My First AA Flight
A little throwback to January 2018, I was on my first USA Tour and I did an American Airlines mile-run which saw me fly on a Boeing 737, McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 and 2x Airbus A321ceo in a days flying from Newark to Chicago to Dallas to Charlotte/Douglas to Newark.
I have shared the MD-80 flight on this website already, I haven't shared the Airbus A321 flights as I did a different Airbus A321 flight a few months later on American, which is on here. But I recently realised I didn't cover my first American Airlines flight which went to that Boeing 737-800!
American Airlines introduced the Boeing 737-800 in 1999 and it has become a firm backbone of the short-haul and medium-haul operations for the airline with over 300 in service complimented in recent times with (at current time) 50x Boeing 737-8MAX with another 80 on order.
Despite recent orders for the Airbus A320neo family and inheriting the US Airways Airbus A320 fleet, American Airlines still seems committed to the Boeing 737, so it looks like the fleet is likely to be in service for years to come, albeit with some older airframes likely to be replaced by in coming Boeing 737-MAX aircraft.
Fancy seeing how my flight on the American Airlines Boeing 737 went? Let's go ahead and throwback!
American 2316: Newark to Chicago!
My flight out of Newark Liberty was a chance to experience another new airport as far as my trip went. I had a night in an Airport hotel just off the Newark Airport, which I got a shuttle bus that morning, it was an early start…
It was early and dark, so I didn't get a lot chance to look around and get many photos, but I did snap this departure board to help me reference where my flight was to leave from- Gate A38. American doesn't have a huge hub at Newark Liberty, but it serves all its major hubs (except the NYC ones) including Chicago O'Hare, Miami, Dallas Fort-Worth, Phoenix and Charlotte-Douglas, just to name a few examples.
My flight that day was to be operated by the Boeing 737-800(WL), N343PN. At the time of this flight it was a relatively new aircraft having being delivered on July 28th 2017, making it only 5 months old at the time of this flight. It has been with American its entire life since delivery with a configuration of 16 Domestic First seats and 144 Economy Class seats.
The dawn had began to rise as we boarded the plane. It was a surprisingly quiet flight for this time in the morning, I thought it would be busier with business travellers and people wanting to connect at Chicago O'Hare (ORD) given its a long-haul hub for AA.
The plane's cabin was quite new and modern. I found the seats nicely comfortable and the IFE Screens for a 3 hour flight was a huge plus for me, especially given what I am used to flying on European short haul economy.
We eventually departed Newark Liberty Airport as the sun began to rise over the New Jersey dockyards. It allowed for some amazing views!
I settled in for the flight over to Chicago from Newark, the mood lighting changed to this orange-red colour which reflected the early morning.
I found at the time American had what was then the most recent series/season of Doctor Who- so I watched the last episode of the series as I had enjoyed the episode. Lots of explosions and blowing up Cybermen being viewed on a plane? Very cool!
The cabin crew offered the service to the economy class passengers, so I opted for a coffee (with creamer) and some biscoff. Not a full substantial breakfast, but its more than most European Airlines offer for free- so I was satisfied. Having coffee creamer was a novelty as in the UK coffee is usually served with milk. I think the flight was too short to offer extra food from the buy on board.
There were some inflight magazines to read as well as a power port for charging any portable devices, you can just see it to the left of my coffee, look for the bright green light.
I took a quick stroll to the back of the plane to use the toilet, before heading back to my seat I grabbed an interesting cabin shot from the rear of the plane as well as a shot of the galley.
It didn't take long for the flight to start coming to an end, we made our decent over Lake Michigan. It was late January, so it goes without saying that Chicago was clearly "all wintered up" with snow visible across the city.
We landed and taxied off towards our gate, passing another pushed back American Boeing 737-800. I have no doubt that Chicago O'Hare is better equipped for snowy weather than London Heathrow ever would be!
Chicago O'Hare is definitely a major hub for both American Airlines and United Airlines, we passed the United concourse on our way to the American Airlines concourse for our arrival and connections.
After we parked up, I grabbed the chance to get a shot of the economy class row I was seated in, as well as the now empty First Class cabin just to show a comparison of the seats in both cabins of this Boeing 737-800.
I would like to make a flight in American Airlines domestic first, just to say that I've done it. One day it might happen, I can hope!
I mentioned it was my first time flying on American Airlines and that I was keen to visit the flight deck for a minute, and the crew were more than happy for me to come in, and they allowed me to grab a shot of the Boeing 737-800 flight deck. It looked amazing!
I thanked them for a good flight and allowing me to visit, and wished them a good day with their onward journeys.
Leaving the aircraft, I made my way out the jet bridge and into the arrivals at Chicago O'Hare, flying domestically- I just had to find my Gate and find the next plane for my AA Mile-Run.
I grabbed one last shot of the Boeing 737-800 I just spent nearly three hours on, getting this cool shot of it on my GoPro with the morning sun shining behind it on this clear winter morning. I was glad to be inside Chicago O'Hare and not going outside!
If anyone is interested, the four flights I got came to roughly £154 at the time I booked them in the summer of 2017. Originally I was doing the flights to and from New York JFK, but schedule changes nearer the time meant I had to change up my itinerary which American was happy to honour and I got the line-up to/from Newark I flew on this trip.
