Book it Danno! US425 Phoenix to New York-JFK, Economy Class

Book it Danno! US425 Phoenix Sky Harbour to New York-JFK International, Economy Class

Index:

With myself bundled off the plane it was time to again cross Phoenix Sky Harbour Airport in the aim of 1) finding my next flight and 2) seeing if the seat I had in F had been released back to me.

Well, it is a futile idea, but the term “nothing ventured, nothing gained” comes to mind.

Hello Again Phoenix Terminal A.

One of these books made me giggle live a five year old. I’ll let you guess which one.

I headed to the customer service centre and checked the loads. Unsurprisingly, the First Class seat I had remained as “sold”, so I would be confined to Economy Class.

Well, I have to live up to my blog name don’t I?

With adequate time, I headed to the same lounge I was in a few days before. Pretty much the same views as before, so I’ll save you the pictures – bar a few planes passing the lounge.

More importantly, it gave me the chance to get something written up something for Runway Girl, and buy some GoGo Credit on the ground.

And people – buy Gogo credit on the ground – don’t buy it in the air. A Day pass is $16 on the ground. The prices in the air… are a little more pricier.

As time went on, I was almost done writing my article – and boarding was announced. Perfect timing.

With boarding about to begin, I lined up, and was beckoned forward. With a beep of my boarding pass (and sadly, not for the first class seat I was expecting), I headed down the jetway and onto the waiting Airbus A321.

US/AA425 New York JFK to Phoenix Sky Harbour Airport
US Airways, Airbus A321. Seat 7A, Economy Class Class
2155 miles flown, 7o Tier Points Earned, 2155 Base Avios + 2,155 Bonus Avios

I was welcomed aboard the plane, and I headed down beyond the curtain for the first time this trip into US Airways Economy Class.

And it was how I remembered it 6 years ago. So – the product hasn’t changed that much then.

Economy Class seating.

Legroom… Not that much better than first class to be honest…

Under-seat power… of course not. This is US Airways.

Boarding continued apace, and I was fully expecting a full row on this flight. However – middle seat remained free after boarding concluded.

Well – not the worst outcome – I’ll be honest.

(On the plus side, the cabin was a lot cleaner than the A320 I flew out on)

With the safety demonstration completed manually, it was time to head back to New York, with a long taxi around Phoenix Sky Harbour Airport.

This was delayed due to the conga line to get out of the airport that morning.

Conga!

After a while in the conga line, it was the turn of the Airbus A321 I was aboard to spool up its engines for the transcontinental run to New York.

Lots of Mesas. Not Black Mesas.

With a quick climb-out, the Airbus A321 was through the clouds in no time, and it was time to get on with work.

And real work for once. Earlier in the week, I had discovered that GoGo had stopped blocking YouTube by issuing fake digital certificates that could facilitate a “man-in-the-middle attack”. I needed to confirm this before submitting my article. And yes. YouTube and Gogo were behaving.

YouTube working through Mozilla FireFox; it was taken at 11:01 Phoenix time on 13 January on board US Airways flight US425 between Phoenix and New York JFK.

And so it was. With that – I fired off my article and hoped.

Speaking of which – remember I paid $16 on the ground for an all day Gogo Wifi Pass. How much does Gogo want now I’m in the air? A lot more it seems.

Those prices:

Unlimited Subscription: $39.95
Buy two hours get one free $21
One hour $10.50
All Day Pass $27.95
And if you buy whilst on the ground $16.

Ladies and Gentlemen… it pays to shop before you fly…

Meanwhile it was time for drinks and snack service in US Airways land. Back in Economy Class land, it was time to skip the alcohol and indulge the hydration required.

Of course… coffee is needed.

And cup of cola too (no can for me!). Being an equivalent to American Airlines Executive Platinum, I had my choice of snacks. I went for some Almond M&M’s.

Yes, truly the healthy option here… but better than the other options (including the inedible snack box). With that, I carried on working, and submitted my article… hoping for the best.

Time enough to enjoy the world around me.

With no power on-board, I was conserving power on the laptop… which is hard when you have Adobe Lightroom consuming every single spare CPU cycle it gets its mitts on. My email pinged a notification from Runway Girl – with my article accepted and published!

Woohoo. My first ever published article that has appeared other than here! Thanks to Runway Girl Network!

The article for those who want to read about Gogo no longer issuing fake certificates is at http://www.runwaygirlnetwork.com/2015/01/13/gogo-no-longer-issuing-fake-google-ssl-certificates/ with a more technical overview on this site.

Whilst I didn’t have a celebratory glass of bubbles (least of all 1) US Airways doesn’t serve it and 2) pay for alcohol…what is this concept?) I settled back and enjoyed the remained of the flight.

There’s a fair bit of snow there.

Meanwhile, the flight was closing in on New York JFK, with the long transcontineal track coming to an end… and for my laptop not too soon (the battery was a full 100% in Honolulu – with some hard work, the capacity had dropped to 22%).

I should abandon spinning tin for an SSD on year.

The colours of the day begun to change as the plane neared the New York area – with evening reds beginning to appear.

Soon it was time to put away PEDs as the cabin was cleared down for arrival into JFK. Meanwhile, the evening-time colours came out in force.

With our plane heading out over to the Atlantic shore and turning, there was plenty of opportunity to watch the sunset on final descent.

It’s moments like this I love sitting in a window seat on a plane… no matter what class I’m in.

Manhattan Island in the distance.

With the wheels of the undercarriage released it was time to sit back and enjoy a gentle landing into JFK.

With the landing done and dusted, there was a fair old wait for the plane once it pulled off the runway and headed to a holding point.

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t matter – but with time limited on this return leg (and a rather tight connection), I was itching to get off the plane.

Eventually, we started taxing again, heading for T8

A380s here… A380s there… (Singapore Airlines A380 and Emirates A380).

Passing T5…

And finally, we closed in on T8, where we were to dock at the satellite section of the terminal.

A waiting American Airlines Boeing 737-800 next door to us.

Meanwhile, I had finally managed to check in for my British Airways flights – where I had found another shambles was evolving – my onward flight between London City and Dublin had been set as EuroTraveller, not Club Europe.

Sigh.

Eventually, the plane came to a standstill, and the jet-bridge attached – ending this cross-country hop.

Overall: Whilst US Airways Economy Class isn’t the hottest of products (fixed headrest, no power at seat and limited leg room), the empty seat in the middle made up for a lot of the first class space. Apart from that, a limited service and lack of interest by the crew really summed up US Airways rather well this segment.

Is it US Airways Economy better or worse than First Class? To be honest, with this flight – it was better – I had a wider seat, slightly reduced leg room – with the only major difference being a lack of food. So, with that empty seat, definitely. I might had said differently if I was sat a few rows back crammed up tight..

Next: JFK Omnishambles.

Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.

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