Flight 5 of 10, AA 4344, Miami to Panama, #NMCLaborDay

Posted By Jon Nickel-D'Andrea on Sep 3, 2016 | 2 comments

Fifth Flight, American Eagle E175

I feel like we’ve seen more Admirals clubs in the past day than I’ve seen in the past year.  So the Miami lounge was no exception.  And of course like all the clubs right now, they’re all undergoing renovation (thank God!).

Another club in renovation…

But thank god the bar was open!  Because we’re flying in International Business Class we were given drink vouchers.  Turns out Campari Spritz takes two drink coupons instead of one.  Damn you American.  At least some lounges out there still give drinks for free.

Miami Admiral’s club Bar

Off we were once again to the gate for our 5th boarding in less than 24 hours!  As is the usual in Miami, everyone just runs to the gates and pays no attention whatsoever to what zones you’re in, and no one enforces it either.  So we all kind of pushed our way into the area, but as soon as our boarding pass was scanned, members of Miami’s Finest were there to greet us and grill us with questions.  “Why are you going to Panama?  How much money do you have? How long are you staying? What’s a mileage run?” (that last one was interesting…)  I think she may be reading the blog today so if you are, hello!  Thanks for being so nice!

We strutted down the jetway and onto the awaiting E175 flown by Republic Airways.

The seats looked strikingly similar to those from Alaska.

Business Class to Panama

And they had about the same leg room as well

The pilot came on and greeted us, welcoming us to today’s United Airlines flight.  Yup, you heard that correctly.  United Airlines.  He quickly corrected himself and said “Uh, I mean American Airlines.”  Nice job, pilot… nice job.

Just after take off we were given hot towels…

Hot Towels

Which we always use to wipe off the disgusting tray tables.  I mean seriously, have you seen what people do to those things?

Clean that up, seriously

She let us know that service was going to be delayed because of some rough air heading out of Miami, and we wanted to try and avoid the storms.  So dinner service didn’t commence for a good 30 minutes after take off.

Adios Miami!

She did manage to get us out some nuts to munch on however.

AA Mixed Nuts

Once we got going, our lovely flight attendant informed us of the two food options, a meat and a vegetarian dish.  The meat dish was a chicken curry wrap and the vegetarian option was a chicken cobb salad.  Just take a moment and let that sink in ….. ….. got it?  Yea, the veggie option is a chicken salad.  Problem was when she did the math she found out that there were no more salads.  Ben was already in a not-too-stellar mood, and I think she saw that, because she actually opened the catering from the return flight and stole a salad from there.  THANK YOU!  Here’s what the two options looked like.

My chicken wrap (which was actually REALLY good)

Curry Chicken Wrap AA Catering

And Ben’s Cobb salad without the chicken.  Because, ya know.  Chicken Vegetarian Salad.

Cobb Salad without the Chicken

We have been blown away with American’s catering so far.  From lobster and wagyu beef to tasty on point meals, they’ve really done a hell of a job.  I commend them for that!

What they could do better, however, is clean their damn airplanes.  No excuse for this kinda filth.

Nasty lights…

We slipped way into sleepy land for an hour, and woke up to another warning about turbulence heading into Panama.  Just one look out the window and you can see why.

Thunderstorms over Panama

And before you knew it, the shoreline approached.

Coast of Panama

I liked the smaller plane for its small cabin and more attention from the flight crew, but I didn’t appreciate the lack of Wifi (even though it was announced they had it) and the lack of any entertainment.  The only thing I got to watch was the inside of my eyelids.  Actually, considering all the traveling we’ve been doing, that might not have been that bad of an idea.

Tonight we’re staying at the Waldorf Astoria and then tomorrow morning we head right back out towards Miami and onward.

Thanks for following, stay tuned for tomorrow’s flights!