It came March, and our family had not yet decided where to spend our April break. Since we moved to Charlotte, we had more choices than ever on where to go. We could now access almost every destination in Florida and the Caribbean. We originally thought of going to Puerto Rico, but there were no all suite hotels that were available. We looked at Aruba, but the problem was we could not get back, as the flights were really expensive. We decided we would fly down on US Airways non-stop, and then fly AirTran to Orlando, and drive to Melbourne, and fly back to Charlotte.

We were booked on US Airways flight 871 from Charlotte to Aruba. We arrived at the airport at about 10:00 am for our 11:30 flight. I was expecting the flight to get upgraded to a 757, as it has been in the last couple weeks, unfortuantly, it did not happen, and our flight was still on the 320.

We didn’t check in online, and I thought since it was an international flight, we would be checking in at the area next to the LH ticket counter, but it was closed. So, we had to backtrack our way to the domestic check in area, and after checking our bags, we were on our way.

Boarding was scheduled to begin at 10:46 AM, but we weren’t onboard until about 3 minutes to 11.
US Airways Flight 871
To: Aruba
From: Charlotte
Seat: 2F
Routing: BUCKL6 BUCKL MMT CH AR4 OLDEY L451 LETON R763 GTK A554 PTA UW7 BEROX UA567 ABA
Aircraft: Airbus A320 (WITH A NEW CABIN INTERIOR, YAY!)

I got on board and noticed there was this smell, kinda like a news car. Then I looked, and saw that the First Class seats had adjustable headrests, there were new, larger overhead bins, new buttons on the passenger control unit, new style windows, and new soft, LED lighting.

The FA quickly came through with pre-flight beverage orders, and I noticed there was a fresh blanket and pillow on each seat. I ordered a glass of spring water, while several pax opted for Mai Tai's.

Boarding was done quickly, and there were a few open seats in the back of the cabin. We pushed back, and the safety demo was done manually. All the inflight announcements done by the woman were hard to hear, because she kept coughing. I felt bad, but it was kinda unprofessional. If you don't feel good, don't come to work!

It was weird, for a midday departure, we didn't have to wait on the tarmac that long, and we were soon in the air. We took of to the South, and went over Carowinds. We made a sharp bank left, and about 35 mins into the flight, we approached the Atlantic.

After we had leveled off, the flight attendent came around with beverage orders, I got a red bull.




Next came the meal choices, which were a hot "turkey" ham and cheddar sandwich with potato salad and chips or a BBQ chicken Salad. I had the latter, which was very good for this short 3 hour flight. (scheduled four hours)




The salad was very fresh as was the chicken breast and to my surprise the roll was VERY hot! My only complaint was that the cookie thing was a little hard.

The flight attendent working first class was very professional and attendive, he played with talked to a younger child and his father, he even sang Happy Birthday to the kid, and brought him an extra brownie-cookie thing.

I soon tried to get some sleep, which I was able to do, and I woke up as we approached the Turks and Caicos Islands.









The flight attendent went through the cabin again, I thought we would get warm cookies, but we didn't.  

I had my favorite cranberry snack mix.




And we soon approached the Dominican Republic....



We landed shortly, and the only downside was that we were soooo early that we had to wait a while for the gate, and some woman in first was screaming and swearing and her kid next to me was doing the same, he had to go to the bathroom, and the crew would not let them get up, and she told him to pee in a cup, and luckily, the FA heard them.  

Customs at AUA is a breeze.

Cleanliness: 10
Comfort: 10
Food: 9
Crew: 9

Over all US provided everything it was supposed to do, reliable air transportation.