American 1658
May 30, 2019
Phoenix, AZ (PHX) – Philadelphia, PA (PHL)
Airbus A321
N167US
Seat 12A
Scheduled Departure Time- 1030pm
Actual Departure Time- 11:38pm
Scheduled Arrival Time- 6:00am
Actual Arrival Time- 6:34am
3 hours 56 minutes
Once everyone had boarded, we sat for about 15 minutes. I started to get worried as that is never a good sign, and I only had a 35 minute connection at PHL. Sure enough a few minutes later the captain made an announcement, that there was a mechanical issue. He mentioned that he was waiting for maintenance to come to see if it would be a quick fix or not. We ended up waiting at the gate for 1 hour and 10 minutes. This would be the first of many delays on this trip. Finally the door was closed, and we pushed back right away. Assuming a quick taxi, and I would just barely make my connection in Philly. As we began to taxi, our pilots requested runway 26 for departure. ATC advised them we would be #4 in line, and they had multiple inbound aircraft. They asked if the pilots still wanted runway 26 and they did. With that went any chance of me making my connection.
N167US
12A
Climbing out of PHX
We climbed via the FORPE1 departure up to our cruising altitude of FL330. By the time we were flying over ABQ, the flight attendants came through the cabin with drinks and pretzels. After this I fell asleep off and on throughout the entire flight. The sun started to come up about 1 hour prior to landing. Around this time the flight attendants came through with water and orange juice, after this we started out descent into PHL.
Final 27R
We ended up touching down right at the scheduled departure time of my DCA flight. I was not able to rebook on the app. So after deplaning, I headed to the customer service desk. The woman told me I had to go on the same routing as my ticket, since I had used miles. The next DCA flight was not until much later in the afternoon. Finally after 20 minutes, and her talking to her supervisor I was rebooked on the direct flight to SYR at 8:50am.
American Eagle opb Piedmont 4993
May 31, 2019
Philadelphia, PA (PHL) – Syracuse, NY (SYR)
Embraer E145
N682AE
Seat 3A
Scheduled Departure Time- 8:50am
Actual Departure Time- 9:05am
Scheduled Arrival Time- 10:14am
Actual Arrival Time- 9:49am
44 minutes
By the time I got to the gate, my plane was already there. It had flown in from Watertown, NY earlier that morning. About 20 minutes before departure, boarding started. Once everyone had boarded, we pushed back 5 minutes early. Once the engines were started we taxied slowly to runway 27L, behind another E145 and several AA A320s. Once we were up in the air, it was a quick flight up to SYR. The flight attendant handed out water and pretzels. It was a sunny morning, until we started our descent into SYR. It was an overcast morning. There was a little turbulence, as we descended through multiple cloud layers.
3A
This was my first time sitting in the front of an E145. It was so much quieter then when you sit in the back.
We didn’t climb that high. We ended up leveling off at 16,000ft.
Descending into SYR
Short final for runway 28
After a few days home, it was time to head back to PHX. I was flying AA on the way back as well. I was supposed to be flying SYR-DCA-MIA-PHX. That plan would change once I got to DCA.
American Eagle opb Piedmont 4761
June 5, 2019
Syracuse, NY (SYR) – Washington DC (DCA)
Embraer E145
N669MB
Seat 17A
Scheduled Departure Time- 2:39pm
Actual Departure Time- 2:37pm
Scheduled Arrival Time- 4:09pm
Actual Arrival Time- 3:34pm
57 minutes
N669MB at gate 10
Boarding
We pushed back from the gate 15 minutes early. It was a quick taxi, and we ended up taking off 2 minutes ahead of our scheduled departure time. We climbed up to FL300, for the 1 hour flight down to DCA. There was turbulence throughout the entire flight, and we deviated around a lot of storm clouds.
We started down into DCA about 20 minutes before landing. The captain made an announcement, that there were gusty winds out of the south. Of all the times I have flown into DCA, this was my first time flying the river visual and landing on runway 19.
Deplaning N669MB. It’s next flight was up to PWM.
I had a little over an hour until my flight to MIA. I checked, and saw that my plane had yet to leave from MIA. There were thunderstorms in the southeast that were affecting flights up and down the east coast. There were also thunderstorms in DFW and ORD. Eventually I was notified that my flight was delayed. I checked the AA app to see what options I had. I discovered the two DFW and the PHX nonstop flights were full. ORD had no connections to PHX. By this time the airport was starting to get crowded, as most flights were starting to get delayed and cancelled. The line to speak to someone at the customer service counters was taking over 45 minutes. I decided to call AA. While I was on hold, I was looking at different options. I found nothing that would get me to PHX that night. I decided I would see if they would allow me go to NYC for the night. I had family I could stay with, as opposed to being stuck in DC. After almost 45 minutes on hold I finally got through to someone. A very nice agent picked up. I explained her my situation, and she said she would speak to a supervisor. She mentioned they usually do not allow you to change your destination. After another 15 minutes she came back and said I could switch to NY. She asked if I wanted to go into JFK or LGA. I quickly looked and saw the LGA flight was delayed an hour and a half and the JFK flight was one of the only flights still ontime, so told her I would go with the JFK flight. A few minutes later I was booked into JFK, and then to PHX the following day. Once I had this settled I had almost 2 hours until the JFK flight was supposed to leave. After checking once more to confirm the flight was ontime, I went to get some dinner. Just as I was checking out, I got a notification that the JFK flight had been cancelled. I quickly called AA back, and was told the wait time was over an hour at this point. The line to speak to an agent at the airport was even longer. I went up to a random gate, to see if they could rebook me on the LGA flight. She told me the flight had a restriction on it, and only reservations could. I checked the app and there were only 3 seats left. My only hope was I was able to speak to someone, before those seats were gone. I eventually got through to someone, and was quickly rebooked on the delayed LGA flight. Also once I had plans to go to NY, I decided to see if I could talk the agent into pushing the PHX flight back a few days so I could spend some time in NY. I was surprised when she agreed to allow me to spend 3 extra days, before flying back. She also mentioned that I got the last available seat, and she assigned me the window in the last row. As I was boarding the gate agent, told me my seat had been moved to an aisle in row 8 to accommodate a family. Normally I prefer a window, but after spending 6 hours in DCA I was just happy to be leaving.
American 2123
June 5, 2019
Washington DC (DCA) – New York, NY (LGA)
Embraer E190
N949UW
Seat 8A
Scheduled Departure Time- 7:59pm
Actual Departure Time- 9:45pm
Scheduled Arrival Time- 9:25pm
Actual Arrival Time- 10:37pm
52 minutes
N949UW arriving at gate 34 from ATL
Once I boarded, the woman sitting in the window asked if she would mind switching and sitting on the aisle. I was more than happy to, as I wanted the window anyway. This was my first time on an AA/US E190 in over 10 years. The last time I had flown one was in March of 2009, from PHL-ORF. After pushback, the engines were started. We began to slowly taxi to towards runway 19. The captain informed us that we had an EDCT time, though it would only be about a 10 minute delay. We pulled off, and waited next to a CRJ200 until it was our turn.
Waiting on our wheels up time
After takeoff we made climbed via the DOCTR4 departure, up to FL210 for the short flight up to LGA. The flight attendants came through with drinks and pretzels. The flight attendants also mentioned this was considered a shuttle flight, so there would be free alcohol in the main cabin.
Descending into LGA
Final for runway 22
Touchdown
We landed at 10:37pm, and got to the gate a few minutes later. It was 9 and a half hours, after I had gotten to the airport in SYR. Had I flown nonstop to NYC, it would have been a 45 minute flight. I got my next surprise when my bag did not come out at baggage claim. I figured due to having switched fights multiple times, it must have still been in DCA. After speaking to someone, it turns out that it was actually in LGA. Someone had left a few bags from the flight on the cart by accident. After getting to spend an unexpected few days in New York, it was time to head back to PHX. Today I was flying LGA-MIA-PHX. All the weather had cleared up, and everything was running on time. I arrived at LGA, printed my boarding pass and headed to my gate. As I was sitting at my gate, I started to get Déjà vu. I got a notification that my flight to MIA had been cancelled. A few minutes later the gate agent announced that the plane had a mechanical issue. I was rebooked on a flight from LGA-DFW-PHX. However by the time this change was processed, the DFW flight had just departed. I then went down to the ticket counter to see what my options were. The agent only had one other way to get me to PHX that night, and that was a nonstop flight from JFK. I was quickly rebooked on this flight. I asked if they would pay for my cab to JFK since it was a mechanical issue. She looked up the flight and she said it was also due to weather as well as maintenance, and since it was partly due to weather they would not pay for it.
While I was at LGA, I saw an E135 in the old colors
Just as I was getting to JFK, I got a notification that my flight was delayed an hour and a half. It was now around 6:30pm, and the PHX flight was not leaving until after 11:00pm.
American 2756
June 8, 2019
New York, NY (JFK) – Phoenix, AZ (PHX)
Airbus A321
N921US
Seat 12A
Scheduled Departure Time- 9:40pm
Actual Departure Time- 11:23pm
Scheduled Arrival Time- 11:16pm
Actual Arrival Time- 12:49am
4 hours 26 minutes
N921US after arriving from SEA
Boarding
Boarding was done fairly quickly. After the engines were started, we began our taxi towards 4L. There were not that many planes, and it was a fairly quick taxi. Once we were up in the air, the woman and her young child got up and went and sat somewhere in the back of the plane. So I got the entire row to myself. I purchased wifi, and watched some Netflix for a few hours. Eventually I fell asleep, and woke up as we started the descent into PHX. We landed on runway 26 at 12:49am, and parked at gate A11 a few minutes later.
Line up and wait on 4L, with a DL 757 to SNN behind us
American 2756 contact departure
Climbing out of NY
Descending into PHX
