Good afternoon from Medellin, COL! 
and I was just as happy with my stay here this past weekend as I was back in 2023. It’s been 3 years but this city is still truly in my opinion, my favourite city in all of Colombia The nightlife here is unmatched maybe Cali is a runner up but that’s about it. Yeah we don’t have any beaches 
but who cares to be honest, we have some very beautiful mountain villages to make up for it and of course that famous stone in Guatape. Speaking of Guatape, the areas surrounding are also incredible and if you ever come to Medellin, I strongly recommend you visit them. Every night, I would also visit the same bar I did on my first to have a drink 
and most importantly, watch every night game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup like Friday’s USA 
vs. 
Paraguay and yesterday’s Ivory Coast 
vs. 
Ecuador. As for us however, it is time to head back home to Miami, FL 
and there is no other way in my eyes to do so, than to fly American Airlines in main cabin on their Boeing 737-800 once again. I’m glad you’re joining me on this trip, and let’s get going!
Welcome to Medellin’s or really Rionegro’s Jose Maria Cordova International Airport! Just like pretty much all other international airports here in Colombia there are 2 wings, one dedicated to domestic flights and the other to international flights. However like Barranquilla’s airport which I visited back in February, it was all one building while Cali’s airport, each wing has its own dedicated building which I honestly prefer. Due to summer travel being well underway alongside the World Cup, there was quite a lot of people on my flight and the JetBlue flight to nearby Fort Lauderdale 
along with many connecting to Canada 
or Mexico 
I already checked in online the night before, received my boarding pass and also didn’t have any bags to check in so I was able to proceed straight to passport control 
and security. Now this next step, I kid you not took me almost an HOUR, take a guess which of the 2 processes was the culprit. If you said passport control you’d be correct, it’s always this that kind of keeps me away from revisiting the motherland as much as I really want to. Tourism is growing but what isn’t is airport capacity in these facilities, Cali is the only airport I dare say has a tolerable experience. Security however wasn’t all that long anyways and we were in the main departures hall 2-3 minutes after clearing outbound immigration. As typical, there were plenty of duty free stores in the departures hall alongside basic but adequate food options to grab a bite to eat prior to your flight. There really isn’t a whole lot to do here at MDE so I simply sat down in the waiting area and got to work on this trip report. I however did take a break soon after because it was almost time for Spain 
to go against Cabo Verde 
which I was really excited for as I can see Spain winning the World Cup if not maybe some other European team or even maybe Morocco 
Enough talking about the World Cup, I spent the rest of my time watching the game before it was my turn to board.
FLIGHT INFO:
Origin: Jose Maria Cordova International (MDE/SKRG)
Destination: Miami Intl (MIA/KMIA)
Flight Time: 2:45
Boeing 737-800 (American Airlines)
Server: Expert
Fresh in from the 305
and taking me back this afternoon will be N972NN. An exactly 11 year old Boeing 737-800 delivered to American Airlines in June 2015.
Just like MIA last Friday, boarding was not the easiest job for the gate staff with the crowded terminal and even with the vast amount of passengers randomly selected for secondary inspections.
All of American’s Boeing 737s have 172 seats in the same configuration. If you want a detailed overview of the overall aircraft configuration, be sure to check out my MIA - MDE trip report and then come back here.
I’ll be in seat 26F for the ride back home, it’s decently comfortable and is definitely enough for a flight of this length although for longer flights, it may become uncomfortable fast. The lack of IFE screens still suck considering the changes AAs competitors of United and Delta are doing. But other than that, the seat itself is pretty solid and it could 100% be way worse but it could also be much better. Soon enough, the boarding door was shut, we pushed back and made our way to MDEs RWY 01 for take off!
I forgot to mention earlier but our pilot flying today recently returned to flying after his wife gave birth 2 weeks ago. God bless him and his new family but apparently he forgot about the effects of high altitude aircraft operations. While taxiing I noticed we were on flaps 10 when normally these high elevation fields recommended flaps 15. We still managed to take off but we used up pretty much the entire runway and it felt like we weren’t going to lift off at all. However, we ended up being alright and began our journey north back to Miami!
We reached our cruising altitude of 36,000ft quicker than usual given our high altitude departure and down below you can make out Cartagena and the Caribbean coast of Colombia
as we leave the motherland behind.
The crew soon began their cabin service, I call it a cabin service because it really isn’t a meal service. Yeah you do get food for free as a bonus, but it’s just a choice between 2 snacks, biscoff cookies 
or pretzels 
alongside a choice of beverage. I chose to have Coke with some pretzels and while they are good and in my opinion, easily sufficient enough for a flight of this length. That’s all you get and even the buy on board menu is honestly not that great either. AA also don’t serve meals on flights unless it’s one of their “long haul” routes whether it be a trans oceanic flight or to Deep South America like Brazil 
Argentina 
Chile 
or Uruguay 
If you aren’t on any of those flights, well this is what you’ll be getting regardless if you choose to spend money or not.
As for the entrainment, this aircraft is fitted with the same WiFi and internet service as the previous aircraft. AAdvantage members get free internet connection while general passengers can only access the American Airlines website or app free of charge to see their vast on demand library. You must have your own device to use as like I said before, there are no personal entertainment screens. I spent the first part of this flight watching the Spain Vs. Cape Verde game which ended up being a 0-0 draw. After that I watched the Belgium 
Vs. Egypt 
game which ended up being ANOTHER DRAW this time 1-1.
About half way into the flight and into the 2nd game, we flew right above Jamaica!
Now down below is Cuba
What? you can’t see anything? That’s the point
Soon enough, we soon began the blue waters of the Bahamas
and began our approach into the 305 Our approach was quite literally straight forward as we’ll be flying the typical approach flights from South America take but with reverse ops, we would land on RWY 30 which is a diagonal runway and since we’re already flying diagonally, it was as straight forward as it can be.
Outside you can see Middle Bight Cay, BHS alongside the beautiful waters surrounding the island 
This approach was beautiful, now ocean
isn’t the most scenic thing to see outside but if in the right place like here, it can truly be a different story. Don’t even get me started on our final approach for MIAs RWY 30 as me alongside everybody else on the right side of the plane got to see an EXCELLENT view of Miami on this lovely but windy afternoon.
TOUCHDOWN! Literally, we landed so hard that we bounced slightly and some passengers sandal ended up near me. Anyways, welcome back to Miami, FL
and the end of yet another fantastic trip! Now I did criticise American Airlines a fair bit mostly for their poor cabin service offerings and buy on board menu but it can truly be worse. Avianca flies the MIA - MDE route as well but they have fallen into an ultra low cost carrier style service with everything (including water) becoming a paid extra. But AA is on par with JetBlue in this category as the 2 only offer snacks and nothing else even for purchase. However, JetBlue does beat American in the entertainment category with them having free internet access for ALL customers and personal seatback screens on their aircraft. But American Airlines is still a solid choice to pick when flying between the United States and Colombia especially since they offer the biggest network into the country after the fall of Spirit Airlines. Avianca does have a similar network size from MIA to AA but I would honestly rather fly American Airlines any day since AV is just at this point, another ultra low cost carrier.
Disembarked here at gate D51 here at Miami International Airport’s north terminal concourse D. As our aircraft prepares for its next flight out to Santo Domingo, DOM
we will be making our way to passport control which I came to expect, was really crowded but surprisingly, moving fast as the CBP officers were working very efficiently and the facility had pretty much everyone working. Now I have global entry so my experience was much easier but even for the regular lanes, it looked like it was moving somewhat fast. Once again, I had no checked bags to retrieve so I was able to go straight to the exit after completing immigration. I was getting quite hungry so I stopped by Bayside Marketplace to get a bite to eat and after that visited Bayfront Park where there was a huge projector showing the Saudi Arabia 
Vs. Uruguay game which is actually taking place over in Miami Gardens not too far from here. After the game ended in you guessed it, another draw (1-1) it was actually time to head home and get some rest before taking a small break to enjoy some time relaxing until July!
That will be it regarding this flight from Medellin, COL to Miami, FL in American Airlines main cabin on their Boeing 737-800 and this trip to Medellin in general and I hoped you liked it. Stay tuned for Wednesday as I post the 1st of 9 irl trip reports from this epic trip and as always between now and the next time, see you in the sky! 
