Remember back in October that I got the chance to spend a day on the ramp at Miami Intl Airport? Well since today was a half day at school (and will be pretty much for the rest of the year) I wanted to do something at MIA, at first I was going to spot like a normal human being would, but I decided to email American the night before if I got to on the ramp and lord and behold,
They said yes!
So that’s what we are going to do today after a very strange day of school with all the goodbyes and stuff. And my 5th hour was so strange, it was English and we all said bye to each other so weirdly like we were all going to never see each other again. And I spent the entire 6th period on my phone checking my assignments for my ramp day today. The lunch bell rang and while everybody went to eat, I hopped in my car and made my way to MIA to get this awesome afternoon started!
My first task today was waiting for me at gate D25 which was to fuel up this American Airlines Boeing 737-800 heading off to Comayagua, Honduras 🇭🇳 the new international airport of the country replacing the older and much more infamous Toncontín airport located in the capital city of Tegucigalpa. Often regarded as one of the world’s most dangerous, wish I would’ve visited.
Waiting for me at gate D55 at the opposite side of the airport was this American Eagle Embrear E175 heading off on a short hop to Cozumel, Mexico 🇲🇽 definitely a place worth visiting! Now I must climb into that tight cargo hold and load bags. 😬
More bag loading? Well now I pass the bags onto the conveyor rather than tucking them in the cargo hold. Anyways this is only a few gates down from my previous flight at gate D39 with this AA B738 heading off to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands 🇻🇮 another place to visit in the future!
I’m still doing bag work but now I’m transporting the baggage cart itself, anyways I just arrived at this American Airbus A319 heading on a quick hop to Tampa to unload all these bags so these people can enjoy their vacations or whatever they plan on doing over there.
Now onto the big girls! Ever since the cough cough situation, AA has been sending a lot of their wide bodies on shorter domestic routes and even now in May 2024, it’s still relatively popular but usually only being used when necessary. Anyways apparently the demand from Miami 🏝️😎 to Philadelphia 🔔 is high enough for such service so American is sending one of their Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners on this route and I got tasked to empty the tank of it, gross but ok.
What comes after loading? Unloading! So that’s what we’re going to do on this AA Airbus A321 who had just come in from the worlds busiest airport, ATL!
What other route has high enough demand for American to send their B788s on?
Well non other than Dallas DFW to MIA, this was always one of the more popular domestic wide body flights so it’s no surprise to see this one still working in 2024 and I am happy to say I flew the opposite of this flight (MIA → DFW) on another AA B788 which was an awesome experience for sure! But now I gotta clean the aft galley so I actually get to BOARD this Dreamliner which I couldn’t pass on.
Chicagoooo, Chicagooo! But here is this AA B738 inbound from Chicago O’Hare 🫘💨 in which I had successfully docked this jet bridge so the passengers can disembark with ease! 😎
Time for some more unloading, back on another A321 with this one coming in from Los Angeles 🌴📸 definitely a place I kinda want to revisit but not too much.
MIA → JFK is a very popular route for sure and like every other route, during high demand periods AA sends their wide bodies on this route and I got the chance to experience them in the real world on both a Boeing 777-200ER and B777-300ER! ❤️ unfortunately, the demand has dropped since then and we are back to basic and boring narrow bodies with the B738 being the most common.
That wraps up my short 3 hours I got to be on the MIA ramp, I wish I was here longer but hey, it’s better than nothing and I got some good news,
School is ending soon so that means I will be doing LOTS of traveling to new places across the globe 🌎📍✈️ which will definitely be exciting with the marvelous Maldives 🇲🇻🏝️ doing the honors of starting this summer but you gotta keep waiting for that but as always between now and the next time, see you in the sky! 😉👋