Welcome all to the domestic FR of this trip between Detroit, South Texas, Sioux Falls and New Orleans.
After 1.5 days in Detroit and a short stop in Windsor, Canada, just because my US colleague… had never been to Canada (!!!), it was time for me to head south to join other colleagues enjoying the advanced spring there (90°F).
My corporate booking tool allows me a short selection, limiting though the selection to the cheapest flights. It is just sad that Southwest is not available (no integration in Amadeus) as they have an interesting network and in-between a product sometimes even better than the majors.
AA had a good offer this time about 1 week before departure between DTW and SAT - just $180 requested. All my other flights afterwards have been for more than $500 one way! The benefit of flying AA for me is also that I have access to the Main Cabin Extra (Premium Economy), 1 piece of hold luggage free and access to the lounge due to my Oneworld Emerald status over BA. That is the best offer for elite passengers among the US3 airlines. UA has no access to the Extra section and DL has no lounge access and a very unclear seat policy.
Recap of the long haul flights before start.
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
I arrived about 90min before my flight in the North Terminal serving all airlines besides Delta and its partners. This terminal is good as well. You have a lot of space and no waiting time at security. This last point is even better than in the Delat terminal that is much more crowded.
I went to the Priority desk to place my 50lbs suitcase into the hold. I was served by a very nice lady who put my boarding passes into a holder with our promotional code for credit card application. Well not for my mam as you need an address in the US but I drop here the picture as someone reading this report might use that code. I suppose this receives an incentive and she deserves it :))
I was still with my colleague going back to Chicago a few minutes later (UA) and didn't take therefore any picture of the waiting area.
My flight arrived perfectly on time from DFW and soon boarding was called.
AA has 7 group numbers with pre-boarding available for families with infants, disable people and US-army on service. As OW Emerald you are in group 3 what ever your seat (First is group 2). On Wallet (iOS) your boarding pass is not blue but in a premium Black color, sweet! In the US boarding process is followed which is appreciated.
Greeting at the door was excellent by the Lead Flight Attendant.
I was in the first row of the Main Cabin Extra. It starts in all aircrafts with row 8, independently of the First class size.
There is only a divider in the B737-800. I knew I would have no seat neighbor and placed directly my backpack under the middle seat. Easier to grad stuff as this is a longer flight with 2-2h30 in the air.
I'm not a fan of first rows. The tablet is integrated in the arm rest which is less convenient and you don't have the tablet holder that equips most of the AA fleet.
Power was very good with a 110V universal socket and a USB-A port per seat.
Push back fully ontime on a superb day to fly!
Take off was to the east, that means direction Detroit downtown but also to the opposite of where we need to fly.
Soon we started a long turn to the right, direction the detroit river which is the name of the water band linking the lake St Clair with the lake Erie and also border between the US (in the north) and Canada (in the south). I know, crazy, but borders are like this around Detroit, Michigan and Ontario. So now you know why Detroit is named like this, it sits on the detroit between these two lakes.
DTW on the right
Grosse Ile, belongs to the US, the cost on the left is Canada. I cannot tell you whether we have stayed only in the US airspace.
DTW again. The north terminal is on the right, the McNamara terminal is the long one between the two main runways.
I went online for the rest of the flight.
You have free messaging and free entertainment on your personal device. This works well. Sometimes you even have 30min of free browsing after displaying an advertising but not on all flights. Web browsing otherwise remains pretty expensive for the length of the flight.
I had a login on this flight and used it therefore. The speed was much better than on my AF flight.
The IFE has a good mix on new releases and iconic older movies.
Live TV and audio tracks are available as well.
All in all a good offer in my opinion.
The service in Main Cabin Extra is similar to regular economy but you have free choice of spirits and beer. So I went for a Tito's soda.
I started the rest of the flight to work online on my PC using the same code. However you can not reuse it on your smartphone afterwards, but that's okay. I just stopped to spot the Toledo Express airport in Ohio.
Rest of the flight was uneventful. Load factor was good but no full. About 80-85%, less in Main Cabin Extra. As always 100% in First with all the free upgrades reserved to the AAdvantage members. Service was a meal this time. I was personally still full of my good breakfast and has no need for it.
Soon the descent started in a kind of foggy DFW. I really like DFW for the great connectivity offered in all the US but the drawback are the several whether events in the year. You may have snow storms, tornados, heavy fog, sand storms… especially tornados are now more and more frequent and will stop the traffic for several hours when spotted around.
We went to park on the C terminal and had to wait 5 min for a gate to become free. We were close to 20min ahead of schedule.
As soon as you arrive at gate the AA app sends you a message to tell you how much time you have till your next flight and where to bord. Great service and great implementation. I wish we would have the same in Europe.
