My upgrade did not clear on my connection to New York LaGuardia, but the economy class experience on the American Airlines A319 was not bad at all.
American Airlines A319 Economy Class Review
After a short layover in Charlotte Airport (I love the trees inside the concourse), it was time to board my connection to New York.
American Airlines 1722
Charlotte (CLT) – New York (LGA)
January 2024
Depart: 4:25 PM
Arrive: 6:10 PM
Duration: 1 hr, 45 min
Distance: 544 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A319
Seat: 19A (Economy Class)
American is in the process of refreshing its A319 fleet to add four more first class seats as well as larger overhead bins…but also reducing legroom in economy class. My flight, a legacy US Airways aircraft with no seatback screens, was not yet reconfigured.
Seat
Economy class features 120 Recaro CL3620 leather upholstered seats in a 3-3 configuration. Standard economy class seats are 17.5 inches wide, recline up to four inches, and have a pitch of 31 inches. There are no screens behind seats, but there are universal power outlets. Rows 8-10 and 14 are “Main Cabin Extra” seats and have 34 inches of seat pitch.
While 31 inches is not exactly comfortable, I thought the seats were acceptable for a flight that was only in the air for about an hour.
There are personal air vents (and reading lights) above every seat.
Food + Drink
At 544 miles, I figured that flight attendants would remain seated…but flight attendants quickly sprang up after takeoff and the two working economy class efficiently went from front to back offering each passenger a choice of drink and snack (pretzels or Lotus Biscoff cookie).
I had club soda and was offered the full can (that made the service go faster) and a lime wedge. The cups Aemrican uses in economy class are much bigger than the cups I am used to on United Airilnes.
I also had grabbed some hummus from the Admirals Club (the lounge was packed and under construction) and enjoyed a little snack onboard.
Service
Flight attendants were very pleasant despite having to hustle to complete the beverage service on a full flight that was in the air for less than an hour.
Lavatory
There is one lavatory in the front of the aircraft for first class passengers and two in the rear for economy class passengers. I did not get up to use the lavatory.
IFE + Wi-Fi
While the flight had no seatback screens, wi-fi was available for purchase (I enjoyed free wi-fi thanks to my T-Mobile account) as well as streaming content.
The weather was bad in New York so while we took off on clear winter day in Charlotte, there was not mcuh to see out the window.
CONCLUSION
American Airlines economy class may not be fancy, but I appreciated the power outlets, beverage service (even with lime wedge) and the ability to earn miles that I can apply toward international travel. Those are three points of differentiation between flying American and flying a budget carrier…I don’t think the carrier’s domestic strategy is totally bonkers…
I really enjoy playing Scrabble as I read this review!
@Maryland … +1 . Funny .
That lounge in CLT has been under construction for 6+ months. But the packaged snacks are better than some of the regular stuff. They even offer bags of Jack Links beef jerky but it doesn’t last long as many take it for later.
Lmao. I think this one is quite a bit more distracting than his other posts… sorry Matthew
Your conclusion:
“American Airilnes economy class may not be fancy, but I appreicated the power outlets, beverage service (weven with lime wedge) and the ability to earn miles that I can apply toward internaitnal travel. Those are three points of differnetiate between flying American and flying a budget carrier…I don’t think the carrier’s doemstic strategy is totally bonkers…”
What is going on here lmao? Need a break?
LOL – I thought initially it was just the last lines, but man, the whole article is a war zone!
Oh my gosh. Grammarly was off. Now you know what’s it’s like with no spell check at all! 😉
I recommend LanguageTool over Grammarly.
I totally agree. We fly AA almost exclusively and the service and performance are better then DL or UA IMO and MUCH better then SWA. Plus, as Ex Plat, a free fruit and cheese plate, MCE seating and upgraded about 70% of the time is well worth it. I agree the upgrades on the A319 are far and few between but does happen.
AA gets a bad rap, but both domestically and intenationally, I enjoy flying with them. No better or worse then DL again IMO and I HATE seat back screens so much happier with my own device.
Errors fixed (I think).
Wow, that was REALLY bad…even by my low standards.
Oh no. I found it great fun.
You forgot “mcuh,” although I surprisingly did enjoy this article.
How mcuh did you enjoy it?