Review of American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Miami in Economy

Intro

The first review of my trip to Cuba consists of American Airlines from Los Angeles to Miami. There were a few aspects that I was not aware of but overall it was a fantastic flight including a free upgrade to Main Cabin Extra. 

how i Booked

After the run around with American Airlines trying to use my trip credit, I finally managed to book this itinerary of Los Angeles to Miami and then onto Havana for 301$. Prices aligned to what every day seems to be on this route. 

All in all, it was a perfect routing to Cuba. I could have taken a shorter connection in Miami but with the longer connection, I was able to watch FP1. 

check in

After learning about the Psychology of… learning, I arrived at 8:05 pm at LAX for my 9:50 departure.  

Due to the number of evening departures, there was a long line to check in at the main cabin area. Since I was traveling to Cuba, I had to check in with an agent. It took 30 minutes to get to the front of the line, meaning it was 8:35 pm. However, they asked me for my QR declaration form once I got to the desk. I had no idea I needed one (completely on me), which meant filling it out at the airport. Well, my Spanish is subpar and it was only in Spanish!!! Thankfully, an agent helped me and I was done by 9:10, 5 minutes before check-in closed.

They asked for my reasoning for traveling to Cuba, and I responded, "Support for the Cuban people". Other than that and the declaration, nothing else was required ?. My boarding pass was given to me (with my old seat of 36F revoked) and I was on the way to security.

Thankfully TSA precheck saved my life, I made it through in 3 minutes.

The next problem presented itself. I went through security at Terminal 5 but my plane was leaving from Gate 47… I picked up my bags and started running again.

boarding/the seat

Eventually, I made it to the gate as group 1 was boarding. The gate agent issued me a new boarding pass, which read, "Seat 10A". Weirdly, I was still in group 6.

Group 6 was called shortly and I made my way onto the bird for tonight.

With a truly remarkable touch from the plane, I made my way onto this Neo.

The seats onboard this A321neo are arranged with 20 First Class seats in a 2 by 2 configuration; the rest is economy in a 3-3 configuration.

I settled into Seat 10A where I found the legroom to be incredible for the economy, I wasn't squished like a sardine at all! The seats are basic, there is a button for reclining on the armrest, a USB port, and a holder for your phone on the seatback.

At least there were individual air vents…

At 9:42 pm the captain came to announce our pushback shortly. He informed us of our flight time of 4 hours and 22 minutes and that there would be some bumps about an hour into the flight.

At 9:47 the jetbridge detached and we thought we would be on our way slightly early. However, we waited and waited and at 10 pm sharp, the jetbridge was reattached. The captain informed us that maintenance had to be let on as there was a "fuzzy computer".

At 10:34 pm we pushed back, 44 minutes late.  

6 minutes later we embarked on our journey to 25R for takeoff. 

The mood lighting was a good touch.

We hurtled down the taxiway at a rate of knots, passing by the Alaska Airlines terminal (flying them in 11 days!).

We were airborne by 10:48 departing West. 

We did a 180-degree turn to head back east to Miami. The A321neo is beautifully lit up.

service/ife

For most of the flight, I slept as it was a short redeye. However, after takeoff, the crew offered some pretzels and a drink of choice. I chose water and had some pretzels. The cabin crew were friendly and efficient and could not have been better for this kind of flight.

Much like other AA flights, Wi-Fi was offered for a fee. IFE was offered as well through your personal entertainment devices. I've yet to use my phone to watch anything on any flight so far.

arrival into miami

At 5:40 local time, I opened my eyes to see a glimpse of the sunrise in the distance. One of life's happiest moments is watching the sunrise from 38,000 feet.

By 6:00 am, we were on final descent into Miami International. 

At 6:10 am we touched down on 8L, 30 ish minutes behind schedule. 

We had a short taxi to our gate, heading past an AA hanger consisting of multiple different aircraft. 

Before finally pulling into our gate at 6:18 am, 41 minutes behind our scheduled arrival time, we parked up next to this 777-200 which was under maintenance. 

Since I was seated quite far forward, I was off the plane by 6:25 am to head off for breakfast before my flight to Havana.