I'm glad they took time to clean out the dead bird!!!!
Written: Dec 02 '00 (Updated Dec 02 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: emphasis on safety, comfortable seats
Cons: their choice of movies!!! at least on my flight!
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| kevlog's Full Review: American Airlines |
During my recent California excursion...er...business trip, I flew American Airlines on all four legs of the trip. Here is my overview of the service , safety, and on-board movie (yawn) during the flights.
Our initial flight was from Logan Airport to LA, and some coworkers and I met at the gate in Terminal C, ready, at long last, to make our weeks of California Dreamin' a reality. Suddenly, the dreaded gate attendant's concerned voice came over the loudspeaker. "Ladies and Gentleman, I'm afraid the plane we were planning to use on our flight to LA has been struck by a bird during landing here in Boston...we are assessing damage and will keep you posted." Assessing damage? Oh my God, there must be a hole in the plane, I think to myself. I guess the bird problem is fairly common in Boston (poor feathered friends!) as they can get sucked into the engines during takeoffs and landings. Initially they said we'd be delayed about four hours (NOOOOOO) and then, after learning that they were rushing through several safety checks (did they get ALL the feathers out?) including taking apart portions of the engine and putting it back together, we learned we'd be on our way in an hour. I didn't know whether to be relieved or petrified?
In retrospect, I think American was pretty good about keeping us updated (although I was glued to the terminal windows watching the Pilot's and technician's expressions, looking for clues!) about the tests they were running, and I think the decision to use the same plane was only made after the pilot was completely confident that no bird guts remained in the engine!
We finally left around 9:00 and our flight was pretty uneventful and smooth, although the movie choice (free due to our delay), Autumn in New York, was a bummer...I may to write an epinion on that joke of a movie, no offense to Richard Gere fans. Our breakfast of French Toast was a bit rubbery, but palatable, and my coffee was good, a notch up from usual diner fare! I used my complimentary headphones to listen to the "Best music from THE SIMPSONS" which was hilarious and had me laughing out loud during the flight, making those around me a bit nervous as to my mental state. Hey, at least I'm not flying the plane!
I took American Eagle from LA to San Diego that afternoon, and was thrilled at the personalized service from our single flight attendant on the tiny SAAB propeller plane. He was great, and the folks on the flight deck even sang his praises when addressing us as we flew over the Hollywood Sign (woohoo) and headed to our crusing altitude of 9,000 feet. This flight was just plain fun...I feel safer on the smaller planes for some reason, maybe because I'm closer to the ground.
Our return flights were pretty good as well, minimal turbulence, a slight delay in O'Hare in Chicago due to earlier weather delays, and decent food. I had a piping hot cheese pizza and a nice cold Heineken. The beer was a bit icy, but what the heck? One Heineken exploded all over the flight attendant and the woman seated in front of me but I escaped unscathed. We flew on the so called Super 80 (which my good 'friend' pointed out to me, was the plane Alaskan Air had so much trouble with- yikes!) for both flights home to Boston, and I was comfortable and content the whole flight. No movies on the smaller planes though. No earphones either...just the fine in flight magazine , American Way, which had a great article on Boston restaurants!
Did they lose my luggage? NOPE!! In fact, we missed a connection in LA but the commuter flights from LA to San Diego (American Eagle) run almost every half hour so when we arrived in LA they used the same conveyor belt for all of the flights on that route, and our luggage sat waiting patiently for us. No problems at all with luggage, always a relief.
So, that was my American Airlines experience. I felt they had a good emphasis on safety (the bird incident), good service (every flight attendant I dealt with was pleasant, (although some seemed weary as they're probably overworked), and decent communication with all of us during delays.
Thanks for Reading...Happy Flying! (Oh, my fare from Boston to SD was around 450 dollars round trip, but I believe that includes a discount that our company gets)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kevlog
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Member: Kevin
Location: Southeastern Massachusetts
Reviews written: 233
Trusted by: 283 members
About Me:
I am constantly overwhelmed with the richness of life.
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