Good morning/early afternoon from Barranquilla, COL! 
where I had a very great time here. I was here for the carnival that occurs 4 days before Ash Wednesday and this year it was for Valentine’s Day weekend so why not take the chance to fly out to the motherland for this special occasion. I also got to enjoy time in a different city in the country for once as I usually visit Cali even if I visit other destinations. This time Cali was NOT involved or visited whatsoever which felt weird but definitely worth it because man I loved Barranquilla. Barranquilla is home to many things, it is a major port city and can be port of call when on a cruise 
Avianca, Colombia’s flag carrier was founded here back on December 5th, 1919 making it the worlds 2nd oldest airline only behind KLM and Barranquilla is the home city of the Colombian National Team and play in the Metropolitan Stadium of Roberto Melendez. I loved my stay here and I wish I could stay here much longer but unfortunately, it’s time to go home. Today we’ll be flying on American Airlines in business class on their Boeing 737-800 from here in Barranquilla over to Miami, FL 
I’m glad you are coming along with me on this trip, let’s get going!
After a 45 minute car ride from the apartment I was staying in along the coast, we arrived at Barranquilla’s Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport. Like most international airports in Colombia, BAQ is separated into 2 sections, a domestic section catering strictly to domestic flights and an international section where all international flights depart and arrive into. American obviously uses the international terminal alongside airlines like Copa and Spirit Airlines. Spirit is AAs rival down here in Colombia using their hub in nearby Fort Lauderdale 
to serve every city American does in the country alongside Armenia as an extra American doesn’t serve. While NK has more routes into the country, AA is still the more dominant airline carrying more passengers and having more frequencies. Even American on this city pair manages to have 2 daily flights while Spirit only has 1 making it clearly the better option for availability. The check in lines were FILLED UP which might sound like a problem but it wasn’t because I had already checked in online last night and did not have any bags to check so it was straight to security and outbound immigration. That however was also pretty full and cannot be skipped however so I ended up waiting a solid 45 minutes just in line. Once I was done with that, it was into a duty free store to buy a cologne as I found a good one in a mall in the city but was too expensive and luckily they sell similar ones here for a lot cheaper. There really isn’t a whole lot to do while we wait for boarding as American Airlines doesn’t have any lounges we can use here so it was pretty much hanging around the gate area or walking mindlessly around the terminal to kill time before boarding begins. Despite the fact I’ll get a meal on the flight, I still decided to have some Frisby Fried Chicken 
as one final goodbye to Colombia before heading home.
FLIGHT INFO:
Origin: Ernesto Cortissoz Intl (BAQ/SKBQ)
Destination: Miami Intl 
(MIA/KMIA)
Flight Time: 2:17
Boeing 737-800 (American Airlines)
Server: Expert
Initially we were supposed to be back on one of Americans Boeing 737MAX8s for this flight back to Miami
This morning however, they had swapped it out and replaced it with a generic Boeing 737-800 this one being registered N983NN. This aircraft was delivered to back in December of 2015 making it recently 10 years and old and on the newer side compared to the rest of their B738 fleet. This aircraft had just arrived from MIA and will now be flying us back to MIA.
Boarding commenced not to long after and as a business class passenger, I was amongst one of the first to board apart from the traditional pre boarders.
Despite us being on a 737-800 and not a MAX8, the cabin across the 2 aircraft are EXACTLY THE SAME. Heck even the safety cards make no mention of this being an NG and just say “737” so unless you know your aircraft or the crew tell you, you won’t even know what type of 737 you’re flying on.
Today I’m seated in the row although on the right side this time so seat 4F is home for the next 2 and a half hours. It’s very comfortable and is more than enough for a flight of this length. I honestly would still be fine in one of Spirit’s cramped Airbus A320-200s. There’s no seatback screen which is very unfortunate although that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to watch more on that later. We were soon offered a pre departure beverage and I chose to have another gin and tonic which came alongside some warm nuts 
Despite boarding on time, we pushed back 10 minutes late over a family who was looking for their lost kid in the terminal only to find him staring outside a window onto the ramp. This delay however wouldn’t be a big problem as we are still expected to arrive in the 305 pretty early this afternoon. We pushed back without problem and made our way to BAQs RWY 05 for take off!
Peace out Barranquilla!
Unfortunately, the city itself wasn’t on my side of the aircraft but what we did see was the beautiful coast and some of the mountains that lay close to Santa Marta just a few miles to the east. After that it was straight up ocean
and that is when we reached our cruising altitude of 36,000ft over the Caribbean Sea midway between Colombia and Jamaica 
For lunch today I had the choice to pre order a meal like I did last time and that is what I did. Last time I said I wanted to try their American Sliders and that is exactly what I’m doing today. We were served not too small but no so big burgers 
alongside some french fries 
side salad 
vanilla cake 
and a choice of beverage which I chose a Coke. It was actually really good considering when they served it, it honestly didn’t look all that appealing. The fries however felt a bit soggy and could use some improvement but the burgers themselves were pretty solid. Another thing I liked about this dish is that extra sauces like Ketchup, Mustard and Mayonnaise are on the side rather than on the burgers which is great considering some people may like all 3, some only 2, some only 1 and maybe some none of them it really allowed to “customize” our burgers. After the meal service wrapped up, we were handed out some mini pretzels 
which were tasty 
as always and I got the PHL packaging representing their Philadelphia, PA hub.
There may be no screens but American still provides a good on demand library to stream onto your devices alongside internet access which is now free to us AAdvantage members and works really well. I spent the whole flight scrolling through many online forums regarding aviation, trip reports and travel in general.
Soon enough, we started overflying Jamaica
right above the nations capital of Kingston.
Right after that it is a bit more ocean and then Cuba
and this time, there were no outages with the internet 
which was great to see. Down below is the city of Camagüey and Ignacio Agramonte International Airport, the 5th busiest airport in the country.
The crystal blue waters surrounding the Bahamas
can indicate only one thing, it is now time to begin the approach into Miami Our approach this afternoon will be very straight forward, no turns exceeding 45 degrees and we’d make a straight in shot for MIAs RWY 30 as we fly right above the city.
Out the window which may be a little bit difficult to see is Middle Bight Cay, BHS
When approaching MIA on a reverse ops day, there is quite literally nothing else to see until you’re on final approach and that is exactly what happened today as the next sight of land wasn’t until the coast of Miami
and at that point, it is a straight shot toward MIAs RWY 30.
TOUCHDOWN! Welcome back to Miami, FL
and the end of another solid trip back to Colombia I’m very happy I was finally able to cross off Barranquilla off the list of cities to visit in the motherland. Now if you’ve flown American in first class domestically in the United States than this experience is really no different, you have the same seats, food and service you’re accustomed to when flying in domestic first. Was it great though? Absolutely but I’m not sure if I’d pay full price to fly short haul international business class. I got 2 free upgrades but that’s pretty much it, I would rather just fly in economy as I can save much more money and I can handle only being served pretzels and a soft drink on a 2 and a half hour fight. However if AA offered me another complimentary upgrade, I’d 100% TAKE IT and I would suggest you do the same. Overall, American may be the best choice when flying between the US and Colombia given Avianca has fallen off SIGNIFICANTLY and Spirit Airlines is well what it is. 
Welcome back to Miami International Airport’s concourse D! Our aircrafts next destination will be Santiago de los Caballeros, DOM
Passport control 
this afternoon as you should come to expect at this time was pretty bad and it’ll only get worse with the US Department of Homeland Security left without funding meaning that these CBP and TSA officers are working without pay. I as a global entry member was pretty much unaffected by this and was through soon after. A passenger from my flight asked me if I was concerned about making my connecting flight and I told him I didn’t have one and he gave me the lucky you look. I guess according to him leaving near Miami is a privilege, although given the prices of housing here in recent years he may be telling the truth. After immigration it was straight to the exit for me as I didn’t have any checked bags to retrieve and I soon got back in my car and made my way back home to enjoy Palm Beach 
with the last few snowbirds remaining until it’s time for them to leave and bring in the spring breakers oh boy 
That will be it regarding this flight from Barranquilla, COL to Miami, FL on American Airlines’s Boeing 737-800 in business class and this trip overall. Stay tuned for next month as we go back to Africa and as always between now and the next time, see you in the sky! 
