I just returned to New York from a five day trip to Arizona. I had a week off so I thought I'd go and check out a place I'd never been to. This was my first domestic trip on American Airlines as well. The following describes the flights I took to get there- the return trip will come soon, when I have the energy to sit down and type this much again.

AA705 LGA-DFW 545 a.m. B757-200

Choosing not to sleep at all the night before this flight, I got to the airport with plenty of time. La Guardia was not at all busy at that time of the morning. Check-in was extremely fast, and the woman behind the counter was surprisingly cheery considering it was 4 in the morning. I walked around the terminal for a while, checking out the planes waiting at gates with no destination listed yet. Most were MD-80s, with a couple od 757s. Our flight was going to be the first one out of the day. It was strange to look out at the runway and see no activity whatsoever.

Boarding was fairly quick- the flight was about half full. As we walked onto the jetway they handed out a "Bistro Bag Meal Service" or something to that effect. I can't figure out why they felt the need to give it such a cheesy name. But in any case, I got on the plane and settled in to seat 14C for the 3 hour 25 minute flight to Dallas. I was, as always, very pleased with the legroom. However, I was dismayed to find that this plane was outfitted in the older interior, with the ugly green seats and strange wall desgins. I don't know how many of AAs domestic fleet still look like this, but I hope they change them all soon, as the newer interior is a huge improvement. In any case, while the seat was not the most comfortable or beautiful thing, I was happy enough to be flying in a 757, with the legroom as an enormous bonus, of course. The flight was only about half full.

The Captain seemed very happy in his announcement. He let us know the general flight path we would take in a particularly enthusiastic manner. As we taxied, the sun had begun to come up slightly, and since there was no one else needing the runway, we went straight for it and took off almost immediately. We had a short roll, followed by the characteristic athletic and powerful take-off of the 757. Climbing, we had a great view of all of Manhattan as we passed over the north end of it. Our route took us down over Kentucky, Nashville, Little Rock, and then finally over to Dallas. The flight was smooth, and the service was average. There were a couple of drinks services which were fairly standard. I wouldn't have expected much more. Finally, we began our descent, and after circling madly for a while, came in for a gentle landing at DFW.

The airport was alive with AA activity. While waiting in between two runways, we got some great take-off views. An AA MD-80, a DL CRJ, and a couple of America West CRJs took off in front of us. Meanwhile, a sleek-looking DL 763 landed behind us and followed us around for a while. I had a lot of fun watching all of the activity at this busy airport. Once off the plane, I walked past what seemed like 400 AA MD-80s to get to gate C2 for my connecting flight to PHX.

AA1363 DFW-PHX 920 a.m. B757-200 (N670AA)

I waited only a short time at Gate C2 before it was time to board my second 757 of the day. This flight was much more full, but I was able to get on right at the beginning and things went pretty smoothly. Once again, the plane had the old interior, and this time I had two guys sitting next to me, whereas the last flight I'd been lucky enough to have three seats to myself. But as it was only going to be a 2 hour 5 minute flight, I was perfectly content. We sat around for a while, and at some point the APU was turned off, which meant no air conditioning, and the temperature began to rise steadily. I looked out the window to see the man who was fuelling the plane looking up at the junction of the fuel line to the tank (which was invisible to me), looking nervous about it, and touching it once in a while. Eventually he began to look around nervously, until he called another guy over. They both stood there for a while, looking nervously, shaking their heads, and touching the problem with the fuel tank which by now had begun to grow steadily in my imagination, the less I was able to see of what was actually going on. Eventually, a third guy came over, all shook their heads for five minutes, then one seemed to say something decisive, make some gestures, and the fuelling seemed to have been accomplished successfully. The Captain made a brief mention of a "fuel issue" and without any further delay, we were off. I was somewhat worried about this, but decided in the end to trust the three men in their decision, whatever it was. I figured they knew how important that wing was to us.

In any case, we taxied over to the other side of the airport to take off this time. Once again, we had a very cheery Captain. "It's gonna be a great flight to Phoenix, folks!" I almost expected him to hold the "r" in great like Tony the Tiger. Anyway, once again, it was a fairly short roll before we sprang up into the air gracefully and gloriously, and took off into the open sky. The RB211s roared with what seemed like delight. We got a drink and some granola/berry concoction which, although not all the good, was somehow satisfying. Instead of doing anything to amuse myself, I chose instead to just look out the window and watch the land change. For a 2 hour flight, the look of the land varied surprisingly. We started off over your typival green farmland, moved on to more reddish, dry-looking land as we flew over New Mexico, which led to red clay-like land with circular patterns in it, which led to barren mountain ranges which got bigger and bigger, and finally the desert approaching Phoenix, complete with Saguaro cactus and miles of nothingness, highlighted by the occasional mountain/hill. It was an impressive view the whole flight, keeping me entertained for the entire two hours. The descent was long, but the landing was soft, and we were at the gate in Phoenix just about on time.

One final recommendation: if arriving at Sky Harbor on AA, check out the Kokopelli Deli, which is right near security. They have some great croissant sandwiches.

Stay tuned for part 2: the return trip through LAX on an ERJ 140 and B767-200!

/gwl