Up next is the connecting flight from Charlotte to Oklahoma City! I had read that American Airlines was offering a new lounge concept at Charlotte to help with lounge overcrowding. It’s their version of a grab and go offering, called American Provisions. I left the Centurion Lounge a with plenty of time before my flight so that I could make it to ‘Provisions’ and back. I had arrived into Concourse E, and my flight was from D (and the Centurion Lounge is at the D/E connector)
The Provisions lounge had only been open about 3 weeks, so everything was brand new and well-appointed in a minimalist and functional style. Everyone in the lounge was also extremely friendly. They had two customer service agents at the entrance to scan people in and provide any assistance that may be required.
Once you step inside, there was a sign that explained how the lounge concept worked, and there was a selection of self-serve grab and go:
There was some seating along the edges and ample space at a few standing tables. Clearly the intention was that you’d be in and out quickly, rather than settling in:
There was also a partial airplane view, but it was again nothing too exciting.
In addition to the self-serve area, there was also a served All Day Menu along with drinks.
The lounge attendants saw me taking pictures and were more than happy to let me get a good picture of the served grab & go setup. They also told me that AA was actively looking for feedback on the lounge design and requested that I fill out the flight survey if I got sent one (and I did actually!)
I grabbed a few items from the self-serve and from the served area:
I still had plenty of time to walk to my flight because the entire experience was very efficient and friendly. I was extremely impressed with how friendly every person I interacted with in the Provisions lounge was. That’s not always a given when flying domestically in the US.
I then proceeded to the E gates, which actually have a really nice atrium!
Then I continued to my aircraft. Flights between Charlotte and Oklahoma City are operated by both mainline and regional (American Eagle) aircraft. I had tried to find a flight on a mainline aircraft, but for the option that worked best for my schedule was on a CRJ-900. On the plus side, this means that I was able to select seat 1A and have both a window and an aisle, but on the other hand, AA’s regional flights are more limited service.
Westbound flights take noticeably longer than their eastbound counterparts, and this flight was no exception. It was blocked off as almost 3 hours, and the actual flight time was about 2.5 hours. That’s long enough to get a full meal service at least. However, since this flight was operated by a regional aircraft, I knew to expect a simple meal box, rather than a hot meal (and no pre-order option was available as a result).
Upon boarding the plane, it was clear that this crew was going to be only fine. The welcome on board was minimal, but at least I was 1A. No pre-departure beverage was offered, at least partially because we were a bit slow to get started boarding, but also because this crew was not likely to be going above and beyond like the crew on the flight from Richmond.
This was my first time flying a CRJ-700 for an extended period of time in a while (and in the interim, I had mostly flown on E175s). Unquestionably, the E175 is a superior aircraft to the CRJ-700. The CRJ-700 cabin was smaller, and the seat was less spacious and more uncomfortable than the equivalent seat on an E175.
After take-off, our drink orders were taken, and I ordered a sparkling water. The only flavor they had was the La Croix limoncello, so that’s what I had. It was fine. Immediately thereafter, I was given a choice between the turkey or the vegetarian meal box. Both the drink/glass and the meal box were just handed to me.
I had eaten in the Centurion lounge (and had grabbed ‘Provisions’), so it wasn’t like I was needing food, so I opened the box for the picture and then set it aside for a while.
The box consisted of a turkey wrap (that had the vibe of only being a half-wrap, but I can’t explain why it felt that way). It was served with a ‘Mexican-style’ salad, cheddar straws, and an oatmeal raisin cookie. When I finally got around to trying the different dishes, they were all bad.
The wrap was very onion-heavy for no reason, the salad was soggy and tasted bad, despite just being beans and corn. I don’t know how it managed to be as bad as it was. I didn’t bother with the cheese straws, but the cookie was just about average for an oatmeal and raisin cookie. It’s not like the other AA domestic hot meals I’ve had on standard routes were particularly amazing, but this was unquestionably a noticeable step down unfortunately. Another round of drinks was offered later in the flight, and that was about the extent of the service available.
In summary, this flight was particularly bland and below average. The ground experience in Charlotte (between the Centurion Lounge and Provisions Lounge) was great (4/5). The seat was just average for this type of flight; I would’ve preferred a mainline seat (3/5). The crew on the flight were just ok (3/5), and the food was bad (2/5). Finally, the only IFE offered was (expensive) WiFi and streaming, but the WiFi wasn’t even very good (2/5). Overall, the flight gets a 13/25, which really is not great for a premium flight (especially when compared to the flight from Richmond). That makes it one of my lowest scoring AA flights that’s made it onto the blog, but better food or a more engaged crew would’ve helped substantially improve my flight experience.
I paid $218 for this leg of the flight from Richmond to Oklahoma City, which was a premium of about $70 over economy. From the looks of the upgrade list, I may have been able to clear an upgrade, but given the length of the flight, the premium was worth it in my opinion. I earned 1 700 AA miles and about 1 000 Amex points, for a total return of around 18% (which is my standard amount on AA these days).
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