Hello everyone. As my first Trip Report in Airliners.net, I have chosen to write and dedicate it to the Airbus A300, which will be retired from American Airlines fleet this Monday, August 24, 2009. When I first came to the US, especifically to New York on January 1, 1993, (at the age of 9), I flew on American Airlines on a flight from SDQ to JFK, on the A300. After travelling on this workhorse aircraft several times when I visited family in SDQ and taken by car to La Vega, a town near the second largest city, Santiago, DR, a city that at the time didn't have its own airport until 2002, after much debate and criticism from locals that opposed to an airport being built there. I remember American Airlines having for some years the domination of the JFK-DR market with 5x JFK-SDQ and 5x JFK-STI flights ALL operated by the Airbus A300. As some of you may know my people from DR seem to want to take everything including the kitchen sink when they travel from NY to DR. This aircraft accommodated pax, bags, including excess and overweight bags, as well as another money maker, the cargo that was transported from NY as well as from the great island of the Dominican Republic back to the states. Since my first flight was on American Airlines in the A300, I couldn't allow the A300 to be retired without me flying it from the last time, from JFK to STI, (as I wasn't able to make the last flight AA1908, MIA-JFK this coming Monday). Being that it was Summer, I had to plan this trip no matter what I needed to do to be able to accomplish it. I chose to book a ticket in J class, since I wanted to make this a nice and unique trip that I could have made a nice report to share it with all my fellow Airliners.net members.

General Flight Overview:

Airline: American Airlines
Flight number: 833
Origin: John F. Kennedy Int'l Airport (JFK)
Destination: Santiago/Cibao, DR (STI)
Schedule time of departure: 07:10
Schedule time of arrival: 11:03
Class of travel: Business Class
Seat: 3J
Equipment: Airbus A300B4-605R
Registration: N70074

American Airlines Terminal 8 JFK Lounge:

American Airlines Terminal 8 JFK Lounge, now I see what most A.net members mean when they've said that there's nothing extraordinary about AA Lounges, (especially if you get the 'one day' pass) kind of dissapointed, limited breakfast items; munchies mix, apples, and orange juice/coffee:




The Aircraft:

The Airbus A300 assigned for my flight; N70074-


N70074 next to a Mexicana A320 in new c/s:


The Flight:

My Inflight Meal:
To start either coffee or orange juice, as well as open bar during entire flight, being that it was early morning, didn't want to drink anything too strong, (as I had drank the night before)...


Business Class meal consisted of 2 options, Pancakes/Sausage; or Egg and Cheese Omelet with homemade potatoes/mushrooms, fruit plate, option of bagel w/ cream cheese or biscuit with butter or jelly of your choice.




After my breakfast, I took a much needed nap, being that I worked 16 hrs. the day before and went for some drinks after work. Inflight entertainment on this flight wasn't the greatest.

Entering Dominican Airspace:

As we approached the Dominican Airspace I took some pictures of the North Coast of Hispaniola;

Puerto Plata and Sosua can be seen in the bottom right hand corner;










General Airport pictures in Santiago, DR (STI):

Gate area in Santiago, DR, (STI);








N70074 departing Santiago, DR, back to New York, JFK...




Conclusion of my last American Airlines Airbus A300 trip:

The Airbus A300 was and has been a great aircraft to fly for years. I am very lucky and honored to have had my first ever flight on this great aircraft. As I my passion for aviation grew as well as I did, I booked my flights and went out of my way to fly on the A300, even if it meant it would have cost me a little more, or had to connect via SJU, which I did one time. As I flew my last trip on the A300 it brought back memories that have reminded me how much the aviation and airlines have changed as more options of air travel have became available to more and various destinations from my hometown in New York, especifically to The Dominican Republic. Some other of these things may include; baggage fees, American no longer serves hot meals on Caribbean flights, (meals, something AA got most Dominicans used to). As of today, American Airlines only has 1x JFK-SDQ with the Boeing 767-300, and 1x JFK-STI with the Airbus A300, which will be replaced with the Boeing 767-300 starting Tuesday, 8/25. I also remember that last year the A300 was having major maintenance issues, affecting the JFK-DR flights in most cases, causing less reliabilty on customer base with AA for the Dominican market. The aircraft has been in service with AA since 1988. Configuration for this aircraft in AA's fleet was 16/251. I will miss flying the Airbus A300. Special thanks to American Airlines, its staff; Pilots, Flight Attendants, Techs, Ground Crew, and everyone involved in this aircraft for all the years of dedication and hard work with the Airbus A300.

Feedback welcome and appreciated. Thank you.