Long Way Home – AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare – MAIN CABIN EXTRA

AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare – MAIN CABIN EXTRA – Long Way Home

In this adventure:

• I’ve got to stop looking at odd routings and thinking they’re good ideas
• Sleep? What’s that concept? Off to Heathrow T3
• Lounging around Heathrow T3
• AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare
• The Hyatt Regency O’Hare
• The Nutella Cafe
• Fooding Around Chicago
• The Canon 100D – Good for aviation photography?
• Camera shift – from EOS 6D to EOS R
• Back to O’Hare, Air France Lounge
• AY10 Chicago to Helsinki Vantaa… with Air Italy?
• Two hours and 20 in Helsinki Vantaa
• AY1335 Helsinki Vantaa to London Heathrow
• Bussing back home
• Long Way Home or short way back?

AA99 London Heathrow Terminal 3 to Chicago O’Hare International Airport
American Airlines, Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, Seat 9L
3953 miles flown, 20 Tier Points Earned, 998 Base Avios + 1,976 Tier Bonus

I boarded the plane and was welcomed aboard the 787 Dreamliner. I took my place past economy class and into Man Cabin Extra – and Row 9 – one row behind the Bulkhead road (which was consumed by a family)

And I have no problem sitting in one row behind. Whilst the legroom is slightly compromised, the seat is wider than the standard 787 seat – which means you’re not confined to your space

Taken post flight

Legroom – Pretty good for Main Cabin Extra.

 

But. IT HAS AIR VENTS!!!

In addition, the middle seat was free – effectively making this the equivalent of a Eurobusiness flight for 8 hours plus. This I could handle

But before we go on… we all know that the American Airlines IFE system has faces of its many staff on its planes.

So what’s the chance I run into the same virtual flight attendant again? Amazingly high it seems!

Ahh. It’s you who kept me company between JFK and SFO…

Not today – you’re in business class. I’m in Main Cabin Extra

My welcome lady.

With me settling in, the plane loaded up for the planned flight to Chicago. And as predicted – the plane would not be going out full to Chicago that day.

Meanwhile outside.

Which would mean an easy run for the crew as well as for me and the middle seat.

Please fasten your seat belt

As for the seat – it’s one that American Airlines have been using for its Dreamliner fleet (I’m still working on identifying the manufacturer). It’s not a bad seat per se – it is slimline, and a little tight thanks to the 17” width.

Welcome to Dreamliner “comfort”

Thankfully there in adjustable headrest which makes life a lot better.

With boarding complete, there was a short delay to allow ground staff to depart… and without much fanfare, we were on our way out of Terminal 3.

Of course, we all know what happens next – the “Going for Great” safety video.

Now, I don’t actually have much of a problem with this video (mainly as it does give the safety information over – even if it is’ in a stylised fashion. It was always the ending that annoyed me with the cheering.

That bit has been muted off for some time now, so the video feels… a little incomplete at the end. However, as a safety briefing – it gets the information over concisely.

Which is more than the British Airways one ever could.

And it’s good to check the safety card too (taken in-flight – note the Dreamliner Cyan

AA99 taxied out from T3, heading straight down the taxiway to 27R.

Off we go!

British Airways A319

Sure. Taxi ahead of us. Please. It makes me bleed.

American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER

Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER and United Airlines Boeing 767-300ER

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9. With working engines it seems.

And another being tugged out.

United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER

A Star Alliance line-up.

There wasn’t much a delay getting out of Heathrow – as I said – the airport seemed… quiet, both on the ground and in the terminals.

With a roar, the twin engines of the Boeing 787 powered up and took AA99 into the sky.

During climb, Mother nature gave one of her wonderful morning-time displays.

Oh… those are nice colours…

Very nice colours on the win of AA99.

Drinking in the the morning sun…

Blinking in the morning sun…

Shaking off the heavy one (Elbow – One day like this)

With the plane in the sky, there are things to be done – the first thing, of course, being connectivity.

Well, how else could I annoy people at 30,000ft or above?

Connectivity now available…

Connectivity on this plane is via the Panasonic Ku based satellite internet system with $19.95 for a full flight.

All the buttons for the Wi-Fi aboard AA99

I paid up – hoping the connectivity would had improved since I last used the American Airlines System across the pond

Readers will not be surprised to learn… it hadn’t.

  
Wi-Fi speed aboard AA99 with the Panasonic Ku system. Give. Me. Strength.

This is a shame – I’ going to be blunt. The Panasonic Ku system can easily hit 4-8mb in the air without even trying. The throttle of .6mb (be it system or device based) is awful and doesn’t promote the use of the product in the air.

Still, .6mb is enough for certain things – even if they’re treacly slow.

And for the big event later … It would have to do.

What big event? Hang on people. I’m getting to it.

Moving onto the IFE system, it is again, the Panasonic IFE eX3 series system. As such, it flow and it pretty usable.

Included headphones.

Although the content hasn’t moved around since late August.

As well as a choice of films and TV shows, there is a Live TV feed – which covers sports and news programmes. So, I went for BBC World News – which pretty much kept me company over the pond

IMPACT!

Drinks and breakfast followed with the choice of pancakes or an omelette. I went for the omelette and was not disappointed.

Welcome back to Economy and welcome back to the drinks of default. And yes, I love half tables like this when drinks are served.

The tray as-per delivered.

Tray

The omelet

Water and orange juice too.

This is not a bad tray in the least. The omelet was very edible (if a little small), whilst the Danish was an interesting addition. The fruit was fresh,, and the liquids were all reasonable. Not an exciting tray by any stretch of the imagination, but a solid tray.

Which for an economy class breakfast is all you can ask for.

With the breakfast service cleared down, I settled down on the important subject I had been missing out on for the past hours.

Sleep.

And I needed it thanks to a mixture of exhaustion. Not only that, when I would arrive at Chicago – I would need to hit the ground running once I landed.

I managed around 3 hours in the end – not perfect, but better than I have done on a Boeing Dreamliner in the past

I woke up in time for the ice cream service. Considering I was half asleep when it arrived, I propped it on the middle table whilst I tried to drag myself to some sort of awareness.

10 minutes later I was digging into a melted ice cream. I can handle this

With me waking up, and everyone else fast asleep – it was time for the big event. Yes, ladies and gentlemen – it’s time for the AVGeek Fairy Light Challenge.

What’s is the AVGeek Fairy Light Challenge? It all started with a Hong Kong-based Instagrammer doing this.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

. It was the long dark night during the flight from HK to Rome. Stargazing is one thing to do in the cabin . #cathaycreators @cathaypacific .

A post shared by Harimao Lee (@harimaolee) on Aug 19, 2018 at 5:29am PDT

I’m sure we can ridicule this, mainly due to the fact the promoter is sitting backwards in their business class seat. Whilst it didn’t have the space to sit backwards in an economy class seat, I could utilise the fairy lights and put on a face that signals that I am not impressed in the least.

And that leads us to this:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Fine. #avgeekfairylightchallenge. #done #fairylights #shenanigans #becauseimnotaninfulencer

A post shared by Kevin @ Economy Class & Beyond (@economybeyond) on Oct 25, 2018 at 5:58am PDT

If there is a trend for this 1) it needs to die a death FAST. and 2) if we’re going to persist in this, then I have no issues in killing this trend at all.

I consider it a life calling.

Whilst the trend of the Dreamliner is a mixed thing (in an economy class passengers viewpoints), I’m still not a fan of the dimmable windows on a plane. Whilst they can offer darkness, the planes can look. Turquoise.

 

I suppose the thing that gets to me the most is how unnatural the light looks.

Whilst there appear to be developments in the field of true darkness, personally, I can’t see anything wrong with fitting a window blind to a plane (other than adding extra weight to carry those blinds around).

The electronic blinds brightened – indicating it was time for the arrivals service. A choice of two folded pizzas was offered – Pepperoni or Cheese.

That’s a term you never want to hear a flight – “Folded Pizza”. Remember when American Airlines used to serve a mini pizza and pasta on arrival. Heavy days.

… the colours aren’t calming as they are here with this cyan/turquoise.

The package. Hmm. A bit less substantive than the old Montys Hot Box

The folded Pizza

Honestly, not as bad as it looks. I blame the blue light of the cabin

That being said, the folded pizza wasn’t that bad in the least – it has flavour and had some bits of pepperoni in it – a welcome sight. A shame they dropped the Monty hot boxes – but this seems easier to clean up afterwards and recycle.

Additional drinks were offered by the crew.

Now at this point – you’d expect the electronic blinds set to full open to allow passengers to wake up before arrival. Nope. The crew dimmed them to halfway again.

Closing in on ORD.

This something else I don’t like about these blinds, that crew can override settings on a plane.

With 40 minutes on the clock left, eventually, the crew released control of the blinds, giving people less time to wake up.

It’s also at this point that Dan, the friendly US Customs and Border Patrol video played, showing the options you have when entering the USA.

Hi Dan.

The crew followed around with Blue customs forms for those who needed them. I pass as I was planning to run the risk with the machines later when I landed.

With time on the flight coming to an end, the cabin was cleared down and prepared for landing. .

With ease, the plane crossed Lake Michigan, and tracked into Wisconsin, and finally making a loop for O’Hare – landing towards the city.

 
Here we go.

Cloudy over Lake Michigan

And a bit of cloudbusting aboard AA99.

Cabin set for landing.

Wisconsin coming into sight.

Final turns and line up.

With ease, AA99 landed at Chicago O’Hare International.

Even though the plane had landed towards the international terminal, O’Hare traffic control had other ideas, and made the plane taxi all the way back to the west side of the field, before allowing us to turn and taxi all the way down the right side of the field

You’ve got to love the controllers at O’Hare some days.

Central Terminal Area

Delta Mad Dog.

Cargo Ramp.

United Express Embraer E-Jet

As such, taxing was a good 20 minutes after we landed till the plane approached Gate M11. Eventually, the 787 found the gate, and the engines powered down

Owie.

With the gate at the stand, and the seat belt signs extinguished, it was time to make my way into the United States of America

Run this way!

Overall: Whilst the 787 in 3-3-3 is never going to be a comfort winner, at least American Airlines have made the experience passable with the other touches – such as a usable IFE system with content and a solid catering option.

If only one of the majors could break the 3-3-3 pattern on the Dreamliner.

Until then – for an A to B over the pond the American Airlines 787 – with AA99 makes for a passable experience.

Next: US Immigration and The Hyatt Regency O’Hare.

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