Review of American Airlines flight Phoenix Minneapolis in Economy

Airline American Airlines
Flight AA1168
Class Economy
Seat 7F
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 02:50
Take-off 17 Feb 17, 16:25
Arrival at 17 Feb 17, 20:15
AA   #69 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 591 reviews
757Fan
By 820
Published on 19th February 2017
Greetings, Everyone!

I thought I would share a few photos from a flight home to Minneapolis I recently took with American Airlines. I began my day that day in Sacramento and was planning on flying home on UA (SMF-SFO-MSP) but had received a text early in the morning (around 5:30am) indicating that my 9:00am flight to SFO had been cancelled. UA automatically re-booked me on the later departure out of SMF to SFO that day, but as I was nervous that that flight was also going to be cancelled, I called UA to discuss any other options. I ended up being re-booked on American and was re-routed through PHX.

Even though my first flight to PHX was not scheduled to leave for a few hours, I ended up grabbing some breakfast at my hotel, and then heading to the airport to return my car. I spent the next few hours at SMF working through emails, until my PHX flight boarded. The flight to PHX was on newly retrofitted 737-800 with personal IFE at every seat, which was nice. I didn't take any photos from that flight as I was in a middle seat.

After arriving on-time at 3:35pm MST into PHX, I exited the aircraft to catch my connecting flight to find out that my MSP flight would depart from the adjacent gate. When I had been re-booked, I had been assigned an aisle seat in row 22, but I asked the agent if their were any window seats left. The very friendly agent ended up putting me in 7F in the bulkhead which was very nice! Very shortly after, boarding began.

View from 7F. As boarding continued, I looked around and noticed quite a few empty seats.

photo img_3317

Boarding finished just around 4:15pm and soon the door was shut and we began to push-back.

We taxied for a few minutes around the B concourses and then crossed over to the other side of the airport for takeoff. Once we reached the runway there was no one else in front of us, and we began our takeoff roll immediately.

Views after takeoff - it was a great afternoon for flying!

photo img_3323photo img_3325photo img_3326

Once we reached cruise altitude, the beverage and snack service began. As I was pretty hungry, I bought the cheese and fruit tray along with a red wine. Whenever I fly Delta, I normally buy the cheese and fruit tray and I found the one on American to be really good, with lots more cheese than the one served on Delta. Along with the snack and wine, I was also handed some pretzels.

photo img_3329

The rest of the flight to MSP was un-eventful and I spent the time reading and looking out the window. I haven't flown AA in a while, and I was impressed by the quality of the flight. All in all, it was very good!

photo img_3328

Thank you for reading!

Matthew (757Fan)
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Verdict

American Airlines

7.9/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering7.5

Phoenix - PHX

10.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Minneapolis - MSP

10.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

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7 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 386849 by
    NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
    Hi Matthew, thanks for sharing this FR with us.

    Interesting to see your perspective of AA based on these flights. I've had very mixed experiences on AA (leaning more towards the poor end of the spectrum). Would not have expected SMF to see B738s, much less the new cabin configured planes (LAX-SMF is all AmericanEagle ERJs).

    Also, surprised to hear you sweet talked your way into MCE for the PHX-MSP sector, I've had much worse luck trying to do the same on UA, their gate agents seem much stingier.

    Nice aerials departing PHX!
    • Comment 386975 by
      757Fan AUTHOR 632 Comments
      Thanks, Michael! Yeah, I wasn't expecting a 737-800 with personal IFE from SMF either. The last time I flew through SMF it was with US Airways on their A321's. I definitely was expecting just an A320/A321 until I saw the 737 pull in.

      Ha! Yeah, it was lucky for sure! I definitely have had similar experiences with UA where I've very rarely had any luck asking about any seat changes. When I flew to Denver from Minneapolis on the way out to SMF a few days earlier, I was on United and I noticed open seats in Economy Plus that remained open during the flight ... UA definitely insists you pay for those seats to get one.

      Thanks for your comments! I appreciate it!
  • Comment 387248 by
    jish.b 283 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this report!

    Good to see a American Airlines domestic Y report - that too on a reasonably long flight. Looks like it was a pretty decent flight overall.

    Lovely pictures to go along with it. Just curious - have you tried out Sun Country airlines yet?

    Jish
    • Comment 387418 by
      757Fan AUTHOR 632 Comments
      Thanks, Jish for your comments! Yes, it was a nice flight with AA. I have tried Sun Country before but it's been a while since I flew them (I flew them back in 2007 between MSP-JFK). Glad you liked the photos!

      Matthew
  • Comment 387420 by
    jetsetpanda 2283 Comments
    Hi Matthew.

    Thanks for sharing this short but enjoyable read on your AA experience. Congrats on scoring the bulkhead seat. That shot of downtown PHX is awesome!
  • Comment 388385 by
    Rl 777 802 Comments
    Thank you for sharing this FR with us!

    “my MSP flight would depart from the adjacent gate.“
    - Convenient!

    Beautiful aerial shots of PHX and its surroundings.

    “I bought the cheese and fruit tray along with a red wine.“
    - How much was it?

    Thanks for sharing.

    Have a good one, see you!

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