Background
On a work trip back to New York from Chicago, the lowest-priced flight with the flight time that fit my needs was on American Airlines. On my outbound flight, I had a good experience flying on the Delta Airlines A220. I was curious to compare the Delta A220 with the American Airlines Boeing 737. I already knew the Delta A220 was probably going to be better as it would have seatback IFE and free Wi-Fi, and well, it was, plus some.
Flight Details
American Airlines Flight 2110
Chicago (ORD) to New York (LGA)
Aircraft: Boeing 737
Scheduled Duration: 2 hours and 6 minutes
Status: 51 minutes late
Cabin: Main Cabin
Seat: 11C
Upgrade List
For those curious about upgrade statistics on this Wednesday evening flight, I’m a lowly American Gold, and I generally give Delta a lot of crap on how long their upgrade lists are but it was also quite long on this American flight. I ended up 34th on the upgrade list (and was in last place…). On my most recent flight with American Airlines, I booked in the Main Cabin, I was upgraded to First! (Montreal to New York).
Additionally, at check-in, there were only middle seats in Main Cabin Extra, so I kept my assigned preferred Main Cabin aisle seat.
Boarding & At the Airport
American Airlines utilizes Terminal 3 at Chicago O’Hare, and sadly there were no lounges I could access. I ended up grabbing a quick meal at the Macaroni Grill, which I haven’t had for years and it was surprisingly decent. The terminal itself was alright, a bit on the outdated side.
Boarding was scheduled 35 minutes prior to departure but started a bit early as when I arrived on time Group 1 was already boarding. American Gold gets you Group 4 out of 9 boarding.
Aircraft & Seat
The American Airlines Boeing 737-800 has 16 First Class Seats, 24 Main Cabin Extra Seats and 132 Main Cabin Seats. According to AeroLOPA, the Main Cabin has 30 inches of pitch with a seat width of 17.5 inches. Pretty standard for a narrowbody, but a bit on the tighter side, especially when my Delta A220 seat had 32 inches of pitch.
There was a USB A plug next to the tray table as well as a normal power outlet on the seat in front of me.
The Flight
The weather gods told me to leave Chicago (kidding) as this afternoon was the first snow of the season. But, due to that, we had to get de-iced which the pilot said would take 10-15 minutes. And, he also said that the flying time in the air would be 1 hour and 39 minutes.
The boarding door closed 5 minutes before our scheduled departure and we pushed back shortly after.
I don’t think they did their best with in-flight announcements as 30 minutes went by without a peep and then a flight attendant said that we were in the de-icing process. Hmm. I thought the pilots said it would only take 10-15 minutes. We didn’t end up taking off for 1 hour and 20 minutes after we left the gate…
Once we reached cruising altitude, a beverage and snack service was provided. Snack choices were between cookies or pretzels, and I was offered a whole can of ginger ale.
Finally in the middle of the flight while the beverage service commenced the pilots informed us that the operations at ORD were running slow and then apologized for the delay. Better late than never I guess.
ViaSat WiFi was offered on this flight. It was $18 for a 1-hour pass, $24 for a 2-hour pass, or there was a free 20-minute session if you watched an ad. Additionally, there was free WiFi for T-Mobile customers. I wish there was free messaging for all customers at least, especially since Delta gives free Wi-Fi now.
With our approach into LGA, I noticed we were coming in quite fast, and the plane ended up slamming on the ground and there were quite a few shrieks, including the passenger next to me. Quite a rough landing… I really got the feeling the pilots did not want to fly this flight today.
We ended up parking at the gate a little over 51 minutes late.
The Verdict
Overall, the American Airlines Boeing 737 was basic but fine. The attitude of the pilots on this flight was a bit concerning though, and the communication regarding our delay wasn’t great.
Have you flown on the American Airlines Boeing 737 in the Main Cabin before? How was your experience? Comment below!
Cheers,
Ty
Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. I’ve also started working with a travel agency, Fora Travel, and can assist in booking hotel stays or planning trips. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!
I first flew these back around 2010. At that time, they had 150 seats, which had I believe, four middle seats with permanent tray tables attached over the seat. As these could never be used as seats, the plane only required three flight attendants. Now seating 172, that is just crazy.
In the 1970’s. American had hourly LaGuardia O’Hare service including some flights operated by DC-10’s, not all 727’s. Today, there would never be hourly mostly 737-800 with some 787-9 service.