Review of American Airlines flight Dallas/Fort Worth → Washington in Domestic First

 After an early morning departure out of Durango, it was time to head through Dallas to get to my final destination, Washington DCA. I was especially excited about this flight since it was operated by an A321B, which has American Airlines' "fully equipped" domestic first class product complete with personal IFE screens and super comfy seats with great legroom. Oh, and did I mention there is a bulkhead wall ;-)! Anyways, once I landed from Durango, I took the (super fast!) Skylink to the A gates and sat at Starbucks for most of my layover. While wandering through the airport, I spotted a few of the now retired AA MD80s. It was lovely to see the old American one last time. 

When I got to my gate, I noticed that it was packed with a lot of confused people due to the flight being oversold by 10 people. It was a huge task for the gate agents to assign boarding passes to people without seat assignments as well as finding people willing to take compensation for taking a later flight. Due to that, we only started boarding at the time we were supposed to take off. As I walked onboard, I was greeted by a friendly flight attendant. I quickly stowed my luggage and took my seat. 

I couldn't help but be impressed by this LAA A321. The seat had drink two holders (one that comes out from between the seats and one that comes down between the seats in front) and storage comprised of a laptop storage compartment under the armrest and a large seatback pocket. Pre-departure beverages of choice were offered-I had a Diet Sierra Mist. 

As we pushed back, the safety video was screened. After a 10 minute taxi, we were airborne. 

While climbing, I browsed the entertainment selection, which was pretty good and more than sufficient for a short midcon. I especially liked the moving map. The service commenced 20 minutes after takeoff with food and drink orders. My Diet Coke with lime came along with the customary warm nuts. 

Hot towels were then distributed. 

The food options were an enchilada or a mezze. My pre-ordered mezze was confirmed and 15 minutes later it arrived. Unfortunately it wasn't that great, though the warm sourdough from the bread basket was surprisingly decent. 

I was immediately jealous of my neighbor who had ordered a special meal, which smelled really good. The dessert was a warm cookie, which tasted pretty good. I was even offered a second one. I happily took the flight attendant up on that offer. I had a coffee to go along with my meal. Am I the only one who thinks that AA's mugs are way too small?! Multiple drink refills were offered throughout the flight.

30 minutes out, the flight attendants were told to prepare the cabin for landing early and to take their seats due to turbulence. Soon, we were descending into DCA from the south. We even flew right over IAD, which was pretty cool. A short while later, we were on the river visual, which I was very happy about. As we descended over the Potomac, we had views of the Georgetown waterfront, Kennedy Center, Washington Monument, and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. 

We had quite a hard landing followed by a short taxi to our gate. I was also lucky enough to get to see an Alaska Airlines A321neo with the "More to Love" Virgin America merger livery. I bid farewell to the crew and headed towards the exit.
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