This review is for our American Airlines flights to and from Cancun. Overall, the experiences were…read morefine. There was no delay outbound from Raleigh-Durham, but there was a short delay inbound to Charlotte. The delay wasn't bad, though. It was maybe 30-45 minutes.
Our flights were included as part of a vacation package we purchased through Costco Travel. As part of the package, we upgraded to business class. On these particular flights, it was either business or economy.
Both flights only took about three hours each. Not bad.
Both flights were on an Airbus A321. Business class had 20 seats per flight, 10 on either side. Outbound, my wife and I sat next to each other in Seats 5A (window) and 5C (aisle). Inbound, we sat next to each other in 4A (window) and 4C (aisle). There were no B seats in business class. The seats were comfortable with plenty of legroom.
My only gripe is there were no screens in the back of the seats, not even in business class. We had to bring our own screens (e.g., laptop, tablet) in order to watch the airline's inflight entertainment catalog over AA's "free" (included) Wi-Fi.
The food and drink were good. We ordered our meals well in advance of each flight.
Outbound, we had breakfast. I had a delicious omelet with charred sweet potatoes and tomatoes, assorted fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, and cantaloupe), and bread. My wife had smoked salmon, eggs, a salad, the same assorted fruit, and a bagel with cream cheese. To drink, I had a Canada Dry club soda and she had a Bloody Mary made with Tito's Handmade Vodka. Yum.
Inbound, we had lunch. However, there was a food shortage and some people didn't get what they pre-ordered. One guy had to take one for the team and get a vegetarian meal inside of a beef meal. A family of four had been rebooked onto our flight which complicated matters. On top of that, our flight attendant accidentally spilled one of the beef meals in the front galley. Not only was that one more beef meal down, but it also shut down access to the front/business class lavatory for the rest of the flight because of food and grease on the galley floor and walls (safety hazard). It was a comedy of errors.
Our poor flight attendant was having a bad day. During bread service, she asked my wife and me what bread we wanted. I asked her, "What kinds do you have?" Exasperated, she shook her head and replied, "I don't know." We, and others in the cabin, felt for her.
The beef lunch was decent. It was a short rib with gravy with mashed potatoes, bell pepper, broccoli, a side salad with vinaigrette dressing, and some sort of banana cake dessert (banana caramel cake?). In addition to the meals, snacks were served on both flights, such as bowls of assorted nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts). They were enjoyable.
On both flights, service was generally fine.
