AA4453 JFK-BOS 9 APR 11 (ECONOMY)

AA4453 JFK-Boston, operated by American Eagle.

This was a connection from the VS45 which we booked due to lack of FC rewards on the direct BOS service. The AA flight was at 8pm when booked, but was shifted to 8.30pm due to a schedule change giving us a 3h 50m wait. Plenty of leeway for most things that may go awry!

As it turned out (as described in my VS45 trip report), we landed early on the VS45 and were through immigration with our bag by 16.40, our original scheduled landing time.

Took the airtrain to T8, and checked in by the classic grumpy AA staff member. We weren't charged for our checked-in luggage.

We went through security whilst it was quiet, parked ourselves in one of the cafe areas for a bit of pizza and had a bit of a view over the airfield which kept me occupied. To be honest the wait was tedious, but better that way than rushing.

Headed to gate 32 at about 7.45. AA Eagle use 31 & 32 as their section of T8, and it's a bit of a scrum. Think of a National Express Coach Station. There were about 6 flights to Boston, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis etc all leaving around 8pm so more passengers than seats.

Our Embraer 140 aircraft arrived late, and we were called for boarding by the (very rude) AA staffer on the PA.

Our carry on had to be gate-checked due to the small on board bins. This was common practice for Eagle flights it seemed.

We had a short 36 minute flight time, with no delay for take-off. The sole cabin crew member was very pleasant, and managed to serve a drink to a full-flight before landing. I quite liked the cosy 40-odd seater aircraft, and the legroom was surprisingly quite good.

The landing was smooth, and despite leaving half an hour late, we arrived about 15 minutes early thanks to the padding in the schedule. Bags were out quite quickly, and soon we were off to the land of nod in our hotel at about 11pm!

So in conclusion, no complaints for a flight that cost £50 each. The classic grumpy AA ground staff haven't changed, and I doubt they ever will.

I regularly fly internal in the USA and only use AA as a LAST resort for any flight (have managed not to use them for 2 years). Their staff are notoriously rude but it seems a shame that they have not changed or trained this out of them.

Anyway I don't get VFC miles with AA (so US Airways and Virgin America).

Thank you for the TR.