Review of American Airlines flight Chicago → San Diego in Domestic First

introduction

Hello and welcome to the fourth and final instalment in another series of oneworld transatlantic Business class flight reviews. These flights took place over the 2022-2023 Christmas Holidays–as usual, I'm very behind in posting!
 
For these return flights back to San Diego, we'll once again be flying via Chicago with Iberia operating the transatlantic portion and American operating the shorter domestic flight. On this roundtrip itinerary, we flew three of the major oneworld transatlantic joint-venture partners: American Airlines, British Airways, and Iberia. 

Though mixed IB-AA itineraries don't offer the most seamless connecting experience due to some technology communication shortcomings, as we'll see in this review, I always enjoy flying Iberia in Business and try to include at least one long-haul sector on Iberia when feasible. Generally the mixed IB-AA itineraries tend to be less expensive than full BA, full AA, or BA-AA mixed itineraries in transatlantic Business class, so the bit of inconvenience with system communication between IB and AA may be worth it for the savings. 

Routing

Flight reviews in this series:

transit & lounge

As mentioned above, Iberia's and American's systems don't communicate well and, the several times I've done these mixed routings, it's been impossible to get boarding passes for the AA-operated sector when checking in online or at the ticket counter in Madrid. 

Luckily there is an American Airlines transit desk located just outside the customs hall where we can pick up boarding passes for the next leg. It doesn't add too much extra time as passengers connecting from international to domestic flights in the U.S. must always pick up their bags on the carrousel to pass through customs with all baggage. The bags are then placed on a transit baggage-recheck belt, which is located next to the American Airlines transit desk. 

We were in no rush either way as our connecting flight to San Diego was running over an hour late. As mentioned in the previous review, the FAA had experienced a system outage earlier that morning, which had grounded all aircraft in the US until 9AM Eastern time, meaning that all airlines within the US were getting off to a very late start with delays and cancellations cascading throughout the system for the day. 
 

As all American Airlines domestic operations are located in Terminal 4, after exiting customs in Terminal 5, we headed upstairs to catch the inter-terminal train for the quick one-stop ride to T4.

For those not familiar with ORD, there is an airside bus between Terminal 4 and Terminal 5, but it's only for departing passengers on Domestic-to-International itineraries. However, passengers arriving from International flights and transiting to Domestic flights must pass through security again at their next terminal, so the airside bus is not an option.

There was a bit of a line at Terminal 4 TSA Pre-Check, but it moved quickly. 

Holiday decorations were still up and will forever remind me of the film "Home Alone"

We headed to the American Airlines Flagship lounge, which is centrally located in the middle of the Y-shaped terminal.

The premium Flagship Lounge can be accessed by passengers flying long-haul Business or First class on a oneworld carrier, or oneworld Sapphire and Emerald status holders on long-haul itineraries in any cabin. The Flagship lounge shares a lobby with the Admirals Club, which is accessed mostly by passengers flying domestic itineraries with day-passes or paid annual Admirals Club memberships.

On checking in, those with access to the Flagship Lounge are handed an invitation card to show to agents upstairs. The Flagship lounge is located on the 2nd level, with the Admirals Club on the 3rd. 

A Champagne station greets visitors as they come off the elevator, which I always find to be a nice welcoming touch. 

We could see our Iberia A330, on which we'd arrived from Madrid, already moved from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 for departure. Iberia only park at International Terminal 5 to disembark passengers to go through the immigration and customs facilities–once all passengers are off, Iberia aircraft are ferried to Terminal 3 for departure back to Europe. This isn't the most efficient operation, but it allows for easier connections from inbound AA domestic flights to outbound Iberia flights within the same terminal. 

I've covered the ORD Flagship Lounge several times in the past, so I won't go into too much detail, but it is generally a large and pleasant space with many different seating areas. 

There are also very nice views of the tarmac from the floor-to-ceiling windows running the whole length of the lounge. 

Despite the many delays that day due to that morning's FAA systems meltdown, the Flagship Lounge was nice and quiet and we had the dining room area all to ourselves. 

Food and beverage options are quite good by U.S. lounge standards with a good amount of fresh and hot dishes. 

I tried a little bit of everything. 

I checked on the progress of our inbound aircraft while we were in the lounge and it looked as though we weren't going to be any further delayed than the 1 hour and 20 minutes showing in the AA app. 

Once the inbound aircraft had landed and arrived at the gate, it seemed safe to head to the gate about 10 minutes later. 

The  lounge was even emptier upon leaving. 

boarding

It was a quick 5 minute walk from the lounge to our gate on the end of the H concourse. 

Surprisingly, boarding was already beginning as we arrived at the gate. We were able to board immediately with Zone 1. 

All of American's 300+ 737-800s have the same cabins, since cabin refurbishments were completed in 2021. These are also the same cabins found on all 737 MAX 8, as well as A321CEO and NEO, making for a very consistent product across the majority of the narrowbody fleet. 

There are 16 seats in Domestic First class with 4 rows of seats laid out in a 2-2 configuration.  

Legroom is good with a standard 38" Seat Pitch–though not quite as good as the pre-refurbishment 40" pitch. 

Each seat in First features a 110v power outlet located under the central armrest…

As well as a conveniently-placed USB port in the seat-back to keep tablets and other devices charged while watching the in-flight entertainment.

There are also eye-level device-holders in each seat-back.

AA's domestic fleet is fitted with Wi-Fi and on-demand streaming entertainment to personal devices. The streaming entertainment is available from gate-to-gate, but the Wi-Fi is only available once the aircraft is above 10,000 feet in altitude. 

The Wi-Fi and Entertainment are accessed through the same page. 

AA's Wi-Fi prices on short-haul flights are outrageous…$19 for just one hour! I barely paid more than that for my 9h transatlantic flight on Iberia. 

A full flight pass is $25…a much better value, but still way too expensive for a 4h flight. AA's Wi-Fi pricing is just nonsensical. 

Needless to say, I didn't shell out for the Wi-Fi. Since then AA has introduced free Wi-Fi for T-Mobile customers on most of the domestic fleet. Previously available only on the small subfleet with Gogo Wi-Fi, the free T-Mobile Wi-Fi is now available on aircraft with Viasat, which is now the majority of the AA short-haul fleet. So next time I fly AA domestic, I should have free Wi-Fi.

the flight

Boarding wrapped up quickly and we took no further delays than originally announced. 

Taxi time was shorter than the inbound flight and we were off. 

There's tons of content on the in-flight entertainment and something for everyone: Hollywood films, International films, Series, Documentaries, Music, and Children's programming. I also appreciate that most content is available in multiple languages since my 4-year-old only understands French. 

As mentioned earlier, the device holder is conveniently located; however, it's not meant for very large tablets so if you have a cover on your larger tablet, you may need to take it off to properly fit it in the clasps.  

Flight attendants were in the cabin shortly after takeoff with drinks and warm nuts. 

My son's child meal was served first, and as usual with AA, it didn't really seem like a child meal at all. There was even more food than the regular adult meals! There was just nothing fun or particularly appealing to kids, though the pasta was tasty. 

As for my adult meal I had pre-ordered the "Golden Roasted Chicken with Haricot verts" …it sounded a lot better than it looked. The taste was fine, but nothing to write home about. Honestly, my kid's paste was better. 

There were ice cream sundaes or cheese plates for dessert but I skipped it. The rest of the flight was uneventful and spent watching a movie.  

After a quick 3h45m flight, the familiar downtown San Diego skyline welcomed us home. 

It always feels nice to be home after a very long day of travelling!