Review of American Airlines flight Washington → Charlotte in Domestic First

Report No: 2020-807

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to this new US domestic First Class mileage run series. As American Airlines does have really good Domestic First Class fares which allows me to get status points for a really good value, so I decided to do mileage runs. This series is my first mileage run series and there would be more US domestic mileage run series coming through this year and next year.

So, the first flight of this journey was onboard the American Airlines Airbus A320 from Washington-DCA to Charlotte. Before this flight, I also had the occasion to visit the American Airlines Admirals Club in Washington DCA Terminal C and this report would cover a brief review of that club.

Here is the routing for this mileage run;

Loads for this flight:

Domestic First: 100%
Main Cabin: 75-80%

As I do not want to reveal the next parts of the report at the moment, about online check-in, I could tell that I was able to check-in for all of my flights once while check-in opened and I was issued mobile boarding passes for all the 5 legs.

WASHINGTON REAGAN AIRPORT - DCA

About 1h before my flight, I have arrived at Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Here are the FIDS for today.

As my flight was departing from Terminal C, I've headed to security over there. The priority lane was open and without no wait I proceeded to the document check and later on to security.

American Airlines ADMIRALS CLUB TERMINAL C - WASHINGTON REAGAN AIRPORT

After security, it was time to visit the American Airlines Admirals Club; on the day I was traveling only the C club was open and the B club was closed.

After scanning my boarding pass at the entrance, the staff asked if I needed any assistance today ( probably she saw my strange routing ) and directed me to another staff as she was explain the process in the club. In the morning, the club was empty and there were 3-4 passengers ( including myself ).

In DCA, the espresso machine was open and fruits were available at the counter. Alternatively, all other drinks could be requested from the bar including water, tea, coffee, and alcoholic beverages. Also passengers could request their complimentary snack box from the bartender.

Here is my selection for that day.

And, here is the snack box content which was different than the snack box that I was handed the previous month in the B club.

GATE AREA & BOARDING

Before boarding, I've left the lounge and headed to the gate area

Boarding pass

Here is N660AW which would be the aircraft taking me to Charlotte.

While I arrived at the gate, pre-boarding had already started which was followed by Group 1 customers. Priorities were respected during the boarding process.

Fuselage shot

AA 400 WASHINGTON REAGAN AIRPORT TO CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS AIRPORT

After being welcomed by the crew, I took my seat 3F which is located in the last row of First Class. The seats onboard this aircraft were the old First Class seats. 

Here is the legroom

At that time our neighbor was N703UW.

Overhead panel

And here is the seat pocket content, the American Way magazine would be reviewed in one of the upcoming reports in this serie.

And, I would also like to mention that all First Class seats had a power outlet and an USB port.

Boarding has been completed on time and the safety demo was done by the crew, after that we started our push back.

Here is the new Terminal C expansion that is planned to open next year. The new gates would be mostly used for American Eagle aircraft.

Here is an American 737-800

And after a short taxi, we were next to the runway and the captain announced that due to the inclement weather in Charlotte, we were not allowed to takeoff and we would wait at this point for a while. A Delta and a Southwest aircraft both heading to Atlanta were also waiting as the weather was also not that good over there.

At that time, I was able to spot the Washington Monument and the Capitol.

Southwest 737

The terminal from where we were at hold

Southwest 737 heading to Chicago-MDW

AA 737-800 heading to Miami

Delta Connection E175 heading to New York La Guardia

American A321neo

American A319

20 minutes later after we started holding, DL and WN aircrafts heading to Atlanta had both took off as the situation over there got better.

About 5 minutes later, the captain announced that the direction of the wind had changed so we would be taxiing to the other end of the runway.

American 737-800 and the new terminal

Terminal C

American Airlines A319

Terminal B

Alaska Airlines aircraft parked at Terminal B

A United Express E170

Terminal A

So, when we arrived here, things got more interesting. The captain announced that we would wait for a minimum of 50 minutes for another update, however, he told that AA staff over there is trying to deal with the CLT airport authorities in order for us to depart earlier as possible.

At that time, this American Eagle aircraft was landing

And, about 30 minutes later, the captain announced that he would restart the engines and we're all set to go. So, we departed with a 1 hour delay.

Washington, DC

And we were over the clouds within a short time after takeoff

On this flight, Wi-Fi and Mobile IFE was available

I've benefitted from the free T-Mobile Wi-Fi service as I was looking alternative flights as most likely I would miss my connection. My original connection time was about 45 minutes and this flight took off with a 1h delay.

Flightradar24 screenshot

If we return to the soft product, American Airlines have adjusted their catering to post-COVID standards and on all flights under 900 miles, in Domestic First, no food would be offered and drinks would be only available on request. As I was thirsty, I hit the call button and asked for water with ice which was promptly served. In addition, alcoholic beverages, tea and coffee were also available; however, due to COVID all drinks are served in plastic cups rather than actual glassware.

Shortly later, the cabin crew came to collect trash and we have started our descend to Charlotte.

And we've landed 25 minutes later than our scheduled arrival time.

After we landed, the cabin crew made the usual landing announcements and in addition,they asked passengers to allow people with tight connections to leave the aircraft first.

Some US military jets

Concourse D

More aircraft in Concourse D

And more

And we had parked to gate C8, 17 minutes before my connecting flight departs, and my next flight would be departing from concourse D.

At that time, I was really nervous as my mileage run could get screwed because of bad weather in Charlotte.
After saying goodbye to the crew I left the aircraft.
Unfortunately, this report has came to an end and my experience would continue in the next report.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.