I rather enjoy an afternoon flight with the ever changing sky providing a visual feast for the eyes. When you’re flying over another country, it’s even better as you get to see things you might not usually see.
Since there is no lounge in Cleveland for American Airlines passengers, I waited at the gate and documented my aircraft coming in. After amusing myself with that, it was time for boarding and since I was in Group 1 I was on board swiftly.
AA4703 – Cleveland to New York (CLE-JFK)
11 February 2023
Embraer 175 – N448YX
Seat: First Class 1A
Departure: 15:47 Arrival: 17:29
First class comprises of four rows of seats, laid out with one on the left and two on the right, as you can see in the seat map here. I stowed my messenger bag overhead and relaxed while other passengers boarded, dodging the occasional piece of luggage that seemed hellbent on slamming into my legs or shoulders.
Time To Go
People were on board pretty swiftly and with practiced efficiency we were soon ready to go. After the safety demonstration, we headed out to the runway and were on our way.
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- Sitting pretty – I’m 5’7″, so if you’re taller maybe avoid row 1.
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- Bye bye jetbridge!
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- Pushing back from Cleveland.
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- A review of the safety card.
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- The flipside.
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- Into the sky we go!
Happily the pilot announced it would be smooth sailing all the way to New York. That made a nice change from a couple of flights on a previous trip where the seatbelt sign stayed on all the time, with exactly none of the expected hardcore turbulence.
A Lovely Afternoon Flight
What does one do when sitting around on an afternoon flight? Well, you have a cheeky drink and watch the world go by. Since I was flying on a short flight in the USA, there is no proper meal service, which is a shame. Airlines in Europe and Australia give you a meal no matter how short the flight, but hey, it is what it is.
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- Oh hello Lake Erie!
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- A Mimosa, because orange juice is the only way to make the AA sparkling wine palatable.
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- Look outside…
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- … a wrinkled landscape.
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- Toilet / Bathroom / WC – take your pick!
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- Approaching New York.
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- It’s JFK airport, which we passed before turning around to land.
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- Final approach, complete with sunset and ships.
There’s a lot of pleasure to be had when you’re not contactable and can just relax and truly enjoy the moment. Of course, it all came to an end when we landed in New York and I headed off to get my connecting flight to London.
Overall Thoughts
The short flights on American Airlines do the job of getting you from A to B without too much fuss. In Cleveland I found all the AA employees to be very nice and on board it was the same. No complaints at all.
What do you think of the AA service on short flights? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image via Embraer.
Overall I find the AA employees in the outstations to be much friendlier than those in the hubs-maybe it’s because in some stations they actually have to do many more jobs & even handle different airlines (FWA is a prime example). Having said that, you bring up a good point w/re: to the seatbelt sign staying on the whole trip-I find that happens waaaaaay too often on Eagle flights & have chalked it up to the FAs not wanting to be bothered by doing any inflight service so they get the pilot to make that announcement about turbulence that never… Read more »
Well, for what it’s worth, the pilots did sound like they were genuinely concerned for safety, and those American Eagle jets can be quite small (that E145 comes to mind!). I wouldn’t think it was to give the Flight Attendant a break, though I’m sure it’s happened before. Thanks for the comment!