I was off to Charlotte, North Carolina, a state I didn’t know.

I made the reservation on my company’s Self Booking Tool, Concur, about a week before the departure for Charlotte.

Once the ticket was issued, I upgraded 2 of the 3 segments of my ticket on the American Airlines website, the last segment not being available for upgrade. I imagine this is the case for flights that are usually quite full in First class.

As a reminder, here is the itinerary followed:

Check-in

I checked in for my flights to Philadelphia and Charlotte about 24 hours before departure. On the morning of departure, when I woke up, I received a notification that my flight from Philadelphia to Charlotte had been delayed by around 30 minutes.

This was followed by another notification, this time of a three-hour delay, then a four-hour delay from Philadelphia. I would see what I can do when I get to the airport, since the set of proposals issued by the American Airlines application was limited to Tuesday, and I absolutely had to be in Charlotte on Monday evening.

So I got to the airport about 1 hour 45 minutes before my flight to Philadelphia. I had hoped to use an Uber, but the long wait forced me to use, as usual, the Silver Line of the Boston transit system.

Ground experience and lounge

I arrived at the airport just under 1h30 before my flight to Philadelphia. TSA was deserted and I was airside in less than 2 minutes. Especially as I could use one of the lines with the new scanners, which meant I did not have to take my electronics and liquids out.

I then made my way to the Admirals Club near gate B4, which had already been multi-reported here.

As usual, the welcome was charming. I settled in, then go went to reception to see if I could be put on the waiting list for a previous flight out of Philadelphia: I was offered to move to the direct flight to Charlotte, which I accepted, as I wanted to get to my destination as quickly as possible. So I was rebooked on the direct flight.

I spent a few hours in the lounge, and was surprised by the boarding notification for my flight.

Boarding

My flight today departed from gate B18, located in the second part of terminal B, a few minutes’ walk from the lounge.

When I arrived, group 4 boarding ended and I proceeded directly to the gate.

Cabin and welcome

The cabin of this domestic A321 is very modern. The First cabin has 5 rows of 2-2 recliners.

The economy cabin, on the other hand, has a 3-3 configuration and very modern, comfortable seats. The pitch is reasonable and comfortable for me.

We left the gate a few minutes before our rescheduled departure time.

Service and catering

The service started about fifteen minutes after take-off… but was soon interrupted by the heavy turbulence that shook the flight in its first part.

Arrival and disembarkation

We arrived at the gate just under an hour behind schedule, which was quite a good performance considering the average delays experienced that day. For the record, the flight on which I was originally scheduled arrived almost 11 hours behind schedule.

Bottom line

An uneventful flight, with a quality hard product at an acceptable pitch, but no service, which in my humble opinion would have been possible between the turbulence. Too bad.

Articles similaires

American Airlines Domestic First, Indianapolis – Boston Logan, Embraer 175: A little long a regional aircraft American Airlines Domestic First, Boston Logan – New-York JFK, Embraer 175: Subpar service but exceptional punctuality American Airlines Domestic First, New-York JFK – Boston Logan, Embraer E175: Very good service American Airlines Domestic First, Boston Logan – New-York JFK, Embraer 175: OK flight but unacceptable delays American Airlines Domestic First, Boston Logan – Chicago O’Hare, Boeing 737-800: Excellent crew United Domestic First, Boston Logan – Washington Dulles, Boeing 737 MAX 9: Solid but delayed