I took a one-week vacation to Japan, and I wanted it to be a bougie flight experience in First or Business Class to or from Japan. And I failed. But! Flying Japan Airlines in the back of the plane was pretty great! Check out my review of Japan Airlines A350-1000 in Economy Class below!

Flight Info

Summary

• Brand new aircraft so the cabin and seats are still in great condition
• Japanese service and hospitality shine through the cabin crew’s professionalism
• Seat features are top-notch

Booking Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

I had a little bit of a rough time booking this flight. My ultimate goal was to book Japan Airlines First Class on their shiny new A350-1000 aircraft that they took first delivery of in 2023 and have slowly been acquiring more. And … I didn’t luck out this time. What’s crazy is I saw First Class availability on other routes but for their B777-300 aircraft, which I’ve already experienced (and will hopefully re-share here one day). I really want to try their new First Class because of the new innovations, privacy, space, and typical JAL service and hospitality.

Flight benefits…maybe?

So my backup plan was to utilize my flight benefits. My airline started acquiring Business Class standby agreements for employees with a growing list of airlines this year, and I thought maybe I could utilize one of them to get to Japan. But! That might have required me to go to Australia, Philippines, Finland, or Germany. Wild options, I know. For a week or two, I was monitoring flight loads (like how open the flight is with available seats), and Australia or the Philippines seemed viable. However, to make this all work would’ve been costly with all the taxes and fees as well as time spent in the air and layovers.

The other option was to utilize my own airline to fly to Japan. However, Business Class seats were quickly evaporating in availability with increasing competition amongst other fellow employee travelers.

In the end, after much consideration and research, two nights before departure, I decided to fly Japan Airlines—still on their A350-1000 but in Economy as my airline doesn’t have a premium cabin agreement with them.

To do this, I utilized an internal website/portal where airline employees can book and list for such types of air travel (ZED travel for my fellow airline employee readers). To fly from DFW to HND was $109.40 in taxes and fees. Not bad considering that booking this flight last minute with a paid ticket would’ve been something like $1400!

I booked this flight the day before departure.

Packing for Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

With Japan trips, I know I’m often tempted to bring checked luggage in order to have space to bring stuff back. I used to do this when I was going back and forth for work pre-COVID.

For this trip, I decided to bring my carry-on rollaboard and backpack—my usual setup. And this setup was in keeping with Japan Airlines’ carry on policy.

I packed enough clothes for the week in my rollaboard, and my backpack still had space to expand if I brought stuff back with me. Also, the upcoming week in Tokyo was going to be cold, so I packed some long sleeves and other things to keep warm.

To make this flight more comfortable, I made sure to bring my typical eye mask, my AA Business Class slippers to change into, my Bose wired noise-canceling earbuds, Apple AirPods Pro’s with noise cancelling, and some packets of electrolytes to mix with water in my water bottle. I also packed my backpack such that electronic stuff I’d like to use during the flight were within easy reach (like power cords, my Nintendo 3DS, headphones, etc).

DFW Airport Check In and Security/Customs

Due to being gone for a week, I opted to keep my car at my house and just have my parents drop me off at the airport. They dropped me off about 3.5 hours before departure at DFW Terminal D, though I had them drop me off at the American Airlines counters knowing I had some time to kill before Japan Airlines opened up their own counters.

This being the weekend after Thanksgiving, it was pretty busy at the AA counters and adjacent TSA PreCheck checkpoint.

Checking in at the Japan Airlines Counter

The Japan Airlines (JAL) counters were located at counter numbers 60-65 as you can see in the picture above. I’m not sure if this switches around because the counters are all generic.

I arrived about 10 minutes before JAL opened their counters, and when they did, I got in line. 

Because DFW is an international outstation for JAL, I wasn’t surprised to see contract agents working the ticket counter. 

When I checked-in, I told the agent that I was a “staff traveler”. This seems to be the universal phrase to indicate that I was flying nonrevenue standby on another airline that isn’t my own airline. And the agent, indeed, understood what I meant.

The agent verified my passport, saw my itinerary, and printed me off a standby card that I could use to get through security. She also pointed out that the standby card showed when to show up at the gate to get my seat assignment (about 9:35AM). She did not weigh or measure my carry on bags.

After checking in, I made my way over to the adjacent TSA checkpoint.

TSA and Security

When I walked past the General checkpoint by the Grand Hyatt entrance, I saw that it had a 16 minute wait. Lots of people–mostly AA passengers, I thought, since at some point in 2024, DFW Terminal D made it such that security checkpoint by the AA counters was just purely PreCheck.

Because there aren’t many morning international departures with other airlines at DFW, the international TSA checkpoint wasn’t that busy at all—just a two minute wait! And I think it only took me about two minutes! So easy.

I’ll note that… because of the way I booked, I don’t think my Known Traveler Number got passed along so I wasn’t able to use PreCheck. Not a problem. I only had to remove my laptop, and the line moved decently quickly.

Lounge at DFW

Knowing that my departure gate was going to be at Termainl D, I decided to see about hitting up their Admirals Club here. 

Now, I actually wasn’t sure if I would have access because I wasn’t flying an AA flight. But after double-checking the Admirals Club access rules on AA’s website, I saw that for passengers with the Citi AAdvantage Executive card, access is granted if you’re flying even on a oneworld airline, which JAL qualifies. There was also the matter of me flying standby and not having a confirmed seat, but that wasn’t an issue to get in.

When I checked into the Admirals Club at Terminal D, I asked the club agent, and she went over this same info and let me through.

During check-in, I also saw Japanese men carrying around the Flagship pass that allows access to the Flagship Lounge adjacent to the Admirals Club. This pass is only for passengers with high status or flying in a premium cabin. Man, that used to be me! lol 

My backup plan if I didn’t have access to the Admirals Clubs would have been to try and use my Priority Pass benefit and check out The Club DFW maybe. Or go do some morning drinking at a bar.

Once inside the Admirals Club, I looked around for a place to sit and luckily found one right by the windows overlooking D25, which had a beautiful AA B787 parked at it in preparation for the Shanghai flight.

Food Offered at the Admirals Club

Today’s food offerings included corned beef hash and breakfast potatoes for the hot food (see pic below). The potatoes didn’t look appealing to me so I opted for the hash and paired it with a muffin and raspberry chia pudding.

The hash was kind of salty, but otherwise it was good. The best part was the chia pudding—not too sweet with a good tapioca-like texture. On the other hand, I was most disappointed with the muffin as it was dry. To wash this all down, I had gone to the bar and requested the sparkling wine/brut and splashed it with orange juice from the drink area for a mimosa.

With it being a Saturday morning of Thanksgiving weekend, I didn’t find the Admirals Club to be super busy, but more and more people trickled in as time went on during my 1.5 hour stay. 

One thing I observed is that multiple passengers BROUGHT THEIR DOGS. Leashed and not in their carriers! I heard a few barks periodically. I…think I’m “Team No Dogs In Airline Lounges” because these places never have pet relief areas.  But at the same, I’m a dog guy and don’t really have a problem if the dog is well-behaved. No one got bitten today, which was good.

Other than that, it was a good, relaxing time in the lounge wherein I looked out the window a lot, enjoyed my lite breakfast, took notes for this flight review, and texted friends.

Boarding and Departure for Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

I left the Admirals Club around 9:00AM because I wanted to see if I would run into a coworker (also departing for Japan but with AA…. Narrator: He did not meet with his coworker), and to also make sure I was at my departure gate around 9:35AM for my seat assignment as instructed by the ticket agent and my standby pass.

When I arrived at Gate D14, I saw that the gate agents were busy making preparations and the cabin crew was gathering and having a meeting. Gate D14’s seating areas are spread out so it was hard to tell if the people around were really for this Japan Airlines flight or not. An hour before departure, there were still plenty of seats available to sit in. I decided to sit in the seats close to the blue art installation that the surrounding gates kind of encircle.

As departure time drew nearer, the gate agents made several announcements, especially looking for a handful of passengers that they kept paging over and over again (not sure why). From where I sat down, I could hear the PA announcements very clearly.

Just after 9:35AM, I walked up to the gate agent and asked about my seat assignment. As the gate agent was typing away, I indicated that I’d like an aisle seat if available. After some more typing, I got my confirmed seat assignment: 46D! And apparently this came with Group 5 boarding, which is the last boarding group.

It took me a little while to see and understand that everyone was lining up according to their group numbers and corresponding stanchions the gate agents had set up. I saw that Group 4 and 5 were combined on a single stanchion over by me, so I let the line fill up a little before jumping in. One thing I noticed is how all these boarding lanes got filled with people, and I couldn’t help but wonder where everyone was hanging out prior to getting in line!

Boarding time!

Boarding started a few minutes early with the preboards, but it took a while before Group 1 (First Class I think) was called to board. That happened around 10:11AM.

At 10:25AM, I was able to do the biometric scan (where they scan your face vs boarding pass) to board the aircraft. I did end up behind an elderly woman who was in a wheelchair, so things moved slow down the jet bridge and on the aircraft as she got wheeled in then seated.

For more information about Japan Airlines’ boarding priority, check this out.

Just before getting on the aircraft, I saw that JAL had posted the sign pictured above that lets passengers know which side of the aircraft to go to depending on their seat number. I thought this was brilliant because it saves the flight attendants from having to check and verify with each passenger getting on the plane.

When I got to my Economy Class seat, I saw there was plenty of bin space around me. I did learn that my rollaboard luggage didn’t fit in the bookend way as is typical for say AA domestic flights. No one ended up using the bin besides me, which was weird and really nice haha.

I had other observations during the boarding process…

The temp of the cabin seemed cool, likely due to it having been a colder morning.

By 10:30AM it seemed like most everyone had boarded.

And by 10:34AM the cabin crew stood at their stations AND THEN BOWED. Then it was time to prepare for pushing back, which we did right on time at 10:35AM. This was crazy to me because most of the plane didn’t start getting on until 10:11AM. And we had an A350-1000 to fill!

So there wasn’t really a delay in the boarding process. Somehow.

The one annoying thing about boarding is that the men on either side of me (one across the aisle, and other on the opposite aisle seat) were both on their phones. With their speakerphones on. Ugh. Luckily, their calls didn’t last TOO long, and both had hung up their calls before we pushed back.

Overall, the boarding process was incredibly efficient and smooth. Somehow we boarded the plane and all flight attendants were done with their duties within like 25 minutes. If only US-based airlines could be this efficient!

Takeoff

Before taking off, there was a little bit of a noticeable pause as we idled at runway 36R-18L for a while. I figured that we were waiting on ATC. I did have the tail and nose cams on the IFE system on during this time. See below for more info about that!

Summary of timings during boarding and departure:

Japan Airlines A350-1000 Aircraft

This flight was actually not my first time flying an A350 aircraft. That honor belongs to SQ 23 – the World’s Longest Flight from JFK to Singapore. However, Singapore Airlines utilizes a special variant of the A350-900 for that flight. So technically, this Japan Airlines flight was my first time flying the A350-1000 variant.

In preparing this blog post, I learned that the -900 is more suited for long range routes, and the -1000 is better for long-haul premium routes.
The aircraft for this flight was registration number JA-10WJ. Apparently, this was the 10th A350-1000 for Japan Airlines! And I flew it 2.5 months after they received it!

Cabin and Seats in Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

The cabin in Economy Class on Japan Airlines A350-1000 had a tasteful modern look to it. The sidewalls were a light gray, and the carpets were dark red with black accents. During boarding, the lighting was set to a white light so I could really appreciate the colors of the cabin. The picture shown below gives some of an idea of what the cabin looks like.

As far as wear and tear in the cabin, I didn’t really see anything obvious. Like I mentioned above, this aircraft is pretty new–only a few months old. Also, I know Japanese culture does a much, much better job of taking good care of things. With all that said, I can say the same thing impeccability about the cleanliness of the cabin. 

In Economy Class, the configuration was 3-3-3, which is pretty standard for A350 aircraft. For wide bodies, I’m familiar with the similar configuration on B787 aircraft, but the A350 aircraft is wider than a 787 so that allows the seats to be a little wider. For Japan Airlines’ layout in Economy, there were 155 seats total—all in one cabin.

As for the overhead bins, I don’t think they were Airbus’ XL bins. My rollaboard didn’t fit on its side with the wheels facing away so I had to lay it hotdog style for the bin to close. I also suspect that for the most part, carry-on luggage in Japan are smaller than the standard American ones. 

Overall, I thought the cabin noticeably looked sleek and new. Additionally, I thought it felt spacious with 9 abreast seating. Looking at the overall layout, I initially thought that the lavatories closest to me were only for Premium Economy due to the curtain placement, but this wasn’t the case for most of the flight.

While writing this review after the flight, I learned that Skytrax, which runs the world’s largest passenger satisfaction survey and gives awards to airlines, awarded Japan Airlines with the Best Economy Airline Seat in 2025. I’m not really sure if that award is specifically for the A350-1000 Economy Seat, but I’m willing to bet a sushi roll that it is.

Economy Class Seat on Japan Airlines A350-1000

My seat was 46D. It was a left-hand aisle seat in the center section of the cabin. 

The seat model was a Recaro CL3710 according to Aerolopa. Japan Airlines configured it with a good handful of notable features:

• 33” pitch
• 18” pax width
• 5” recline (I feel like it was a little less than this)
• 13” 4k touchscreen (Panasonic?)
  • Headphone dual RCA jacks
  • USB C
  • USB A
  • Seat controls for light, call button
  • Volume and power 
• Bi-fold tray table with separate cup holder
• Literature pocket (upper) … with magazines!
  • Skyward (JAL’s inflight magazine)
  • Instructions for how to use features of the seat
  • Instructions for WiFi
  • JAL Shop (JAL’s shopping catalog)
• Literature pocket (lower)
  • Safety card
  • Motion sickness bag
  • Two mesh outer pockets for small things/devices
• Universal power port
• Armrest audio jack — this is nice in that your cord doesn’t get in the way!

In the picture above, you can see the 13″ screen, but it doesn’t do it justice as to how nice of a screen it was! Also, just below the screen were the controls, the ports, and below that was the upper literature pocket.

The seat features a bi-fold tray, which means you fold it out twice–once for a half-table and again for the full table. This design is typical when seat companies want to be able to offer more features or bigger screens to the back of the seat. Unfortunately, I found my tray table to be dirty when I unfolded it…but! I easily fixed it during meal service.

The bottom literature pocket has the universal power port, safety card, motion sickness bag, and extra mesh pockets. These mesh pockets came in clutch during the flight as this was where I stored my phone, AirPods case, and other small things when I wasn’t using them.

As shown below, Japan Airlines included a pillow, blanket, and cheap headphones as amenities for the seat. There was no amenity kit.

I didn’t use the headphones at all, but I did use the pillow and blanket. The blanket didn’t feel cheap—it was fleece and felt like it too! The pillow wasn’t anything amazing, but I felt like it was a little more firm than what I’m used to with long haul flights on American Airlines.

Also, the guide pamphlets (found in the upper literature pocket) for operating the features of the seat and how to connect to the onboard WiFi are pretty detailed in case you need help with those. See the pics below! But…does anyone really read these? Haha.

As for wear and tear on the seat, I didn’t see anything. Again, much like the cabin, the aircraft is relatively new to Japan Airlines’ fleet, and Japanese culture takes better care of their stuff.

For cleanliness, the only glaring thing was seeing some hard candy and residue on my tray table after deploying it (obvious in the picture above). Luckily, I was able to wipe that off with the oshibori (wet towelette) provided during the drink service. I was surprised to see that this was missed in cleaning the aircraft, but this didn’t merit me having to go complain to a flight attendant.

Looking back, I had a few favorite features of the seat. First, that 18” pax width was noticeable. Prior to this flight, I had flown to Santiago, Chile in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin, and I think those seats are an inch less wide. It didn’t take much for my hips to touch the sides of the armrest. Here on this flight, I felt like I had decent space. The touchscreen monitor was very nice—I really think it was the star feature of the seat! See below for more details. I was also impressed that the seat featured two literature pockets! And both are utilized by the airline. And lastly, the mesh outer pockets on the lower literature pocket was really handy in holding my phone and smaller items for easy access convenience.

Inflight Entertainment in Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

Like I mentioned above, the 13” 4K touchscreen monitor was probably the star of this Economy seat on Japan Airlines A350-1000. At 13”, I believe this was one of the larger sizes for an Economy Class IFE screen. The interface was pretty easy to navigate–just needed to touch or swipe depending on what I wanted to do. I found it super easy to use, but I did also get lost in its menus, which some seemed redundant or required seemingly too many taps to get to the function I wanted.

The content is feature-packed though! The major content areas offered were:

• Movies & TV Programs
• Audio
• Reading & News
• Flight Map
• Aircraft Camera
• Inflight Shopping
• Inflight Menu

For movies and TV programs, I saw a lot of older Hollywood movies, but not many recent releases. Oddly, I didn’t see a lot of Japanese content so that made me wonder if JAL does route-specific content loading? 

Later in the flight, I utilized the Audio section and started listening to chill jazz music to help me sleep. And towards the end, to help me get in the mood of being in Japan, I found an album of anime songs. Overall, there were various full albums of varying genres, podcasts, and audiobooks available for listening.

I didn’t really bother with the Reading & News section so I just assumed it had pre-loaded books, maybe manga, and live news channels.

Frequently throughout the flight, I had the Flight Map autoplaying. I thought it was pretty slick and intuitive to switch around with different views and information about the flight. 

Now…the Aircraft Camera was probably my most fav part! The quality of the cameras were actually pretty dang decent as I’ve seen this feature on older aircraft on other airlines but they were sadly very grainy. There were two options: front camera which I think was forward of the nose landing gear, and tail camera with a great view of the top of the aircraft.

For Inflight Shopping, I didn’t really thumb through it but I know the idea of shopping on a plane for duty free items is a popular thing for Asian airlines. I didn’t have any interest in purchasing anything while on board this flight.

My favorite features

As far as cool features go, there were a few that stood out to me. Again, I really liked the external camera feeds, especially because the camera feeds weren’t super grainy like I’ve seen on other airlines. When using the system for the first time, it actually asks you to select one of three modes: personal (which is paired with the JAL app), default, and kids. I’m not a Mileage Bank member, and I am not a kid so I selected the default mode. However, if I was a Mileage Bank member and tied the system to my JAL app, the system can remember where I last left off in movies and TV shows! That’s pretty cool! I’m not sure if this works on JAL’s older IFE systems on their B777’s and B787’s though. 

The last cool feature was being able to use my Bluetooth headphones with the screen! There was a button and instructions for it on one of the home screens. I was able to connect my AirPods to the screen, and that was really cool and convenient! I haven’t done that before as this was my first flight with that as an option! The screen still had dual RCA jacks in case I wanted to use wired headphones, whether with the cheap disposable ones provided or my own headphones with an adapter. 

Overall, I really liked the inflight entertainment system! The controls were responsive and intuitive, although the menus were a little cumbersome. The external camera feeds were my most favorite part, and the inflight map was really cool too. I did end up watching three movies and listened to a few hours of audio (see below for my Inflight experience), and those worked pretty well. My one major complaint with the system though is that my AirPods lost connection every so often in the first half of the flight, and it took a little bit to reconnect. I was not sure of the cause, but I just rolled with it and tested my patience, haha.

WiFi in Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

WiFi was offered on this Japan Airlines A350-1000 flight from DFW to HND. But…not until well into the flight! I know Panasonic provides the service, but I am not sure of the nuances of how it works from a technical standpoint. Because I know some older systems require being at a certain altitude before the system works. Every so often, I checked my phone to see if the system was receiving a satellite signal, and it didn’t appear to have it until almost 2 hours into the flight! I mean..I was trying to test it out – for science! I wasn’t interested in doom scrolling all flight on social media.

To connect to the WiFi, there is a whole pamphlet with detailed instructions found in the literature pocket of the seat. But basically, you connect your phone to the WiFi signal and navigate to a particular splash page. On that splash page, it says the current status of the system, and if it works, it’ll give the option to pay for WiFi.

The different passes for WiFi were:

• Flight Pass (entire flight): $18.80 USD (I paid for this)
• 3 Hours: $12something USD (I forgot to take a pic! It doesn’t show you prices again after you’ve paid)
• 1 Hour: Free

I flew an American Airlines flight from DFW to NRT about 12 months prior to this flight, and that was $29 USD for 2 hours or $35 USD for the whole flight. So JAL offering a ~$19 USD flight pass was definitely a better deal.

WiFi Speeds

And as far as how fast the WiFi was:

• Download: 28.2 mbps
• Upload: 3.16 mbps
• Ping: 817 ms

I was impressed with these speeds because having a download speed of 28 mbps is pretty comparable to hotel WiFi speeds at most hotels I’ve stayed at. But…the upload speed was not great and the ping was terrible. That same AA flight mentioned above, I had 7.86 mbps download speed, and 4.12 mbps upload speed, and that was on an older Panasonic system on AA’s B777-200.

For reliability, I thought I had pretty good and steady connection once connected. I noticed I had issues about 7.5 hours into the flight as it seemed like it stopped working, but I realized that maybe my phone got disconnected from the WiFi signal onboard and just needed to reconnect.

Inflight Service in Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

Note: I will say “cabin crew”, “cabin attendants”, and “flight attendants” interchangeably. JAL uses “cabin crew” or “cabin attendant” in reference to their crew.

I will just say, in general, Japan Airlines has a very professional cabin crew. They definitely look and act the part pretty consistently across the good handful of times I’ve flown them (even way before I started this blog), including this flight. They definitely conveyed Japanese hospitality and efficiency on this flight in Economy Class, though perhaps lacking a truly personal touch on this flight. I know if I were seated in First or Business, I’d likely be acknowledged by name. But still, even in Economy I was still convinced of their professionalism.

To me, what makes Japanese culture really cool is … the small details. For example, I noticed they used little sticker flags for people who have requested special meals and placed them at the top of the headrests so that other flight attendants were informed.  This made the distribution of special meals pretty efficient. I also noticed that the cabin crew used lint rollers after every service to help clean up crumbs and such in the carpeted areas of the cabin. Just wow!

For the meal services on this flight, I think there were about 5 or 6 flight attendants serving the Economy Class cabin. There were always 2 on each side whether they ran the drink and meal carts down the aisles, but I assumed there were a few more in the galleys doing prep work.

Service Timeline

Here’s a timeline of what happened during the flight in terms of the inflight service:

(hh,mm after takeoff)

• 00,20 Wet towellete distributed (oshibori)
• 00,26 Drink cart goes to Premium Economy
• 00,32 Drink cart arrives at me
• 00,46 Special meals delivered
• 01,00 Meal cart passes by (but not to Premium Economy; they must be catered differently)
• 01,03 Received my chicken entree and meal
• 01,29 Received my ice cream
• 01,34 Coffee and green tea served 
• 01,45 Tray taken up
• 02,14 Cabin crew do JAL Shop service
• 02,30?? Lights turn off
• Mid flight: Orange juice and water served
• 06,58 Lights turned on
• 07,04 Drink cart goes to Premium Economy
• 07,22 Drink cart arrives at me; midflight lite meal served
• 07,42 Lights off again
• 10,53 Lights turn on for pre-arrival meal service 
• 11,12 Received pre-arrival meal
• 11,45 Tray taken up
• 12,15 Handed out customs forms

I wanted to point out some interesting things here with the timetable. They did a coffee and tea service right after the main meal service with pitchers of either drink. The cabin crew also did a similar thing with orange juice and water in the middle of the flight when the lights were off, and they offered these drinks to anyone who was visibly awake. 

Another observation I had was during the main meal drink service. They had a drink menu with one side in Japanese and the other in English that they would show to each passenger to make a drink selection. I thought this was interesting, but I wish the drink menu had been available on the IFE screen like the food was. I’m not sure of the full drink menu, but I think the general sodas, water, juices,  teas, coffee, alcohols, and speciality JAL Sky Time drinks were available.

I forgot to check if they set out snacks and drinks in the galley as is often typical for long-haul flights. I’ll assume that they did, but I didn’t notice.

Food and Drink in Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

For this 13 hour flight in Japan Airlines Economy Class on the A350-1000, the flight attendants served lunch, a midflight snack, and a pre-arrival meal. 

Like I mentioned above, the menu options for the lunch service and pre-arrival meal were available in the IFE system (though no pictures!). 

Lunch Service

The two options, again, were either an international plate that had beef goulash or the washoku plate with grilled salted rice malt chicken.

First things first–a moist towelette was handed out to every passenger. I just laughed because they say “JAL Business Class” as you can see in the picture below! And you know what–that immediately elevates this Economy Class experience on JAL! Haha.

While the cabin attendants were in the galleys heating up the food, they also did a drink service down the aisles. I selected a highball, which is a whiskey mixed with soda water. I didn’t want to go heavy on the alcohol at the start. I’ll also note that none of the drinks cost extra.

Since I wasn’t in the very back, and the cabin attendants had started from the front of the cabin, I still had the two choices. I selected the grilled salted rice malt chicken.

As you can see in the picture above, the tray was pre-set, and I thought the presentation was rather splendid. Everything fit, nothing felt super crowded. This stood out to me because typical long-haul American Airlines Main Cabin meals seem squished and crowded to me, often presenting a challenge to eat. 

I also noticed that the sides were served in a hard, reusable plastic–I don’t think they get thrown away. And I also noticed the entree was served in a styrofoam, which I guess makes sense because this is the food item that gets heated in the galley ovens.

Another impressive thing to me was the use of actual silverware! In Economy! I know American Airlines started using bamboo cutlery, but the use of actual silverware by Japan Airlines made  the Economy eating experience feel more premium! And of course, chopsticks were included with the silverware too.

Bear with me since Economy meals aren’t served in multiple courses so I don’t have pictures in-between to break up how the food was, lol.

The drink service came with rice crackers. Very giving pub-like since I had a highball. The rice crackers had a hint of sweet, but most certainly a savory flavor is what I remembered the most. 

After the cabin attendant set down my tray of food, she also asked if I wanted miso soup. I said yes, and she handed me a small cup of miso soup. I was amused that they served it from a pitcher into a little cup, but I thought this was practical in Economy Class (from previous experience in their Business and First Class cabins, they served miso soup in the typical small black bowl). The miso soup was savory and hot.

Starting with the sides from left to right in the picture above, I saw there was spaghetti (?!), potato salad, and barley salad (I think?). I honestly don’t know what the official names were, and I wasn’t entirely sure about the last side dish being barley. The spaghetti was cold (intentional), and it had a tomato flavor giving it a nice, slightly acidic taste. For the potato salad, I appreciated that the potatoes weren’t mushy, and I thought that the herb seasoning was good. The mayonnaise didn’t have a strong flavor either–just enough to convince you of its creaminess. Lastly, the barley (?) salad had a great, slightly savory flavor, and the chewiness added a nice texture. All these sides paired well with the entree.

Regarding the main entree, it consisted of the malted chicken, rice, and steamed veggies. The malted chicken was slightly dry to me, but it had a good light and savory flavor. When I think of malt, I also think of something kinda cereal-like but I don’t think the taste was convincingly malty (either that or my palate isn’t developed for that!). The rice was plain, but was pretty good on its own, which is to be expected in Japanese culture. And lastly, I thought that the steamed broccoli and carrots had no flavor. Honestly, this main entree was relatively bland, but I think this highlighted the necessity of the sides to add more texture and flavor to the overall meal.

I shared a pic of this meal to some former colleagues of mine, and one commented how it looked like something a gym bro would eat–chicken, rice, and veggies. I agreed! Haha.

For dessert, there was a chocolate chip cookie that came with the tray, and a small Haagen-Dazs dulce de leche ice cream came later while everyone was still eating. I noticed that the cookie is from 85 Degrees Cafe, which I know to be a popular Asian bakery. The cookie was kinda hard but chunky, and I noticed and tasted bits of oats and cinnamon too. Pretty good though! The ice cream was the worst part of this meal–it was TOO frozen when they handed it out, and I had to wait for it to melt enough to actually eat it. Otherwise it was a great, sweet finish to this Economy Class meal!

Overall, I thought this was a well-designed tray of food for Economy Class. Like, I felt the intentionality shine through in its presentation and offerings. The sides, entree, and desserts gave a variety of things for my palate to enjoy. Most of my long-haul experiences lately were American Airlines Main Cabin meals, and sometimes those feel haphazardly thrown together with a bunch of pre-packaged things so the JAL experience definitely stood out. Was this the best Economy Meal I’ve had? Maybe!

Mid-Flight Snack

For this service, there wasn’t really any announcement to foreshadow what was to come as the lights turned on about 7 hours into the flight–a rude awakening for the passengers who were asleep! But…I was awake watching magical movies (see Inflight section below).

Other than choice of drinks, there were no other options besides the standard snack for everyone: a chocolate croissant.

For my drink selection, I tried to order JAL Sky Time, which is a mix of peach and grape juices. It’s Japan Airlines’ speciality drink! But unfortunately, they told me they don’t serve it for the mid-flight service. So I settled for a hot green tea instead. 

The chocolate croissant, similar to the cookie from the lunch service, was also from 85 Degrees. It was soft, and there were good chunks of chocolate inside. I kind of wished it was less of a pre-packaged thing, but I suppose that’s what Business Class is for!

I loved the simplicity of this service. Something quick and easy to help break up the long flight. As soon as the cabin crew did their trash run afterwards, the lights went back off to let everyone go back to bed.

Pre-Arrival Meal

Lastly, the pre-arrival meal in Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class was served about 11 hours into the flight or 2 hours before arrival.

There was only one option for this meal, and it was more Western-like. The meal consisted of a frittata with bacon leeks, pork sausage, roasted tomato, spinach, fruits, and a cheesecake slice.

For my drink selection this time, I selected coffee. I wanted some caffeine to help me stay awake and aware enough knowing that I’d be busy running around after landing. Also, I know JAL also serves better onboard coffee (their current offerings), and I definitely tasted the difference.

The meal itself had a simple and organized presentation, and there was a little more space than the lunch service since there weren’t as many sides. 

For the food, I thought it was a good lite meal to have before landing. It wasn’t gross enough that it would force me to go hunt down egg sandos at 7-Eleven as soon as I landed. The fruit plate was a good mix of melons and pineapples. I thought the frittata was fluffy and not salty, which I know tends to be a struggle with egg bites and frittatas elsewhere. The pork sausage was not dry and not super salty either. Thank goodness the roasted tomato wasn’t mushy, as I know that’s also a struggle for onboard tomatoes. The spinach was weird to me, lol. But it wasn’t bad though it was probably the strongest flavored thing on the tray. Lastly, the cheesecake was light and airy with a hint of something more than vanilla, and it tasted pretty great.

Lavatories in Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

I struggle a little bit saying how many lavatories there were for Economy Class in Japan Airlines A350-1000. From Aerolopa, it’s obvious that the 3 in the aft section of the cabin are for Economy Class. However, the back of Premium Economy has 2 lavs too, and during the flight, these lavs were mostly available to Economy as well except for the periods of time they closed the curtains. So it’s either 5 lavatories or 3 lavatories depending on how hardcore JAL enforces the use of lavs within your own cabin.

Because I was seated in 46D, technically the Premium Economy lavatories were closest to me though the ones in the aft section weren’t too far of a walk.

The left-hand Premium Economy lavatory was an accessible lav, so it had almost double the space of a normal one so that someone who needs a helper or wheelchair has room. Because of this fact, it was the most spacious lavatory.

Otherwise, the lavatories are fairly standard but Japan Airlines equips their lavatories with BIDETS!!!! 

In the middle of the flight, I also used the aft lavatories. They look like this:

I also saw that the lavatories are equipped with more motion sickness bags and paper cups. 

Personal Potty Timeline

Here’s a timeline of my use of lavatories, which one I used, and their state of cleanliness:

(hh,mm after takeoff)

• 00,57 LH Accessible Prem. Econ.: decently clean, some under surfaces of the toilet seat seemed dirty; no wet spots on ground
• 02,08 they shut the curtains between Premium Economy and Economy
• 02,30 RH aft: decently clean, tighter space, lovely finishes, no debris or water on ground
• 04,53 LH aft: spotless!
• 08,25 LH Accessible Prem. Econ.: a little bit of paper debris
• 11,52 LH Accessible Prem. Econ.: some wet spots and debris on the floor, and unflushed seat cover too

I feel like they do a better job keeping the lavatories spotless in Business Class, but honestly the Economy Class lavatory experience was still pretty good and decent (i.e. much better than a US-based airline).

In-Flight in Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

Besides eating, drinking, and sleeping, I did a few other things during the flight.

During lunch, I watched The Naked Gun (2025). Oh man, I miss the 90’s style parody movies, and I thought that this was a good return to such comedy. However, I was largely distracted from actually watching the movie because of taking active notes for this flight review as well as trying to eat! Lastly, this was also the movie I was having some intermittent issues with the Bluetooth connectivity between my AirPods and the monitor. My AirPods would disconnect, reconnect with my iPhone, and then had trouble reconnecting with the monitor. I fixed this by keeping my AirPods case open and pressing the connect button kind of near the monitor.

After the lunch service, I decided to try and sleep for a while (see below). And when I woke up around 5 hours into the flight, I used the lav, came back to my seat, tried to go back to bed, couldn’t, then ultimately decided to start another movie. And that movie was Now You See Me! Prior to this flight, I had just seen Now You See Me, Now You Don’t (which is the third movie) in theaters, so I thought it would be good to rewatch the first two. Since I had already seen this movie, I also decided to bust out my Nintendo 3DS and play some Pokemon White, which I have slowly been trying to level grind my final team for the Elite 4.

Once I finished Now You See Me, I immediately went into Now You See Me 2 as the midflight snack service had just started.

Other than the movies, I mostly watched either the external camera feed or the flight map. And at various times I also listened to audio content.

All throughout the flight, much like every other flight review, I was taking detailed notes.

Sleeping in Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

I wanted to make sure that I did get SOME sleep so as to be functional enough when I landed since I planned on going to Mass (it would be Sunday when I landed) and getting myself over to my hotel to check in.

The seat came with a blanket and pillow, so I definitely used those to help me be more comfortable. Beginining in 2025, I started bringing my eye mask AND Business Class slippers that I obtained from some American Airlines flight I flew in 2024 whenever I fly long-haul Economy Class. Bringing my eye mask and slippers let me be more comfortable in an Economy Class situation by blocking out light and letting my feet not feel constricted. And that was no different here. I also sometimes used my backpack as a sort of footrest to elevate my legs a little. Otherwise, I pulled my backpack as close to the bottom of my knees as I could so that I could utilize the underseat space in front of me to stretch my legs out fully.

Between 2.5 to 6 hours of the flight was my first attempt at sleeping. I didn’t get a good amount of sleep–perhaps drifting in and out the whole time. At some point, my AirPods ran out of battery so the noise cancelling function stopped. Additionally, the gentleman in the opposite aisle seat (46G) kept fidgeting while he was trying to sleep, and the man behind him had the entire row to himself behind me so he tried sprawling out and fidgeting. In doing so, he’d kick my seat inadvertently at times, thus waking me up.

After midflight snack service, I attempted to sleep again from hours 8 to 10 of the flight. At this point, I had a headache so it was difficult for me to relax. I suspect I was dehydrated and the lack of sleep from earlier also contributed to the headache. However, I think I was able to fall asleep for a bit right before they turned the lights on for the pre-arrival meal.

I don’t think at any point towards the last bit of the flight did I feel refreshed or rested. If only I was seated in a lie-flat Business Class seat so I could get some decent and actual rest much like on the World’s Longest Flight!

Arrival at HND

Though I’m writing this several weeks after the flight, I’m having trouble remembering if it was the captain or the purser who made the arrival announcement. I’m leaning towards the purser. Either way, the arrival announcement was made at 12 hours and 44 minutes into the flight with about 40 minutes left until landing.

The purser sounded so official. She said there were 3 pilots and 14 cabin crew total operating this flight. I appreciated that the purser came on and said this as it made it seem like “yeah! We’re a team!” 

While on approach to landing, I noticed a few things. There wasn’t any turbulence, which was great. I also couldn’t really look out the window because most of the shades were down, but at least I had the external cam feeds to watch. The best part was seeing Mt. Fuji show up at a distance in the background of the feed! And it was really cool to see Honshu island come up on the approach to Tokyo, too.

As far as how I was feeling, I mentioned in the Sleep section above that I didn’t get a lot of quality sleep. But I was able to get a brief nap before the pre-arrival meal, and I felt somewhat refreshed yet still tired from that. Also, I did feel slightly bloated, likely due to dehydration. Because of all the sitting in an upright-ish position all flight, I did feel some slight aches on my butt and shoulders.

Finally, the landing was…not smooth. Lol. During taxi, the purser came on and apologized that we would be one minute late for arrival at the gate–ONE MINUTE LATE. Apparently there was a strong headwind, and that had caused our aircraft to not fly as fast as expected. Sheesh.

Here’s a summary of the times:

I’ll just add here as an additional tip that it is advantageous to fill out the Japanese customs form on board. In the customs and immigration hall, passengers get checked and separated depending on if the form was filled out already or not so pre-filling it out saves time.

Other Stories to Share

I don’t have many short stories to share from this flight other than two interesting observations.

During boarding, the gentleman in 46G (two seats away from me/opposite aisle seat from my row) was complaining HARDCORE to some family member (I’m assuming) on the phone. I guess he didn’t book the flight himself as he kept complaining to the person on the other end of the line why they booked him in Economy Class. He said he really wanted a bigger seat like in Premium Economy or Business. I started mentally preparing myself that this flight could get awkward in case this guy ended up being insufferable throughout the whole flight, but he just watched movies or tried to sleep the whole time, even asking me how to work the monitor at one point, haha.

And then the other interesting observation I had was I noticed the older Japanese man sitting in 45C was playing on a Nintendo Switch nearly the entire flight. What game? Some sort of mahjong–I could see the tiles and virtual table. I dunno that I could spend the majority of a 13 hour flight playing a single video game haha…although I did play Pokemon White for like…4 hours…

Lessons Learned from Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class

As an airline employee, I could have flown to Japan for free on my own airline. But the $109.40 I spent to fly standby on Japan Airlines to sit in Economy Class was well worth it! I thought the overall seat, service, and food was a better experience anyway. But! More importantly–I really wanted to fly JAL’s new A350.

The first lesson I learned was that because I booked this as a standby flight on not-my-own-airline, my itinerary didn’t have my Known Traveler Number attached. This meant that I didn’t get TSA PreCheck when I got my standby pass at the ticket counter. Not a problem, because at the time that I went through the security line, it was pretty open without a lot of people.

Regarding the Bluetooth capability with the screen, I thought it was a cool and very needed feature considering most people have Bluetooth headphones now. In practice, as I mentioned above, the system intermittently disconnected me, and it was a little bit of a challenge to reconnect. But the other major lesson I learned here was that it drained my AirPods’ batteries a lot. So I tried charging them when needed.

Speaking of audio-related lessons learned… I didn’t discover that the armrest itself had an audio jack until close to the end of the flight! See the picture below. I thought this was pretty cool because it gives another option for audio connection, and I suppose it would help keep the headphone cord out of the way too.

And then lastly, I also experienced that the A350 seemed to block cellular signals due to its composite construction much like the B787. This simply made it difficult for me to keep texting friends during boarding, and attempting to get my eSIM activated after landing. I don’t recall this being an issue when I flew Singapore Airlines on the world’s longest flight, but then again I was probably more distracted with being in Business Class!

Bottom Line

Though I was disappointed in not being able to find some practical, bougie way to fly to Japan in Business Class, I’m glad I landed (hah!) on the idea of flying Japan Airlines A350-1000 in Economy Class. The experience was pretty excellent for Economy Class, and I certainly thought that paying the taxes and fees of $109.40 was very worth it.

The experience on board was everything I expected out of Japan Airlines as they excelled in the small details and offered Japanese hospitality. The seat was full-featured for an Economy Class with its tech upgrades, and the meals were thoughtfully designed and presented while tasting pretty good. 

Sure, I had a few minor annoyances, but the overall experience I had was a great one, and one that I’d be willing to repeat.

Do I recommend flying in Economy Class on Japan Airlines A350-1000? Absolutely! As of 2025, American Airlines has two DFW flights a day to Tokyo (1x HND, 1x NRT), and Japan Airlines has this one flight to HND. Given that AA flies either the B777-200 or B787-9 with older cabins to Japan, I definitely think that flying Japan Airlines is the better experience since JAL started flying their A350 to DFW daily.

What do you think of this flight in Economy Class? Would you pay more of a premium to experience it?

Want to read another A350 review? Check out my experience on the World’s Longest Flight with Singapore Airlines from New York to Singapore!

The post Review: Japan Airlines A350-1000 Economy Class DFW-HND appeared first on Where Is Randell?.

This flight concluded my time in Rome for the canonization Mass-turned-papal-funeral trip. By the time I got on this flight, I was ready to go home after some Roman and Vatican adventures. For this flight home, I wanted a little bit more of a comfortable flight so I opted to book Main Cabin Extra. Check out this review of American Airlines B777-200 in Main Cabin Extra from Rome to Dallas/Ft. Worth!

Flight Info

Summary

• Main Cabin Extra with more leg room made this flight a little more comfy
• Three meals served during this flight
• WiFi was expensive, but fast enough to do social media things

Booking American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

For background on how I booked this leg, check out this blog post as well as my review of Main Cabin on the flight from DFW to FCO. 

The difference in booking this leg was that I decided to upgrade from Main Cabin to Main Cabin Extra a few weeks before departure. The cost to do so was $110.02.  In my arsenal of travel credit cards, I hold the American Express Hilton Aspire card, and it has a quarterly airline credit of $50. I hadn’t yet used it on anything this quarter so I figured I could use that credit to upgrade to a confirmed Main Cabin Extra seat. 

I’ll also mention that because I have Gold status with AAdvantage, I technically can select Main Cabin Extra seats at check-in 24 hours before departure. But I didn’t want to wait that long, and I knew that demand for flying out of Rome back to the US would be high because of the various tourists and pilgrims out and about in Italy so being able to select an ideal Main Cabin Extra seat right before departure could have been challenging. Also I wanted to make sure I selected an aisle seat and not one in the middle!

Note that Main Cabin Extra technically isn’t a separate cabin on American Airlines flights–it’s just an economy class seat with extra leg room and free alcohol on domestic flights.

Whenever I pay for ancillary fees or upgrades like this, I do not get an employee discount. So it was good that I had airline credit through a credit card to help offset the cost.

Packing for American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

Similar to the flight to Rome from DFW, I just had my backpack and cross-body bag. I put my backpack in the bin, and had my cross-body bag underneath the seat in front of me.

I still had my First Class slippers, eye mask, and noise canceling headphones loaded into my cross-body bag, and that made them more convenient to access in order to be more comfortable during the flight.

Check In and Security/Customs at FCO

Because I had stayed at the Hilton Rome Airport the night before departure, I had a really easy time getting to the airport. I didn’t take a bus or taxi–I walked! The front of the hotel has a pedestrian bridge that connects to the terminals at FCO. And it was just 8 minutes from the front desk to the departure hall of Terminal 3.

Once I got to the departure hall, I looked on the boards to see where American Airlines had their ticket counters. Apparently they were at O441, which was on the far end of the hall in a section designated for US-bound and Israel-bound flights.

I got in line to check in with the Priority desk because I am AAdvantage Gold, but a guard stopped me and started asking me questions. He asked basic things like how long I was in Italy, why I was in Italy, and whatnot. I explained to him the original purpose of this trip, and how that got messed up, and how I ended up going to Pope Francis’ funeral. He understood the funeral part, but was hung up on the canonization Mass that I was supposed to attend. He finally figured it out and was amazed and started asking me more about Carlo Acutis and asked more questions about him–wild!

This all took a few minutes, and then I was finally able to see the ticket agent. Talking to the ticket agent only took a few minutes as well as they verified my passport and printed my boarding pass.

From the last trip I took to Rome (July 2017), I remembered Security and Customs taking forever with long lines for both. But at 7:30AM in the morning, there weren’t a lot of people going through security so it only took like 5 minutes. They didn’t ask me to remove anything from my bags other than my iPad.

For Customs, FCO had plenty of open lanes and they use an automated passport control system that scans your passport and your photo taken. It’s a similar system I’ve seen at airports like HKG and SIN. This part only took about 6 minutes to get my exit stamp from the Customs officer.

Once through, I meandered my way through the terminal to get to the lounge.

The Prima Vista Portus Lounge at FCO

After doing some light research the night before, I settled on trying the Prima Vista Lounge. Because I have Priority Pass from the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, I was able to access this lounge.

The Prima Vista Lounge can be found airside in the non-Schengen portion of the terminal towards the E51-E61 gate area, across from the security checkpoint. Kind of hard to describe, but I think it’s decently straightforward to find.

I arrived at about 7:45AM and checked in with the front desk after they greeted me warmly. They scanned my boarding pass as well as my Priority Pass membership card that I had pulled up from the app.

Inside the Prima Vista lounge are various spaces to hang out in. After walking past the front desk, there were restrooms to the left and seating by the windows. There is a main seating area with food and drink along the right wall. By the windows are semi-private podlike seats. The main seating area has armchairs with side tables that have charging ports. There’s also a meeting room in the back corner with a conference table. I also noticed another seating area designated as the quiet zone separate from the rest of the lounge. And I also saw there was a separate dining area with more seats.

I couldn’t take too many pictures because of the amount of people in the lounge. I wouldn’t say it was full, but most of the seats in the main space were occupied. I did end up in the quiet area because no one was in it at the time I sat down.

For food, the Prima Vista lounge was serving breakfast. All the typical breakfast times were available seemingly catering to more of an American palate: eggs, bacon, pastries, fruits, yogurts, etc. 

I didn’t really get food as I was full from the breakfast buffet at the Hilton Rome Airport earlier in the morning. I did settle for a few drinks though.

There was a bar and coffee menu, and fridges were available that contained both still and sparkling water bottles. 

For other amenities, there was free WiFi. The passcode is available at the front desk. I did connect to it and ran a speed test for the WiFi, and it came back with:

• 3.41 mbps download
• 3.76 mbps upload
• 68 ms ping

That’s pretty slow, but it was serviceable enough for me to upload a few Instagram stories and browse around on my phone during my lounge stay.

I saw there was one set of restrooms, and one shower. I’m not sure what the protocol was for the shower, but I’m assuming you would have to talk to the front desk to use it.

Overall, I love the darker aesthetic of the lounge and the elegant finishes to match. The chair was comfortable, and the food spread was pretty great even though I didn’t eat. I also loved that the lounge had windows to the outside although they didn’t appear to have good views of the adjacent gates nor tarmac.

At about 8:30AM, I used the restroom, refilled my water bottle (a mistake I’ll share below), and headed to Gate E41 for my flight to DFW.

Boarding American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

Boarding for this 10:00AM flight to the DFW was scheduled for 9:10AM as stated on my boarding pass and on the departure monitors. 

The gate was E41, and from the Prima Vista Lounge, it required me to take a people-mover train from T3. I just followed the signs. It took me about 12-15 minutes overall.

When I arrived at the gate at 8:45AM, I saw there were a lot of people seated in the gate area, and a good handful were lined up to talk to the gate agents. A few security guys (dressed similar to the one when I checked in at the ticket counter) were walking around and talking to passengers asking similar questions.

The gate agents made their usual announcements periodically as boarding was approaching, but I was particularly amused by the announcements in Italian! Sounds so cool! Lol.

At 9:08AM, they made the announcement that boarding was about to begin so everyone gate lice’d the boarding lanes, and at 9:10AM they called for Concierge Keys to board.

While I was waiting for Group 4, I saw one of my church friends from back home also waiting around! So I briefly caught up with him and his family while waiting for Group 4 to be called.

Boarding seemed to go slow, but I saw that Group 1 had 40+ passengers. And at about 9:21AM, I scanned my boarding pass with Group 4. While walking down to the jet bridge, I noticed they had set up secondary security checks for security to go through bags. Luckily, I wasn’t selected… this time.

Departure in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

I got into my seat at about 9:23AM. My backpack went in the bin and my cross-body bag went under the seat in front of me. Weirdly, most of the overhead bin space was already taken up by others who had boarded before me, but I was still able to find space in the bins just above my seat.

Departure was scheduled for 10:00AM.

While waiting for the remainder of the passengers to board, I saw that I had OTHER church friends on this flight, and one of them was seated in 28D, the opposite center aisle seat from me. So we chatted and shared our Italian adventures. I noticed another friend passing by in the aisle too and briefly caught up with her. 

Between those times, I was taking notes and pics for this review.

Boarding completed at 9:49AM, and the boarding door closed immediately after that. We pushed back a few minutes early at 9:58AM.

Weirdly, we idled after pushback for about 10 or so minutes, then we got into the pattern for take off, but that also took another short while.

We finally took off at 10:24AM!

Cabin in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

This is the same cabin as my incoming flight to Italy. The only difference being I had a different vantage point due to sitting in the aft Main Cabin and on the right side. Aesthetics and lav locations remain the same.

Also the aft Main Cabin is the slightly bigger one of the two cabins.

You can check out the layout on Aerolopa.

For cabin temperature throughout the flight, I found it to be nice during boarding and takeoff. But as the flight went on, it got colder. I ended up putting on my pullover and utilized the blanket provided. Had I not put on those layers, I would have been miserable throughout the flight because of feeling cold.

As a fun fact, I did look up above my seat and noticed that there were five air nozzles and lights.

I used to fly this aircraft type A LOT like ten years ago before American Airlines retrofitted the B777-200 fleet. In the old configuration before the retrofit, the seats in Main Cabin were a 2-5-2 configuration, meaning there were FIVE seats in the middle. I guess I never noticed that AA never updated the panels above the seats so they are still in the old configuration with five nozzles and lights.

Seats in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

My seat was 28H, which was on the right side of the aircraft and was an aisle seat in the center section. 

This was the same seat model as my incoming flight to Italy, and it has the same features. The big difference is that this seat is Main Cabin Extra so the seat has more leg room (34” vs 31” seat pitch), and a little more recline (4” vs 3” recline).

I should also mention that the placement of the seat legs of Row 27 is such that 28G and I had to share the same underseat space. Luckily this wasn’t an issue as 28G didn’t place a big backpack under there.

And because this was an international flight, the seats are equipped with a blanket and pillow in Main Cabin.

Entertainment and WiFi on American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

The system and content on this flight were the same as the incoming flight. My particular seatback monitor was fully functional, and I didn’t observe anyone else having issues with their units.

On this flight, the WiFi actually worked! Well, it didn’t work on the ground, and that is by design for this fleet type. However, the WiFi signal became operational about 30 minutes after takeoff. 

I also confirmed that the WiFi stops working once below 10,000 feet. So keep that in mind before swiping right or watching the next TikTok while on approach to landing.

How much is WiFi in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra?

The price is the same for everyone regardless of class.

For the 2-hour pass, it was $29.

For the All-Flight pass, it was $35

I ended up paying for the $35 All-Flight pass (for science!). I was a little concerned the payment wouldn’t go through as I manually entered in my credit card info, but it did. 

How fast is WiFi in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra?

After running the speed test, the numbers came back as:

• 52.6 mbps download
• 5.52 mbps upload
• 870 ms ping

Wow, that’s a pretty great download speed but abysmal upload and ping. I actually discussed this with a coworker who works with WiFi analytics, and the results look like this because of limitations of the hardware and the system bottlenecking in a particular way. Interesting stuff.

Service in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

I thought the flight attendants provided good and efficient service. There were 6 of them taking care of Premium Economy and Main Cabin, 3 on each side of the aircraft. 

During boarding, they handed out disposable earbuds for people to use during flight. I was surprised at how many people still accept these, but I suppose most people have Bluetooth headphones, and the entertainment systems on this aircraft type are not Bluetooth-capable.

Otherwise, here was the timeline of their service after takeoff (hh:mm):

• 00:16 Started handing out special meals
• 00:25 Drink and meal carts started heading towards the front of Premium Economy
• 00:48 Got my meal
• 00:55 Got my red wine
• 01:13 Finished food; lighting scene changed for sleep but only my side dimmed
• 01:17 Service items taken up 

Halfway through the flight, they served the mid-flight snack:

• 05:24 Carts passed by
• 05:40 Got my sandwich and white wine

And lastly, for the pre-arrival meal, they served everything pretty quickly:

• 09:58 Morning light scene turned on; carts passed by
• 10:04 Got my hot pocket

Overall while I did think they were friendly and efficient, I kind of thought their service was a little transactional and not personable. I don’t have a problem with that since I frequently travel using my flight benefits, and I can understand that having about 200 people to serve requires efficiency. But still–if I were a loyal paying passenger, a little more engagement would be nice.

Food and Drink in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

There were three meals served on this 11 hour flight. I thought this was interesting because on the DFW to FCO flight, there were only two meals. So maybe 10+ hours is the magical flight time to have three meals served.

I believe there were pretzels and Biscoffs, juices, and water available in the galley area after the main meal service was done, but I didn’t verify that this flight.

Overall, I thought the meals were good and at decent timings. I never felt hungry or thirsty.

Dinner

The choices for dinner were either chicken or pasta. Considering I had the chicken on the way to Italy, I was curious to see if the pasta was good on the flight out of Italy. So I selected that.

Pretty similar offerings as the incoming flight and same presentation: main entree, roll, side salad, crackers and cheese, and a dessert.

The pasta came with a red sauce. It seemed balanced, but I thought it could have used more spice or salt. For the pasta itself, I thought it was decently al dente, but not something you’d tell Nonna about.

For the roll, it was ciabatta. It was hard on the outside but soft on the inside. I thought it tasted great with the included butter.

The salad with olive oil and balsamic dressing was pretty good. The radishes added a nice crunch.

I noticed that the crackers and cheese were of different brands than my incoming flight, but were pretty similar and very good. The cheese spread this time was creamy and very spreadable.

Lastly, the brownie was just okay. It was light and kind of airy, but not moist either.

I paired all this with the red wine, which was a Cantor red blend. The tray also came with a small bottle of water.

Mid Flight Snack

For this, there were no options. Everyone got the same ham and cheese pretzel roll sandwich and vanilla bean ice cream.

The sandwich was kind of salty and soggy, but otherwise tasted alright. 

For this meal, I selected a white wine. What confused me was the flight attendant added ice to my white wine. I realize that white wines do taste better chilled, and some varieties are good with ice. But…I tend to drink my wines neat (which…”neat” is not how one describes drinking a wine lol). So I was thrown off by this. I mean…I still drank it and it was good, haha.

Pre-Arrival Meal

Not really a meal but more of a lite snack. We actually had two options this time: beef or cheese hot pockets.

I selected the beef hot pocket. It was kind of warm, the pastry was a little doughy, but the beef filling was pretty good. I paired this with another red wine. No ice cubes this time.

Lavatories in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra

Like my incoming flight to Italy, there were five lavatories total for Premium Economy and Main Cabin, with three of them at Door 3 splitting Main Cabin and the other two in the aft galley area.

With my seat being 28H, the closest lavatories to me were the mid-cabin lavs on the right side, which has two. I’ll reiterate that most of the reason I like aisle seats is so that I can leave for the lavatories without bothering another passenger, and I don’t mind being the one bothered by middle seaters.

Again, these lavs have a decent amount of space to them. The mid-cabin lavatory on the left side of the aircraft is accessible, so it has more space and other features for persons of reduced mobility.

During the 11.5 hour flight, I used the lavatories four times (hh:mm after takeoff) and their cleanliness:

• 01:10 / right side mid-cabin: decently clean, but had to wait a while due to post-meal rush
• 01:50 / right side aft: decently clean
• 04:40 / right side mid-cabin: sprinkles on the ground, paper debris in the corner
• 08:45 / right side mid-cabin: sprinkles and paper on the ground, but a flight attendant actually stopped me from going initially so she could refill paper products lol

What did I do in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra?

Besides eating and using the lavatories, I did a few things.

For movies, I watched Sonic 3 and Moana 2.  I was mildly entertained by both, and I think the first movies were much better haha. But enjoying these movies at 35,000 feet and a wine in hand made the movie-watching experience enjoyable!

I also worked on taking notes for this flight for this review as well as drafting blog posts for this trip.

Lastly, knowing that I would be arriving in the afternoon in DFW, I didn’t want to sleep too much on this flight so I could fall asleep easier at my usual bedtime. Still, I did close my eyes for a while a few times towards the last half of the flight. I didn’t even use my eye mask! 

Other Stories to Share

One observation I had during this flight was people periodically opening their window shades to look outside, realize how bright it was, then close it. MULTIPLE TIMES! There was a younger guy at a window seat kind of near me, and he kept doing that. With this being a purely daytime flight, and with the cabin in dark mode, we definitely had a handful of blinding light moments.

So when I was in the Prima Vista lounge, I grabbed a bottle of sparkling water from the fridge. I didn’t finish all of it so I put the remaining in my Yeti water bottle. What I didn’t think about was that I put a carbonated drink into my water bottle…which I then opened to drink water on the flight. The difference in pressures made for a loud champange-like pop sound. Luckily no one heard it but me. I think. And luckily nothing destructive happened.

The CRAZIEST thing to me though was running into multiple friends from my church back home during boarding. Multiple! We didn’t coordinate being in Italy at the same time nor did we have the same reasons for going, but it just somehow lined up that a handful of us were on this DFW flight to go home. Soooo wild to me haha.

Arrival at DFW

The scheduled arrival time at DFW was 3:05PM. 

The captain made an announcement at about 10 hours and 44 minutes into the flight for the flight attendants to prepare for landing as we had about 25 minutes left in the flight.

On the descent, it did get a little turbulent when we were at about 12,000 feet in the air with about 50 miles left to go. I think there were isolated storms in the area.

Mr. Opens-The-Window-Shades kept his window closed, as did most passengers, so I couldn’t see outside on our approach for landing. But I knew it was north Texas so lots of green and open spaces until reaching the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.

We touched down at 11 hours and 11 minutes then arrived at Gate D27 about 40 minutes later at 2:50PM. I think because we arrived a little earlier than scheduled, we didn’t have a gate just yet and had to wait. Or traffic was backed up. I’m not really sure!

So from gate to gate, FCO to DFW, the total time ended up being 11 hours and 52 minutes.

I’ll also comment here that because it was an afternoon arrival into DFW, many other international flights (especially European) arrive in the afternoon too, US Customs and Immigration at Terminal D was terribly, terribly backed up–even the Global Entry line! I actually had to wait in a 30-minute line for Global Entry, which I’ve never experienced before lol. Luckily I didn’t have any checked bags so once I got cleared by the Customs officer, I beelined my way out of there to get back to my car parked at work to go home.

Bottom Line

Flying American Airlines B777-200 in Main Cabin Extra was a great way to finish out my Roman adventure with a papal plot twist. Because the flight had three separate meal times, I never felt hungry or thirsty. The extra leg room let me stretch out, and the functional WiFi allowed me to stay connected with friends and family while on the flight. While I didn’t intend to get proper sleep on this flight, I still found the seat and cabin to be comfortable enough even though the cabin got cold mid-flight.

While I thought the flight attendants could have been more personally engaging, I did appreciate their efficient and friendly service.

For all the little inconveniences, my pilgrimage mindset kept me in check. But even then, I really didn’t have much to complain about this flight, even if my white wine had ice cubes in it.

Thankfully American Airlines has nonstop flights between DFW and FCO, making any kind of Roman adventure easily accessible!

What do you think of this flight from Rome? What would you have done differently?

The post Review: American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra FCO-DFW appeared first on Where Is Randell?.

Flight Info

Summary

• Decently comfortable seat for 9.5 hour flight with functional features and enough knee room
• Onboard meals were pretty decent; service was friendly and efficient
• WiFi was inoperative the entire flight

Booking American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Knowing that there’s only one flight a day between DFW and Rome on American Airlines during non-peak season, I just used AA’s website to search for the flight after logging into my AAdvantage account.

When searching for the flight, I made sure to check the “Redeem miles” box so that I would get results to be able to use my AAdvantage miles.

Given that I wanted to arrive a few days before the canonization Mass set for Sunday April 27, 2025 (way before I found out about Pope Francis’ funeral) to be able to figure out on-the-ground logistics in Rome beforehand, I made sure to set the date for the Wednesday or Thursday before.

I ended up booking Wednesday April 23, 2025 for my departure date because it was a little cheaper miles-wise than Thursday.

Because I am an active airline employee, I can get a 20% discount on paid and award tickets for myself. The cost to book this as a round trip ticket in Main Cabin was originally 63,500 AAdvantage miles, but it ended up being 50,800 AAdvantage miles after my discount. The taxes/fees remained the same.

Packing for American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin and Rome

This flight had a 2:40PM departure time, but it was basically an overnight flight since the scheduled arrival time in Rome was 8:00AM. This meant that my goal for the flight was to try and sleep so that I could hit the ground running once in Rome.

To make the flight easier, I brought my usual eye mask and noise cancelling headphones. 

Also, I had bought waterproof athletic shoes after seeing that Rome was expecting rains during my trip. My plan was to wear these shoes on the plane, but waterproof footwear typically aren’t very breathable (I learned this the hard way on my Rio de Janeiro day trip). So I also packed the AA slippers I got in Flagship First Class from my day trip to Buenos Aires.

I know Roman streets and sidewalks are full of cobblestone so bringing a carry-on luggage with wheels was not an option. Therefore, I only brought my backpack and a larger cross-body bag.

Check In at DFW Airport

Because my flight wasn’t until 2:40PM, I actually went to work in the morning. I had to wrap some stuff up anyway with suppliers and teammates.

The nice thing about working at an airlines’ headquarters building is that it also has a travel desk that functions like the ticket counters at the airport. Minus the checking in of checked luggage, of course. 

So at about noon, I visited the travel desk at work and got my boarding pass printed out. There was no line. The agent verified my passport and printed out my boarding pass. I do like collecting paper boarding passes and having them as backup in case the mobile boarding pass doesn’t work. 

I had my housemate pick me up to take me to the airport as he had just landed from his own trip.

When I was in the car, I doublechecked the DFW Airport app to see how busy the A21 security checkpoint was as that is where TSA PreCheck is for Terminal A. It wasn’t busy according to the app. And when I got dropped off, I found it had about 5 people in line, but moved along quickly. I was through security in less than 5 minutes.

Admirals Club

After passing through security, I beelined to A24 where the Admirals Club is in Terminal A. Again, I have access because of the Citi Executive card—the only credit card in AA’s portfolio that includes Admirals Club membership.

I’ve visited the Terminal A Admirals Club multiple times (here and here), so I’ll just talk about this particular visit.

I got in at about 12:35PM.

In terms of how busy it was, I saw that it looked like most of the seats were taken, but I didn’t have trouble finding an empty one. Being midday in the middle of the week probably helped.

Once I found my seat, I had a look at the food available:

For food and drink, I saw that Argentinian empanadas were the main option (!). I made sure to get a few, and I paired this with naan bites and the jalapeño lime hummus. To complete the lounge experience, I grabbed a glass of brut from the bar too, but it took a while because they only had one bartender and lots of people in line.

I found the empanadas to be pretty good, but the meat filling lacked some flavor. I thought that maybe it could’ve used chimichurri or something. And the hummus was good, but didn’t have a spicy kick like I thought it should’ve had. The naan was fluffy and savory with the garlic.

Maybe they were on lunch break, but I didn’t see the usual chips and guacamole station set up. That was a little disappointing.

I also noticed from this trip that the Thai coconut broth soup is back in rotation. Probably my favorite soup I’ve had in the Admirals Club! But I didn’t get any this time.

Boarding and Departure for American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Boarding was scheduled for 1:50PM. So AA recently updated their app and changed how it looks and works. Now the (iOS) app utilizes widgets to let you know boarding info and other flight updates. I liked this so I could quickly glance at my phone and know what time boarding is and how much time I have left.

I arrived at Gate A24 immediately after leaving the Admirals Club. How convenient that my gate was right at the club! Haha. 

Weirdly, looking around the gate area, I didn’t see what amounted to be a 777-200’s worth of people waiting around knowing that this flight is supposed to be full. I knew weather within the past day may have affected some, but still. 

Right on time, boarding started at 1:50PM. And also the agents announced that we would be doing the biometric scan (face recognition) to board this flight. Unsurprisingly, once boarding started, a big mass of people grouped up around the boarding lanes.

AA started their new boarding order on May 1 so we were using the old method with preboards and Concierge Key passengers boarding first.

As Group 4 was getting closer to being called, I inched my way past the gate lice and ended up being one of the first few Group 4 boarders in line once called. I scanned into this flight at 1:57PM and by 2:00PM, I was in my seat.

While waiting for other passengers to board, I tried helping my row mates load their luggage up into the bin but can only do so if lying on the wide side and lengthwise. But another passenger kinda wanted to argue with me that I should stand them on the short side like books like on other aircraft. But I know those aircraft have bigger bins that allow that. And this is not one of those aircraft types. I almost wanted to say “trust me, I’m an engineer [that works for this airline]” lmao

Later during boarding (I’m thinking like Group 6 and on), the flight attendants announced that there wouldn’t be room for rollaboards and asked everyone to see about getting their bags gate checked. Oof.

Of course, because I was Group 4, I didn’t have trouble at all and easily claimed the bin above me.

Cabin in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

On American Airlines B777-200, the Main Cabin is split in two areas at Door 3. My seat was in the more forward cabin. In total, there are 212 seats according to Aerolopa.

The seats in Main Cabin are mostly arranged in a 3-4-3 configuration, but some rows are 2-4-2, typically at the front bulkheads or rows in the tail section. The 3-4-3 configuration on a 777 makes for a decent seat width, but larger passengers will have trouble, especially at front row seats that have the in-arm tray tables.

Also, the front bulkhead seats do have underseat space from the last row of Premium Economy as the bulkhead does not touch the floor. 

This particular aircraft is pretty old, but the interiors didn’t look too beat up in the Main Cabin. The aesthetic is stereotypical AA dark blue with gray and red accents for the seats, an off-white for the side panels, and grays for the bulkhead partitions and monuments (like closet, lav, and galley walls).

For the temperature of the cabin, I found it to be warm at the beginning, but once we leveled off in cruise, I started to feel cold. Luckily I had a pullover packed with me, and as I mention below, the seat came with a blanket.

Seats in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

My seat number was 21D. It was an aisle seat in the center section several rows forward of Door 3 on the left side.

The manufacturer of this seat was Safran Seats, and this was model 5751. I always nerd out if this is the seat I’m flying in on any flight because l previously worked at Safran Seats (though I didn’t work on 5751, but did work on a new seat model meant to replace it).

5751 is designed for long-haul international flights, and has the following features:

• 9” Panasonic monitor (touchscreen, has headphone jack and USB A)
• Retractable handset (has call button, reading light controls in addition to also controlling the in-flight entertainment system)
• Bi-fold tray table (also extendable)
• Universal power port (110V)
• Literature pocket
• Adjustable headrest (up/down, wings fold in/out)

Since I wasn’t in a Main Cabin Extra row with extra legroom, my seat had the following:

• 3” Recline
• 31” Row Pitch
• 17.1” Seat Width

In Main Cabin on international flights, the usual amenities are:

• Pillow
• Blanket
• Disposable earbuds (handed out by flight attendants)

As far as what I thought about 21D, I was quite grateful that everything about the seat was working. Sometimes things don’t work like when I flew World Traveler class on British Airways 787.

Additionally, I thought it was comfortable enough for a coach class seat for a long-haul flight. I purposely chose an aisle seat knowing that I do like to get up and use the lavatory without bothering anyone. Had I flown non-revenue standby, there would have been a higher chance of me getting a middle seat.

Entertainment and WiFi in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Main Cabin seats have a 9” touchscreen. Premium Economy and Business get larger ones. Regardless of class, it’s the same content available. 

I didn’t really bother thumbing through the entire selection but American Airlines’ widebody entertainment system always has entertainment, flight map, seat-to-seat messaging, kids section, drink menu, and WiFi connection instructions. 

For entertainment content, I recommend going to entertainment.aa.com to see what is showing on your next flight. Note that the content changes at the start of every month.

On this particular flight, I saw that most of the new releases were more obscure movies I’ve never heard of. Luckily, previous new releases that I wanted to watch were still available on the system.

Navigating around the system was very responsive, and I could have used either the monitor itself (touchscreen) or the handset to move around in its menus. 

WiFi Service

This is where this flight fell short. But I should mention that since this was AA’s B777-200 aircraft, WiFi actually doesn’t work on the ground at the gate by design due to system limitations. It only works once up in the air.

I tried multiple times throughout the flight to look for the “aainflight” WiFi signal, but it never showed up. Honestly, I didn’t care since I rather like my time being disconnected when on planes, and I don’t typically work on flights even on a work trip.

But I can understand that some people would want to have WiFi access to the Internet especially on a long flight such as this one.

Starting in January 2026, AA will start offering free WiFi. But for now, had the system been working, it would’ve costed something like $25-$35 dollars depending on length of access pass you purchase.

Service in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

For Main Cabin service on AA B777-200 from DFW to Rome, there were six flight attendants. During meal and drink service, they split between both sides. I found them to be friendly and efficient during their service, but not personal. Basically minimal talking or actually engaging passengers apart from taking food and drink orders.

When they started their meal service, I noticed they actually handed out all the special order meals first and had slips of paper for each. I’m assuming this is some new system to make sure catering got everything correct, which I can appreciate for other passengers. It looked like no one around me with preorders complained.

The standard for AA international flights in Main Cabin, from my observation across different flights, is for the flight attendants to serve Premium Economy first. They get a slightly better hot entree. After serving Premium Economy, the flight attendents then work their way towards the back of the plane.

Also there are separate carts for drinks and meals.

About 55 minutes after takeoff, I got my meal, but then service immediately got suspended due to turbulence. This lasted about 15 minutes, which service then resumed. And that’s when I was able to get my red wine.

For the pre-arrival meal, they turned on the “sunrise” light scene about 8 hours and 19 minutes after takeoff. This meal was served in the same way, but Main Cabin gets a bagged meal that isn’t plated so the flight attendants were able to hand these out faster. 

I got my pre-arrival meal at 8 hours and 37 minutes.

Towards the end of the flight, we faced the kind of turbulence that caused the whole plane to drop and gain altitude relatively quickly in a short amount of time and so they suspended their final trash pick up runs before landing. They announced this, and even recommended leaving trash in the literature pocket. The turbulence was really that bad and not them being lazy by any means. 

Food and Drink in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Due to the length and timing of this flight, there was dinner and a lite breakfast. And in-between, the flight attendants had put out water, juices, and pretzels out in the aft galley area for passengers to take at any time.

Dinner

So when I was at work in the morning, I was joking with my coworkers about the meal choices being chicken or pasta. And sure enough, those were the two options on this flight! 

But to start, the flight attendants handed out those bags of mini pretzels before bustin’ out the carts. 

When I got asked, “chicken or pasta?”, I selected the chicken.

The chicken was good (left side on the pic above). It wasn’t dry or overcooked, and the tomato sauce seemed balanced. Accompanying it was seasoned couscous, and that tasted minty and herbed, but it was good too.

The side salad was not soggy, but was very plain. Just a few peppers with the leafs of lettuce for some crunchiness. The balsamic dressing was decent.

The dinner roll was soft and slightly dry, but the butter made it okay.

The crackers and cheese were good, but the cheese was not very spreadable though soft.

And probably my favorite part was the cinnamon churro bar! It was so good! It was sweet with a cinnamon spice flavor.

Along with my meal, I requested the red wine, which was some sort of red blend from a brand I didn’t quite catch. It was good.

Overall, I thought this was a good meal. None of it made me think, “yeah ew, this is gross airplane food”. And admittedly, I tend to eat every bit of in-flight meals. I didn’t feel sick or bloated after eating this meal.

Pre-Arrival Breakfast

This seems to be AA’s popular way of doing a lite meal for a morning arrival on a long-haul international flight — their “Bite Into Delight” bags with pre-packaged stuff.

Within the bag was a Chobani Greek yogurt, Wildest Coconut Cashew granola, and Nature’s Bakery Fig bar.

For my drink, I requested coffee. I know that airplane coffee is typically considered gross, but I felt like I needed the caffeine in order to be functional enough to get through immigration and over into the city of Rome!

I enjoyed all this, and I especially like putting the granola into the yogurt and mixing it up before eating it.

Lavatories in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Main Cabin has a pretty generous amount of lavatories available. There are three located at Door 3, which include an accessible lavatory on the left side. And there are two located near the aft galley.

The ones closest to me were the Door 3 lavs.

I found them to be spacious enough and not coffin-like like on most of AA’s narrow body fleet.

During the 9.5 hours flight, I only used the lavatories twice. Once after dinner service, and that time the left mid-cabin lav was decently clean looking despite seeing many people use it towards the end of meal service. The other time I used it was about midflight, but I ended up using the aft left lavatory. I saw some sprinkles on the ground with bits of paper debris. 

In-Flight in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Besides eating and attempting to sleep, I also took notes for this flight and watched movies. 

During dinner, I watched Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim. And during the last few hours of flight, I watched Kraven the Hunter.

Sleep

I did attempt to sleep on this flight knowing that we’d be landing early in the morning and I had a full day on the ground in Rome. My first and only attempt was after dinner service. 

To make myself more comfortable, I brought my eye mask. And as I mentioned earlier, I brought my First Class slippers so I put those on. And because I got cold in the middle of the flight, I also had my pullover that I put on.

I wasn’t able to actually fall asleep. Just a lot of dozing off for about 2.5 hours before I decided to just stay up.

But what also made it tough to fall asleep was people bumping into my left shoulder a lot. I couldn’t really explain why that kept happening other than maybe I was allowing my arm and shoulder to spill out into the aisle more than I should have. So in order to somewhat correct that, I felt like I need to scrunch up in my seat.

Stories to Share

For the most part, this was an uneventful flight. Some crying babies at different points, but I had my noise canceling headphones on so that minimized that.

I did notice a Catholic priest sitting in the row in front of me and towards the window. I figured that I’d see more like him given the events surrounding this trip.

But the one major thing to share that was crazy was the turbulence in the last hour of the flight. This was a B777-200. It’s a big plane. But whatever turbulence we flew through caused very noticeable updrafts and downdrafts that were actually kind of scary. I think we flew through some clouds as there was bad weather somewhat nearby. Luckily, apart from some gasps, no one got panicky around me.

Lessons Learned

Aisle seats can suck. That’s the one lesson learned from this flight. I probably should have counted the times people bumped into my left arm and shoulder, but it was kind of a lot lol. I’m not sure why that was the case on this particular flight as I typically like sitting in aisle seats, and this hasn’t been a real problem for me.

Arrival into Rome

The scheduled arrival time was 8:05AM. However the in-flight systems said 7:30AM.

The captain made an announcement at 9 hours and 20 minutes into the flight that we would be landing in about 25 minutes.

I didn’t see much outside since I wasn’t by the window but what little I could see, I saw that it was morning and there were clouds.

We touched down at FCO at about 7:25AM local time then arrived at Terminal 3 a few minutes later. We deplaned via stairs and were bussed to the terminal. 

The total gate-to-gate time was 9 hours and 53 minutes.

Bottom Line

My tolerance for long flights is probably higher than most, and long flights in the back of the plane can be daunting for some, but I didn’t find this flight to be uncomfortable. The seat was adequate and functional enough to keep me comfortable all flight, and it helped that I didn’t have a large bag under the seat for me to take up my leg space so I could actually stretch out decently.

During the flight, there was plenty for me to stay occupied including meals and entertainment. The food was decently good as I didn’t waste any of it. While the service was friendly and efficient, I wish the flight attendants were a little more personable with passengers. The movie selection was okay, but I was still able to find movies I wanted to watch or saw that movies I like were also available on the system.

Turbulence towards the end of the flight was probably the most I’ve ever experienced on a widebody aircraft, and it was actually a little scary. But the pilots got everything under control for a smoother landing into FCO.

I wouldn’t be afraid to recommend flying from DFW to FCO in Main Cabin with American Airlines. For those seeking a less-privileged, no frills-yet-comfortable experience, then this flight was a good way to do it. Especially with using miles for an award ticket!

Would you have paid money or used miles for this experience in Main Cabin? Let me know down in the comments!

The post Review: American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin DFW-FCO appeared first on Where Is Randell?.

Not gonna lie—I’m stressed. But excited! Work is ramping up as we hit busy times for various projects, and because these projects have had some delays, they’re now kind of lining up on top of each other. Whatever. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. 

Despite all that, I’m super excited! This upcoming week I’ll be going to Rome for the first time in like 8 years! I actually booked everything back in November rather impulsively, but that’s the beauty of not using money to book flights and such, which I’ll share below.

Background on this trip to Rome

Several years ago (during the pandemic, I think), I learned about a young man who died of leukemia when he was 15 years old, in the early 2000’s. But in his short time on this earth, he was a remarkable individual. His name is Carlo Acutis, and he’s from Italy. 

I find Carlo to be remarkable because of his enthusiastic love for his faith and willingness to share that with others. A devout Catholic, he frequented going to Mass and was not afraid to befriend others and share his faith with them. He had a particular devotion to the Eucharist, and he created a website that talks about various Eucharistic miracles around the world (where the Communion wafer literally turned into flesh). The website is still online.

Additionally, Carlo was a nerd! Like…he learned programming languages so he could create that website. But what really resonates with me was that Carlo was also a video gamer! Apparently he played games like Mario, Pokémon, and Halo (I’m a fan of all three!), and he owned a PS2! (Which… those video game series aren’t on that console so hmmm…). I read books on Carlo, and he was self-aware enough to temper his playing of video games so as not to become addicted and distract him from God.

For more info about Carlo Acutis, here are 10 things to know about him.

With all that background, the reason why I’m going to Rome is because of Carlo Acutis’ canonization! This means that the Catholic Church will officially declare him a Saint (capital S)! He’s the first millennial saint to be canonized! (And first video gamer!).

Pope Francis announced his canonization date back in November 2024. As soon as I saw news about that, I immediately booked airfare and hotels. I’m glad I did that because I knew that the longer I waited, the costs would go up.

What my itinerary looks like

Let me slide in here and say that having points and miles is a great flexible way to book travel. I tend to hoard hotel points and airline miles, usually saving them for aspirational redemptions (like the world’s longest nonstop flight). But in this case, I’m glad I had enough hotel points and airline miles saved to book this trip impulsively. I’ll briefly talk about each booking and a little bit of my thought process for each, but the details of how I booked them will be shared in the reviews and trip report. 

Flight: American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin DFW-FCO

First thing’s first (let’s buckle those belts)–gotta get to Rome. As I am DFW-based, I needed a way to get to Rome.  Luckily, American Airlines runs a nonstop DFW-FCO flight. It wouldn’t have been a problem for me to connect to AA’s other hubs and onwards to Rome, but having a nonstop flight makes this convenient.

Because I’m approaching this trip with a pilgrimage mindset and trying to keep costs as low as possible, I opted to book only in the Main Cabin. I used miles. Besides, for review purposes, I don’t think I’ve reviewed AA’s B777-200 in economy yet.

Hotel: The Spring House Hotel

For the hotel, I wanted something Hilton since I’m a Hilton loyalist and Diamond member. Luckily, Hilton has added more hotels to its portfolio in Rome since the last time I was in town (which was 2017). I opted for The Spring House Hotel because it is conveniently located near St. Peter’s Square just outside the walls of the Vatican. That’s an easy walk. When I went to Mother Teresa’s canonization in 2016, I had stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn across Rome, and it took a while to get to St. Peter’s via the tram and walking. 

Also, I’ve never stayed at a Tapestry Collection brand of Hilton. These are a curated selection of hotels that “offer guests unique style and vibrant personality”. So I’m excited to see what makes it unique and different from the standard brands I’m familiar with.

Hilton lets you book with a combination of points and cash. And I did just that in order to book The Spring House. I didn’t want to burn a lot of my points in one go so this was an ideal option for me.

Hotel: Hilton Rome Airport

I’ve stayed at the Hilton Rome Airport before back in 2017. It’s a good Hilton hotel for the “one last night before my flight tomorrow” stay. And that’s exactly how I am treating it. I’ll be checking into this hotel after the canonization so I’m sure I’ll be tired and sweaty from the day’s activities and will be interested in chilling out.

For this hotel stay, I actually booked it with cash. My thought was I wanted to earn points to get my balance back up closer to 1 million Hilton points, lol. It’s gonna be an expensive one night stay, but that’s alright.

Flight: American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra FCO-DFW

Actually, I booked my flights as a round trip. But two weeks before this trip, I ended up semi-upgrading my Main Cabin seat to Main Cabin Extra. I figured the extra leg room on the way home would make it a little more comfortable. And I don’t recall this type of seat and aircraft being on my review queue.

The American Express Hilton Aspire credit card that I used to book the Hilton hotels above has an airline credit benefit. Basically every quarter, I can get up to $50 credit on purchases directly made with an airline on certain purchases. So I justified paying the upgrade to Main Cabin Extra knowing that I’ll get a good portion of it back in airline credit. It’s the same benefit I used to upgrade into First Class on my way home from Alaska last year.

Bottom Line

I’m excited to go on this trip to Rome for Carlo Acutis’ canonization. With two flights and two hotels booked, I’ll be reviewing each and posting those here. 

Honestly, apart from checking into each of these portions of this trip and attending the canonization, I don’t have any other rigid plans. I’ll have time to explore Rome for two days before the canonization. We’ll see what I end up doing!

So how would you have booked this itinerary? Lemme know down in the comments!

The post Booked: A Canonization in Rome! appeared first on Where Is Randell?.

Flight Info

Summary

• Middle seat made flight uncomfortable
• Flight attendants were very friendly
• Meals were decently good

Rating: 3.8 out of 5

Booking American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

Booking this flight was hectic! For this portion of my “Around the World in 10 Days” trip, I was only on the ground in Sydney, Australia for about 24 hours while visiting my aunt and uncle, and we had an action-packed day that involved lots of food and walking around. Knowing that it would be busy for me, I actually listed for this flight while in Singapore the day or two before. With it being an American Airlines flight, I could easily monitor seat availability.

Additionally, I booked a ZED listing with Delta since the Delta flight from Sydney to Los Angeles (DL40) left at about the same time as the AA flight. From browsing around employee traveler groups on Facebook, I also saw that the AA flight had been trending to be weight-restricted, meaning that the flight couldn’t fly full so employee/nonrev travelers were getting left behind. So having the Delta flight listed was a good backup just in case I didn’t make AA72.

Packing for American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

Like the start of my trip from Dallas to New York, onwards to Singapore, and then to here in Sydney, I just had my backpack and rollaboard luggage. My plan was not to check my rollaboard so that would give me flexibility to switch flights if necessary.

For the flight, I put my rollaboard up in the overhead bin, and I had my backpack underneath the seat in front of me. I made sure that my wired noise cancelling headphones were conveniently accessible knowing that the seatback monitors require plugged in headphones to listen to audio. I also made sure my iPad, charge cables, AirPods, and water bottle were easily accessible in my backpack for the flight.

Check In and Security/Customs at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

I had my aunt and uncle drop me off at Sydney Kingsford Smith airport at about 6AM at Terminal 1, respecting the standard “show up 3 hours before an international departure” best practice. The American Airlines counters are located at Column J on the far right of the departure hall.

The departure hall was busy at 6:30AM! I had to weave in and out of passengers trying to check in!

Checking in with AA was pretty easy, but had a few steps.  While waiting in line, I saw there were 6 people/parties ahead of me in the Main Cabin check in line. And before I entered the line, I was asked a few questions from the Line Bouncer (not sure if that’s their title, but that’s what they were basically doing haha). She asked me how long my stay was, where I stayed, and why I visited. Once I got to the counter, the ticket agent verified my passport and told me to come back at about 7:40AM and stand at the end of the check-in counters where they will call standby passengers for seat assignments.

After I checked in with AA, I got in line for Delta since their counters are conveniently back-to-back with AA’s. They verified my passport and listing. Then I went to go somewhere to sit and wait.

Sydney Airport does not let nonrevenue standby passengers through security/customs without a seat assignment. This was similar in Singapore with British Airways.

In my head, I thought that whichever airline gave me a seat first, I would cancel the other listing. Then possibly have to run.

Who won? American Airlines did! I got my seat assignment at 7:36AM and immediately canceled my ZED listing for DL40 as I quickly walked towards customs.

Sydney Airport customs has automatic gates, but they didn’t work for me. I had to go in line to see an officer. I suspect that because I also had a Delta itinerary in the system, an officer had to manually review. No problem–customs went decently fast. It took probably just a few minutes to see the officer and go onwards to security.

Security also went decently fast. The signs were confusing because some said to remove certain things whereas some signs indicated NOT to remove some of those things. Either way, I didn’t have to remove anything from my person or bags except my belt. I got through security at 8AM.

Boarding American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

After going through security, I beelined to Gate 10. I had to pass some duty free shops and restaurants to get there. Luckily SYD isn’t too confusing airside nor was it too far of a walk.

I got to the gate about 20 minutes before boarding and decided to go to the restroom to change into sweatpants. I didn’t want a repeat of me spilling wine on my nice pants like on the British Airways flight from Singapore to Sydney! 

Boarding started at about 8:13AM with preboards then Concierge Keys. And because I was Group 4 due to my Citi Executive credit card, I was able to get in line when that boarding group was called. I scanned my passport and ticket at 8:22AM then stood in the jet bridge for a little while because boarding got bottlenecked. After about 10 minutes, I was able to finally board the plane and got into my seat at about 8:38AM. The back of the plane was pretty empty when I boarded!

Departure for American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

Departure was scheduled for 9:15AM. 

Somehow boarding completed relatively quickly despite being a nearly full flight. The flight attendants did make some announcements looking for certain passengers on the plane. It sounded like they were nonrevs–I wondered if they were getting kicked off? But I didn’t see anyone abruptly leave.

Boarding completed at 9:08AM. They closed the boarding door at 9:11AM. We pushed back at 9:18AM, then after taxiing a bit, we took off at 9:32AM.

Weirdly, I didn’t hear the captain say to get ready for takeoff. But we did, lol. It was shaky and turbulent when we took off to the south, and then we slowly banked towards the east towards Los Angeles. 

Cabin for American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

The Main Cabin on American Airlines B777-300 is actually two cabins split by mid-cabin lavatories at the 3rd exit door. The total number of seats for both cabins is 216. Most rows are 3-4-3 configuration whereas some rows are 2-4-2 depending on the location of the row. Pictured above is the more forward cabin, but the more aft cabin is pretty similar. You can check out the full layout at Aerolopa.

For the overhead bin situation, I was Group 4 for boarding so I had no issues finding one to store my rollaboard luggage. This aircraft has not yet been retrofitted to have the bigger bins that let you store your luggage sideways like a book. I should mention that the outboard bins (by the windows) are larger than the ones in the center.

The bulkheads have screens on them for a persistent flight map and other flight information for the duration of the flight.

This was a daytime departure so pretty much everyone had their windows open. It was hard to look out the windows because of how bright it was.

Towards the aft galley and lavatories, I noticed this sign on the door, above, that leads up to the crew rest. I love that it is also in different languages! On AA’s B777-300 aircraft, there is a whole compartment above the last section of rows that has 6 beds for the crew to rest in as they take shifts throughout the long flight. Can’t go up there as a passenger!

Seats in American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

For American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin seats, they are Safran Seats model 5751. I’m quite familiar with these seats as I used to work for Safran Seats as a design engineer! So it was a treat for me to sit in these seats for a long flight. Basically field testing for fun! 

My seat was 39B, which was a middle seat on the left side of the aircraft towards the back of the plane. Note that Rows 43 and 44 are the last rows.

The Model 5751 seat is meant for long-haul flights so it is a little more feature-packed than your typical domestic economy class seats. These 5751 seats feature:

• 31” pitch
• 17.1” width
• 3” recline
• Panasonic 9” monitors with aux and USB A connections, semi-private screen
• Handset
• Universal power port
• Bi-fold tray
• Literature pocket
• Adjustable headrest
• Articulating seat pan (meaning your seat bottom cushion moves as you recline)

I’d like to point out a few things about the seatback monitor. It is, indeed, touchscreen. But if you’d like something more tactile or the touchscreen isn’t as responsive as you’d like, you can use the handset to navigate around the entertainment system. To deploy the handset, you push the little black button at the side of the handset closest to the powerport. To stow it, you pull the handset away from the seatback to engage the reels, much like the power cord for irons and vacuums.

Because there’s a monitor and handset on the back of the seat, the tray table has to be bi-fold. This means the tray table has two halves. The half-deployed position has a cupholder. The tray table can also slide to extend towards you a little bit. The struggle with bi-fold tables is that sometimes the table halves are not level, and this was an issue for me spilling my wine on myself on my flight from Singapore to Sydney with British Airways!

Lastly, the seat has an articulating seat pan. A standout feature of the 5751 seat is its ability to move the seat pan when you recline your seatback. This provides a little bit more comfort as your knees and lumbar areas are in a less-strained position.

For amenities in American Airlines B777-3000 Main Cabin, all you’re provided with is a small pillow and blanket. Before takeoff or just after takeoff, the flight attendants will go up and down the aisles asking if you’d like cheap disposable earbuds to use with the entertainment system, but I always recommend bringing your own.

Overall, I liked the seat. Perhaps I’m biased because I worked at the company that made this seat, and I literally have an older model of it (front row version) sitting in my living room! My power port actually worked on this seat, which wasn’t the case on my incoming flight on British Airways, so that was definitely a plus. I did feel a little cramped width-wise even though the guys on either side of me were skinny. Also, I somewhat had to eat with T-rex arms so as not to bump into the other row mates. And lastly, I thought the literature pocket was big enough to hold a bunch of things including my water bottle, iPad and keyboard, and few other things.

Service in American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

Service was efficient and friendly for this flight. After we leveled off about 25 minutes into the flight, the flight attendants started their service. I noticed that there were two flight attendants on each side for the drink cart and 1 on both sides with the hot meal cart. This was the basic setup for each of the three meal times.

A summarized timeline (all times are in hours:minutes after takeoff):

• 00:25 Handed out moist hot towelettes to everyone
• 00:31 Special meals distributed
• 01:22 Got my meal (beef)
• 01:45 Finished my meal
• 01:54 My tray picked up; drink refill offered
• 02:10 Main meal service done for whole cabin
• 06:30 Mid-flight service started with special meals
• 07:05 Got my mid-flight meal
• 07:20 Drink cart reaches me
• 11:42 Cabin lights slowly come on for pre-arrival meal service
• 12:20 Got my pre-arrival meal
• 12:45 My tray picked up

I definitely noticed how friendly these flight attendants were. Given this is one of the Flagship routes, I know that flight attendants have to have pretty high seniority to be able to work it. So with that said, I assumed that the flight attendants who worked this flight wanted to be there. And that showed through the way they carried out their service, which I appreciated.

Food and Drink in American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

Because of the length of this flight (13+ hours), there were three separate meals served.

Main Meal (Lunch)

For the main meal service, we had a choice between:

• Chicken with couscous salad
• Beef with potatoes and veggies

I selected the beef. Accompanying the beef were potatoes, veggies, dinner roll, and mousse. The meal came with a small bottle of water and bamboo cutlery. I paired the red wine (Cavit merlot) with this meal.

The meal tasted alright. I found the beef to have a good flavor, but the meat wasn’t tender. The potatoes and veggies tasted bland, but mixed with the beef sauce, they tasted good. The roll was soft and not stale, and I definitely buttered it up. And lastly, the mousse was really good albeit somewhat watery. I knew I wouldn’t be getting a gourmet meal given that I was sitting in Economy Class, but this was honestly decent! Did the red wine pair well with this meal? Eh, kinda.

The wine had notes of vanilla and tasted of red fruit. I finished the mini-bottle, and my pants did not get a taste.

While I didn’t take a picture of the setup, various snacks, water, and juices were available for the rest of the flight in the galleys after main meal service.

Mid-Flight Meal

There were two choices for the mid-flight meal:

• Beef pie
• Veggie pie

Either choice was served with a lime ice cream bar.

From previous trips to Sydney and Australia, I know that meat pies are definitely a thing. And it makes sense that they’d be served on a flight. I thought the beef pies were really good! Savory filling and flaky crust. And then the lime ice cream bar was a good, tangy and sweet finish. The bar had a lime exterior with vanilla ice cream in the middle.

Pre-Arrival Meal (Breakfast)

For the pre-arrival meal, there were two choices:

• Scrambled eggs
• Fruit bowl

With the scrambled eggs were potatoes and bacon. And alongside were Greek yogurt with a little bit of granola, and an apple cinnamon muffin. 

I thought the scrambled eggs, tomato, potatoes, and bacon were pretty good. Though the bacon seemed too chewy for me. Not sure if that was an artifact of Australian cuisine and/or airline food. I made sure to add the granola to the Greek yogurt as that helped sweeten it a little bit. And lastly, the apple cinnamon muffin was good as it was moist with a touch of sweetness.

Entertainment and WiFi in American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

While I haven’t verified this fact with this aircraft being a widebody aircraft, I’m assuming that the system is able to carry more content than the narrowbody aircraft in AA’s fleet. With that said, I found the content to be similar to what I saw on my departing flight for this trip. While I would have loved to be able to share with you how many movies and shows were actually available, the system doesn’t provide a total count.

I feel like in a post-Covid world, AA’s entertainment content seems to be full of obscure new releases but good classics. These days I often go for the older movies, even if I’ve watched them before. But on this flight, I ended up watching mostly new releases.

One new thing I learned on this flight is that the kid’s section allows you to change the background. For some reason.

Navigating around the entertainment system was pretty easy. Even though this system seems dated to me, I still found it to be responsive, both on the touchscreen and on the handset. Note that the handset is rotated 90 degrees when stored and the navigation arrows correspond to holding the handset vertically in one hand.

One feature that isn’t present on the narrowbody aircraft is the seat-to-seat chat. You can chat with other passengers by just entering their seat number. The back fo the handset features a keyboard that you can use to type your messages.

Lastly, the screen is hard to see when it is bright outside and the windows are open. So keep that in mind if trying to watch something once boarded. 

WiFi in American Airlines B777-300

For the WiFi, I found that it wasn’t working or findable on the ground. I believe this is a limitation on the antenna and overall system that provides Internet for passengers. It did start working once we were up in the air.

How much is WiFi on American Airlines B777-300?

The 2-hour pass is $29 whereas the flight pass is $35. Recall that this is a 13 hour flight.

How fast is WiFi on American Airlines B777-300?

I didn’t buy a pass so I was not able to test it. Besides, I knew the satellite Internet service would be spotty while flying over the Pacific so I didn’t want to spend the money for it to be not working.

I did see a man a row in front of me who was trying to connect to the WiFi to use it for work. He had some issues from time to time, but it looked like he was still able to get some work done.

Lavatories in American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

As mentioned above, Main Cabin on in American Airlines B777-300 is split up into two cabins. There are two lavatories at the split, located in the center across from the exit doors. And there are two lavatories at the very back by the aft galley. The ones at the back of the plane were closest to where my seat was located.

I guess I didn’t end up using the lavatory too many times during this flight since I was in a middle seat. I used the aft lavs twice: about 3 hours in and at 10 hours in. Both times the lavatory was pretty clean.

An observation I had was that many people tried to use the lavatories after the main meal service. Good thing no one had the mushroom risotto!

In-Flight in American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

You know how the captain usually comes on after hitting cruising altitude to make some announcements? Yeah, that …didn’t happen til over an hour after taking off. Seemed weird.

As for what I did during the flight besides eating…

• 00:30 Watched The Marvels during main meal service
• 02:13 Watched The Boys In the Boat
• 02:45 Wanted to ask flight attendants about the crew rest but couldn’t find them…probably because they were using the crew rest!
• 05:00 Watched The Acolyte episodes on my iPad
• 07:27 Watched Boy Kills World during mid-flight meal
• 10:30 Watched Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire during pre-arrival meal

Lots of movie-watching during meals! The Marvels was entertaining, but not one of the MCU’s best. The Boys In The Boat was a really cool underdog story. The Acolyte had some interesting moments, but other Disney+ Star Wars shows are better. Boy Kills World was really cool! But maybe too violent… And Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was fun but kinda forgettable.

Sleeping in American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin

Knowing that we’d be arriving at about 6AM in Los Angeles, I wanted to get some sleep on this flight. 

Admittedly, even as I have traveled a lot, I still have a lot of trouble falling asleep in coach class seats. To keep myself comfortable in my Main Cabin seat while attempting to sleep, I kept my noise-canceling headphones on, I deployed the headrest wings to have something for my head to lean on, and I moved my backpack closer to me so that I could stretch my legs under the seat in front of me. I also used my eye mask to block out the dim cabin lights.

Was I able to actually get some sleep? I think I drifted in and out of sleep every time I tried in-between movies. I somehow got enough sleep to be functional when I landed, but felt pretty tired.

Stories to Share

Nothing too interesting from this flight. Pretty uneventful. And uneventful is good when flying!

The people two rows in front of me were very chatty at boarding and takeoff. Thankfully they weren’t so talkative during the middle of the flight when most people were trying to get some sleep.

Two younger guys sat on either side of me. I was surprised that neither of them got up more than once to use the lavatory. Both slept most of the flight.

The woman sitting in front of me was watching Cabrini and knitting. Totally a vibe that I appreciate.

And as a gamer nerd, I also appreciated that I saw a woman at the window a row or two in front of me playing a new game of Stardew Valley on her phone. That actually inspired me to get Stardew Valley on my own phone after this trip!

Arrival at LAX

The flight was scheduled to arrive at about 6AM at LAX airport.

About 12 hours and 25 minutes into the flight, the captain made an announcement that we’d be landing in about an hour. Then the flight attendants showed the informational video for US customs.

On approach to LAX, I saw that it was dark outside with the sun rising as well as clouds. It’s pretty much just ocean up until the coastline and airport as we approached from the west.

We touched down at about 5:43AM local time, and when we taxiied towards our gate, the captain came on again saying that US Customs and Immigration didn’t open until 6AM so we’d likely wait at the gate a little bit.

At about 5:51AM, we arrived at Gate 157 at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. I didn’t clock when I deplaned, but I did note that I arrived at customs at about 6:20AM (hey, I was at the very back of the plane!). And because I was Global Entry, I cleared Customs pretty quickly and by 6:35AM, I was out of there.

Bottom Line

Despite being in the middle seat at the back of this plane in Main Cabin on this American Airlines B777-300 flight, I endured the 13 hour flight. I had a tough time falling asleep, but the various little things I did to help make a little more comfortable helped some. 

With three meals served on this flight, I never felt hungry. And with plenty of content between the entertainment system and downloaded stuff on my iPad, I kept myself pretty occupied for the times I was awake. 

Overall, this was a somewhat comfortable way to fly across the Pacific Ocean. Certainly this flight would have been better sitting in Business Class or First Class on this plane type, but given this was a nonrev flight, I had to take what I could get! Even if it was a middle seat in the back of the plane…

This wraps up my flight reviews from this trip. Check out the other reviews!

• British Airways B787-9 World Traveler SIN-SYD
• Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR Business Class JFK-SIN
• American Airlines B737-800 Main Cabin Extra DFW-JFK

What do you think of American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin? Lemme know down in the comments!

The post Review: American Airlines B777-300 Main Cabin SYD-LAX appeared first on Where Is Randell?.