Why fly direct when you can connect? ATL-LAX-SFO (Part 1: ATL-LAX)

I booked a redeye outbound flight on United for only 15 000 miles, which was a pretty good deal.  On the way back though, United wanted 34 000 miles for an economy, non-stop one-way flight.  American wanted 33 000 miles for a one-stop option via LAX in First Class.  So, I decided to fly American.  I considered briefly the day of switching to flying United because saver availability (15 000 miles) had opened up.  But since it was a westbound day-time flight, I decided to keep my American flights. The Atlanta to Los Angeles leg would be my first non-premium transcontinental (ish) flight in a year, since September 2022. I assumed the service on this flight would be comparable because it is my understanding that all standard domestic flights over 900 miles just have a generic meal service.

For this flight, I had very little incentive to pay cash for the ticket because ATL-LAX is just under 2000 miles (around 1950 miles), and so it would’ve only earned 40 + 40 tier points.  If I were to try to get tier points, I’d want to connect in Charlotte, but Charlotte is (slightly) the wrong direction, and cash fares via Charlotte were much more expensive.  There is another big advantage to connecting in LAX: I’d get access to some good lounges on the layover, and it’s been a long time since I flew out of LAX on American. But first, I had to get there.

I hadn’t flown out of Atlanta since 2015, and I had completely forgotten that the airport has very centralized security. There were two checkpoints in the main terminal as far as I could tell: one for PreCheck and one for regular. The PreCheck area had three sub-lines: normal, Clear, and a third one that was reserved for people participating in some Delta program that I’m not familiar with. The Clear line was shorter, but all the lines were so long, I have no idea how much faster it actually was because there were just so many people. But at least when I got to the front, it was clear that all the security lanes were open and that this airport is just, in fact, very busy. Turns out it’s the busiest airport in the world.

Once you clear security, you’re reminded how dominate Delta is at Atlanta:

American doesn’t have that many flights from Atlanta, but they do have a dedicated gate that is directly across from the Admirals Club.

I had access to the Admirals Club thanks to my BA Gold (Oneworld Emerald) status. For better or worse, Admirals Clubs at out-stations are pretty consistent:

Most of the lounge was in one main room with seating:

There was also a secondary area with a small business center:

I situated myself at a slightly more private alcove:

They had the standard fare of hummus-based snacks, cookies, and soup. There was also a mac and cheese station.

As well as their standard snacks in a cup:

They also had a bar that stated which alcoholic drinks are complimentary. I think this is the first time I’ve seen this in an Admirals Club, and I really appreciated the clarity.

I made myself a small plate and got some water:

By the time I had finished eating, the flight was boarding:

I boarded with group 7 I think:

American’s airbus aircraft are very standardized now for better or for worse. The domestic first class seats are the same as their premium economy seats but a bit denser (and no footrests).

I had a pre-departure beverage of champagne:

Wifi was available on the flight at a rate of around $6/hour

We pushed back on time, and shortly after takeoff, service began with a hot towel, drinks, and nuts:

I had pre-ordered the chicken option, as I often do. It was served with beet hummus, (dry) vegetables, as well as a bread roll and a pack of crackers. The chicken meal itself I think is best described as the quintessential airplane food.

The meal on the flight was pretty mediocre. I had pre-ordered the “yellow chicken” as my meal.  It was served with potatoes, green beans, and tomato chutney.  The chicken was dry and bland. It was also a bit cold by the time it got to me. The chutney with which it was served was not my vibe because it had so onion-heavy. The beet hummus was pretty good, and the vegetables were fine.  The bread was actually the highlight, haha. Each of the meals that I saw had a different appetizer to go with it, so I guess the hummus was specifically intended to go with the chicken dish.  It was not a pairing I would’ve expected, but I do like hummus.

What I did learn is that, at least on this non-hub flight, unlike on my flight from Charlotte to San Francisco, I did not get a full sundae, which was a big bummer.

In summary, American’s standard first class is consistently fine, which is what I’d expect for first class in the United States.  The Admirals Club in Atlanta was decent for a busy, but non-hub, airport (3/5).  American’s first class seat is a perfectly solid offering, and row 1 definitely has better legroom than the other rows (4/5).  The service was solid and very responsive, but not proactive (4/5), which wasn’t a problem.  The food was pretty mediocre overall (2/5).  I definitely would’ve preferred a seatback TV, but the Wi-Fi worked well, and the movie selection was fine (3/5). Overall, the flight gets a pretty typical 16/25.

I booked this flight as part of an ATL-LAX-SFO leg that I paid 33 000 American miles for.  Cash fares were over $600 for a similar flight (and over $800 for the exact flight), so I was able to get around 1.8 ¢/point on this redemption.  I slapped my BA number onto the ticket so that I would have lounge access, but neither BA nor AA give any recognition for taking an award flight.

Some flight blogs take issue with the fact that United and Delta count (some) award flights toward status but AA doesn’t. I disagree with this stance because on AA, you earn status metrics when you earn the miles, unlike on United and Delta, where you don’t earn status metrics when you earn the miles but rather when you use them, and that’s pretty much universal in terms of earning points.