American Airlines Review: Part 2.

Yes, I made it home – on-time too! If you missed part 1, you can read it here.

Fortunately, I have family in the Tucson region. If you remember, I hopped off the plane from Tucson to Dallas after sitting for 2-3 hours because of the delay. On Friday, I got up a bit earlier and started off my day the same as Thursday, at the airport for round 2. I made my way through TSA checkpoints and to the gate. Everything was running on-time – no delays, no problems.

Prior to getting to Tucson International Airport, I experimented on American Airlines’s website. What is a 500-mile upgrade? 500-mile upgrades allow passengers to move up a class level and can be purchased prior to the flight. However, I, unaware of what it costs for a 500-mile upgrade, decided to try it out. What’s the harm, right? At that point, I had no idea that it costs $30 each 500-mile upgrade required to snag first class seats. In my AAdvantage toolbox, I selected Friday’s flight and it granted me the upgrade for both segments of my trip back to Philly. Huh? I received confirmation that I was upgraded and now in first class. What about payment? I called up American Airlines soon after, and apparently the system was not supposed to upgrade me. They kindly put me back in coach, and I had to be re-ticketed… again.

I already had the boarding passes from the ticket counter gentlemen from Thursday, when I rebooked for Friday. However, due to my experimenting, I now had different seats. Upon arriving at the gate, I spoke with the gate agent who kindly gave me a somewhat-upgrade: exit rows. The best thing about exit rows is the added legroom. If you ever have to fly an American MD-82 series, and you’re flying coach, I highly recommend row 7. If you can’t get row 7, there are good legroom options in row 20. The airline employees at Tucson are the best.

The flight from Tucson to Dallas-Fort Worth arrived early – giving me even more time to look around for a good restaurant. The good restaurants, or just about all the good stores, are located in terminal D – the international terminal. If you’re ever in need of chicken, there seems to be a Popeye’s in just about every terminal. While I was enjoying some OK food from Bennigan’s, a Lufthansa A340 pulled up to the gate – a larger bird in person. The 2 hour layover gave me some time to relax, ride SkyLink a few times, and pick up the Wall Street Journal / New York Times.

The flight from Dallas to Philadelphia departed a few minutes after schedule. Fortunately, no one occupied the middle seat in my row. I sat in the window seat, while another gentlemen sat in the aisle seat. Flights from west-heading-east are always (well, usually) faster. We touched down in Philly about 10 minutes ahead of schedule, but sat on the tarmac for a good 10 minutes before parking at terminal A. Since my bag arrived with Thursday’s flight, all I had to do was ask for my bag at the baggage office – took only a minute. Usually, Philly doesn’t handle arriving bags too quickly, so AA flying my back out without me turned into something positive after all.

Overall Impression: 4/5