Review of American Airlines flight from Lisbon to Philadelphia in Economy

introduction

Welcome to another exciting trip report! Today I'll be heading back to the states after spending a few wonderful weeks exploring Spain & Portugal. For my journey back to the US I'll be traveling with American Airlines onboard their Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in main cabin. 

Lisbon, Portugal ??

My stay in Lisbon happened to be in the spring time so I managed to experience the beauty of Lisbon even more with the streets and parks covered by beautiful blooming flowers.

We enjoyed eating tons of pasteis de nata while in Lisbon & Porto which Portugal is well known for. ?

Then came my last afternoon which I came to this beautiful park overlooking the beautiful city.

arrival at airport

It's the next morning and we got up bright and early to catch our 11am transatlantic flight. We made it to the airport via the very efficient public metro system from the city center which only took about 35 minutes to get here.

check-in hall

First impressions of the terminal was that it was bright, open, clean and had very well signage in both Portuguese and English.

Since we had checked in online and had no baggage to check in, we proceeded straight through security later followed by passport control. 

We first had to go through general security which went by smoothly and only took about 15 minutes. 

Later followed the mandatory European duty-free walk through. 

Afterwards we had to head over the international gates area to get our exit passport stamp.

My flight is AA259 which still shows an on time departure of 11:05.

Passport control took a while unfortunately. There were hundreds of people (if not more than a thousand at least) in line and only three officers working the desks. Luckily we arrived 3 hours before our flight and we had somewhat plenty of time. The same can't be said for other  passengers especially ones that were traveling with United that were cutting in line to avoid missing their flight. 

gate area

The gate areas here airside at this airport are not the best in fact probably some of the worst I've been through in Europe so far. There's a lack of seating at every gate with a mere 30 or so. Which leads to hundreds of people just standing around waiting to board their flight at each gate which could create mayhem. Just before boarding I noticed that our aircraft was not at the gate which I thought was peculiar. Later the announcement came that we will be boarding our plane at a remote stand via busses. This was a delightful surprise as I love boarding planes by bus, especially wide bodies ?.

Boarding

We soon commenced with boarding on time. Since I had an AAdvantage account, I boarded with group 6. 

Throughout the short bus ride my eyes were just glued to the windows seeing what planes I can spot, anyone can relate? haha.

Some information about my plane:
Flight number: AA 259
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
Registration: N826AN
Delivered: May 2, 2017
Age: 6.6 years

You really get to appreciate the immense size of these jets especially when seeing them upfront from this angle. 

onboard

Made it to my seat 31A. Since I booked a basic economy ticket I was randomly assigned this seat. However I was grateful that I even got a window seat and not stuck in a dreaded middle seat. ?

A decent size PTV's which is a must on long haul flights now in days ?.

Legroom is pretty good, these seats offer 31" of pitch. I'm 5'9" or 176cm for reference.

My view for the next 7 hours! With another busload of passengers still left to board. This flight will ultimately be 100% full. 

An A330-200 (CS-TOO) will be departing later on today for Fortaleza (FOR) Flight time: 7h 10m

An Embraer E190LR (CS-TPR) departing for Gran Canaria (LPA) Fight time: 2h 2m

A Transavia B737-800 departing for Eindhoven (EIN) Flt time: 2h 26m

Boarding is finally complete.

Once everyone was seated, the FA's passed out complimentary headphones. I however stuck with my Delta's headphones which were far superior than these. 

Shortly after the safety video was played.

pushback

We pushed back with a little bit of a delay however the captain reassured us that we'd make up the time in the air for an on time arrival.

An A330-900 (CS-TUJ) will be departing later on today for Salvador (SSA) Flight time: 7h 54 m

Aegean Airlines A320N arriving from Athens (ATH) Flight time: 4h 18m

Air Europa B737-800 departing for Madrid (MAD) Flight time: 54m

Lufthansa A321NX arriving from Munich (MUC) Flight time: 2h 56m

As we were taxing towards the runway, we passed these apartment buildings that were very close to the taxiway. I couldn't help but only imagining that if I'd live there I would be doing plane spotting night and day ?. 

Iberia A320 landing from Madrid. Flight time: 54 min

takeoff

Lining up on runway 21 for takeoff.

Praça do Comércio

Costa de Caparica

Coastal city of Cascais.

The last we'll see of land until we reach the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Shortly after about 35 minutes into flight, the FA's dimmed and locked the windows. This is one of my major pet peeves about flying on the Dreamliner to be honest especially when flying on AA. They are notorious for locking windows and keeping them locked for pretty much the entire flight which is sadly the case with this one.   

After some turbulence had subsided, the smell of food filled the cabin which signified the start of the lunch service aboard. 

lunch service

Options for lunch today were chicken or pasta, I went for the chicken. Th meal also contained a side salad, a bread roll (not warmed), cheese and crackers, chocolate cake and a small bottle of water. 

Shortly after the drink trolley came by and I went for a red wine which paired perfectly with the dish.

The chicken was tender and very flavorful. The dish also contained a bit of vegetables and couscous pasta which were cooked perfectly. 

The salad was crispy and fresh as one would expect.

And dessert lastly was sweet and delicious as well. A perfect was to finish the meal :)

Overall the meal was great and very filling. Quite impressed with AA for the catering on this flight so far.

After the trays were collected, the FA's came by once again with the drink trolley and offered any additional drinks to passengers. I went for a Goode ole coke ?.

I wanted to make use of the universal power outlet but it did not stay on its own so I could charge my laptop with. 

Had to improvise and make use of the can for something right? ? It worked quite well afterwards. Though my seat neighbors thought I was crazy. 

mid flight

After the meal service, I decided to take a nap for a few hours as we flew over the northern Atlantic. 

Some time during the middle of the flight the FA's came by through the cabin offering ice cream and water.

This was a nice gesture however the ice cream was rock hard and difficult to eat. The FA's should have removed them from the dry ice for some time before serving it but that's just my opinion. 

After flying over open ocean for some time, we finally reached the Canadian province of New Foundland & Labrador.

Shortly after the cabin lights were turned on to signify the start of the pre-arrival service.

Inflight Entertainment system

Before the meal service, let's explore what AA has to offer on their IFE systems. 

There's an impressive amount of movies, TV shows and amazing interactive map to definitely keep you entertained on a flight of this length.  

Shortly afterwards the FA's finally unlocked the windows so I can better appreciate the views outside. 

pre-arrival service

Today's pre-arrival service consisted of a sandwich and a cocoa bar. Options for sandwich were chicken or vegetarian however by the time the FA's reached my row there was only vegetarian option left.

The sandwich was underwhelming unfortunately. It lacked filling and flavor which made it taste like a regular bread roll. 

We finally reached the US coast by first flying over Chatham, Cape Cod.

The FA's came by one last time through the cabin offering drinks. I went for a coffee.

initial descent

Shortly after we began our initial descent into Philadelphia. 

Flying over central New Jersey.

We'd be landing on runway 27R.

Welcome to Philadelphia ??!

Looks like some letters fell off ?.

We arrived at the gate only 5 minutes behind schedule.

deplaning

A brief look at the premium economy cabin.

One last look at our Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, thanks for the safe journey!

We parked next to this B787-8 Dreamliner just arriving from Madrid. 

This concludes the trip report, thanks for reading & safe travels!