Review of American Airlines flight from Miami to Dallas/Fort Worth in Domestic First

Report No: 2020-810

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.

The fourth flight of this series would be onboard the American Airlines 737-800 from Miami to Dallas Forth Worth which is actually a flight that connects two major hubs of American Airlines. When I originally booked this flight, I have preferred to take a flight from MIA to DFW to try the American Airlines Flagship First Class seats onboard the 777-300ER which is offered as Domestic First onboard this route, however, I ended up with a 737-800 with Project Oasis seats. Although an equipment change allows a full refund or a free change on American Airlines, I didn't touch the routing as I was maximizing mileage at this route. Unfortunately, I didn't find worth it to visit the Admirals Club in MIA this time as my connection was short, however, you could find a post-COVID review of the MIA Admirals Club here.

Here is the routing for this mileage run;

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Loads for this flight

Domestic First: %45-50
Main Cabin: %20-25

MIAMI AIRPORT - MIA

While I arrived at the airport, I checked the FIDS. As MIA-DFW is a strategic route for American, they are still offering numerous of daily flights with some of them being on wide-bodies. As I also mentioned before, I was unable to fit a wide-body into my schedule as the only wide-body aircraft that day on this route was a 08:00ish departure from MIA.

MIA was empty with more shops open compared to my previous visit. The duty free was also open, however, with only a few international flights departing from MIA, it was empty.

And, it was time to take the SkyTrain to gate D16

Here is the concession list of MIA. There are many options available at the North Terminal, although most of the merchants were closed.

FIDS one more time

And the SkyTrain was empty during my ride.

After arriving at Station 1, I was able to spot this American 777-200ER approaching the terminal

And, N907NN was visible at that time, this would be the aircraft taking me to Dallas-DFW.

Another view of N907NN

GATE AREA & BOARDING

Boarding was made according to group numbers as American Airlines does not follow the back-to-front model like some other carriers. On this flight, boarding started a bit later than the scheduled time, however, as there were only a few passengers onboard, it was completed really fast.

Hand sanitizers were present at the gate

AA 2555 MIAMI AIRPORT TO DALLAS FORT WORTH AIRPORT

After being welcomed by the crew and being handed a snack bag, I have headed to my seat 4F.

Although the Project Oasis seat looks similar to the Project Kodiak seats, it has a narrower legroom and the fact that there is no actual divider between First and Main Cabin decreases the value of being in a premium cabin.

Here is a view from the window.

Overhead panel

Here is the snack bag that was provided to me during boarding. American offers snacks bag both to First and Main Cabin passengers on flights that are over 900 miles. The previous three flights on this series were shorter than 900 miles so no food was offered.

The bag had a water, a Biscoff cookie and a hand sanitizing wipe.

If we return to the seat, the seat had a power outlet and a USB port under the armrest.

And now it's time to cover the American Way magazine.
Starting with the news that American had moved to Terminal 5 in Heathrow. It's nice to have both BA and AA under the same roof, however, unless this change is temporary, this might mean that AA's new Flagship Lounge project in LHR is cancelled.

Here is the fleet of American Airlines.

American Airlines phased out their 757's, 767's and A330-300's during COVID. I was lucky to try the American 757 last winter and I would post a report of that flight later in the year, if I'm out of recent reports.

Airport terminal maps

And American destinations in the eastern part of the US

IFE options, including movies, TV shows, Apple Music and Wi-Fi

And after reviewing the American Way magazine, boarding was completed and we had started our push back

And after a short taxi, we were in the air

North Terminal, concourse D

A view of the airport

Aerolinas Argentinas, TAP Portugal, Frontier, LATAM and Avianca aircrafts that are parked at the South Terminal

And downtown Miami

Miami Cruise Terminal

South Beach

And shortly later we turned northwards

Fort Lauderdale Airport

Like the previous flight, this aircraft was also equipped with the Viasat IFE system

The pricing for Wi-Fi was the same like the previous flight

Apple Music and live TV was free of charge

Live TV channel options

And a last shot from the window for now, as I was going to close my window blind.

Shortly later, the crew appeared to take drink orders. I've opted for a Bloody Mary which was promptly served. At that time, I asked about if there was the turkey sandwich and cheese plate options which are stated in the AA website. The crew apologized from me as she thought that no food was loaded except the snack bags.

After a minute, the crew came to me and told me that the sandwich and the cheese plate was actually loaded on the flight and started to offer First Class passengers their meals.

On this flight I have opted for the Turkey Havarti Argula Sandwich option. Pre-COVID, this sandwich was on American's Buy on Board menu for Main Cabin passengers.

The sandwich was served with a Ghirardelli chocolate and a pack of mayo.

The sandwich tasted good.

In this case, I would like to thank American Airlines for offering a refreshment style meal onboard their flights over 900 miles as all other USA based carriers only offer snack onboard their longer US domestic flights ( excluding premium transcon routes ) .

The crew also came for drink refills throughout the flight, I've opted for a tomato juice.

During my visit at the front lavatory, I have realized that it was clean which is a nice touch. It's nice to see that US carriers now care more about the cleanliness of their lavatories as in the pre-COVID era, American was the carrier that I was consistently seeing dirty lavatories.

For the rest of the flight, I have watched some TV shows on the mobile IFE system and while we were approaching DFW, I have opened my window blind.

Central Dallas

Dallas Love Field Airport which is the secondary airport of Dallas which is the home of Southwest Airlines. Although, it is much closer to the city.

Downtown Dallas from another angle

Another shot of DAL

Addison Airport which is usually used by private jets and aviation academy aircraft

Beautiful landscape as we descend

DFW is now visible

And we touched down ahead of schedule.

As we have landed to the most outermost runway set, it took about 10 minutes to taxi to our gate.

American hangar at DFW

The ATC at DFW

Some American aircraft parked at remote stands

An American A321-200 at a remote stand

A view of Terminal A

And we had parked at gate C12 next to this Boeing 737-800

DALLAS FORT WORTH AIRPORT - DFW

After saying goodbye to the crew, I have left the aircraft and I was inside DFW for the first time.

Here is a last shot of the aircraft that brought me to Dallas.

The series would continue in the next and last report which would be posted soon.
Once again, thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.