Today’s AA647 Flight Review blog is written by David Mitchell, fellow #avgeek, Thunderbird, and travelphile. David is passionate about traveling and exploring as much of the world as possible for as cheaply as possible.  He has traveled to over 40 countries spanning 4 continents and has lived in 3 countries and worked in 2 countries.  He employs frequent flier miles and cheap fares to fly him all over the world.  Recently, he has been working on using credit card bonuses to help him travel in luxury.

Here’s David!

PIT-PHX AA647 A320 Flight Review Background/Tickets

American Airlines AA647

Pittsburgh (PIT) – Phoenix (PHX)

Thursday, April 14

Depart: 7:30AM

Arrive: 9:12AM

Duration: 4hr42min

Aircraft: Airbus A320

Seat: 6A (Economy Class)

I booked this flight to Phoenix for my friends’ wedding. I used a $500 travel voucher from volunteering for a later flight a few months back and decided to cash it in for this round-trip flight as it would have been $475 if I had paid out of pocket.  I’ll spend the remaining $25 on a later flight.

Normally, I would’ve checked-in online to avoid the hassle of going to the ticketing agent in the early morning, however, for my ticket to be completely cleared, I needed to arrive extra early (~5:30AM), so that the ticketing agent could process my ticket. I didn’t have to wait long in line as I have Gold status with American and stood in the Priority lane. It took about 10-15 minutes for the agent to process everything. She wasn’t happy at first because the travel vouchers are stored under the old Pre-Merger SABRE system and unfortunately, few new hires are trained on it.  The agent had to call customer service to work through SABRE and clear my reservation. After my ticket was processed, I made my way through security, which was a breeze as a result of having TSA Precheck, which I received for free, thanks to my American Express Platinum card (#travelhack).

After grabbing a quick bagel at Einstein’s, I walked around the terminal to both people watch and check out the other departing flights.

PIT-PHX AA647 Flight Details

• Route: Pittsburgh to Phoenix
• Airline: American Airlines 647 – American’s IATA code is AA
• Departure Gate: B33
• Arrival Gate: Terminal 4, Gate A1
• Scheduled: 7:30 AM
• Actual Flight time: 7:37 AM
• Boarding time: 7:00 AM
• Scheduled Arrival Time: 9:12 AM
• Actual Arrival Time: 8:32 AM
• Actual Flight length: 3h 55m
• Aircraft type: Airbus A320 “American”
• Distance traveled: 1,812 miles
• Class: Economy
• Seat: 6A
• Load factor: 95% full
• Average Ticket Cost: $233.40 (Free for me, since I used a travel voucher)

PIT-PHX AA647 Interior/takeoff

Boarding began promptly at 7:00 AM, and, due to my status on American, I was able to get on fairly early.  The boarding process was smooth and quick.  I took my seat quickly at 6A (I always choose a window seat because I like to look out the window and watch both the scenery and other planes departing).  I’m a bit of an Aviation Geek 😉 (#avgeek).  I also like the window seat because you have something to lean against when you’re trying to sleep in economy.

The aircraft still sported the old US Airways interior.  The seats were comfortable, but nothing can beat a lie flat business class seat :D.  WiFi was available for purchase from GoGo, but being that I had a book and didn’t want to pay for Internet, I decided not to purchase it.

PIT-PHX AA647 In-flight Service/Landing

In-flight service was pretty standard. Drink service and peanuts with small meals and snacks were available for purchase. Overall the flight was uneventful, but it was smooth and it went by fairly quickly. I was able to nap for a while and while I was awake, I did some reading.  The great thing was, the flight landed more than 30 minutes early, however, being that it was rush hour at PHX, we had to wait on the taxiway for 20 minutes before we could go to the gate and deplane.

Upon deplaning, I headed over to the Club at PHX to do some work and enjoy the club amenities before leaving for the Car Rental Center.

Overall, the flight was enjoyable and quiet.  I would give this flight a B+.  Nothing was wrong with the flight, however, I was not “wowed.”  The flight attendants did not go above and beyond their duties.  They did what was required of them, but nothing extra.