Review of American Airlines flight from Chicago to Washington in Economy

Report No: 2019-507E

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to this new series where I would try LOT Polish Airlines for the first time after finding a sweet deal on their Premium Economy cabin. As my final destination would be Washington DC and LOT Polish Airlines doesn't fly to the DC area, I would fly to Chicago with LOT and then take an American flight down to DC. Also, in this series, I would have the opportunity to visit the signature lounges of two different Star Alliance carriers.

The third and last flight of this series would be an American Airlines flight from Chicago to Washington National onboard the newer 737-800 aircraft of the AA fleet. Unfortunately, I was not able to visit any of the lounges during my visit which I would describe within the report.

So the routing for this series would look like this; 

Pax for this flight:

Domestic First: %100
Main Cabin: %60-65

ONLINE CHECK-IN

I have completed my online check-in 24 hours before scheduled departure time via the American Airlines application. I was originally booked on the 19:15 flight.

I have sticked to my pre-reserved seat.

And confirmed the check-in to create a mobile boarding pass

And it was created.

CHICAGO O'HARE AIRPORT - ORD

After arriving from my LOT flight and leaving my bags at the American Airlines transfer counter, it was already 16:33 and I was on the stand-by list for the 16:33 flight that would be departing at 17:50. I have took the transfer bus to Terminal 3 where American flights depart.

My standby ticket

A view from the intra-terminal transfer bus. As Terminal 3 is the last stop, it took around 5-10 minutes to reach there.

Airlines operating from Terminal 5

Airlines operating from Terminal 3

At that time the aircraft of my standby flight had arrived from its previous flight from New York-LGA

And my originally booked flight was delayed to 20:45.

After arriving to Terminal 3, I have headed to the priority checkpoint where only one lane was working. It took around 15-20 minutes to clear security in the priority lane.

The reason that I waited that much was some passengers in Group 6 were in line ( a group of tourists ), where they shouldn't be; as no one was checking eligibility they were able to pass by.

After I was in the airside, I have checked the FIDS

Gate K3 is close to the security checkpoint so after a 5 minute walk, I was at my gate. As my standby flight was scheduled to depart within 35 minutes, I was not able to visit the Flagship Lounge.

GATE AREA & BOARDING

N959NN was going to operate AA2499 that day. When I arrived at the gate, they were starting to announce the names of passengers in the standby list, when my name was announced I went to the podium and a friendly employee that could speak Turkish had handed me my boarding pass.

I was assigned seat 14C in the exit row.

Boarding had started at 17:20 local time with the respect of priorities.

I was the only passenger in Group 3 and after my boarding pass had scanned, I have took this photo of our aircraft.

AA 2499 CHICAGO o'HARE AIRPORT TO WASHINGTON REAGAN AIRPORT

After boarding the aircraft, I have took my original seat 14C. As this was an exit row seat the armrests reduce the seat width but it wasn't that bad.

The legroom was decent as I was seated in the exit row. Every seat had inflight entertainment screens which were Thales branded. Power sources and USB ports were available at each seat.

The remote control for the IFE system was located at the armrest as I was seated in an exit row.

Video announcements were made as every American Airlines flight that has PTV.

The overhead panel

When activating the IFE system, there are advertisements that passengers are not permitted to skip.

And the main menu

Mobile IFE was also available onboard the flight. American Airlines offers complimentary Apple Music access onboard their flights.

The mobile IFE menu

Wi-Fi would cost $10 for this short flight.

Free live TV is also available. Here are the available channels

The entertainment menu

Most of the movies available where recent releases.

As boarding was completed and seat 14A and 14B was empty, I have passed to the window seat.

Our neighbor was N306PB which was waiting for its flight to St. Louis.

At that time, headphones were distributed by the cabin crew. As wireless headphones doesn't fit to the IFE system, I had asked for a pair.

Our route today

Later on, the safety video was played on the personal screens.

We had pushed backed at 17:58 local time, this AA 787 was getting ready for its flight to Athens at that time.

Some more Dreamliner's.

An American Eagle aircraft arriving from Ichita.

And an United Express aircraft which had just arrived from Calgary.

N414ZW and N817AN in the same shot

N817AN was going to Dallas Fort Worth that day as AA830

N922NN was also visible, that bird was going to fly to Austin that day

EC-JCZ being pushed back for its flight back home, to Madrid.

The international terminal

And soon, it was time to takeoff and we were in the air

A photo just after takeoff

I have checked the movies on the IFE system and started on one of the shortest movies in the system, however, I was not able to finish it.

At that time, I had also checked the seat pocket.

On today's flight, only drinks and snacks would be served.

Some information about the IFE options

Our aircraft in the fleet section

Terminal map of ORD

And DCA

And AA east-coast destinations

When the seat belt signs had turned off, I have decided to use the IFE screen at 14B to look at the route map.

Route information

A photo at that time

Shortly later, complimentary drink and snacks were served. The only available snack was pretzels as they were out of Biscoff cookies. I have opted for a tomato juice as a drink.

As we had approached DCA, the sky got a bit darker.

And the landing announcement was monitored.

Georgetown University

The Golden Triangle

The Washington Monument

The Jefferson Memorial

And we had landed to DCA

Terminal B/C and Terminal C

N949NN was there after from his flight from Miami as AA1985.

And we were going to park at gate 29.

WASHINGTON REAGAN AIRPORT - DCA

After leaving the aircraft, I have headed to the baggage claim hall

Arrival FIDS, if I had taken my original flight, I would be arriving at midnight so I have saved 3 hours because of a delay on the previous ORD-DCA flight.

My bags had arrived 3-4 minutes after I have arrived to the carousel and they were one of the first ones to come.

Later on, I have headed to the metro station and noticed that single-tracking was active due to construction in process, however, after a 4-5 minute wait the train arrived and I have left the airport.

This report has came to an end.  
Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.