American Airlines AA4781
Washington, DC (DCA) — New York (JFK)
Friday, March 29
Depart: 5:37PM
Arrive: 7:00PM
Duration: 01hr, 9min
Aircraft: Embraer E175
Seat: 2A (First Class)
For a quick weekend trip up to NYC to see An Enemy of the People I booked a ticket on American Airlines and received a complimentary upgrade thanks to my Alaska Airlines MVP 100K status.
Admirals Club DCA (Terminal C)
I arrived at DCA two hours before my scheduled flight. Which is earlier than I normally arrive at airports nowadays but had some work to finish up and wanted to beat the rush hour traffic leaving DC.
I proceeded to the Clear line where I waited longer than it would’ve taken to just use Pre-Check…
Once through security I headed straight to the Admirals Club at the C terminal, as this was the lounge closest to my departure gate.
After taking the elevator up, I presented my boarding pass and my Citi AAdvantage Executive Mastercard, and was granted access to the lounge.
This club is the former US Airways club, and it is fairly small and was a bit crowded (not anything like an overcrowded skyclub though…)
Like most Admirals clubs the hot food selection is limited. Hot options inlcluded Thai style noodles and chicken, two soups. Cold options included cheese cubes, hummus, cured meats, and of course the Mastercard sponsored chips and guac!
I hadn't had anything to eat yet, so of course had to enjoy some “fresh” chips and guac. They let you add onions, tomatoes, jalapeños, cheese, and cilantro. Of which I added all but the jalapeños.
The “sweet treat” selection was solid with French macaroons (my favorite), brownies, doughnut balls, and some small assorted cakes.
Finding an open seat was slightly challenging as the main room was filled and a fair bit loud. I ended up setting up in the “business center” where there were a couple couches and a few cubicles. Including one with an iMac.
I also discovered another smaller room on the way out that was near the entrance that seemed to be lesser known.
About 10 minutes before boarding was supposed to being I got an already from Flighty that the tail of our aircraft had changed, which seemed strange so close to departure time, and ended up leading to an hour delay.
I left the lounge, and took the short walk over to the gate not yet being aware of the delay that would ensue.
American Eagle (Operated by Republic Airways) E175
I arrived at the gate to find out that the aircraft we had been swapped to was only just deplaning. It wasn’t obvious yet that there was any problem, so I sat down at the gate instead of returning to the lounge.
Not long after taking a seat I got a notification from flighty that the flight was delayed. Interestingly the gate agent never made any sort of announcements for the delay and just said that boarding would begin soon to the people who came up and asked what was going on.
I checked ExpertFlyer and found that the delay was due to maintenance. They kept doing delays in 15 minute incriminates, and with the American Airlines app not always sending boarding notifications at the right time, I made the decision to keep waiting at the gate instead of going back up to the Admirals Club.
Around 6:30pm we finally began boarding, with Concierage Key followed by First Class being called.
With no Concierage Key’s coming up, I was first on.
I was seated in 2A for this short flight up to JFK. 2A is my preferred seat on the E175 in First, since it is one of the single seats in the E175’s 1-2 configuration in First.
Despite the delay, the friendly flight attendant working the First cabin came around and did pre-departure beverage service and came around to hang coasts (Delta could take some notes here…).
I kept it light with a club soda.
Leg room is ample in first, and having a single seat is great. The best of both worlds for window/aisle.
Boarding was completed quickly, and we were soon off the gate. With a quick taxi to the runway we were off to JFK about an hour late.
It was a beautiful clear evening for this sunset flight!
Normally I always grab aisle seats so don’t get the opportunity to look out the window or take photos. So it was really nice to have a window on this gorgeous evening.
The captain quickly turned off the seatbelt sign and the FA came around to do a quick beverage and snack service for First. Main cabin does not receive any service on this flight. Snack choices were between mixed nuts and biscoff. I passed on both, ordering just another club soda.
I caught up on some reading, and before long we were on approach to JFK.
Once landing at JFK we had a quick taxi over to Terminal 8. With just a slight hold for a passing American 777 heading out to Europe.
Conclusion
Despite the hour delay on this flight, it was over all pleasent and standard for this route. Having the single seat on the A side of the aircraft makes the journey just that much more comfortable. Service was wonderful. Despite American always seeming to get a bad rap for it’s crews, in my short time having defected from Delta, the crews have been much better and more service oriented than most of the crews I encountered in the last year of flying Delta. I certainly do not hesitate to fly American again.