Good morning or buongiorno from Milan! 
where I have to say, I had a great time. I had blast back in October 2023 when I first came albeit for a short day and a half, but now that I’ve spent a full week here, I have to say it was AWESOME! I loved taking in the culture, seeings the sights, having fun with the locals and other tourists and you of course can’t forget that Italian cuisine 
My only complaint was 100% the weather, thankfully it didn’t rain on my trip but it was HOT like inferno style hot. Despite where I live, I actually would rather be COLD than hot. Everybody fantasize Eurosummers or summer trips to Europe and there fun to partake in but BRUTAL in reality. To break the 4th wall a bit, I went to Rome about a month and a half ago in the real world and it was BOILING. I was outside the Vatican 
in line to enter and I was tempted to buy a probably expensive water bottle from a random person just to cool off. Very unlike Barcelona 
which I visited right before with the weather there being perfect. But going back to the story, I had a great time in Milan regardless and happy that I was able to finally spend a good amount of time here, maybe I’ll go to Venice next, Florence or Naples? I don’t know but I’ll see what I can do. This afternoon however, we will be flying back home to Miami 
with American Airline’s on their Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in main cabin, I’m glad you’re coming along with me so let’s get going!
After a brief uber ride from my Airbnb, we have arrived at Milan’s Malpensa International Airport. Believe it or not, Milan has 3 airports ,Malpensa the primary intercontinental one you’re most likely flying into if flying overseas, Linate which is the one used for primarily European flights whether Schengen or non Schengen and is also the only airport in the city served by Italian flag carrier ITA Airways. And then there is Bergamo the primary low cost airport although some also do fly to the other airports. American operates out of Terminal 1 here and flies to New York JFK, Miami year round with Philadelphia being served seasonally. Checking in and dropping off my bags took no time whatsoever and it was soon straight to security and outbound immigration which was also a breeze this afternoon. After being dumped into a duty free store which is standard at this point, we were in the departures hall which isn’t all that large especially compared to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. Now yes FCO is meant to be the primary gateway to Italy but MXP still deserves some love as it’s still a large tourist hub, it’s not terribly small but also in my opinion not large enough despite the popularity of the city. It’s not the absolute worst however as Venice’s Marco Polo Airport and Naples’s Airport are also mostly just 1 terminal building while MXP has 2. However now thinking about it, I guess it does kind of make sense since Milan has 3 other airports serving it each with their own purpose. I had about an hour to kill before boarding time so I simply stopped by a cafe, ordered a coffee 
and a croissant 
and charged up my devices while checking up on the situation in Southwest Colombia 
which was DEVASTATED by a massive 7.4 earthquake severely damaging cities like Pereira, Armenia, Manizales, Quibido and even Cali. Pereira’s Matecaña International Airport also received heavy structural damage and has since been closed indefinitely. Thankfully, all of the family and friends I have living in Cali and the surrounding cities and towns are all safe! The Mayors of both Miami and Miami Dade County have all promoted organizations or other fundraisers to help the people out, awesome to see them support the large Colombian population in South Florida 
especially after nearby Venezuela 
was also devastated by an earthquake back in late June. After that, it was time to head straight to the gate, I was advised to arrive early due to extra security measures as typical on flights to the United States and in glad I did because this security check did take longer than the traditional security check.
FLIGHT INFO:
Origin: Milano-Malpensa International Airport (MXP/LIMC)
Destination Miami Intl (MIA/KMIA)
Flight Time: 8:57
Boeing 787-8
Server: Expert
Today, we were treated to a bus gate which I’d love but with this weather, I much would’ve preferred an actual jet bridge. Anyways, my ride to The 305
will be this Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, N813AN a 10 year old frame delivered to American Airlines in February 2016. Unlike my ride from MIA - MXP, this one is one of those with the original interior from 2015 so we’ll see it how it holds up 11 years later.
Me seated towards the rear of the aircraft, means that once again, I boarded from the rear door which provided me an SPECTACULAR view of this bird. I did the same thing a month ago coming back from Japan 
although with a Boeing 777-300ER so it’s great to do this again on probably my 2nd favorite aircraft in the AA fleet behind the B77W of course 
American’s older B787-8s have the same amount of seats as the newer versions but have 2 differences in the flagship business and the economy cabin. Instead of Collins Aerospace Super Diamond’s in flagship business, there are Safran Concept D seats. In main cabin there are Safran 5751 Slimline’s rather than Collins Aerospace Aspire Slimlines. The configuration remains the same across the 2 variants and the premium economy cabin also remains untouched.
My seat for this next 9 hours will be 26L, it’s a standard seat as far as long haul economy class products go although it is a bit dated. Waiting for me was a pillow, blanket and water bottle, the basic essentials to surfing a long haul flight. The legroom was also good and the seat itself was actually more comfortable than the newer seat. Unfortunately the tray table is a bit problematic as one of its arms are broken making it slanted when down which would probably make meal time a living hell for me. Other than that, it was fine for the most part and good enough for this flight. Eventually boarding was finished, we pushed back, the safety video played and it was on the way to MXPs RWY 35L for take off!
Bye, bye Milan!
The arrival into Malpensa was beautiful and so was the departure. I’d explain why but I’ll just let the view do that instead
After the beautiful departure over the Alps
we reached our cruising altitude of 30,000ft over Saint-Jean-de-Monts 
along the coast to begin the long journey over the Atlantic Ocean 
The crew soon began serving lunch which was either a choice between chicken or pasta, I ordered the chicken 
which came in mushroom sauce which was served alongside a side salad 
and vanilla cake 
for dessert. Bread rolls with butter, cheese with crackers and a water bottle were also provided along with the standard choice of beverage which I chose a Coke. The meal itself was okay, the side dishes were fantastic but the chicken wasn’t that good, it was a bit bland even with the sauce. I wish I had chosen the pasta 
instead as it looked much more appealing which unfortunately, wasn’t available anymore. I still ate it all because I didn’t want to spend the next 7 hours hungry but the meal was a slight disappointment in my books but not awfully terrible though. Another reason why I ate the meal despite it not being the best is that the onboard menu is also a big let down, just snacks and other junk, no real protein available so I’d get something in the airport before departure just to be safe!
After the meal wrapped up, the crew dimmed the windows and locked them shut for a good chunk of our time over the Atlantic Ocean so let’s check out the inflight entertainment. These older Dreamliners use the Panasonic eX2 system providing a large amount of content to stream on demand whether it be movies, TV shows or other content, if that isn’t your thing, music and games are also available and of course, we can’t forget the inflight map which is a bit dated but still good and works well even today. WiFi is also available powered by Panasonic free of charge to check important information like flight information, weather at destination and even the same movies and TV shows on your entertainment screens. Internet access is also available for a fee for traditional passengers and completely free for AAdvantage members although it wasn’t working all that great over the ocean I decided to settle on watching Rick and Morty for the time being.
I was BINGED on Rick and Morty and completely lost track of where we were. The windows being dimmed all the way also didn’t help my situation. Eventually I did take a look at the map and we were about 90 minutes away from MIA. We are also still over open ocean at this time but at least a bit closer to home 
now!
At this point, the pre landing meal was served which was a simple ham and cheese sandwich 
which came alongside a small bag of pretzels 
and another choice of beverage which was another Coke. This service was also decent, the sandwich itself didn’t look all that appealing but it was pretty good surprisingly, the pretzels and beverage were also a very good addition. I honestly liked this meal better than the lunch itself which says a lot, but this meal also wasn’t anything substantial as you’d come to expect so don’t expect this to fuel you enough for maybe more than a half hour or so.
Soon enough, we caught sight of the Bahamas
more specifically Eleuthera and it was soon time to begin the approach into Miami We would fly westwards over the Bahamas before making a northwest turn towards the city flying south of the airport on right downwind and making a 180 turn to land on MIAs RWY 09.
Any approach into The 305
is EPIC but this arrival path is the best one, especially for right side passengers. We caught an unobstructed glimpse overs the city with all the buildings, causeways and beaches and keys making up the beautiful city that is Miami.
After our downwind and 180 degree turn, we found ourselves back in a familiar spot. Over the Dolphin Expressway (FL-836) and Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike (FL-821) interchange over Tamiami on final approach into MIAs RWY 9.
TOUCHDOWN! Welcome back to Miami
and the end of this fantastic trip back to Italy Now I usually do have good experiences with American Airlines and this one was still a decent one but there is one massive complaint I have. The complaint I have is the lunch, the chicken was very dry even in sauce so I can’t imagine how it would’ve been without it. Now the rest of the meal was good but I feel like if the main course isn’t good, the meal isn’t good at all. The pre arrival meal was much better on the other hand but it still wasn’t fantastic. The seat was also good for the most part but the tray table messing about got annoying especially during meal times. The only great factors of this flight were the inflight entertainment and most importantly, the crew, each one was super friendly and always in the aisles checking on us so no complaints from me about them. It’s just the not so great meal and faulty seat which will make me remember this flight as probably my worst American experience I’ve had. Now will I continue to fly them? Absolutely! The airline still provides a decent product (maybe a fantastic one on a good day) and gets you from point A to point B for a reasonable price. Especially compared to ITA Airways which was MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE compared to AA so they definitely win on the pricing side.
We arrived at Miami International Airport’s Central Terminal Concourse E and as I check out this bird that flew us all the way here for the last time before her next mission to back to Milan, I’ll make my way over to passport control
I arrived at MIA at a pretty bad time to as ahead of us we had 2 full flights, one Qatar Airways flight from Doha 
and a GOL flight from Brasilia 
As a result, we took 10 minutes to be cleared back into the USA probably the longest experience I’ve had as a Global Entry member since I joined the program. Luckily, this bought time for my checked bags to come out so at least there was no wait for those. I made my way back to my car to drive back home to get some rest before my next trip which is a bit in a limbo state right now but I’ll get into that once it’s time.
That will be it regarding this American Airlines Main Cabin flight from Milan to Miami on their Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and this trip in general so I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for next month as I hopefully go on the trip I have planned and as always between now and the next time, see you in the sky! 