Across the Pond

[Bases5]

 this will be our first flight across the pond and we were wondering a few thing you fine folks might help with

AA flight 112  Mia to Bcn  We booked steerage with 1 free checked bag and choice of seat.

I read you can buy internet,  Does it still work over the open water? and if so is it ok to use?

Do they provide blankets and pillows or should we put them in carry on.

 

[Flymia]

Yes, they provide blankets and pillows. Not the best but good enough as it is not that long of a flight. You'll get a dinner and small breakfast. Drinks will be served two other times, but you can always ask for it too. 

 

I am not 100% the 777-200ER has internet, but if it does it works for the majority if not the entire trip. I want to say its around $30 for the entire trip, I purchased it on my last flight to London for a few hours to get some work done early in the flight and it was something like $12 for 2 or 3 hours. Worked fine for me, but I stopped using it only about 2-hours in. Speed was fine for being at 34,000 feet over the Atlantic ocean. You won't be streaming video. But it works fine for uploading/downloading word documents, emails, surfing the net like this website etc.. 

 

Each seat has personal entertainment screens which are actually very good, tons of selections of movies and shows if you can't get to sleep. 

 

My trick for long flights. Book a window and aisle seat in the same row in towards the back, but not the last few rows of the plane. That middle seat will be one of the last to fill. If it does fill, the person with that middle seat will 99% of the time be happy to take either the aisle or window instead. It works more often than not, but of course if its a completely full flight then someone will have that assigned seat. 

 

 

[Bases5]

12 hours ago, Flymia said:

Yes, they provide blankets and pillows. Not the best but good enough as it is not that long of a flight. You'll get a dinner and small breakfast. Drinks will be served two other times, but you can always ask for it too. 

 

I am not 100% the 777-200ER has internet, but if it does it works for the majority if not the entire trip. I want to say its around $30 for the entire trip, I purchased it on my last flight to London for a few hours to get some work done early in the flight and it was something like $12 for 2 or 3 hours. Worked fine for me, but I stopped using it only about 2-hours in. Speed was fine for being at 34,000 feet over the Atlantic ocean. You won't be streaming video. But it works fine for uploading/downloading word documents, emails, surfing the net like this website etc.. 

 

Each seat has personal entertainment screens which are actually very good, tons of selections of movies and shows if you can't get to sleep. 

 

My trick for long flights. Book a window and aisle seat in the same row in towards the back, but not the last few rows of the plane. That middle seat will be one of the last to fill. If it does fill, the person with that middle seat will 99% of the time be happy to take either the aisle or window instead. It works more often than not, but of course if its a completely full flight then someone will have that assigned seat. 

 

 

Thanks

We selected the first row in the back that has 2 seats per row. I thought it would give us some room without the worry of a third person. I think it the 4th row from the back.  

Oh well  like you said it’s not that long of a flight

[Flymia]

1 hour ago, Bases5 said:

Thanks

We selected the first row in the back that has 2 seats per row. I thought it would give us some room without the worry of a third person. I think it the 4th row from the back.  

Oh well  like you said it’s not that long of a flight

 

Usually those seats cost extra. So if you got those seats that is awesome. Those are the best seats in coach other than emergency exits with extra leg room. 

[Bases5]

44 minutes ago, Flymia said:

 

Usually those seats cost extra. So if you got those seats that is awesome. Those are the best seats in coach other than emergency exits with extra leg room. 

Thanks again 

That good to know. We definitely got the 2 per row seat and at no extra cost. I’m glad I did something right for a change 

[6rugrats]

56 minutes ago, Flymia said:

 

Usually those seats cost extra. So if you got those seats that is awesome. Those are the best seats in coach other than emergency exits with extra leg room. 

Those are standard seats available at no extra charge.

Edited February 7, 2019 by 6rugrats

[Flymia]

29 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

Those are standard seats available at no extra charge.

 

On the 777-200ER they are standard, on the 777-300ER they are not. Odd wonder why they would make a difference between the two. 

[waterbug123]

I would just add that you should keep a close eye on your reservation and check it often.  Assuming your trip is some months out, airlines have a habit of swapping out aircraft, and you could find your seats have been changed due to a difference in aircraft.  If that happens, you'll want to call ASAP to possibly move them again, because it's likely that you won't like the new seats you are randomly assigned.

[Bases5]

3 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

I would just add that you should keep a close eye on your reservation and check it often.  Assuming your trip is some months out, airlines have a habit of swapping out aircraft, and you could find your seats have been changed due to a difference in aircraft.  If that happens, you'll want to call ASAP to possibly move them again, because it's likely that you won't like the new seats you are randomly assigned.

 Thanks  I do check daily.  Not for that reason though. I just like seeing how full the flight is.  Only 14 more days, I'm starting to get excited!! 

[waterbug123]

10 minutes ago, Bases5 said:

 Thanks  I do check daily.  Not for that reason though. I just like seeing how full the flight is.  Only 14 more days, I'm starting to get excited!! 

 

If you are looking at the seat map to determine remaining capacity, don't.  It's highly inaccurate.   You can have a lot of tickets sold that don't yet have a seat assignment so it will show more remaining seats as available than really are.  This could be due to group sales, consolidator tickets that are reserved but not yet ticketed, pax who didn't want to pay extra to select seats this far in advance, etc.

[6rugrats]

59 minutes ago, Flymia said:

 

On the 777-200ER they are standard, on the 777-300ER they are not. Odd wonder why they would make a difference between the two. 

Op is flying 02/21/19 (correct, OP?).  They are on a 777-200.

[Bases5]

3 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

Op is flying 02/21/19 (correct, OP?).  They are on a 777-200.

Correct

[Bases5]

18 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

 

If you are looking at the seat map to determine remaining capacity, don't.  It's highly inaccurate.   You can have a lot of tickets sold that don't yet have a seat assignment so it will show more remaining seats as available than really are.  This could be due to group sales, consolidator tickets that are reserved but not yet ticketed, pax who didn't want to pay extra to select seats this far in advance, etc.

 I got ya,  Well that's what I was doing.  I was looking on AA app at the area that lets me switch seat.  I thought if I could switch seats, that's what was available.  But what you said makes a lot of since.

[Flymia]

11 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

Op is flying 02/21/19 (correct, OP?).  They are on a 777-200.

 

Right. That route is a 772. I just find it odd that AA would make the 2 seat row standard on the 772 but preferred on the 77W. Most airlines charge a premium on their wide bodies that have 3 row seating for the 2 row seats. 

 

4 minutes ago, Bases5 said:

 I got ya,  Well that's what I was doing.  I was looking on AA app at the area that lets me switch seat.  I thought if I could switch seats, that's what was available.  But what you said makes a lot of since.

 

The thing is a lot of people don't have assigned seats yet. So yes you can switch around and pick different seats they are free as of now. Some won't be assigned until check-in the day of the flight. 

 

But, if you see a lot of empty seats, that is somewhat of an indication, not a very accurate one but it still something. I would not expect a flight to Barcelona in February to be very full but you never know. 

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

If you are looking at the seat map to determine remaining capacity, don't.  It's highly inaccurate.   You can have a lot of tickets sold that don't yet have a seat assignment so it will show more remaining seats as available than really are.  This could be due to group sales, consolidator tickets that are reserved but not yet ticketed, pax who didn't want to pay extra to select seats this far in advance, etc.

 

And sometimes the reverse....tons of seats appear "taken", but it turns out that the airline has merely blocked them from being chosen during seat selection.

[slidergirl]

Unless AA has changed the setup on the 777-200, be aware that the entertainment system boxes under the seats heavily restrict your space in front of you.  I had a "J" seat on a flight from DFW-LHR.  There was not enough room to put a bag, let alone my feet.  It was an excruciating flight...

[Bases5]

2 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Unless AA has changed the setup on the 777-200, be aware that the entertainment system boxes under the seats heavily restrict your space in front of you.  I had a "J" seat on a flight from DFW-LHR.  There was not enough room to put a bag, let alone my feet.  It was an excruciating flight...

What's a J seat?

[Twickenham]

1 hour ago, Bases5 said:

What's a J seat?

 

Business class.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, Twickenham said:

 

Business class.

 

Also possible that "J" refers to the seat letter in coach.

 

I leave it to Slider to clarify.

[slidergirl]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Also possible that "J" refers to the seat letter in coach.

 

I leave it to Slider to clarify.

 

My boo-boo,.  I meant the seat letter, not Business Class.  It was the far-right aisle seat back in Economy (had to fly that since it was a group - I try to fly Business over to Europe).  Lots of the econ seats had these big electronics boxes under the seats - everyone was fighting for overhead space since bags that normally fit underseat were not making it under the seats...

[Twickenham]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Also possible that "J" refers to the seat letter in coach.

 

I leave it to Slider to clarify.

 

Ah, my bad. Forgot I wasn't on Flyertalk .

[waterbug123]

19 hours ago, Flymia said:

 

I would not expect a flight to Barcelona in February to be very full but you never know. 

 

 

While Feb isn't prime cruising season in Europe, keep in mind that people traveling for business or personal/family reasons do so year-round.  😉

[Flymia]

17 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Unless AA has changed the setup on the 777-200, be aware that the entertainment system boxes under the seats heavily restrict your space in front of you.  I had a "J" seat on a flight from DFW-LHR.  There was not enough room to put a bag, let alone my feet.  It was an excruciating flight...

 

How long ago was that? I want to say that with the new IFE/layout that is no longer a big issue. I don't see anything on Seat Guru about it. But I do remember reading on this and I seem to remember that being a problem on the older layout of the 772 when it was 2-5-2. Now it is 3-4-3 with an updated IFE. 

 

12 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

 

While Feb isn't prime cruising season in Europe, keep in mind that people traveling for business or personal/family reasons do so year-round.  😉

 

Of course, but even not including cruises, travel to Europe peeks in the summer. There are usually very good prices to head to Europe around this time of year. Sometimes under $600 round trip of even cheaper in the winter, unless it is around Christmas and New Years. 

[waterbug123]

Just now, Flymia said:

Of course, but even not including cruises, travel to Europe peeks in the summer. There are usually very good prices to head to Europe around this time of year. Sometimes under $600 round trip of even cheaper in the winter, unless it is around Christmas and New Years. 

 

I was responding to a comment about a flight not being full, not the price of flights.  Travel to Europe peaks in summer due to cruise and other vacation traffic, but airlines also may adjust capacity to accommodate that.   They may occasionally have a winter flight with a lot of empty seats, but it isn't typical or you'd probably see the flight get canceled for the season.

[slidergirl]

15 hours ago, Twickenham said:

 

Ah, my bad. Forgot I wasn't on Flyertalk .

 

I forget where I am every d&mn day... 😉