Today I embark on my longest adventure while still staying within the country, that’s right no passport needed on this trip! Despite it being exam season, the prices for a trip to Hawaii 🏝️🐢🌺 were really cheap surprisingly even though it’s almost summer time. But hey cheap tickets to a place I’ve been wanting to visit for a long time? Count me in! And today is the day I embark on this journey over to beautiful Honolulu. Now there are NO nonstop flights between Miami 🏝️😎 and HNL so we’ll be stopping in Dallas DFW along the way, now since there isn’t any nonstop flights couldn’t I have flown out of my local PBI or even FLL instead of driving all the way down to MIA right? Well the answer is simple, Airbus A321 or Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner yeah I’m going with the latter and it has the best timing for me. I arrived at around 6am to Miami Intl Airport one of American Airlines major hubs with this one being their major Caribbean and Latin American getaway but we’re heading in a different direction. In 2 ways even, I’m heading off to first TSA checkpoint here in concourse D as I’m now TSA Pre Check 😎 so it was a breeze getting through. I had some “breakfast” from good old Cafe Versailles a place I haven’t visited in a while either eh. Got myself a tasty coffee and croissant 🥐☕️ before heading off to gate D37 where we’d be flying out of!
FLIGHT INFO
Origin: Miami Intl 🇺🇸 (KMIA)
Destination: Dallas Fort Worth International Airport 🇺🇸 (KDFW)
Flight Time: 2:41
Boeing 787-8 (American Airlines)
Server: Expert
Taking me to from AAs best hub ( my opinion of course ) to their biggest this morning will be N801AC, a February 2015 built Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner which believe it or not is the 2nd Dreamliner ever delivered to AA with the first one being N800AN. Our plane was even the one responsible for Americans B787 family inaugural flight from DFW to Chicago O’Hare but enough talking about the aircraft. Let’s board!
Once boarded you will be greeted with Americans much older 1-2-1 configured 20 seater flagship business cabin utilizing the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seats, behind that is premium economy cabin with 28 seats in a 2-3-2 setup using Collins Aerospace MiQ seats and behind that are the 2 Main Cabin sections in a 3-3-3 configuration using Collins Aerospace Slimline seats with 186 of them adding up to 234 in total on the plane. The first 2 rows, entire middle column in the front section and the first row in the rear section are sold as “Main Cabin Extra” providing extra legroom. Each seat is equipped with the Thales Avant IFE system and Viasat high speed satellite Wi-Fi is also available. My seat will be the rear section of main cabin 22L which provides this great view of the wing. This would be a full flight so I definitely was squished in but better than the middle seat I guess. But boarding was completed and we pushed back for Texas! 🌵🤠
Our departure from MIA was uneventful and was really scenic sitting on the right side overlooking downtown Miami 🏝️😎 before turning northwards.
Last look over the 305 🏝️😎 as we continue making progress west and being miles and miles far from home despite staying within the USA 🇺🇸 as well lol.
We climbed up to FL340 right by the west coast Floridian cities of Naples and Fort Myers. The flight attendants carried out their usual service with a pack of pretzels or biscoff cookies and a beverage of choice. Which I went with coke as always, the flight attendant seemed pretty nice and even gave me BOTH snacks. Now someone might call this a disappointing meal service which I kind of agree with, I obviously didn’t expect a hot meal on this flight but maybe a cold sandwich 🥪or even a buy on board menu would’ve been cool but than again it’s a US domestic flight so it’s really what I expected so 3 stars here ⭐️⭐️⭐️ hopefully our next flight the long haul flight to Hawaii 🏝️🐢🌺 does get an actual meal service 🙏 I watched some Boondocks on the IFE to pass the time and even looked out the window which was water since we flew over the Gulf of Mexico for the first part of the flight.
But soon we passed over New Orleans! A city I also flew above on my flight from MIA to Eagle County, Colorado for my start of 2024 skiing ⛷️ trip definitely a fun one!
There isn’t much to see so here we are beginning our approach into Dallas DFW, with a nice view of Dallas itself. I’m looking forward to visiting properly one day instead of a connection like today.
But soon enough we were on final approach into DFWs runway 35R for landing right above Grand Prairie and I-30 and the wing was shaking a bit so this won’t be the prettiest landing for sure.
But planes can handle turbulence well so we touched down with no issue. Welcome to Dallas Fort Worth Intl Airport the home of American Airlines, believe it or not out of all my times flying AA. I rarely visit DFW, the last time being in Early 2021 from day trips to upgrade my AAdvantage account but it’s nice to be back! So how was the flight? Great 👍 I ADORE these domestic widebody flights it really gives many people and especially avgeeks the chance to fly big, premium aircraft on domestic routes and for much cheaper. While the soft product won’t change ( mainly the service ) you will most likely get an IFE screen and a good comfortable seat so there’s that!
Here I am, once again feeling lost nah I’m just playing but here we are at gate D36 at DFW with the final look over the 9 year old Dreamliner that took me here from the Magic City 🏝️😎 and she is now preparing for a transpacific flight over to Tokyo Haneda, Japan 🇯🇵 a flight to expect such aircraft. No need to leave the airport as I’m here for a connection, but now I’m off to go grab some food in case the worst happens. Even though my next gate is really close, I’ll still take a few rides on the Skylink train here as I have an almost 2 hour layover here before my next flight to Honolulu. I’m glad you joined me on the first part of this trip stay tuned for tomorrow where I will cover the long haul domestic product AA offers and as always between now and the next time, see you in the sky! 😉👋