Flight review: American 787 from DFW to Dublin

Off to Europe earlier in the year and flew on American 787  from DFW to Dublin. We flew economy class as always but my status on American meant that we were able to board nice and early.

It is always fun to fly international. I would love to fly more often so I try to fit in at least 2 international trips a year. I still fly more than 50 legs inside the US so the opportunity for international is not always as plentiful as I would like.

Booking was done using AA points, 35,000 per person return which to me was a great deal from Dallas to Dublin.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/experience/planes/planes.jsp

We were flying on to Birmingham from Dublin after a few days visit. Dublin is one of the ‘secret’ European destinations that is readily available, not expensive and airport fees are not high either. You can get really cheap connecting flights to most cities in Europe too.

As you can see the flight is only 8 and a quarter hours all the way from Dallas to Dublin. An easy way to get to Europe and landing at 7h30 means you are ready for a full day in Ireland.

There were not a lot of people on board yet when we boarded.  It is so nice to be able to put our bags up, and get settled before it gets crowded boarding.

This section is the Premium Economy section, seating is 2 x 3 x 2 which provides a nice level of space compared to the 3 x 4 x 3 further back.

Nice modern and large overhead bins. Here is an emergency exit route sign too.

This flight was not busy. We had the window and aisle seat on the left side, and no-one came to sit in the middle seat. That made for a very comfortable flight with extra space.

I flew Lufthansa on the 747 a few weeks later and the age of that aircraft was a bit of a problem. The seats still have the original small tv screens and that is so frustrating compared to the bigger screens on this plane and the even larger screens in economy on Middle Eastern airlines. Flying on the Jumbo is still fun but has its limitations.

 

Safety instructions:

A quick gander at the instruction booklet. It is still the 2022 version so nothing much has changed. Of course it is important to look over the instructions seeing as so much of the flight is over open ocean.

The safety video on all American Airlines flight has all the instructions being read out and demonstrated by AA staff members. It is nice and informative and a well produced idea.

 

The route:

After takeoff from DFW it is a straight route up over Canada along the curve of the earth to land in Dublin. It is a similar route to the Middle East which normally continues down over Germany or Poland.

 

The dinner meal:

Rather a good meal. There was a nice salad with olive oil dressing. Then a roll, butter, crackers and cheese to use in any combination.

The main meal was a lovely chicken and rice dish with a really nice tomato and peppers sauce.

A chocolate cinnamon bar was provided for desert.

I kept my crackers and cheese for enjoying after the main meal. Cheese and biscuits are something I have enjoyed my whole life after dinner. Along with the chocolate bar and a glass of Baileys it made for a wonderful meal.

 

The restrooms:

Ended up using 2 different restrooms on the flight. You can see from the pictures that they are slightly different but no reason to choose one over the other.

This one has the fold down panel that can be used for babies.

This is the second rest room, no fold down panel here but a similar style. Slightly narrower if you look at the size of the basin.

 

Conclusion:

I love every single time I get on a plane and especially on international flights. It is like magic that you can go inside, sit for a few hours and then when they open the doors again you are somewhere totally different.

Dublin was a new destination for me but I enjoyed the visit so much and the value was so good that I am sure we will see Dublin again.