Ilona Hanne flies American Airlines AA0421 from Las Vegas to Los Angeles
The plane: An Airbus A321.
Class: Economy
My seat: 15C. Was booked for 14A, giving me a window seat but swapped to enable a family to sit together. Was rewarded for this by said family with a constant supply of fresh dates they were sharing around.
Entertainment: No screens fitted on this plane, but passengers could connect to inflight entertainment on their own device, provided they had already downloaded the app. Most passengers seemed to have done this, but a few who hadn’t were frantically trying to download and install the app before phones had to be put in flight mode. Without the app, passengers were left with the inflight magazine to read but most took the opportunity to sleep instead, given this was a Sunday evening flight out of Vegas.
Food and drink: Water only offered on this flight — which after a few days in Vegas was probably a good option. Fellow passengers: A full mix, from two sailors in uniform whites heading back to base after some shore leave, to the obligatory stag group after a weekend in Vegas and a just-married couple with the bride still wearing her veil. The Mexican family I had traded seats with told me they had been to watch the Vegas Golden Knights, an ice hockey team, after winning tickets in a radio competition. It felt like the flight was packed with a full array of all Las Vegas offers, from weddings and parties to the seasoned gamblers seated behind me who spent much of the flight discussing which casinos offer the best odds.
Flight time: An hour and a half, but the flight experienced some delays. First, a delayed boarding followed by a half hour wait on the tarmac due to construction work. The wait, already infuriating as I had a tight connection, was made slightly more concerning by an incredibly irritating whining and grinding noise coming from the plane. After several passengers asked what the cause was, the pilot informed us it was the plane’s hydraulics and not a cause for concern.
Service: Fantastic — despite the packed flight, every passenger received personal attention.