intro
Welcome to the final report of this trip!
Following my best flight ever on American Airlines from Dallas to Phoenix, it was time for the final push back to Los Angeles. This flight would see us flying on a very short hop from Phoenix to Los Angeles (LAX) on the first flight of the day.
The routing for this trip is as follows:
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5AA1668- Phoenix-Los Angeles- Domestic First 737-800
After pulling an all-nighter in Phoenix, this flight ticked all of the boxes.
Let's get into it!
how i booked
With Managua fares being outrageous and deciding I wanted to travel through Honduras, I was able to snatch up a great fare on American Airlines to fly Salvador-Dallas-Phoenix-Los Angeles, all for about 480$ per person.
I could have one stopped in Dallas. However, this would allow me to see some friends in Phoenix and get me closer to status on BA!!! Overall, 3 legs for 483$ isn't a bad deal at all.
check-in
It was a long evening in Phoenix, up all night in one of my favorite music studios in the whole world.
Somehow, someway, we made it through the night and embarked on the journey back to Sky Harbour. Phoenix airport is located about 20-30 minutes from most of the city, depending on traffic that is.
Upon arriving at the airport, we didn't need to check in due to having all three boarding passes printed in San Salvador.
We came across the BA counters at the airport as they fly a daily flight LHR-PHX. It's interesting as there aren't too many longhaul one-world flights out of Phoenix.
security wasn't too busy at this hour, at least with pre-check that is.
Sadly, I was not waiting in a non tsa precheck line this morning so I had to wait for my mate to get through. I could barely open my eyes…
Starbucks was in order at this hour since I had a long day ahead of me.
We headed over to our gate while wathcing this gorgeous sunrise. Personally, I am not a fan of Phoenix airport due to the sort of square/rectangular layout. I always seem to get confused😅.
boarding
Boarding commenced promptly at 6:45 am local time with group 1 being called first.
Our 24 year old 737-800, registered as N924AN came into sight. That's an old bird!
It was a little backed up, but no worries here.
Soon enough we were settled right back into the same seats we had been on the past two flights. The only difference with this 737-800 and the A321neo we took from Dallas to Phoenix is the extra row that the A321 has.
Due to how tired I was during this trip, I decided to not review the cabin. However, feel free to check out my review from Havana-Miami on the 737-800 in Business Class.
departure
Shortly before departure, our captain came on to announce our flight time of an hour and 2 mins on this 370 mile hop up to Los Angeles.
The FA came around to take our orders for once we were up in the air. Sadly, no pre-departure beverage was offered.
4 minutes ahead of schedule, at 7:16 am, we pushed back.
It was a toughly 10 minute taxi out to the runway at this hour as we passed by a fellow American Airlines plane.
At 7:27 am, we were wheels up to Los Angeles.
drinks service
Due to us being in the last row, the FA took about 20 minutes until she reached our row. That's actually pretty good time in my opinion considering there are 16 passengers onboard.
As we waited we enjoyed the views out over the deserted land between these two towns. After driving this route last year, it truly is a lot of deserted land…
Soon enough our mimosas arrived. One last rally…
Wasn't exactly one last rally, as the flight attendant constantly came around to offer us more.
The FA working FC came around to offer each passenger a bar. Even if it's light, it's nice to see something healthy (ish) compared to Chips Ahoy etc…
We continued basking in the views for the last time I would enjoy them for 10 days.
arrival
About 40 minutes after takeoff we began our descent into Los Angeles. This flight is extremely short, one minute you are taking off and the next you are landing.
We touched down at 8:36 onto 25L, quite a bit ahead of schedule.
The captain informed the passengers that it would be a little bit of a wait as there was an aircraft at our gate.
At least he was honest, as at 8:47 am, we pulled into gate 54B. Ahead of schedule again AA! I am impressed!
Just like that, I had to get my skates on to get to my 9am class. That concludes the Nicaragua trip! I hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for the Belize trip coming soon and the 737-900 Copa review!
Here is a quick peek at our route today.
Thanks for tuning in to this trip! If you missed it and want to check out anything about the countries, feel free to here!
Nice to have mimosas to tie it in...I dont think I can pull a trick like that any more without being out of service for the rest of the month!
Enjoy while you can!
It's starting to catch up with me though now😅. I was out of service for the next few days, that's for certain😂.
Thanks for stopping by Chibcha, have a wonderful day!
Hah yeah that's AA for your. Will they, won't they? It's always a craps shoot! I remember back in the earlier days of the AA-US merger it was more predictable in that legacy AA crews almost never did PDB services from legacy AA hubs, while legacy US Airways crews always did PDB service...and choice of full bar at that, sometimes even with a snack. Now that crews have been mixed for years, it's easy to see which "traditions" have prevailed...even though theoretically PDBs are part of the service protocols.
That makes sense. Even though AA aren't great, they are the most consistent with First class service and generally have better catering than UA or DL. The cabins aren't as fancy as UA's new "NEXT" F cabins, but those are only on a handful of planes and it'll take UA forever to retrofit the huge narrowbody fleet. DL's F cabins are consistent and have PTVs but have the least space of the Big 3 with seat pitch typically 36-37" vs AA's 38-39". Of course, AS beats them all on comfort and food in F...but AS aren't one of the big US3 so not a fair comparison I suppose.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kevin! Thanks for your comments!
they are, but at the same time I was speaking with the FA from the flight prior, and they aren't paid during boarding. Just seems like a backwards system in general.
this I 100% agree with you on. Those new cabins are stunning, and Bluetooth connectivity as well!
I still need to try Alaska in F, it's a shame since I can't compare at the moment with them. For now I live vicariously through your reviews.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!