Review of American Airlines flight Boston → Washington in Economy

Background:
Hello and welcome to a (somewhat) unintentional tour of the northeast on American Airlines. I had to take a trip to Washington DC on short notice, and ended up booking my tickets about 14 hours before departure. American was the best option price wise, but for some reason the earliest American flight from Philadelphia to Washington departs at 2:00 pm. So, to get there when I needed to I had to connect in Boston as well. My itinerary ended up being ITH-PHL-BOS-DCA, with a single connection in Philadelphia on the way back. The Boston connection looks just a bit out of the way when viewed on a map:



Ithaca, NY to Philadelphia, PA (ITH - PHL) | CRJ-200 [REPORT HERE]
Philadelphia, PA to Boston, MA (PHL - BOS) | A321 [NO REPORT]
Boston, MA to Washington, DC (BOS - DCA) | A319 [THIS REPORT]
Washington, DC to Philadelphia, PA (DCA - PHL) | A319 [REPORT HERE]
Philadelphia, PA to Ithaca, NY (PHL - ITH) | DASH-8 [REPORT HERE]

Story:
Our A321 arrived from Philadelphia on time at gate B6 in Boston. By the time I got into the terminal, I had about 50 minutes before boarding my American Shuttle flight to Washington, DC. I took the time to explore Terminal B in Boston a bit. I journeyed from the old US Air part of Terminal B where I had arrived to the old American part of Terminal B through United's new Terminal B gates. Each part of the terminal looked great. The new United area was clean and modern, but from my perspective it looked a little short on seating. I imagine that will be a challenge when United starts 777 service to SFO later this fall.

The American Shuttle gate area of Boston's Terminal B. The concrete ceiling isn't really that imposing. The large glass wall makes the space feel very open and provides lots of natural light.



Onboard N808AW in seat 21A, with an E190 operating a Shuttle flight to LGA. Note the yellow painted walkway on the ramp. On shuttle flights arriving into these gates, the rear doors are opened and the back half of the plane can exit via stairs into the terminal.



An arriving A319 from DCA parks at gate B18 as we push back from B19.



Arriving passengers deplaning through the rear door as we begin the long taxi to runway 22R.



United 73H (N14214) loading up for the long flight to SFO at while an AA CRJ-200 waits for us to pass.



Looking towards United's new gate area.



Boston control tower, along with the old AA gate area and a Cape Air Cessna.



JetBlue at Terminal C.



Emirates 77W parked at Terminal C before heading back to DXB.



Departing from runway 22R.



I'm sure the other side of the plane had a fantastic view of downtown Boston right about here.



Climbing out to the southeast.



The tip of Cape Cod.



Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.



Since our route that day was more southern than normal, I had a view of the Atlantic Ocean for most of the flight.



As the senior crew came around with the beverage service, I overheard a flight attendant explaining to a passenger the differences of a "Shuttle" branded flight, most notably the free alcohol for the economy cabin. She then noted that the Shuttle has had more amenities since when she started flying with Eastern back in the day.

Descending over Delaware and the Chesapeake Bay.



Completing our turn back to the north. Every time I've flown into DCA (four times at this point), I've been in a left-side window seat. Every time we've landed from the south. Oh well, I'll get the great views of downtown along the river visual eventually.



Over the southern part of the beltway and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.



Final approach to runway 1.



An American CRJ-900 holds short while a United 73G waits.



Touchdown.



It's pretty clear which airline dominates DCA.



A PSA CRJ-700 landed right behind us.



Taxiing into the alley between the B and C boarding areas.



Pulling into gate 23.



Another American A319 parking at gate 25.



A shot of N808AW from the main hall at DCA.



The main hall (picture from another trip).