Backtracking through New York. This time on American!

On the way back from DC, I was once again heading through NYC.  This time, however, I was flying American Airlines, which can only mean one thing on this blog.  Yep, it’s another Flagship First Transcontinental review! 

This review is split into two parts because I’ll use this first part as my review of the Capital One Landing restaurant/lounge hybrid experience.  The second part will be a combination of the Chelsea Lounge (where I ended up spending a lot of time) and the transcontinental flight (which I slept through much of).

I arrived into DCA by metro, which meant that I was on the lower level.  Great! That’s where security is.  American Airlines even has a check-in area down here.  Also great!

However, DCA has no baggage belts, so after your bag is tagged, you have to take it to the security area.  The security area is upstairs.  So I had to go upstairs anyway.  So this check-in area really is only useful for people who don’t have checked bags.  But it’s 2025.  You really shouldn’t be needing to go to a check-in area if you don’t have bags to check.

Well anyway, once I went upstairs, dropped my bag, and then came back downstairs, I was then able to clear security.  I headed straight for the (new at the time) Capital One Landing.  The Landing is effectively a restaurant and not a lounge because the only seating options are at tables and/or booths (and not arm chairs with a side table).  I would argue that it’s almost a distinction without a difference because sitting in a booth is usually just as comfortable as sitting in an arm chair.  I also feel like I may use lounges for dining more than the average person given when I usually fly.

The Landing consists of a served buffet and an à-la-carte dining menu available through a QR code.  The food offers vary by time of day and rotate over time.  But there are consistently two cases containing the served buffet food:

During this visit, there was a salad selection and a cured meats and cheese selection.

If none of the buffet options appeal to you, that’s where the QR code comes in.  The menu there was extensive and covered lunch/dinner (breakfast during the appropriate time of the day), coffee, and cocktails/mocktails:

The offerings on the menu are just one continuous list.  It’s much longer than the equivalent list at the Chase Sapphire Lounge, but Chase’s lounge has a more extensive buffet.  I tried to get a screenshot of the entire menu, but it didn’t turn out well when trying to upload it to the blog.

I ordered a serving of croquettes and the eggplant and tofu donburi.  The donburi was beautifully presented and tasted great.  The flavors complimented each other well.  The croquette was also very good but much more standard for what you’d expect from a croquette.

After finishing my lunch, it was time to head to the gate.  My flight was on an E175, just like my previous JFK-DCA flight on Delta.  Since regional aircraft operations are outsourced to regional airline partners, it’s possible that one day I could have the same E175 on different “airlines”. 

Unsurprisingly, I opted for seat 1A:

This E175 was only about 11 years old, but the seats felt more dated that those on the Delta flight (which was 17 years old).  That’s a pretty consistent trend though: Delta keeps planes longer but invests more in keeping the planes’ interiors fresh so they don’t feel old to passengers. 

I’d also like it to be noted that I got a haircut while on this trip. At the time of posting, I haven’t gotten a haircut since then, so expect to watch my hair to change over time going forward.

The extent of the service on this short flight was just a drink service.  No snack was offered.  Not that I really needed one though.  Even though the flight was short, the flight attendant offered a pre-departure beverage and came through the cabin twice during the flight to offer drinks.  She didn’t skimp at all like you sometimes see on short flights (e.g. between LA and SF).

In summary, this connecting flight back to New York was uneventful.  The goal of this review was to review the Capital One Landing.  The DCA ground experience is much better with the Capital One Landing now available, even if the baggage belt situation continues to be ridiculous (5/5).  My single seat was great as always, but the seat looked in need of some reupholstering (or at least tightening it up haha) (3/5).  The service on this flight was great (5/5), but only drinks were offered (2/5).  The IFE on this flight was AA’s standard streaming entertainment options (3/5).  The flight gets an 18/25, which is only 1 point behind the Delta flight on this route, but the sub-scores are very different.