American Airlines: Orlando to London Heathrow (via Dallas)

Last month, I decided to book a trip home in between my studies in Florida, and eventually settled on American Airlines, travelling from Orlando to London Heathrow (via Dallas Fort/Worth). It wasn’t the most direct route I could have chosen but I had specific times at which I could travel and I was limited to just a few flights at the cheapest possible price.

On Friday 24 July, I arrived at Orlando International at around 2.30pm for flight 1457 to Dallas, which would depart at 4.50pm. Before reaching the check-in desk, passengers must print their boarding cards at the self-service machines, which I did. It took only a couple of minutes and there was a queue of just three passengers to then join. The lady at the desk confirmed that my flight was on time and she checked my bag all the way through to London. For those flying on domestic and short haul routes, there is now a $15 charge for baggage, which I found to be a little steep, especially considering that the airline isn’t exactly low cost! Fortunately, for international travellers, they allow two items of checked baggage and two items of cabin baggage (which can be up to 18kg in weight).

Waiting at gate 16 for my flight, it wasn’t long before the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 (N951TW) arrived and the passengers disembarked. By 4.30pm, boarding was well under way, but it was clear that not all of the 33 standby passengers would make it onto the already very full flight. Having never flown on the MD-80 before, I found the entrance quite cramped, and the 2-3 seating configuration unusual! I sat in seat 24A, and whilst waiting, had a look at a magazine from the seatback pocket. The pocket was full of sweet and crisp wrappers and I then noticed crumbs and a coffee ring on my table – nice! This aircraft hadn’t had much of a clean between flights.
It was 5.00pm by the time we pushed back, but the engines started quickly and we were soon taxiing to the runway, which took only three or four minutes, and with no aircraft ahead of us, the aircraft taxied straight on, full power was applied, and we sped down the runway, taking a little while to become airborne.

Our cruise altitude for today’s flight was 32,000ft and our estimated flight time was 2 hours 19 minutes. Not long after reaching the cruise altitude, the inflight service began, which isn’t up to much on domestic services. Beverages (soft drinks and hot drinks) are free for economy class passengers but alcohol is $6 and there is a choice of just four snacks on offer, priced at either $3 or $4. I had a glass of water and then listened to my MP3 player since there was little else to do on this flight; no TV and no radio.

The flight went surprisingly quickly and we were updated by the flight deck, being told to expect a 6.30pm arrival in Dallas, dependent upon the traffic. We touched down and taxied to terminal C, where we had to wait a few minutes for our gate to be vacated. Once parked up, we disembarked quickly. I looked at the screen at the gate and saw that this MD-80 was departing to San Francisco about an hour later.

I now had around 40 minutes to get to terminal D for my flight to London, which was AA78, leaving at 7.20pm. The excellent Skytrain at Fort Worth made movement between the terminals a breeze and it meant that there was no need to pass through security again. Trains arrive every one to two minutes and I was at my gate in no time at all.

Boarding for this flight, tonight operated by a Boeing 767-300 (N383AN), did not commence until around 7.10pm, and that took quite some time. It was not until 7.50pm that the doors were closed and the aircraft pushed back. Non-stop announcements from the flight attendants blamed our delay on passengers who were still standing in the aisles. As one passenger stood up (again), the flight attendant stopped her announcement and bellowed, “No, don’t stand up!” before continuing. The flight was about 95% but the seat next to me was vacant, which meant that I could travel a little more comfortable, and not feel guilty about having to wake up another passenger if I needed the toilet!

The updates from the flight deck were kept to a minimum throughout the flight and it was actually one of the flight attendants who told us that our flight time would be 8 hours 57 minutes. The flight attendants on this flight and on the last one mostly appeared to be well into their fifties and there were a couple who seemed rather large, with weight definitely not in proportion to height!

Once in the cruise at 35,000ft, the inflight entertainment started on the screens around the cabin. Unfortunately, this rather dated 767 did not have individual screens. The two films shown were ‘Hotel For Dogs’ and ‘Ice Age 2’, which surprised me. I couldn’t understand the point of showing two children’s films! Some of the airline’s radio channels were pretty good, however.
The meal service soon got under way and we were offered a choice of beef with mashed potato or chicken with rice. I decided on the chicken, which wasn’t too good, but it was edible. The rice contained pieces of carrot and a few peas and lump of brown slop had been thrown on top of that and the few pieces of chicken. It took about three mouthfuls to eat this tiny portion. A salad with dressing was served with the meal, along with a piece of cheese, bread and butter, crackers and a dessert, which was just some bland cinnamon and oatmeal biscuit.

I managed to get a few hours of sleep on the flight and woke to find breakfast had been left on the table for me. It was nothing exciting, just a warm croissant with jam and butter, a yoghurt and a carton of juice. As I ate the breakfast, the captain spoke and said we could expect to land in London in about an hour at around 11.00am local time – 15 minutes behind schedule.

I watched the moving map and looked out of the window for the last hour and saw that we had flown over Land’s End and then along the south coast as far as the Isle of Wight before heading inland towards London. The views over London on this almost clear morning were incredible (as always) and all the usual sights could be seen, which, even for a Brit, can be quite exciting. With London behind us, it was not long before we landed on runway 27R at Heathrow.

After taxiing off of the runway, we were only seconds away from the gate and were soon disembarking, which again happened very quickly. By 11.30am, just thirty minutes after landing, I had reached the arrivals hall. The unusually efficient baggage delivery was a surprise, as was the empty immigration hall.

So, all in all, another couple of average flights with American Airlines. If it is value you are after, then they are definitely the airline to travel with. If you are expecting more than just a seat – such as staff willing to the extra mile to satisfy you, good food and good entertainment – you can do much better.
I am flying with them again on Saturday morning’s 8.30am flight to New York before travelling back down to Orlando after a four hour layover.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl_edFsoPYE