In honor of the recent last flight of US Airways, which took place on 17 October 2015, I thought I'd finally get around to posting some US flights from earlier this year. I've done a lot of mostly uninteresting domestic U.S. flying this year and have a heap of domestic flights sitting in my drafts for months, lol. So it was about time to get cracking and post some.
Most of the flying I've done this year has been on AA metal, but for this trip, I chose US and wanted to see how their longer transcon flights compared to AA. Living in DC, with a US Airways hub at DCA, I'd flow US quite often in the past, but never on a long flight. My expectations were low knowing that US's hard product is inferior to AA's, but I wanted to see what had changed on US since the merger.
After arriving in Charlotte from DC, I had a few hours to kill so I headed to the CLT Admirals Club (Formerly US Airways Club).
Some views of the airport on the way to the club
View of downtown Charlotte from the terminal.
And a little bit of planespotting
US had some great retro liveries of airlines that had merged to become part of US Airways over time. This bird in retro Allegheny Airlines colors had recently had the American Airlines titles added to replace the old US Airways.
The CLT Admirals club is actually quite impressive as it is quite large…
And features a huge domed area…
with great views of the tarmac.
The food offering is standard U.S. lounge snack fare; nothing to write home about.
I just got a few things to munch on with some red wine. Cheese cubes and cookies…Mmmmm :-P
As I was saying earlier, there are good views of the tarmac from the lounge, but one thing is for sure about CLT…there isn't a huge variety of airlines to spot. It's mostly just AA/US…good thing I enjoy both of these liveries.
Although this flight was back in February 2015, there were already many US Airways aircraft in American Airlines livery.
I think the US A330s look gorgeous in the AA livery
I left the lounge a few minutes before boarding time. When I got to my gate boarding had already begun so I boarded straight away. I settled in to my window seat in the last row of First.
Another US A321 at the next gate over, but in AA livery. I had caught a quick glimpse of my plane when I got to the gate and saw it was in US livery.
Standard 38 US Domestic First class seat pitch
Yep, we're on an A321! And a new one at that.
Nice pink hue as the sun begins to set
A few minutes after I'm settled in, the purser comes to introduce himself and take a pre-flight drink order. He is incredibly friendly and even shakes my hand thanking me for being an Executive Platinum member. Wow, I've never seen that happen before!
When the purser comes back with my gin & tonic, he also brings the snack basket out. Pleasant surprise #2! I've never had pre-departure snacks offered on a U.S. carrier before, much less on a domestic flight.
Pleasant surprise #3: After boarding was complete, the purser did a little speech in the First class cabin, introducing himself again, and thanking everyone for flying US Airways/American. I'm here to ensure you have a pleasant and memorable experience with us today, he said. Wow again…another first.
You could tell the purser really enjoys his job, loves interacting with people, and going above and beyond to give great service.
Boarding was completed early and we pushed back early.
The last rays of sun fade as we taxi to the runway.
And we're off
Downtown Charlotte in the distance.
The cabin lights stay out for most of the flight
Shortly after takeoff the purser starts the pre-dinner drink service. The drinks are served with warm nuts.
Flying over a large city. It looks like Indianapolis, but can't tell for sure with no IFE with moving maps.
After enjoying two gin & tonics, the meal is served. I chose the meat lasagna.
Hummus appetizer
The lasagna looks burnt, but was actually quite good.
We fly south of Chicago during the meal. Seems like this is an oddly northerly way to get to SEA from CLT.
Ice cream sundae for dessert.
After the meal I took a nap and woke up shortly before landing. We fly over downtown on a typically foggy winter Seattle night.
We arrived at the gate about 10 minutes early.
last view of my seat.
This is the only picture of my plane I managed to get on disembarking.
Welcome to Sea-Tac!
Thanks for reading this #GoodbyeUSAirways report!
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Verdict
US Airways
6.5/10
Cabin6.5
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi3.0
Meal/catering6.5
US Airways US Airways Club - Concourse C
5.0/10
Comfort4.5
Meal/catering4.5
Entertainment/wifi6.5
Services4.5
Charlotte - CLT
7.2/10
Efficiency7.5
Access6.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5
Seattle - SEA
8.4/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.5
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.5
Conclusion
Generally a very pleasant flight despite some hard product shortcomings. The amazing purser really made the flight--otherwise it would have been quite average. The meal was good and appropriate for the length of the flight.This style of Domestic First class seat; however, is better for shorter flights--it's pushing the limit of comfort for a premium cabin on an almost 6 hour flight. The lack on IFE on such a long domestic flight is the big downside. AA planes at least have overhead screens, and more and more aircraft equipped with PTVs on domestic flights, but none of the pre-merger domestic US fleet has any kind of IFE. Hopefully this will change as the cabins are updated and brought to the AA standards.
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Thanks for your comments! Sadly, there are less and less US painted planes. It was one of my favorite liveries before the new AA livery came along. The purser was definitely exceptional on this flight.
Though the service on US has never been anything to write home about, I'm still sad they no longer exist as they sure had a great livery and brought diversity for spotters.
Other than that the pruser and the meal did allow a pleasant experience on the flight, otherwise not even a moving map let alone an iPad clearly isn't satisfying.
Yes it is a beautiful livery! The inside is a bit less beautiful, but it's one of my favorite liveries. Plus, as you know, I'm really used to seeing it here in DC. It will be weird to no longer see this livery anymore at DCA, when it's been dominating it for a long time! Yeah, the lack of IFE sucks, but everything else was good.
It looks like American Airlines has picked up their game a bit when it comes to their food service. I'm impressed by the Hummus appetizer; looks good! I also like that they serve Sundae's with many of their long, cross country flights.
Thanks for your comment! First American downgraded catering in 2014, then they upgraded it twice since due to many complaints. The ice cream sundaes are nice, yep!
Fantastic spotting pics at CLT, are you trying to one up my NGO reports? The Allegheny retro jet is beautiful. The lounge at CLT looks like Monticello, lol.
Flying over a large city. It looks like Indianapolis - That looks like an old home for me: the Nasty Nati. Pretty confident that is the Ohio River cutting through and you can CVG in the bottom left corner. The second city looks like Indy, it has the circle in the middle with all the spokes pointing out.
The longest flight I've done in a cabin like this was on JU in J. That was a 5-hour flight and I felt it was fine, but I think it was also a much better recliner product than what US offers. A new bird doesn't always mean a new seat :(
The salad looks lame. The appetizer again lacks a protein (running theme on AA, but the Japanese meal appetizer on AA has proteins). The lasagna looks like a decent portion-size, so it probably just depends on your taste. The sundae is thankfully still around on the domestic flights, we had a disgusting tart on my AA flight.
A pretty meh flight, but when you consider the competitors it's not that bad.
Fantastic spotting pics at CLT, are you trying to one up my NGO reports? - CLT is not nearly as interesting with mostly just AA and US liveries, though they are both liveries I enjoy
Thanks for the info on the cities. I think I melded the Cincy and Indy pics together. So I was right about the Indy part with the spokes. So we flew over Cincinnati, then Indianapolis, then Chicago--seems like an odd route and not typical from what I can see on flightaware for CLT-SEA flights, which is why I had a hard time determining which cities they were.
but I think it was also a much better recliner product than what US offers. A new bird doesn't always mean a new seat - Legacy AA F recliners are totally fine for a 5 hour flight. It would be nice if they at the very least refit the PMUS planes with AA's F seats, but I have a feeling that's not going to happen. The PMUS cabins are looking really raggedy, even on newer planes like this one.
The salad looks lame. The appetizer again lacks a protein (running theme on AA - Yeah, apparently now they're even doing salad started with salad entrees...really? Are they feeding rabbits in F?
The sundae is thankfully still around on the domestic flights - Thank goodness. I always make sure to bring my Lactaid pills so I can have the sundaes :-)
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10 Comments
Nice spotting shots from CLT, a good mix of AA and US painted planes.
Nice to hear positive things about the purser! It's always pleasant to have a great crew on a flight.
I'm not too sure about the cabin comfort on this flight but the meal didn't look too bad, I liked the presentation and do like those kind of bowls.
See you!
Sadly, there are less and less US painted planes. It was one of my favorite liveries before the new AA livery came along.
The purser was definitely exceptional on this flight.
Though the service on US has never been anything to write home about, I'm still sad they no longer exist as they sure had a great livery and brought diversity for spotters.
Other than that the pruser and the meal did allow a pleasant experience on the flight, otherwise not even a moving map let alone an iPad clearly isn't satisfying.
It looks like American Airlines has picked up their game a bit when it comes to their food service. I'm impressed by the Hummus appetizer; looks good! I also like that they serve Sundae's with many of their long, cross country flights.
Fantastic spotting pics at CLT, are you trying to one up my NGO reports? The Allegheny retro jet is beautiful. The lounge at CLT looks like Monticello, lol.
Flying over a large city. It looks like Indianapolis
- That looks like an old home for me: the Nasty Nati. Pretty confident that is the Ohio River cutting through and you can CVG in the bottom left corner. The second city looks like Indy, it has the circle in the middle with all the spokes pointing out.
The longest flight I've done in a cabin like this was on JU in J. That was a 5-hour flight and I felt it was fine, but I think it was also a much better recliner product than what US offers. A new bird doesn't always mean a new seat :(
The salad looks lame. The appetizer again lacks a protein (running theme on AA, but the Japanese meal appetizer on AA has proteins). The lasagna looks like a decent portion-size, so it probably just depends on your taste. The sundae is thankfully still around on the domestic flights, we had a disgusting tart on my AA flight.
A pretty meh flight, but when you consider the competitors it's not that bad.
Fantastic spotting pics at CLT, are you trying to one up my NGO reports?
- CLT is not nearly as interesting with mostly just AA and US liveries, though they are both liveries I enjoy
Thanks for the info on the cities. I think I melded the Cincy and Indy pics together. So I was right about the Indy part with the spokes. So we flew over Cincinnati, then Indianapolis, then Chicago--seems like an odd route and not typical from what I can see on flightaware for CLT-SEA flights, which is why I had a hard time determining which cities they were.
but I think it was also a much better recliner product than what US offers. A new bird doesn't always mean a new seat
- Legacy AA F recliners are totally fine for a 5 hour flight. It would be nice if they at the very least refit the PMUS planes with AA's F seats, but I have a feeling that's not going to happen. The PMUS cabins are looking really raggedy, even on newer planes like this one.
The salad looks lame. The appetizer again lacks a protein (running theme on AA
- Yeah, apparently now they're even doing salad started with salad entrees...really? Are they feeding rabbits in F?
The sundae is thankfully still around on the domestic flights
- Thank goodness. I always make sure to bring my Lactaid pills so I can have the sundaes :-)
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