Review of American Airlines flight Los Angeles Chicago in Domestic First

Airline American Airlines
Flight AA101
Seat 2F
Aircraft Airbus A321
Flight time 03:15
Take-off 30 Nov 16, 09:45
Arrival at 30 Nov 16, 15:00
AA   #69 out of 95 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 591 reviews
Rewardflying
Published on 26th February 2017
photo aa101 cover

After landing at sunrise on LAX's 24R and a short taxi to the gate, in no time I was at immigration. My advice to anyone who plans to be at TBIT at 6AM going through immigration is GET Global Entry! With the multiple flights from Australia having landed the people in line without GE are most likely still there.

Passing instantly through immigration I circled back upstairs and through security to the Qantas First Class lounge at TBIT. (Note to LAX international arrivals: Anyone can do this provided you have a departing flight boarding pass and you want to visit one of the international lounges.)

First in line was a shower.

photo aa101 lounge 7photo aa101 lounge 8

Presentable I headed back out and contemplated having my 3rd breakfast for the day. The lounge is beautiful, only lacking a nice view.

There is a view, of the shops below in the terminal.

photo aa101 lounge 1

You can pick from the white room.

photo aa101 lounge 2

Red room.

photo aa101 lounge 3

Or black room.

photo aa101 lounge 4

Or head over to the bar and dining room.

photo aa101 lounge 5

The breakfast menu, I'm sparing you from another photo of eggs.

photo aa101 lounge 9

To the gate and AA101, a one year old A321.

Originally this flight was to be on a 787, but a schedule change swapped it out to the 321. That's the third time this year AA has taken me off their 787.

photo aa101 boarding 1

Time to go on this beautiful clear Southern California day.

photo aa101 away they go

Reminiscing on when I lived just past that horizon…

photo aa101 away they go 2

Did I say anything bad about the QF seat? If so I apologize.

photo aa101 seat 1

Typical US domestic legroom (sans United's A319)

photo aa101 seat 2

If guess this folding armrest is for your tablet or laptop.

photo aa101 seat 3

(Notice the jacket, apparently the FA on this flight was trained by Qantas.)

Impressive IFE system on AA's new domestic bird.

photo aa101 ife 2photo aa101 ife 3photo aa101 ife 1

Except I couldn't figure out where to plug in the headset, or ear buds as they were. It must have been the cross Pacific trip that knocked out my senses. I actually had to ask the FA!

photo aa104 seat 4

Nonetheless it's a dumb place for a headphone jack, and filthy down there.

I know I promised no eggs, but don't think I'm breaking that promise.

So I'll leave you with my 4th breakfast. You decide.

photo aa101 food 1

A whirlwind 28,500 miles comes to an end. What a fabulous trip!

photo trip map w miles

American Airlines First Class ORD-BOS
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Etihad Business Class DOS-AUH and First Class Lounge
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Etihad First Class AUH-MEL
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Qantas Business Class MEL-SYD-PER
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Virgin Australia Business Class PER-MEL
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Qantas First Class MEL-LAX
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Verdict

American Airlines

5.3/10
Cabin6.0
Cabin crew5.0
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering3.0

Qantas First Class Lounge - TBIT

8.0/10
Comfort9.0
Meal/catering9.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Services9.0

Los Angeles - LAX

8.0/10
Efficiency7.0
Access8.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness8.0

Chicago - ORD

6.5/10
Efficiency6.0
Access6.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

The Qantas First Class Lounge in LA's TBIT is all its written up to be. Beautiful lounge and worth a visit. I was actually looking forward to this AA flight when it was scheduled on the 787. Then a month or so out they changed it to an A321 and didn't even notify me. I noticed it when I checked my reservation as I do frequently making sure they don't get cancelled (which has happened in the past.) However it was quite acceptable for a 3 1/2 flight so no complaints. Just eat before you go. Next stop JAL 787 to NRT.

Information on the route Los Angeles (LAX) Chicago (ORD)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Los Angeles (LAX) → Chicago (ORD).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est American Airlines avec 7.2/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 3 heures et 55 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 387431 by
    Razza_Pr 215 Comments
    Hello, rewardflying, and thank you for this FR.

    A rather anticlimactic conclusion to this series. How about giving us details other than JL 787 regarding your next series? :)

    Surely you ordered something else other than eggs in the QF F lounge? Also, how was the lounge staff?

    Thanks again for publishing!
  • Comment 387522 by
    Rewardflying AUTHOR 493 Comments
    HaHa Razza_PR, I can't give out the "tasty" (pun intended) details of the JL trip yet! The shower attendant at LAX was super nice. Otherwise the place was empty. The 8AM QF flight to NYC had just departed so not much going on in the lounge. Had the place to myself. Back soon, thanks for reading!!
  • Comment 387526 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    QF F lounge looks really nice--haven't had a chance to fly Intl out of LAX in a while though. Too bad the 787 got swapped out. An A321T would have been an acceptable downgrade, even. At least the new domestic birds have good IFE, though it is always hit or miss whether you'll get them, even on these longer 4h+ domestic routes. I've done LAX/SFO-ORD/IAD a few times in the past 6 months and half the time they were old 737s with overheads. With AA recently announcing that they will not put IFE in the brand new 737MAX they will receive this year, AA will be pulling a US Airways and slowly pulling off IFE from the domestic fleet. Really such a shame.
  • Comment 387535 by
    Rewardflying AUTHOR 493 Comments
    Hi KevinDC, AA just swapped another international jet domestic flight I had booked, MIA-ORD 767 to a 737. That's 4 now. Yes, I read about the IFE on their MAX jets. It's similar to going 10w economy in the 777 (which everyone is doing), let's make it a worse experience for the passenger. We can charge less, pile on ancillary charges, they'll like it less, everyone wins. But in a way I understand, to me it's amazing every flight is sold out, upgrades are impossible even to elites so people are buying tickets. Until they stop airlines won't improve services. That's my rant for the day! Thanks for reading.

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