The mileage race has officially begun for me. I booked a 7:45AM departure out of DFW to SFO
(to sleep in) and planned a 6 hour layover in SFO before returning on the
3:35PM flight back to DFW which arrives at 9PM.
Not only do I get to sleep in a bit, I will return on the same day and
rest in my own bed. This trip gave me
the opportunity to visit the SFO Admiral’s Club (which is in my opinion, I
decided is the BEST one domestically) and add one more Hard Rock Café shirt to
my collection while using my $10 Birthday credit for being an All-Access Club member.
I woke up at around 6AM and left the house by 6:30AM
with very little traffic. My goal was to
get to the airport in time to use the fast internet at the DFW Admiral’s Club
and relax before boarding. Since it is a
day trip, I parked by the terminal to save some time for arriving and departing
the airport. My flight was scheduled to
depart out of Gate A23 as of last night, but I checked this morning and it was
moved to C33. I parked by C20 so that I
could have quick access to the Admiral’s Club located in C19 before heading off
to my departure gate. I did check-in
using the AA mobile app on my iPhone and it was convenient to have my boarding
pass on my phone. I had the opportunity
to use the nude-o-scope at the security check point. I inquired about the Trusted Traveler Program
that I am eligible for and was invited by AA as a DFW based Elite member. I even put in my GOES number that I set-up
upon obtaining Global Entry 2 years ago.
The TSA “officer” told me that I have to use the check point at C30 for
that privilege. So in the future, I will
go through the security check point at C30 when my flight departs from Terminal
C.
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| It's a good day to fly! |
The traffic was very light at that time of the day
and nothing eventful happened on the drive.
I arrived at the airport and was through security by 7:05AM. I lounged around at the Admiral’s Club and was
at the gate by 7:30AM. By that time, I
was the almost the very last passenger that had not boarded yet and my name was
paged right when I arrived at the gate area.
Pre-departure drinks of Orange Juice or Water was offered. Our departure time was 7:45AM and we left at
7:44AM. Breakfast consisted of: a fruit
bowl (1 strawberry, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon), a choice of cinnamon
raisin bagel or biscuit (served with cream cheese/jelly), a choice of cheese
omelet/potatoes or cereal/banana. I went
with the omelet and the bagel. My drink
was coffee with Bailey’s to warm myself up. Service was offered from the back
to the front as it was an odd flight number (AA 1077).
Entertainment on this 737-800 aircraft was Real
Steel starring Evangeline Lilly and Hugh Jackman. I caught up on my TV shows that I have not
had time to watch in a while. I chatted
with Sheila, one of the flight attendants serving the First Class cabin. The other entertainment shown was a recent
episode of The Office. Since this was my
first revenue flight on AA since last July, it was a bittersweet
experience. The only thing lacking was
that it was not one of the new 737 Sky Interior planes. Hopefully, I will get to experience one soon
(and I indeed did on the return). Wifi
was available on this flight and I used it to look around AA.com.
We arrived ahead of schedule (planned 9:30am) at
9:15am. This is the first time I have
been in the new Terminal (#2) where Virgin America and American are
housed. I was very impressed by the
layout of the seating areas, charging stations, food court, and the
merchants. It looked very modern and
sleek. I had a little trouble finding
the Admiral’s Club but it was located right after the security area. I stayed there for about an hour to use the
internet and to plan my trip on the BART to Fisherman’s Wharf.
This Admiral’s Club was simply stunning. It did not feel a typical domestic Admiral’s
Club and I would hold it on par to an International Lounge standard. The entire space is huge and it has 4 (fake-
I think) trees, a fireplace, self-serve soda/tea station. The bathroom was spacious. There were 5 desktop computers available for
use. The blazing fast Wifi internet is
now offered by AT&T and thus no longer required the annoying T-Mobile cards
we used to have to use. It is definitely
a nice improvement at SFO for American Airlines flyers.
At about 10:40AM, I made my way to the International
Terminal to catch the BART train. I had
to ask the attendant on where to get off as the directions I printed out was
not the most direct routing. A round
trip to Embarcadero (from SFO) was $16.20 and I had to catch the F train to my
final destination at Pier 39 on Fisherman’s Wharf. The journey took about an hour and I spent
the time blogging and resting.
Interesting enough, the loads were very light and a lot of space to
spread out for everyone. There was
limited wifi available on BART and it looks like it is in the early trial
stages as it was free (but unreliable).
I somehow missed my stop and wound up in Oakland… I got off 4 stations
later than I needed. I go out, went down
the stairs and doubled back on a train back to SFO. The 2nd train was very full and
luckily, I did not have to stand for long.
After getting off at Embarcadero, I looked around for the F Train. It was one of those iconic streetcars found
in San Francisco. It was a very
interesting experience as I only had a $5 bill and there was no change
available. A group of ten Italian
tourists came on and they all bunched up at the front where I was sitting. The driver kept yelling at them to “move” and
get on” and “no change given.”
I arrived at the Hard Rock Café and quickly made my
way to get a Medium city shirt. I used
my $10 credit (not enough to cover the entire shirt though) and the state told
me that I had to spend $15 more to get a $20 credit. I went to the other side of the street and
grabbed the F train for the return. I
still had a transfer pass valid for 3 hours so I did not have to pay for the
return ride. It was uneventful and I
went back to Embarcadero station and headed back to SFO. Thankfully, I did not go the wrong way on the
return ride as SFO was the terminal station.
Checking in at SFO AA counter was a new experience
for me. The lines were very short in
both the main and Frist cabins. The entire terminal is well designed, well-lit,
and eye-appealing. Elite line was very
short and I had metal detector only. I
stopped by the Admiral’s Club once again before heading off to gate 56A and
board my aircraft back to DFW. The TSA
agents were at the jet bridge to check IDs of everyone boarding. We left at 3:27pm with a scheduled time of
3:35pm and expected to land at DFW a little early. I thought we would have an old 787 plane but
I saw that this plane had large overhead bins and mood lighting. The outside did not seem new based on an
initial look. The flight attendant
serving the First Class cabin seemed to be flustered as she was having a hard
time adjusting the mood lighting and discovered that later, the seats of 4A/4B
did not have working consoles.
No pre-departure beverages were offered upon
boarding. We had the hot towel service
and followed by hot nut served in ramekins.
By the time the drink cart came around, the nuts were almost cold. Dolphin Tale was the movie shown (skipped on
that) during the flight as entertainment and wifi was offered on this flight as
well.
Dinner options were: Cheeseburger on a wheat bun
served with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and ketchup/mustard accompanied by a
bag of Ms Vickies Sea Salt chips. The
other choice was a salad served with Tortilla Strips, sliced black olives, grilled
chicken, tomato cubes, and cilantro. The
dressing was Cilantro Cream and this option was accompanied by hummus and pita
chips. The dessert was a baked on-board
chocolate cookie. I was a little
apprehensive about the flight attendant working in First Class. She seemed like she was unhappy and she did
the service by herself via a cart.
Everything on one tray and it was served correctly from the front to the
back (even flight number).
I was surprised to see that the service was done by
one person. Another flight attendant
came to help her clear the trays. I
chatted with the main flight attendant for a bit before landing and it seemed
like she was in pain. She asked for some
advice for neck pain that did not involve medications after learning about my
career background. I gave her advice on
OTC options that she could use and recommended that she see an Acupuncturist to
treat it naturally, the Eastern Approach. I
bid Jackie farewell as we landed at 8:45PM which was 15 minutes ahead of
schedule. My seat mate was not chatty
during the flight so I mainly caught up on more TV shows. The plane had mood lighting available and the
overhead bins are larger. The customer service panel was new and the air
nozzles were replaced with air vents on this plane. There was direct DC power supply and the windows
had rounded edges. I hope to be on
another new 737 soon onboard an American Airlines flight.
All in all, I cleared both legs of the trip on
upgrades, got to add another Hard Rock Café shirt to my collection, and had a
day off work. The best part was that I
got to sleep in my own bed the same night.
I truly missed flying on American and felt more at ease with the great
crew members and fell right at home onboard an American plane. While I am slowly getting used to United and
Continental Airlines, but American is the one Program/Airline I feel most loyal
to be with the most.
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