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Because my partner and I are taking a river cruise in France in September *and* paying for cheap tickets, I'm on the direct AA RDU-LHR flight and making a connection from there to Nice, France. From what I know so far, AA uses pretty old 767 planes with nothing fancy in coach. No personal at your seat video, maybe not even any power depending on what row you are in.
Anyway, I was wondering about the rest of the flight. How is the service on that flight, do the flight attendants make it a pleasant experience, or do they run off and hide the first chance they get?
I actually tried getting flights with more stops that would put us on newer planes, but my travel agency insisted we take the direct flight.
Oh, and, we have a 2 hour connection in LHR. From what I've read online that should be enough, but it might be kind of tight. Has anyone here made a connection like that and what was the overall experience? I've heard you have to go to a connection desk and from there get routed to the bus from one terminal to another to get your next flight.
We considered paying more for business class, but the cost for the tickets would have been a big chunk of the overall trip cost. We decided to "save" that money and spend it on some other part of the trip.
I've heard they upgraded the interior of the plane, but don't have recent first hand experience. I've done that route a few times in the past. The plane is not a great one to fly across the Atlantic but it's tolerable since it's a direct flight. The flight attendants/service were fine. Just bring your own device loaded with movies or whatever. I wouldn't pay for business class either. Two hours is fine to connect in Heathrow.
I've heard they upgraded the interior of the plane, but don't have recent first hand experience. I've done that route a few times in the past. The plane is not a great one to fly across the Atlantic but it's tolerable since it's a direct flight. The flight attendants/service were fine. Just bring your own device loaded with movies or whatever. I wouldn't pay for business class either. Two hours is fine to connect in Heathrow.
Thanks. They redid the Business class section. Supposedly they have lie flat seats. But they didn't really improve the audio/video experience. Apparently they give you a tablet you have to hold to watch your video, in Business class, instead of looking at a screen a few inches in front of you. I'll sometimes watch movies on my 5 inch phone's screen or my Amazon Kindle HD 8.9" screen. But holding onto a tablet for 2 hours or more isn't exactly comfortable. Unless they had some kind of stand so you could prop it up on your tray table.
The story is that these 767 planes won't be in the AA fleet much longer, so AA doesn't want to spend any money fixing them up, beyond what they spent to freshen up the business class section. They certainly don't want to spend money on coach.
They're keeping some of the newer 767-300ERs. Refurbishing them and bringing up their dispatch reliability has been a pretty high priority for the airline.
They're keeping some of the newer 767-300ERs. Refurbishing them and bringing up their dispatch reliability has been a pretty high priority for the airline.
Am I right though, that all the improvements are happening in Business (and First if there is one)? No changes to Economy/coach as far as I can tell.
By coincidence I was on this flight last week on route to Barcelona (coach). It's an old 767 aircraft. No upgrades in coach, no in flight entertainment. The business class didn't look to be anything special. Avoid the side aisle seats, they have boxes under them. The service was fine.
I just put my tray table down and kinda prop the iPad up on it. The flight isn't the greatest, but when I fly it I'm headed to London and my desire for a direct flight trumps comfort. If I were you I'd just go with it since you already have to make one connection....why add a second one? Connections just add the possibility for delays, lost bags, etc.
By coincidence I was on this flight last week on route to Barcelona (coach). It's an old 767 aircraft. No upgrades in coach, no in flight entertainment. The business class didn't look to be anything special. Avoid the side aisle seats, they have boxes under them. The service was fine.
I won't take that flight again if I can avoid it.
Hmm. Our strategy is/was to get seats on the left or right. Two seats together. I was planning to sit on the aisle, but sounds like I won't have much leg room on the aisle. Are those boxes in coach or business? I wonder what those boxes are for if there is no in seat entertainment?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MB1972
I just put my tray table down and kinda prop the iPad up on it. The flight isn't the greatest, but when I fly it I'm headed to London and my desire for a direct flight trumps comfort. If I were you I'd just go with it since you already have to make one connection....why add a second one? Connections just add the possibility for delays, lost bags, etc.
Thanks for your comments. I see your point about fewer connections.
My plan is to load up my phone and tablet with videos, take a good book with me, order a beer or maybe a scotch and try to enjoy the flight.
Am I right though, that all the improvements are happening in Business (and First if there is one)? No changes to Economy/coach as far as I can tell.
Just new seat fabric...so not really. I'm not sure what goes into planning the retrofit, my guess is eventually they will be deployed to the South America market as 787's come online so that's why they didn't want to spend so much on them. Just a hunch though.
Not from RDU but from ORD, they had those old 767s a few years ago, really primitive. And as you said, the crew looked pained the whole way. After flying Continental a few years earlier , Continental was worlds nicer. Really disappointed in AA the last several years.
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