Review of American Airlines flight Lima Miami in Business

Airline American Airlines
Flight AA 918
Class Business
Seat 5J
Flight time 05:40
Take-off 12 Jan 17, 23:20
Arrival at 13 Jan 17, 05:00
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
767 traveller
Published on 29th January 2017
LIM-MIA

Hi and welcome to the return portion of my trip to Peru for Christmas. The flights down can be found here (MAD-MIA) and here (MIA-LIM).

After some really enjoyable weeks in Lima, it was time to head back.

I arrived at the airport about two and a half hours before departure. Just did the queue at the regular desks since there was not much people anyway. The check in agent was really friendly, she advised me that I could have used the priority access (which I knew), gave me a lounge invitation and put a priority tag in my bag. I asked her only to check my bag until MIA, because I would probably need to use some things that I had inside before checking in for my next flight.

I bid goodbye to my family who offered to drop me off and headed upstairs to departures. Security and immigration were done in a jiffy and sooner than later I was airside. I assume this flight leaves after the night AV rush but before the LA bank of flights, so there is a gap were the airport is not that busy.

photo img_0065
Newish duty free area. For me its a pass…

LIM has two contract lounges in the international concourse. Both accept priority pass and I assume that biz and status passengers can go to either of them as well. As almost always I went to the Sumaq lounge which was less packed than usual. Food options are limited and it wouldn’t be possible to make a meal out of what was available, which would have been useful before catching a red-eye so that you can just go to sleep straight after takeoff.

photo img_0068photo img_0071
Peru's business journal and the January edition of LATAM's inflight magazine.


I left the lounge a bit early and went for a short walk around the terminal. Boarding was announced about five minutes after I arrived to the gate and priorities were strictly enforced.

photo img_0073
LA 767, LIM is terrible for spotting due to the double glassed walls.

photo img_0067
Our gate (pic was taken before going to the lounge)


Upon reaching the aircraft I was hugely disappointed with what I saw then I turned right. We were supposed to have one of the retrofitted 767’s for this flight, however we got this instead.

photo img_0074


My seatmate asked one of the crew members if there were any power plugs to which the guy across the aisle added “this is a crappy old plane”, I commented that we were supposed to have one of the “newer” birds, but the conversation didn’t go for much longer.

photo img_0075


The lead FA came around the cabin to welcome everyone individually, take dinner orders and ask if anyone would like to be waken up for breakfast.

photo img_0077
Our cousin, preparing to head off to somewhere (probably MIA or EZE given the time)


We took off on time and once in the air the captain came on the PA announcing that we were about 5 hours from Miami and that we would be landing slightly ahead of schedule. These flights are operated using LIM based cabin crew but American pilots, so the lead FA then translates the captain’s announcements.

Then the friendly FA working on my aisle passed around distributing tablets and bose headphones. She came back to me to check if I had asked for a plug adapter, which I didn’t but took advantage of since it was a good idea to charge my phone anyway.

The tablet had a decent selection of movies and shows, however it would constantly slip down if trying to hold it straight. I put on some episodes of the big bang theory to watch before dinner.

photo img_0078


They took a while to start the meal service. First were the classic mixed nuts which were warm along with a glass of water.

photo img_0081


Then they brought the whole meal in one try in order to maximize sleeping time. I chose the chicken which was nice and light.

photo img_0083


I skipped dessert and went straight to sleep. The seat lacked storage space so I had to keep my bag under the seat in front in order to keep some stuff I would need during the flight (charger, headphones, laptop), therefore I was not able to lay the seat down to its flattest position, but I still manage to doze off until the captain made the landing announcement.

By that time the crew had already retrieved the tablets, bose headphones and had unplugged my phone.

I took a trip to the lavatory to freshen up and when I was back on my seat we were already starting our descent towards Miami, which was very smooth by the way.

photo img_0087photo img_0088


We had a really short taxi towards our stand in concourse D. I bid the crew goodbye and started a short walk towards immigration. On the way we were greeted by security officials doing random checks. I was asked for my passport but don’t remember if was asked any further questions or not.

photo img_0095photo img_0100
our plane

Immigration took ages to clear. There was a bunch of flights from other destinations in South America that had just arrived with us and the fact that we were in summer holidays in South America meant that the place was even more packed and with lots of families and leisure travelers. There were some complaints from people, to which the Argentinean in charge of organizing the lines replied “los comentarios te los guardas para voz, o si no puedes terminar en problemas” or “keep your thoughts to yourself otherwise you can get in trouble”. I understand that immigration in MIA can be slow, but this guy would send people to queue in specific lines, which would then close before it was their turn, so many of us basically had to queue again in another line. Oh well! Anyway I was seen by a nice immigration officer who did not ask any questions after I said I was just in transit.

Of course by the time we reached baggage claim our luggage was already waiting for us. Then I was off to explore Miami since I had a few hours to spare before catching my next flight, but I’ll save that for the next installment.
See more

Verdict

American Airlines

6.9/10
Cabin5.0
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering7.5

Independent Sumaq VIP Lounge

6.0/10
Comfort6.0
Meal/catering5.5
Entertainment/wifi6.5
Services6.0

Lima - LIM

6.3/10
Efficiency7.0
Access4.5
Services6.5
Cleanliness7.0

Miami - MIA

6.5/10
Efficiency5.0
Access7.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness7.0

Conclusion

All in all, I was once again very positively impressed with AA. Despite the old cabin, the crew was very professional, addressing everyone by name and very attentive to passengers’ requests. Regarding the last minute aircraft swap, AA asked for my mailing address and a few days later they sent a 500USD voucher eligible for travel in AA this year. This was enough to make up for the aircraft swap and the fact that they compensated passengers by their own initiative was very appreciated.

Information on the route Lima (LIM) Miami (MIA)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Lima (LIM) → Miami (MIA).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est LAN Airlines avec 7.9/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 5 heures et 50 minutes.

  More information

4 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 383804 by
    SKYTEAMCHC GOLD 10071 Comments
    Hi and thanks for this return report.
    The cabin is a very dissapointing surprise ! Luckily flight attendants made up for the seat and confort.
    The meal is simple and looks good but the presentation is not very sophisticated for business. However everything on the same tray is the good option for the flight duration and red eye schedule.
  • Comment 384035 by
    Nick 171 Comments
    Nice Report 767 Traveller, thanks for sharing. Too bad about the aircraft swap, but I'm impressed that AA took the initiative to offer compensation on their own. An outstanding crew can certainly make up for a disappointing hard product as well. I've been on the renovated 767 and you sadly have to deal with the tablets even on that aircraft.
    • Comment 384713 by
      767 traveller AUTHOR 53 Comments
      Hi Nick,
      yes I agree that the compensation (and the fact that it was their initiative) plus the nice crew managed to make up for the aircraft-swap, though they need to do something with those un-renovated 767's!

Login to post a comment.