Hey everybody! This is my first trip report so I hope you all enjoy it. This is from back in January, sorry for just now getting around to posting!

I had to go out to Long Beach for a conference, which isn’t a bad place to be in the second week of January. This was already my second trip to the LA area for the year as I was at the Rose Bowl on January 1st.

Since my company picked up the coach ticket and this was a mix of leisure and business and I was flying across the country I figured I’d indulge myself and shell out what only ended up being around $300 for upgrading to first. The conference I was attending was scheduled Tuesday – Friday and with Monday being MLK Day I decided to fly out to San Diego on Saturday morning to visit some friends before heading up to Long Beach for the week.

Flight 1:
AA 1111 DCA-ORD
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Registration: Too early to get
Load Factor: 100%
Scheduled Departure: 0757

Got up around 0600 for my 0757 flight to ORD. I only live about 10 minutes from DCA so I called for an Uber around 0645 and headed over to catch some of the morning action but wasn’t in too big of hurry. Got dropped off at the AA Priority line and checked my bad through to SAN. We were scheduled to depart out of Gate 45 and as I went down stairs I could tell the security line for that pier was incredibly long, probably the longest I’ve seen it in the year I’ve lived in DC. However, there was absolutely nobody in line for the 23-34 pier so I hopped in line there, cleared and hopped on the transfer bus. DCA was due to get some weather later in the day and I think a lot of people had taken that into account as every flight around mine had an extraordinary long list of stand-by passengers trying to get out of town. That said, I was ready to get out of town as well and get down to the 75F weather in San Diego.

The gate agent called for Group 1 right at 30 minutes before scheduled departure. Once on board, stowed my laptop and got out my headphones and started listening to the LiveATC app on my phone. DCA slows down a little on a Saturday but the morning rush was in full swing. We actually had everybody on board and ready to go about 5 minutes ahead of scheduled departure so they closed the door and we got clearance to push back tail north on to Kilo.
The engines soon came to life and I heard our female co-pilot get taxi clearance to Runway 1 via Kilo 1 and Juliet. I guess we were the last flight of the morning rush as we taxied unabated and as soon as we crossed 4-22 were given our take-off clearance as nothing was landing and no other aircraft were ahead of us. Probably the first and only time that will happen to me at DCA.

We took off to the north and were quickly into the clouds. After about 5 minutes we popped out to a beautiful crisp winter sky with the sun high overhead. My seat mate closed the shade and the Chicago based FA’s on their last of their trip started the cabin service. They came through with the hot towels first and I ordered a Bailey’s and coffee to get the day started. Breakfast was then served consisting of a turkey, egg and cheese sandwich, fruit and a biscuit or croissant. I opted for the biscuit. The sandwich was good, kind of dry so I asked for either some mustard or tobassco but they had neither.

We leveled off at 32,000 feet and cruised uneventfully into Chicago. As we descended I pulled out the LiveATC app again and listened to Chicago Approach bring us in until the wi-fi cut out at 10,000 feet. We came in from the southeast and were given the Runway 28C ILS. It was a crazy cold 2F day in Chicago but it was clear and visibility for miles so I’m not sure why they were giving us an ILS approach, especially when the other side of the field was using visuals.
We landed and were about 40 minutes early due to the extra-long flight times it seems American is now applying to flights. As has been the case on most my flights lately (except at DFW), our gate was still occupied so went to the B Pad for about 15 minutes. We finally pulled into K20 about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. This beat my flight to LAX on New Year’s Day when we landed 35 minutes early and finally got to the gate 10 minutes late…

I knew before leaving DCA that I would be on the same plane for San Diego so I asked the FA if there was any way I could just stay on board but was told that couldn’t happen. No big deal… So I got off and went exploring around O’Hare for about 40 minutes. JA 9 to NRT was going to be departing from K19 next door and AA 289 from K15 to Shanghai so the terminal was packed. Two A321’s to LAX were next to each other, one had been delayed so they were going to end up leaving back to back. Also saw a couple MD-80’s running around which is still good to see.

Grabbed a quick drink at one of the bars and went back just in time for boarding to be called.

Flight 2:
AA 2204 ORD-SAN
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Registration: Forgot to get...
Load Factor: 100%
Scheduled Departure: 1020

Got on board and grabbed my laptop and stowed my carry-on as I had some work which I wanted to get done before getting to San Diego so I could forget about it. We still had the same pilots, who are DC based but a new Chicago based cabin crew. The first class attendant was a very funny, nice gentlemen and came around with PDB’s. Only orange juice and water were offered so I grabbed a water while we finished boarding. The last few bags were loaded and we pushed on-time at 1020. Got the LiveATC app out once again and we were initially told to taxi to 28R and expect a N5 intersection departure. We get in line on November but are then instructed by ATC to get out of line and follow a United 777 to the end for a full length departure. Our pilots seemed confused and asked why but ATC didn’t have the time and just told them to do it. I asked around on a.net and found out this was probably due to the fact that we had three RJ’s behind us and by the time we would have pulled up to N5 the heavy 777 would have been ready at the end which would have caused wake issues for the RJ’s and made ATC have to hold departures for a few extra minutes. Sure enough the RJ’s got out right as us and the 777 reached the end and they took off ahead of us and then we rolled. So kudos to the ORD ATC team for little moves like that to keep everything flowing.

I’m in the railroad industry so I always enjoy flying in and out of Chicago as it is the heartbeat of America’s freight rail network and it is always interesting to see the lines from above.

We made a slight turn to the northwest after take-off then made a turn back to the southwest and headed for sunny SoCal. Lunch was being served on the flight but it was still early and I was still somewhat tired so I opted for another coffee before lunch. Lunch today was two cheese enchiladas and some shrimp so I opted for a Dos Equis to keep with the Mexican flavor. The enchiladas were good, the shrimp was horrible. A lemon dish was served for dessert and was okay.

I ended up working for the majority of flight and did get my project done so that was good. We started our descent into San Diego and landed about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. We pulled into Gate 27 and I made my way down to the baggage claim. This is where I’m going to rant for just a moment: AA’s inability to deliver priority bags first has really gotten old. Flying first and/or having status, that is supposedly one of the perks but everywhere I seem to fly to now a days, it just doesn’t matter. I probably wouldn’t care so much if it didn’t take forever for bags to get to the belt but when it takes 30 min for bags to get unloaded and delivered and then not coming out first like they’re supposed to just irks me and is part of the reason I hate when I have to check a bag.

My friend that picked me up at SAN and I are the last hold outs from our core group of college friends to have a serious girlfriend or get married but he had a surprise for me when he picked me up… So I got to meet his new girlfriend and spend some good time with them. Guess that means I need to get my act together…

Spent three great days in San Diego and headed up to Long Beach on Tuesday afternoon. Took Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner from Old Town San Diego to Santa Ana. Now, being in the railroad industry, I despise Amtrak’s existence, but I can stand behind the Surfliner service between LA and San Diego as the ridership is decent, the line it operates on between Fullerton and San Diego sees very little freight service and the views of the Pacific Coast are incredible.

Also got to tour the LBCT Container Terminal while I was in Long Beach. This is the first mostly automated terminal in the US. Very state of the art and really cool to watch everything happening. The Longshoremen aren’t too thrilled with it but they’ll get over it.

After spending three days in Long Beach, I went up to West Hollywood to see another college buddy for a night before heading back to DC.

Flight 3
AA 2561 LAX-DFW
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Registration: N122NN (Delivered Sept 2014 to AA)
Load Factor: 100%
Scheduled Departure: 1120

Stayed out way too late with my buddy in West Hollywood on Friday night and that meant for a pretty miserable Saturday morning. Flying hungover is one of the worst feelings in my opinion. Took an Uber down to LAX and got there about an hour before departure. Checked my bag and headed through security. I was in a bad mood with a splitting headache and got into an argument with one of the TSA workers who couldn’t stop shouting at people. Of course this got my bag pulled and I was “randomly selected” to get some extra screening. It felt good to finally let those morons know what I think about them though.

When I flew out of LAX after the Rose Bowl two weeks prior, I was with my buddy who is Concierge Key so I got to go up in the Flagship Lounge with him, which would have been nice this morning but instead I had to slum it…

I headed down to Gate 47B and just watched some of the action going on around LAX. The gate agent came on and told everybody the flight was completely sold out and judging by how many carry-ons she saw, everybody in Groups 7 and above would have to gate check their bags. Finally! Whether she truly could judge that or not I was happy to hear her just say that so we wouldn’t have to deal with it when the bins filled up. Usually I think they say Group 7 should consider and 8 would have to but to finally say everybody in Group 7 had to was music to my ears. Saw about 20 or so people get their bags gate checked and we started boarding. I had 1A for this flight and our A321 looked great. FA’s came around and took PDB orders and served them between passengers. We were boarded with the door closed on time but the alley way between Terminal 4 and TBIT was extremely busy. We finally pushed after about 20 minutes. I was sitting next to a NBA referee so he and I chatted a little about the league and my favorite team the OKC Thunder and I gave him some information on spots to go in OKC outside of the normal areas he said he goes to when working a game in OKC.

We taxied out towards the 25’s and to my surprise, crossed 25R and took off from 25L. We made a turn back over the Ports of LA/Long Beach where I had been earlier in the week and headed towards DFW. A nice tasting pasta dish was served for lunch and I watched American Made with Tom Cruise most of the flight. We started our decent into DFW about 30 minutes out and I figured we’d be coming in on 18R but instead were vectored for 17C which was nice so we didn’t have to taxi around DFW too much. We pulled into A19 and then we sat… Apparently the pilots had stopped the plane just short of the mark for the A321 and because of that, the gate agent would not (or could not) move the jet bridge. They had already started unloading bags at this point so they had stop everything, hook up the tug and pull us forward about a foot and a half according to the pilots. Once we deplaned, I headed over to the C27 to catch my flight to DCA.

Flight 4
AA 1632 DFW-DCA
Aircraft: A321
Registration: N586UW (Delivered Feb 20, 2014 to US Airways)
Load Factor: 92%

I got to the gate right about 5 minutes before boarding was supposed to start so I just got in line. As I was standing there, a guy was trying to get a first class upgrade when there were none available. He kept telling the gate agent he didn’t believe her and that he was Executive Platinum and needed to be upgraded. I don’t know what was going through his head but he couldn’t seem to understand he wasn’t getting upgraded. And things got weirder once we got on the plane. He had been given the first row of MCE and after first class boarded there were still two open seats when he got on. He asked the FA if he could move up to which the FA told him only the gate agent could authorize that as he had been told F was full. So the guy grabs his stuff and gets off the plane, everybody was just looking at each other at this point. In the meantime, the other two passengers get to their seats and F is now full. The guy comes back down the jetway about 10 minutes later, slams his stuff in the overhead and sits in his seat pouting like a 2 year old. It was truly unbelievable.

The flight to DCA was pretty uneventful after that. We took off to the south and turned back over Dallas just as the sun was setting. Dinner consisted of a filet of beef which was pretty underwhelming for a steak. It was over cooked and really had no flavor. Our nearly 4 year old plane had no PTV’s or power outlets at the seat so I chatted with my seat mate who was coming home from a football camp and because of his size, his mom let him have her first class seat. He played offensive line like I did back in the day so we talked about that for most the flight.

Came into DCA on what was a nice, clear winter DC evening on time and enjoyed a nice view of the town coming down my favorite approach, the River Visual to 19. Once again priority bags didn’t come out first at the belt but not surprising.

Thanks for the trip report. The Pacific Surfiner - especially the south leg between San Diego and Los Angeles - is an overlooked gem in the Amtrak system, I think. (I agree with you that the system is mostly dogs).

AA seems to have figured out priority bags at hubs but not outstations. At ORD a couple weeks ago, I had my priority-tagged bag 14 (!) minutes after we blocked in. That’s a big change from the not-so-distant past.