Cold Chicago, Warm Planes – To Chicago with AA and BA
American Eagle E-175 Chicago O’Hare to Toronto Pearson
- Let’s Play “Stacking Discounts!” (The Introduction)
- We’re going where the air is free (NX210 to LHR), BA Galleries Lounge AA Flagship Lounge
- AA87 London Heathrow T3 to Chicago O’Hare T5
- Crowne Plaza O’Hare
- Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- One Time Exception – Millennium Park
- Back to O’Hare T3, American Airlines Flagship Lounge
- AA4253 Chicago O’Hare T3 to Toronto Pearson T3
- Toronto, Oh Toronto…
- The British Airways Galleries Lounge, Toronto
- BA098 Toronto Pearson T1 to London Heathrow T5
- Arrivals Lounge, Homeward Bound
- Warming up slowly…
AA4253 Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Toronto Pearson International Airport
American Eagle, Embraer E-175 Operated by Republic Airlines, Sold as BA6826
Seat 8A, Main Cabin Extra
The Photos
- AA4253 Chicago O’Hare to Toronto Pearson International (1)
- AA4253 Chicago O’Hare to Toronto Pearson International (2)
- AA4253 Chicago O’Hare to Toronto Pearson International (3)
I was welcomed aboard, and headed down the plane to seat 8A, where a wonderful seat awaited me.
First Class Seat
Economy Class (Main Cabin Extra)
Passenger Service Unit
Overhead bin
The seat itself had a lot of extra leg room and stowage – as this was the first row of seats behind First Class. 7A was in front of me, whilst 8C was going to miss some under-seat storage in front of them (this is where configuration of the plane changes from 1-2 to 2-2).
Long leg room
The seat itself is a spacious 18” seat width, with a very reasonable amount of leg room (heck, I probably could do a long leg in one of these without a moan).
Towards the front office.
Loading took some time – even for an E-175 which is normally a quick turnaround. The plane packed out with a full load that evening to Toronto.
New plane, tatty safety card.
The safety demonstration as completed as an audio and visual demo, and soon enough it taxied out of the central terminal area and pretty much straight to the runway.
Disconnected
Taxing
The engines of the E-175, and we were off like a rocket down the runway.
The climbout took us over Illinois, and over Lake Michigan, tracking towards Toronto Pearson
A lot less ice and snow than before…
Whilst there were curtains to divide the cabins up, they were not deployed on this flight.
Un-deployed.
Conditions outside were still a bit chilly, even if the temperatures on the ground had start climbing above 0c.
A drinks service was carried out, which was done cup style (i.e. a cup of drink, and that’s your lot), which kept the cabin crew in main cabin busy, whilst another looked after the people in First Class.
Tray table stowed
Cup of drink
Immigration forms were distributed too as everyone would have to enter Canada to continue onto their next destination. Ah, the joy of Canadian paperwork.
Still, the whites of the snows started to turn to a city as we begun the descent towards Toronto, with the evening light giving a wonderful – if hazy display of a Canadian evening.
Touchdown was a bit sporty as we came into Pearson, but nothing that the pilot couldn’t control well (but then I find that landings in regional jets can be rather sporty partially due to how low to the ground you are… ).
Our taxi took us around Toronto Pearson airport in the gorgeous sunset, and thankfully towards a jetway as opposed to the ground disembarkation gates that you can meet up with in Toronto.
Overall: The E-Jets continue to impress me if I’m bluntly honest. From a passenger perspective, they give good shoulder width, good seating and are a comfortable ride. Whilst the crew were mainly going through the motions, the service standard is typical of a 1 and a bit regional hop in North America. There is room for improvement here (full cans of drink would be a start), but it’s not a bad service at all with this little jet.
Next: Toronto. Oh Toronto…