When traveling I always consider the type of aircraft servicing the route. Often I select flights based on the type of aircraft. This strategy is sometimes flawed as equipment swaps occasionally happen, but for the most part I have had an enjoyable experience. Recently, I flew on American Airlines’ new 767 Retrofit from Miami to Chicago and was upgraded to lie-flat business class. I was also did a mileage run from Dallas to Chicago, which featured a 3-Cabin configuration and allowed me to sit in a business class seat for the price of economy. What I learned from both experiences is how fantastic large widebody aircraft are on domestic routes.
Until recently, I have always had a hard time figuring out which aircraft serves each route. I used to rely on Flyertalk.com or ThePointsGuy.com for news of routes featuring widebodys, but I recently stumbled upon a tool that I would like to share. Wandr.Me features a search tool specifically designed to find widebody aircraft. The best part of the tool is the ability to leave portions of it blank. The tool only requires a travel date to show which domestic routes are serviced by widebody aircraft. The tool also shows the departure time, so when selecting flights from google flights it is easy to select the flight that is serviced by a widebody.
Domestic widebody aircraft often give the passenger an opportunity to sit in a fully lie-flat business class seat for the price of an economy ticket. American only offers two cabin classes when traveling domestically, so if a plane features a 3 cabin layout you can select the business class seat as an AA elite! Usually there is no difference in price between flying an MD-80 and a 787 so I will choose the Dreamliner every time.
This tool helps make mileage running a little more comfortable. I recently was able to find a nice mileage run from ORD-DFW-MIA-ORD all in the same day. The route features 2 777’s with 3-Cabin layouts and a 767 Retrofit. I really like this tool and hope you also find it useful. Note: The QF flight from JFK – LAX on the 747 can not be book on its own, you have to purchase the JFK-SYD flight in order to fly on the 747 from JFK to LAX…
Safe Travels!
