American Airlines Boston (BOS) - Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) Main Cabin Extra A321 Trip Report

Hello and welcome to my first official trip report! Today I will be taking you along my recent trip to Hawaii. This post will be about the BOS-DFW leg in order to position for AA's DFW-OGG flight operated by an internationally configured 777-200ER. This proved to be the most uneventful flight of the trip. With that being said, lets get to it. Here is the flight information:

AA2527 2/13/19 BOS-DFW 6:12am 9A 32B Main Cabin Extra N987AM

Airport Experience

American Airlines operations at Boston's Logan International Airport has been recently remodeled and still new to when this trip was taken. A couple weeks before I flew out AA had operated out of two sections in the oddly shaped Terminal B. Gates they used to operate out of included B4-B19 and B30-B36. Operations were split between ex-US Airways operations at B4-B19 and ex-American Airlines operations at B30-B36. After the merger American decided to peruse a renovation of the old LUS side so it could house all operations at BOS on that side. American now operates solely out of gates B4-B22. It leases gates B1-B3 still to Air Canada, and took over United's gates of B20-B22. United now overnights some of their planes in the old American Airlines pier (B30-B36) at gates B30-B32. That pier come summer 2019 will house Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines to give carriers like JetBlue and Delta more room to expand and have the entire C and A terminals to themselves.

 Outside of the first stop in the looped roadway that goes around Terminal B at BOS at around 4:30am.

 Arriving at check-in was a bit of a mess. It seemed like the BOS AA team was still adjusting to the newly consolidated terminal space. It certainly showed. It almost seemed like the check-in area was too small for all the new flights out of the same pier, although by ripping out the old security checkpoints, this gave AA more ticket counter space. I certainly hope that they are able to work these problems out, especially if these crowds are this large at 4:30 in the morning.

With a Premium Economy at AA you are entitled with Priority check-in. However, we did not use this service as the line for priority seemed longer than the line for customer assistance, what a waste.

 Normally on tickets other than economy it shows that you receive PRIORITY access to security. In our case it only showed on our DFW-OGG leg of the flight. With being the respectable human beings that we are we decided to join the regular queue for security in order to not get in trouble. As the line moved on at snails pace I decided to call it quits and hop over the line barrier to the Pre Check line as I knew we actually were granted this permission. When our family was crossing over a TSA officer ran over and said we needed to get back in the regular line. I proceeded to show her our DFW-OGG boarding pass and she happily obliged that we were in the correct line. After all that I had just wished that American would put PRIORITY on all boarding passes when a customer is travelling in Premium Economy.

Security took about 10 minutes after that and we were brought into the very nice and newly renovated Terminal B.

 I was certainly impressed by the remodel they did here! They added and opened up all this space when you walk out of the new enlarged central security checkpoint. Exposed wood beams are throughout this centralized space before you enter the concourse pier where my flight was (B4-B12) or the shuttle gates that will lead you to United's operations (B16-B22). Gates B14-B15 were in this central "hub" area.

If you turn left you would find Lucca, an Italian restaurant originally located in the North End in Boston. THIS PLACE IS SO GOOD! I have eaten at their North End location many times and it never disappoints. This is a great addition to the BOS concessions!

 As we turned right to head up the pier we stopped at the new Dunkin' for some breakfast. The line was incredibly long and the wait to get hot food or beverages created a mob of people on this side of the terminal. It at least took a total of 20 minutes to get our food from that unacceptable line. Plenty of people were working, however.

Next to Dunkin' as you enter the pier is the consolidated American Airlines Admirals Club. We did not have access to this as a Premium Economy passenger. This lounge was closed for a while for renovations before American made the move all operations over here. AA had another lounge on the other side, however, after the move that lounge has since been shut down.

I've heard this lounge is very nice even before the remodel happened so you may want to schedule some extra time and stop by if you are ever stopping by in the Boston area of you have access. It sure would beat the masses of people inside the terminal!

 Gates B6 and B8 have this massive ceiling with giant windows on the side. It sure does look amazing.

Unfortunately, that's where the niceness of the terminal now ends. American decided to squeeze 5 gates and a Vino Volo at the end of the pier, creating crowds that were out of this world. No seats were available which made for a very uncomfortable experience while waiting for the flight. Barely any standing room as well. AA really dropped the ball while finishing their terminal. Ceilings are low and it feels like this part of the terminal should not belong with the rest of it.

Departure

Gate agents were expecting a full flight and carry on space was limited. When boarding commenced the gate area turned into more of a disaster than it already was. Everyone seemed to have thought that they were in priority boarding. Even Main Cabin Extra doesn't get priority boarding (Group 5). People were in the line that belonged to different flights. Not a very good experience. I still can't wrap my head around why AA would board a full a321 right next to 4 other flights trying to get out in a space as small as it is. Make these gates the shuttle/regional gates!

Upon arriving down the jetway, most people had already boarded and we were greeted by a senior crew, not something I expected on this boring domestic flight (just wait till you hear the OGG flights. Some of the ladies must have had 2 or 3 digit seniority).

We turned right to find our seats in row 9 in the Main Cabin Extra area. After settling into my seat, I couldn't help but notice the amount of legroom there was. I don't really know what I was expecting but the 34'' of pitch felt just like regular economy. I thought for sure it would be worth it to have since premium Economy tickets don't come with Main Cabin Extra, I soon regretted my decision about 1/2 an hour into the 4 3/4 hour flight.

As I got a look around my seat I found a nice and modern TV screen for an airplane, a USB port and headphone jack under the TV, and a power outlet conveniently located on the seat in front. I enjoyed having access to it from there versus other airlines who put the plugs under the seat which makes for an interesting time with your seat mate. I never know where the plug actually is when I am on those planes!

There was a tray table that folded out in half and then full which was nice to have while watching a show with a juice. Overall, this may be AA's best economy seat when it comes down to entertainment and best use of space. There is a large under seat IFE equipment box intruding your space as well. Make sure you know this before booking as it was quite annoying to fit a small duffel bag under the seat. Padding on the seat made it for an uncomfortable ride no matter if you reclined or not.

We surprisingly pushed back on time among the crowded and confused gate area and the pouring down rain outside. A snowstorm had just taken place the day before so we were shocked when we pushed back because of the lack of flights on time as most were cancelled or delayed. It sure helped us stick on track to make our connecting flight as 1 1/4 hours in DFW between flights is risky.

 Flight

Takeoff was uneventful and soon we were watching the sun rise 36,000 feet in the air.

As I said earlier, the flight was for the most part uneventful. Flight Attendants came around with a beverage service followed by an offering of Biscoff Cookies. I had a cran-apple and took a pack of cookies. They are totally worth it.

After fidgeting with the IFE, playing games and watching some TV shows we were already on decent into the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Small bumps ensued but in no time we were on the ground in Dallas.

 Arrival

After landing we were forced to sit through a VERY long taxi over to the A Terminal.

Before pulling into our gate we were told that we had to wait for a plane to pull out of it. It was funny considering that most gates around were empty and we had to wait for the one that was already taken. It was an MD-80 though which was fun to watch taxi out.

We bid farewell to the crew and forcefully walked to the Skylink from Gate A17 to catch it over to D33, our gate to Maui!

Overall Impression

Overall this flight was uneventful in comparison to the other flights in the rest of the trip. A mixed feeling ground experience in Boston to a boring and slightly uncomfortable flight on AA's 32B made for a trip that is now becoming common in the aviation world. I would say MCE is not worth it unless you are getting an exit row or a seat with extra extra legroom with all the necessities I had on this flight.