I recently spent over 10 hours on American Airlines, only to end up exactly where I started. But it was by design and proved to be an incredibly productive day aboard the 777-200. As an added bonus, I even enjoyed some tremendous coffee in Miami.
A Productive Work Day On American Airlines
During the pandemic, I have taken several “day trips” to New York on United Airlines. The amount of work I get done is simply amazing and always justifies the cost of the plane ticket. In the case of American Airlines, my ticket was $70 round-trip, much cheaper than I’ve ever paid on United.
I fully concede I should be able to go out to the back house or the coffee shop and get the same amount of work done, but sitting on an airplane and not connecting to the internet forces you to focus. And having meals served and drinks on demand also promotes productivity.
I tend to turn an airplane into a mobile office on days in which I do not need the internet. Flying when you need internet and it does not work is like a bad nightmare, but flying when you can actually work but be disconnected is a great feeling.
Business Class To Miami
My flight to Miami took off at 7:30am. I parked a mile away at my friend Mark’s building, walked to the airport, and arrived at the gate just about 10 minutes before boarding began. Terminal 5, by the way, was absolutely packed, but thankfully I had no wait for security thanks to Clear.
As an Executive Platinum member of AAdvangate, my complimentary upgrade cleared about 100 hours prior to departure.
I stood in line in order to board first (so I could get the pictures below) and a gate agent barked at me to sit down from 40 feet away. Nice.
Onboard, I found my seat in the rear business class cabin and settled in. I whipped out my laptop and managed to work for 35 minutes during the boarding process of what would turn out to be a full flight.
We took off…it was a lovely morning…and I continued my work while admiring the beauty outside.
In the air, flight attendants waited about 30 minutes due to initial turbulence, then rose to begin service. Menus were distributed earlier and I had four breakfast choices to choose from, as I outlined here.
First came drinks, which are still served in plastic or paper. Packaged nuts too.
Then came the main course, a Swiss cheese omelet with served with potatoes and sausage plus fruit, cheese, and cinnamon rolls on the side. This was a very hearty breakfast and I was stuffed after finishing.
More work, work, work. That was it. No IFE, though I did use the Bang & Olufsen noise-cancelling headphones.
During the flight, snacks came out, which I stocked up on for the return:
But flight attendants largely were missing in action and did not proactively offer any further beverages.
Beautiful approach and landing in Miami:
Coffee In Miami
We landed in Miami on time and I found Cafe Versailles right outside my gate, recently recommended by a reader. This place will receive a separate post, but I had a lovely cortado followed by an espresso, which I truly enjoyed. Pricing was also very reasonable for an airport…like half of what I expected to pay.
The Trip Home…Behind The Curtain
My upgrade DID NOT clear on the return, the first time I have ever missed an upgrade as an Executive Platinum member. Nevertheless, American does not sell its premium economy seats as a separate cabin on transcontinental flights so at least I had a comfortable seat with more legroom for the return.
The same crew greeted me for the flight back. I was almost surprised as they were, since I rarely deviate from United Airlines and their flight attendant work rules do not allow same-day turns on transcon flights. The crew greeted me and were shocked that I was heading back to Los Angels with them.
I settled into my premium economy seat…and went to work.
During the flight, I was only offered one beverage and biscoff cookie. That was it for the entire flight. In fact, flight attendants only re-appeared prior to landing to collect trash (except for the one flight attendant who kept helping himself to the business class snacks).
We landed in Los Angeles three gates away from where I had taken off 12 hours earlier. I treated myself to In-N-Out for enduring a 5.5 hour flight without a meal.
Yes, my metabolism is still fast. No, I don’t eat this at home and tend to eat very healthy at home. And I did walk a couple miles to earn this Double-Double animal style!
I drove home and arrived in time to brush my son’s teeth then read and sing with him before bed.
CONCLUSION
Fares have gone up a bit and upgrades are getting harder, but if these cheap fares stick around I will make it a routine to do these sorts of trips more often. I find these work days so much fun and more importantly, so productive.
If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it.
This is disgusting. Have you ever heard of global warming? Why are you so willing to take a needless trip that harms our planet and has such an impact on so many people, especially disproportionate impact on poor people. This kind of activity is awful.
Bye, Felicia!
That is pretty crazy they were scheduled for a transcon and made the turn. I wonder what would have happened if the flight was delayed and they timed out…that would really put a lot of the passengers in a bind as they would need to wait for a new crew.
Did you choose this flight simply because of its cost?
Correct. The 777 with beds were an added bonus.
I guess if the outbound flight was delayed the inbound would be as well since it was the same aircraft. I think the AA work rules make more sense then forcing LAX-based flight attendants to remain overnight in Miami.
However, the flight attendants were quite lackluster on these flights in terms of effort. Maybe they were tired?
@Jeff why are you here?
why isn’t AA selling PE on these routes? Seems they are leaving money on the table.
Meanwhile UA is giving the business class soft product in PE for the most part from your previous reviews
Indeed, it is two very different approaches and with exclusively 777s on the LAX-MIA route, I don’t see why AA doesn’t sell it as a separate cabin, add a meal, and likely profit from it. The seats are so much better than economy class on a daytime flight.
Before reading the return part I was thinking since your outbound flight was full…you were still a bit lucky to have cleared upgrade so early.
Even with this price, if you knew you weren’t going to clear either segment, would you have stuck with this trip?
For example a bunch of the UA transcon flights are on the 757s with only 16 J seats so upgrades there are much rarer.
I would not have done the trip had I not cleared the outbound. I was willing to accept the return in premium because I have never flown on that seat before and now can do a separate review of it (I took a lot more pictures).
@Jeff
he didnt charter a plane for himself, he took a plane that was already going. Please explain exactly how he did what you allege?
Would love it if travel bloggers started to do traditional trip reviews (flights, lounges, hotels, etc) ahead of what will be an extremely busy travel season starting in about 2 months…
Have you been paying attention, Anthony? 😉
I’ve been doing them (and taken a lot of flack for it!)
I’m sorry but this is not a trip to nowhere! I’ve been a plane that’s taken off and landed at the same airport (I’m sure you have too) and it’s not fun. You actually got to land in MIA so consider yourself lucky! 😉
Fair enough!
Coffee pricing at MIA is all over the board. The Versailles in the middle of D does cafecito for $1.09, but others charge much more. There’s a no-name shop in the 40s with coffees for $0.99, but some shops charge $3-$4 prices that non-Miami residents might expect. A safe bet is to go where you see a bunch of airport workers queued up.
Interesting. I was shocked to buy coffee so cheap (but not complaining!).
@Jeff: Get a life.
It’s not really a trip to nowhere, since you did get a brief taste of Miami before heading back. That said, I’d say that you were lucky that there were no weather or other operational issues along the way. It’s all fun and games until the weather sours – which it can easily do around MIA, especially in the afternoon.
I gotta ask: would your viewpoint change on these trips (would you even consider them?) if you lived somewhere, that isnt Germany, in Europe?
I’m just wondering how things would change if the viewpoint isnt US-centric (and as someone in the UK i’m still not even thinking of any travel in H1 2021 anyway!)
Hi Phil, can you rephrase the question? I don’t get what you are asking.
Cafe Versailles and La Carreta are two famous Cuban places in Miami that have opened at MIA. Their pastries are also fantastic.
I’m derek, not Derek (above).
For the trip report, it’s of some value, and also what Matthew does for a living. However, we’re still in a pandemic so travel is to be discouraged. Being vaccinated is a huge plus but it doesn’t make people Superman. The majority of Americans are still spewing out virus and at risk. Those who are vaccinated can still spread virus probably for a short time after being in contact with it before their body kills off the virus.
I have a business need to travel but am not doing so. I hope to be rip roaring flying in 2023 but have written off 2021. I value health. You don’t know what gift you have until you get pulmonary fibrosis or, worse yet, killing a relative because your breath had virus for a few days that was picked up at the check in kiosk.
Sorry. That reads better if spoken than written (long day!)
Simply put: If you lived in Europe (anywhere but Germany), do you think you’d be travelling on trips like these? Do you think your opinion (particularly recently saying “go out and travel safely” recently) would be any different?
(I ask because “go out and travel safely” is a very US centric view where all my UK friends aren’t even considering leaving the country until Q3 or 4 or beyond. Australian friends saying the same too)
Practically, I think if I lived in Europe or the UK I would not be traveling like I am now. I do believe we can travel safely and that is the point of testing, masks, and vaccines. Travel itself is not inherently unsafe. Rather, it is the precautions we take in doing so.
Thank you for the flight review.
One correction, United flight attendants do work roundtrip transcons. I’m LAX based and frequently work EWR, IAD and MCO turns (and also Hawaii turns). Our work days are limited to 14 hours scheduled or 16 hours actual duty day.
Cool ! I’d like to do a trip like that. Been trying to get a same day cheap RT out of EWR. Maybe waited to long as prices have gone up for same day RT.
Newsom really went too far with the lockdown if this is what an Angeleno has to do to get a cup of coffee.
Lol!
@Jeff,
Have you always been retarded or is this something new?
OK so basically a mileage run. It’s kind of comical how you try to spin this as a productive work trip. Yeah, super cheap trip but no way I’m doing cheap mileage runs yet.
@Cumstein I just spit out my martini. Nice one, lol
I’d love to do this trip lol. Second vaccination next week then work allows travel. Already lining up some weekends away with the kids.
As a father of three young kids I understand the turnaround. But that view of Miami looked nice. Did you contemplate just one night to yourself in a hotel?
Great reviews by the way. Love it. More reviews the merrier.
How about an all transit round the world ? 🙂
I’m only Platinum, yet have not missed a single upgrade on any flight fewer than 500 miles, which is a lot of my flights because I take puddle jumpers from my small airport to a hub, since COVID. My last flight was 1 Feb, and my next is 1 April, Thursday. I strongly suspect I will miss the upgrade on either DFW-MCI or MCI-ORD this time, dangit! 🙂
The CDC says no!
Is the increase in productivity on flight day enough to offset any decrease in productivity from the 10-day quarantine requirement when you arrive back in LA?
For reference, the text from the LA Traveler Health Form (https://travel.lacity.org/) is pasted below.
“Quarantine Requirements
If you do travel into Los Angeles County from outside of California, you need to self-quarantine for 10 days after you arrive and must limit your interactions to people in your household/people with whom you live.”
You misread the rules. My travel is essential, per LA County guidelines. You’re welcome to feel otherwise, but you do not set the requirements and exceptions. So enough with the line of questioning, please. It’s really get nauseating.
Matt, of course, I don’t set the requirements and exceptions. Neither do you. If I misread the rules, please educate me.
Per the same form, essential travel is defined:
“1. … ‘Essential travel’ is travel associated with the operation, maintenance, or usage of critical infrastructure or otherwise required or expressly authorized by law (including other applicable state and local public health directives), including work and study, critical infrastructure support, economic services and supply chains, health, immediate medical care, and safety and security.”
Your post is saying that you worked on your computer the entire time, disconnected from the internet. Is that essential travel for “work and study”?
Furthermore, the quarantine requirement applies to all travel:
“3. All persons arriving in or returning to the County of Los Angeles from other states or countries, must self-quarantine for 10 days after arrival, except as necessary to meet urgent critical healthcare staffing needs or to otherwise engage in emergency response. Additionally, this does not apply to individuals who routinely cross state or country borders solely for the purpose of essential travel.”
I would think you are a person returning to the County of Los Angeles from other states. If I’m misreading or misinterpreting, please educate me.
Did you submit this form for this trip? Or does it not apply to you?
1. Seeing as this blog and my work is my “work and study” then yes, my trip counts as essential per LA County’s definition.
2. Quarantine does not apply to those who routinely cross state lines for essential travel:
3. I do fill out the form.
Klint is a non-essential asshole.
Nice top.