 5, I couldn't get a good picture of it.



On stand at gate 5. We were about 25 minutes late due to our departure wait at DCA.



Some cabin photos during deplaning.



A quiet Terminal A at SYR.



SYR is the only airport I've been to that uses these "pods" for exiting the secure area.



The southern end of the lower level.