Supposedly WN still has seasonal MKE-MIA service, but that must only be during the summer because I couldn't find any flights. What was even more surprising is that WN didn't even have a MKE-FLL flight on the day I planned to head out. On the other hand, AA did have a nonstop MKE-MIA flight on the E175, but the return leg would've been very late in the evening. With that, I elected to fly out of ORD and after briefly considering trying NK for the first time, I settled on AA and I also decided to reward myself a bit and book first class for the flight down. The airfare was $697. (March 16-20)
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I took the exam out in Madison the day before my trip. There were forty questions per 60-minute block and there were seven blocks total, so it was a grind. I didn't feel great walking out of there but supposedly that's normal. Afterward I stopped off at a friend's house for a few beers, so by the time I got home, blew off some steam on the treadmill, showered, and packed, I only had enough time for a few hours of sleep. I hit the road at 5:30 in the morning and I was able to get down to ORD without encountering any traffic. I parked at the new Multi-Modal Facility which is located off of Mannheim Road. I had parked here a few times in the past, but this was the first time that I really struggled to find a parking space. I must've drove around for about fifteen minutes before I finally found a spot on the top level.
This building opened in 2018 and in addition to public parking it also houses the rental car companies. The ORD Metra station is beside the parking structure but that particular line (North Central Service) only operates on weekdays during rush hour so it's not really a primary means of getting to/from the airport. For now, this is probably the sharpest-looking part of ORD.
After several years of having to take the bus, this was my first opportunity to the ride the new and improved Airport Transit System or "people mover." If you're not familiar with that whole saga, you can read up on it here. To sum things up, work to update and extend the train started in 2015 and it was supposed to wrap up in 2019, but the service didn't reopen until this past November. To make matters worse, the trains were supposed to largely remain running during the construction period, but after some periodic closures it eventually shut down completely in 2019. The project ended up being over budget and there were several contract disputes. While the train was out of service buses shuttled passengers between terminals and to and from the parking lot. For the most part, this didn't cause me many problems, but there was one instance where I almost missed an early-morning flight because the bus took forever to show up. Eventually I couldn't afford to wait any longer and I had to get an Uber to take me to the terminal.
Upon its restart the train initially had limited hours, but now it's running from 5 AM-10:30 PM. As you can see from the picture below, the shuttle buses are still in operation as well in case you prefer that option.
When I got to Terminal 3 I dropped my bag off at the AA counter. Usually I wouldn't bother to check my bag for a nonstop flight, but since it was included in the first class ticket I might as well get my money's worth, right? Thankfully I had TSA PreCheck so I was able to breeze through the security screening in a few short minutes. Otherwise, all of the other standard checkpoints had looked fairly packed. My departure gate, K1, was directly across from the screening area so I didn't have far to go. This flight was supposed to be on a 737 NG, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a 737 MAX at the gate instead. This would be my first ever flight on the type. Interestingly, my first 737 MAX flight was supposed to be back in October, but an unexpected equipment change ruined it.
Boarding had yet to begin so in the meantime I decided to walk around and check out some of the other flights that were heading out that morning. This special 738 painted in the One World colors was going to SLC.
When I got back to the gate the first class cabin had already been boarded so I jumped in with the general boarding groups. Once in my seat I didn't get offered the traditional pre-departure drink, which I'm guessing was probably due to my late arrival, but it wasn't a big deal. As the rest of the passengers filed aboard one of the flight attendants made an announcement to facilitate the boarding process. She made sure to draw our attention to the fact that this new "AIRBUS" had larger overhead bins.
Push-back from the gate was on-time, but due to apparent taxiway congestion we didn't get moving for like another fifteen minutes. We took off from runway 28R.
The ascent proceeded without incident, and thus I made it through the most dreaded portion of a MAX flight safe and sound. In all seriousness, I didn't feel apprehensive at all about flying on this aircraft. After all, I hadn't heard of any major incidents since they started flying again and you'd think they would've flushed out all potential issues given how long it was grounded. My only concern would be flying in a less-developed part of the world where maybe the pilots aren't always as well-trained or experienced. It definitely seems like the buzz has died down though. Even the safety cards didn't even specify that we were on a MAX.
Not long after departure the flight attendant came around to take food and drink orders. She personally introduced herself and informed me there was only one meal option: smoked salmon with a bagel and fresh fruit. It was fine. I'm not one of those people who expects to be blown away by airplane food, so this was a nice light meal to start the day. We also got a hot towel beforehand.
The seat provided way more room than I'm used to having so no complaints there. A few years ago I booked first class down to FLL on DL, but aside from that the only other time I've experienced this sort of a premium product was back in the 90s when YX still had their full-blown "Signature Service." So yeah, this definitely wasn't typical for me. I was in 4F which is the last row of the first class cabin and while there was sort of a hanging separator behind my seat instead of a full bulkhead, I'm not sure if it impeded the recline at all. Personally, I feel that Wi-Fi access should be included in a first class ticket, so that's the one complaint I do have. I had to dish out $19 to stay online for the full flight. With the whole pandemic and then all the unruly passengers I knew that a lot of airlines had stopped serving alcohol and I wasn't sure where AA stood with this. After inquiring with the flight attendant alcohol was indeed back on offer so I got myself a gin and tonic to take me through the final stretch of the flight.
The announcements from the flight deck were very difficult to hear. During the descent we maneuvered through some rain showers and building clouds. Our route took us down the west coast of Florida and then we made our way east towards MIA over the Everglades.
We passed right over Trump National Doral enroute to a smooth landing on runway 12. Following deplaning there was quite a bit of walking involved to get down to the baggage claim (which was somewhat dingy) and then over to the MIA Mover which took me to the rental car center.
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I stayed at the Monte Carlo in North Beach (booked through Airbnb) and altogether it was superb. The building was new, sleek, and located right on the water. There was a rooftop pool with a hot tub on the fifth floor and then there was another pool on the ground floor as well. The only downside is that there wasn't a bar or restaurant on-site, so you had to bring your own drinks to the pool. The atmosphere was also pretty subdued because most of the other guests were families with kids. Probably the best part was the view from my balcony which was absolutely phenomenal. On the left, you had the ocean, and on the right, Downtown Miami.
Continuing the trend of spoiling myself on this trip, I splurged a little extra cash and rented a BMW 4 Series Coupe.
It was by far the nicest car I've ever driven. When you're driving down Collins Avenue you just feel a little more relevant in something like that versus if you were in some lame Chevy Malibu, you know? Up until then, the Tesla Model S was my dream car, but now I'm not so sure. I guess the prospect of owning such a car one day is just a little added motivation to make sure this whole doctor thing works out. 
I had been down to this part of Florida a few times before, but I had always stayed in Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood. I wanted to distance myself from the mayhem in South Beach so that's why I chose to stay where I did. From what I read online the area around North Beach isn't as nice and there isn't a whole lot to do, but I thought it was just fine. It was during this time that the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament were going on so I was a little distracted by that. I did go over to Little Havana but the main theme of the trip was R&R. The weather mostly cooperated during my stay as well so that was nice. On the night of my birthday I did make it down to South Beach and boy, it was crazy down there. As one guy who I talked to put it, there was a lot of "riffraff" out and about. Keep in mind that this was during the "spring break" period.
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Even though my flight back wasn't until after 4 PM I decided to head straight to the airport at check-out time. Unfortunately, departing earlier in the afternoon would've cost a fortune. When it comes to airports in the US, MIA is definitely unique in terms of the array of airlines and aircraft types that go in/out there. There's not many places that still see 737 Classics, MD-80s, and 727s.
I didn't feel like dragging my bag around for the next four hours so when I got to the terminal I grudgingly paid the $30 to check my bag. Having TSA PreCheck came in handy once again because the regular line had built up pretty good. Once airside I stopped to get some lunch since I hadn't had any breakfast that morning. I got a burger and a few beers at the Yardbird Southern Bourbon Bar. The burger tasted alright, but the portion was small and as you'd expect it was overpriced. I watched the end of the Houston-Illinois game and then I set off to do some spotting. This AA 773 was gearing up to go to JFK.
As far as I could tell there wasn't any way of reaching the non-AA side of the airport without leaving the secured area. I noticed that there was a small but noticeable smattering of people walking throughout the terminal without any masks/facial coverings. Eventually there wasn't much more to see so I settled down near my departure gate and waited for boarding to commence.
This flight was on the standard 737 NG and I was back in the cheap seats for this one. We departed the gate on-time but as we got near the end of the runway we pulled off to the side and sat there for about 15-20 minutes. The captain informed us that they were waiting for some sort of paperwork/documentation to be sent to the aircraft. Ultimately we took off from runway 8R. I was hoping to get a good view of the coast but we promptly turned to the northwest.
With the Wisconsin game coming up I wanted to watch the NCAA tournament, so of course that meant forking over another $19 for Wi-Fi. Initially, the game wouldn't load on the March Madness app because it said I had to be located in the continental US in order to watch it. I'm not sure if that was just some sort of error or what, but once I flipped my VPN on and connected to a US server it worked just fine. It stopped to buffer every now and then, but the internet speed was good enough to watch the game. After we reached our cruising altitude the flight attendants came through the aisle with the standard drink/snack service.
The rest of our time in the air was uneventful. The flight was completely full and there wasn't really any turbulence to speak of throughout the entire flight. ORD had the west flow in operation that evening, so we were treated to a great view of Downtown Chicago during landing. There was even a SK A330 that landed parallel to us.
I always love sitting behind the wing, but the downside of this on these full flights is that the deplaning process tends to be cumbrously slow, especially since it seems like almost everyone's got a carry-on. Once I was in the terminal I took one final look at our aircraft which was heading to RDU next.
As I was walking to the baggage claim I managed to catch a glimpse of the end of the Wisconsin-Iowa State game, which ending in disappointing fashion for the Badgers. After retrieving my bag and making it over to the parking lot I set off for home and I was able to make it there just in time for the start of the Arizona-TCU game (Bear Down).
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Thank you for checking out my trip report and I hope it was an interesting read! My first class experience on AA was fine, but personally I don't think its something worth paying a couple hundred dollars extra for. This was a one-off thing and that's how it'll be in the future when it comes to me flying first class. An exception would be an overnight flight because I can't sleep at all in economy class. In that case a wider, bigger seat might be worth it. It took fifteen days for my exam results to get posted and I'm pleased to report that I did indeed pass.
When you consider that the pass rate is roughly 90%, I was relieved more than anything else. The next step for me is clinical rotations starting in May and I have been assigned to the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.