Round The World and other travels

Flight Log 18 : AA1517

Boston (BOS) - New Orleans (MSY)

I was confused again! I had been given Seat 3A, which turned out to be at the front! Not only that, but it had a huge amount of free space in front of it, making it the best window seat in First Class. It was back to those rather flimsy blue seats again, which I believed indicated an ex-TWA plane - but I've since been put right on that one. This time they were simple recliners - no footrest, extender or lumbar support. They again struck me as narrow, although there certainly wouldn't be room for anything else in the Super 80 while maintaining a 2+2 layout. I was again lucky - or were AA being nice to me in view of my oneworld status? - in that 3C was empty, giving me a bit of extra space. I had a pre-takeoff glass of apple juice while I waited for the other passengers to board. As each one came aboard and saw me sipping my apple juice, with my legs stretched out in that enormous space in front of me, it was definitely a case of watching them, watching me. Ah, what it is to be in the spotlight

I have to confess that I am not even exactly sure what a Boeing Super 80 is. My assumption - but it's only an assumption - is that it's what they called the MD80 after taking over McDonnell-Douglas, before bringing it fully into the Boeing family as the 717.

We pushed back a few minutes early at 0834, but sat for several minutes before moving and then took an unnecessarily circuitous route to the runway, allowing several other aircraft to beat us to it. ATC must have been keen that we keep to our allotted slot. We made the very quiet take-off run so characteristic of a rear-engined jet and became airborne at 0847.

I had been expecting very little in the way of breakfast. Notices at the gate had warned that it was a 'beverage service only' flight, but I assumed that only applied to Coach, following advice from sftrvlr. And once again, initial poor impressions created by the equipment had to be revised when the meal was served. I had a very nice plate of fresh fruit, followed by Egg Quesadillas. This turned out to be absolutely delicious - it was basically scrambled egg inside a tortilla, served with a spicy sauce and a very tasty mixture of fried onion and pineapple   I also had a warm bagel with cream cheese. Other 'main course' offerings were cereal and more fruit, which I thought sounded like surprisingly poor alternatives to what I had. Coffee and apple juice flowed freely throughout.

I felt myself dozing off after breakfast - not surprising in view of the early start. With New Orleans on Central time, things got a bit confusing. We touched down at 1045 and arrived at the gate at 1051, nowhere near the scheduled time of 1130. Not sure how that could have happened on such a short flight

 

Date: Sat 03 Apr 2004
Aircraft : Boeing Super 80
Scheduled dep : 0841
Actual departure : 0834
Scheduled arrival : 1130
Actual arrival : 1051
Cabin : First
Seat : 3A





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