One of the coolest things to do when traveling is find a domestic route serviced by a wide-body aircraft. Several years ago I scored an amazing Dallas to Seattle upgrade to a 767 with a lie-flat seat. I received a similar upgrade on an American Airlines mileage run from Miami to Chicago on America’s recently retrofitted 767. Finding a wide-body aircraft servicing a domestic route is like finding an easter egg. It’s a unique opportunity to fly a larger, more comfortable aircraft and potentially score a lie-flat seat on a domestic route.
In the past few weeks I’ve had the unique opportunity of visiting Los Angeles twice. Once for work and once for pleasure. Both trips required me to fly back to Chicago on Sunday evening. Amazingly, American Airlines flies the 787-8 Dreamliner from Los Angeles to Chicago once daily. The flight departs Los Angeles at 5:20PM PST and arrives in Chicago around 11:30PM CST. It’s a well timed flight for business and leisure travelers alike. The LAX to ORD Dreamliner flight is also great because it usually takes less time than other narrow-body flights. American reduces the scheduled trip time by 15 minutes when traveling on the 787.
Note: American flies the 787 back to Los Angeles from Chicago daily. That flight departs around 6:30PM CST and arrives in Los Angeles at approximately 9PM PST.
Booking The 787 To Chicago
I’ve all but given up booking American Airlines flights directly on AA.com. When booking I typically launch Google Flights, select the flights I want, and click through to AA.com to pay. Google flights makes it incredibly easy to find the flights you want and the whole process is much easier to visualize. Below is a screenshot of what to expect when selecting flights on Google Flights.
Google Flights shows you all airlines, number of stops, times, etc. as the default. If you’re looking for a specific flight it’s best to adjust the search criteria. Since I’m only looking for the American 787 flight I limited my search to only nonstop flights and only flights with OneWorld (American). Next, I looked at my options and found the 5:30PM departure which is serviced by the Dreamliner.
Once you’ve selected your flights, simply click the link to AA.com and you should automatically reach the payment page with the correct flights selected. Hopefully you’ll soon be able to book American flights directly with google, but who knows?
Arriving At Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is currently undergoing a massive renovation. Thanks to the renovation getting around the airport is a nightmare. Even worse, American’s mainline flights mostly depart from Terminal 4 which is difficult to access due to its location. If you don’t mind walking I’d recommend cutting across the departures road via the bridge and clearing security in Terminal 5, especially consider this option if you don’t have TSA PreCheck. More on that to come in a future post.
Pre-Departure Activities
You may notice on the Google Flights search page a small red-letter note. The note states that the 787 flight is often delayed 30+ minutes. These warnings are common and I usually don’t pay attention to them. With this flight however, that statement appears accurate. The 787 used for this flight comes from Shanghai China and was late both times I’ve taken this flight recently. Luckily, since the inbound flight takes nearly 12 hours you’ll know if your flight is on-time well in advance. You can view the inbound flight information within the American Airlines mobiles app.
Since both of my flights were late I decided to get to the airport on-time and explore. If you have Admirals Club access I’d definitely recommend waiting in the LAX Terminal 5 Admirals Club. The lounge is above the terminal and offers fantastic views of the AA departure ally which it shares with the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Sadly I no longer have access to Admirals Clubs since Citi took that benefit away from the Prestige card.
Instead of sitting in the Terminal 5 gate area I chose to visit the Tom Bradley International Terminal. The terminal is just a 10 minute walk from Terminal 5, but offers significantly better dining and shopping options TBIT also features several international lounges which you may have access to if you maintain some form of Airline Alliance Status. I only had access to one TBIT lounge thanks to my complimentary Chase Sapphire Reserve Priority Pass Membership. Priority Pass members have access to the Korean Air KAL Lounge located just near the terminal transfer entrance. The KAL lounge isn’t the best international lounge, but it’s definitely better than waiting in the terminal without complimentary alcohol and snacks.
American Airlines 787 Economy Class
Eventually it was time to board the 787 and head home. American changed their boarding process earlier in the year and I have to say the whole process is much smoother. Using a simple group number system is much easier to understand. Now there are fewer instances of people trying to board with the wrong boarding group. Once on the aircraft the flight attendants directed each passenger to their seat. On one of the two flights the flight attendants demanded to see boarding passes to instruct each passenger to the correct aisle. Apparently a twin aisle jets on a narrow-body route confuses passengers. Eventually I made my way to my seat and settled in for my relatively short flight back to Chicago. Since I took this flight twice I’ll now review each seat I sat in individually.
American Airlines Economy Class 788 Seat 18L
Seat 18L is a mostly standard economy class seat on the 787-800. I found this seat appealing because the row is missing a third seat. I like sitting by the window so I figured it’d be easier to only inconvenience one passenger when trying to access the lavatory.
Each economy class seat on the 787 features the same seat-back entertainment hardware. The screen is touch sensitive or controllable with the removable remote. I find it easier to use the remote to scroll through the massive media library currently offered on American. The seat also features both a standard power port and a USB port. In theory you can charge two devices at once which is great for longer flights.
Although I’ve had previously positive experiences in row 18 in economy on the 787 this flight was different. Previously when I’ve flown on the 787 the aircraft was only used for short domestic flights. This was years ago when American was still testing the aircraft and getting crews accustomed to the new plane.
The difference this time was that the aircraft just completed a 12 hour flight from China. This became an issue because the lavatory smelled awful. Row 18 is just in front of the center lavatories. Each time someone opened the door a strong odor blasted my seat. Since there are nearly 200 passengers in economy this happened a lot. Nearly the entire flight a steady flow of passengers used the restroom. Overall the smell wasn’t unbearable, but I’ll definitely rethink sitting in row 18 for a while.
Additionally, the seat offers limited recline since it is the last seat in the middle section of the aircraft. The seat does recline, but with noticeable limitation.
American Airlines Economy Class 788 Seat 9L
For my second LAX to ORD flight I selected seat 9L. Row 9 is a Main Cabin Extra (MCE) row which means you must pay a premium. I receive complimentary access to MCE seats thanks to my AAdvantage Gold status. AAdvantage Gold elites receive complimentary access to MCE seats within 24 hours to departure. AAdvantage Platinum elites and have complimentary access to MCE seats at the time of booking.
I’m not a tall person (5’11”) so leg room is rarely an issue. However, the increased leg room from MCE on the 787 is noticeable. I felt a little claustrophobic in seat 18L by comparison. MCE seats also offer additional recline. Since the row behind you is also larger you won’t worry about reclining into the person behind you either. Overall sitting in MCE was a welcomed improvement over standard economy class.
Another interesting feature of row 9 that I liked was the bulkhead in-flight infotainment screen in front. Usually mid-flight I’ll pause my entertainment to view the moving map to see where we are. When sitting in MCE you can easily view the bulkhead monitor which displays the moving map and flight data. It’s nice to simply glance up and see how much longer you have to reach your destination.
I’d advise against sitting in row 8 however due to the bulkhead. In row 8 you’ll have to put all personal items in the overhead bins and your leg room is limited. Rows 9-12 are the best options in my opinion. Row 13 is a great option for you, but I’d feel bad reclining into the non-MCE row behind. Overall I was quite happy with my seat choice for this flight and would gladly sit in MCE on the 787 again.
In-Flight Amenities
These domestic widebody flights feature the exact same in-flight service you could expect from any domestic American Airlines flight. American economy service includes complimentary soft drinks, pretzels, and biscoff cookies. Services began shortly after take-off and beverage carts only circulated once.
American’s 787 also offers in-flight wifi, but does not use Gogo as the service provider. If you have a Gogo wifi subscription you’ll have to pay to access wifi on the 787. The Panasonic wifi featured on the 787 is adequate, but it’s frustrating to pay for wifi when you already have a subscription with gogo.
This aircraft also features seat-back entertainment screens for all passengers. Currently all of the media content is free on American and there’s typically a wide variety of movies and TV shows loaded on the device. Prior to takeoff flight attendants passed out complimentary in-ear headphones. The headphones are great if you don’t have any, but are the worst in-ear headphones I’ve ever used. I tried to use the free headphones for the purpose of this review, but instead switched to my Bose QC35 headphones mid-flight.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, I’m torn by what to say about flying the 787 between Los Angeles to Chicago. On one hand I love flying wide-body aircraft on domestic routes. It’s just a great feeling having the additional cabin space when sitting on a plane for several hours. Also, I’m an AvGeek at heart so I just love flying on the 787! That being said there are definitely some drawbacks.
First and foremost, the 787 does not use Gogo in-flight wifi. I’ve grown so used to having free in-flight wifi from Gogo and T-Moblie that it’s something I now miss when flying. Mostly I missed the ability to text for free the whole flight.
Secondly, this flight is extremely popular. It’s nearly impossible to get upgraded to the awesome lie-flat business class cabin. For one flight I was 20th on the upgrade list! Things would obviously be different as an Executive Platinum elite, but if your goal is to get upgraded and you’re just a lowly AAdvantage Gold I’d avoid flying the 787.
Lastly, the 787 features a 3-3-3 cabin design and there aren’t too many great seats. The Airbus A321 has absolutely huge exit rows which are easy to select even as an AAdvantage Gold elite. With the 787 nearly every economy seat is the same and MCE represents only a slight improvement.
With all that being said, I’d pick this flight nearly every time because of its convenience. The flight leaves just late enough that you have a full day in Los Angeles, but not too late that you’re a zombie getting up for work the next day. Also, who passes up the chance to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with its awesome dimming windows!
