Aa Airbus A321 Sharklets Review Lax to Hawaii
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The Airbus A321S is American'south shipping of selection on a number of its routes to/from Hawaii and then, if you're thinking of visiting the 50thcountry, there's a very good chance that this is the shipping y'all'll experience.
The Beginning Course cabin on the American Airlines A321S holds xvi passengers but, as the cabin had been fully booked for months, I had known for a while that my gratuitous upgrade was never going to clear….and it didn't.
I wasn't particularly concerned that my upgrade didn't clear as I was booked into an exit row seat for the 5.5 60 minutes flight between Los Angeles and Maui so I knew I'd have reasonable legroom and, when it comes to domestic flights, that's all that actually matters to me.
The gate agents called united states to lath more or less on time and I was presently getting my offset look at the within of an American Airlines A321S:
The American Airlines A321S Economy Class Cabin
The A321S Economy Class cabin is prepare out like virtually narrow-body Economy Course cabins – in a 3-3 layout – and information technology wasn't long before I noticed a mistake I had made.
I didn't pay enough attention when looking at the seat map for the A321S and I assumed that the exit row on this aircraft was pretty much the same as the exit rows on the A320 shipping that I've flown on quite a fleck.
Sadly, that's not true.
On A320 aircraft the better seats are usually in the second of the ii exit rows considering the seats in the first row don't recline and that makes the second row the most spacious outside of First Class.
That's why I had called a window seat in row 12.
Unfortunately for me the A321's exit row is arranged somewhat differently to the exit row on an A320 and it's actually row 11 that's the premium selection:
Look at all that legroom!
Row 12 wasn't bad, it still had more legroom than all of the other Economic system Class rows…..
…just it was no row 11.
Ironically, had I chosen seat 12F (the window seat on the other side of the aircraft) instead of 12A I would have had as much room equally the passengers in row 11….mayhap more!
On the right side of the aircraft row eleven is missing a seat by the exit door so the person seated in 12F has absolutely nothing in forepart of them:
This is definitely the seat to go for if you lot can't get a seat in row xi.
To rub salt into my wound it turned out that American Airlines has placed IFE boxes nether the seats in row 11 (information technology may besides have them nether other rows) and these limit the space for a passenger's feet quite noticeably.
Still, I had more legroom so the poor souls in the regular Economy Course seats (where you only get around 31") so I'm not going to complain besides much.
Bated from in the leave rows all the Economy Form seats take good-sized IFE screens built into the seatbacks….
…and each IFE screen offers a congenital-in USB port, an audio port and a headphone point.
Just below the IFE screen is a magazine rack and the tray table……
….and under the tray table is a universal power port.
I like this set because all the inputs/outputs you lot need are correct there in forepart of yous and so at that place's no demand to hunt effectually under your seat if you want to plug something in and you can easily keep items on the tray table as they charge.
Speaking of tray tables….
The tray tables folds out in 2 stages. Phase one offers up a one-half-table with a pocket-sized indent for a drinking glass or cup…..
….while phase two opens up the tray table to its full size:
When I opened up the tray table fully for the first fourth dimension I was glad I had brought my customary sanitary wipes with me – it wasn't exactly clean:
Every bit it happens neither were the tray tables of the two passengers sitting adjacent to me then, between the states, we got through a lot of wipes!
I realise that this kind of dirt isn't going to be obvious to a cleaning crew and, when aircraft have to be turned around as speedily every bit they are present, we can't expect cleaning crews to open up every table after every flight to make certain they're make clean…merely in this case at that place was no excuse.
This was a morning time flying out of LAX and this particular A321S had been in Los Angeles over night (I had checked the whereabouts of the aircraft on FlightAware back in LA). There was absolutely no reason whatsoever why this aircraft couldn't take had a proper clean when it finished its routes the day earlier.
Either American'south LAX cleaning crews are useless or American is too mean to pay crews to give their aircraft a proper make clean – both are every bit possible.
Right, bluster over, back to the A321S….
Storage is an issue as there isn't very much space around the seats…even for an Economic system Form cabin.
The customary mag holder is too small to hold a laptop and information technology'southward so inflexible that you lot can't fit much in even if it is the right size.
The just other storage is a mag holder only nether the IFE screen just this is both total of literature and too rigid to allow much to be stored.
Ona positive notation the A321S' Economy Class motel offers individual air vents…..
……so, when the motel gets hot, passengers aren't reliant on the crew to get the temperature dorsum down to an acceptable level.
The In-Flight Entertainment
I remember the movies, tv shows, music etc… that are on offer on the American Airlines A321S may be the same equally what is offered on transatlantic Economy Class – I couldn't run across any divergence to what I had on offer on my flight the day before.
Still, information technology doesn't really matter what was on my flight as that in the past, if you want to know what American is offering onboard on your flight yous can check the airline's amusement page here.
American Airlines Economic system Course Food & Drink
Los Angeles to Maui may be a 5+ hour flight but American withal charges for food in Economic system Course. Java, tea, juice, h2o and sodas are complementary (British Airways could acquire from this!) but if you want something to eat you have to pay.
Here's the menu from my flight (apologies for the crude scan but it's the best I could exercise):
We took off from Los Angeles before long afterward 9am and food and drinks were nearly as soon equally we had levelled off.
As I hold American Airlines Executive Platinum status I get a complimentary meal of my choosing so I chose the "Continental Breakfast".
The meal came presented in a newspaper bag which I actually like – information technology gives passengers somewhere to put their trash while they're waiting for the crew to come up around and clear upward.
I thought the "bite into delight" motto on the pocketbook as a scrap ambitious (has anyone always been "delighted past something served in American Airlines Economy Form this decade?) but at least it gave me a laugh.
I ordered a coffee to go with my meal andf that came with a Biscoff biscuit….which was a prissy surprise (although I wouldn't get as far as to call it delightful 🙂 )
Unpackaged this is what the continental breakfast looked like:
Information technology was fine. Zippo more, nothing less.
As an aside, I should point out that Joanna, MJ and MJ'south grandparents were seated a piddling further back in the Economic system Course cabin (booked on different reservations to me and so I couldn't get them into an exit row) and, every bit they would have to pay for any nutrient they wanted, I had given Joanna my American Airlines Aviator credit carte du jour which gives 25% off all onboard food purchases – that made paying for mediocre food a fiddling more bearable.
A 2nd round of drinks was served one hr. twoscore mins. into the flight, water was offered approximately iii hrs. 15 mins. into the flight and free coffee, tea, sodas etc… were offered ane final fourth dimension 3 hrs 45 mins into the flight.
American Airlines Economy Grade Service
There isn't all that much to say almost the service itself as at that place really isn't that much of it – you get offered food off a carte, you pay for it and and then the flight attendants move on to the side by side passenger.
Unless you take a particularly large or complex order your interactions with the crew are going to be minimal.
However, having said that, it's of import that I signal out that this coiffure were cheerful, smiley and polite with everyone I saw them collaborate with. I don't know if they were new, just had a pay enhance, were happy they were going to Hawaii of if they were simply proficient at their task, but they made a really dainty change from some of the American Airlines flight attendants I've encountered on long-booty routes in recent flights.
Thoughts
Negatives :
- The IFE boxes under the seats are annoying – I tin can't believe AA/Airbus couldn't come up with a ameliorate design.
- The seats are narrow and, in the non-leave rows, the legroom is bad…especially for a 5+ hr flight (although this is at present the norm).
- The dirt on the tray tables was unacceptable – especially when the shipping had been sitting in LA all night.
Positives :
- The crew were smiley and pleasant
- The IFE screens are a good size
- The Power outlet, the USB port and the headphone output are all like shooting fish in a barrel to find and reach
- I like the paper bag the meals are served in – information technology's useful for keeping all the trash until it tin can exist collected.
Overall
Equally domestic Economy Class experiences become this was a reasonably practiced one….just that had a lot to practice with the fact that I was booked into an leave row and I didn't have to pay for food.
Had I been crammed into a narrow seat with minimal legroom towards the dorsum of the aircraft and had to pay adept money for mediocre food I would probably take come to a dissimilar conclusion later 5.five hours.
This is probably a very good example of a flight where having status really pays off and makes a noticeable difference.
Most of us could probably put upwardly with a regular Economy Class seat on shorter flights (say, up to ii hours) but the extra legroom that comes with an exit row is a lifesaver on flights of this length.
In this case it probably made the difference between an "ok" flight and a "I don't desire to do that over again anytime before long" flight. You should bear this in mind when deciding how skilful or bad American's A321S Economic system Class cabin is.
Source: https://travelingformiles.com/american-airlines-a321s-economy-class-review-los-angeles-maui/
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