Category: American Airlines

My travel on American Airlines will be expressed here. I am sure the frequent traveler will have both good and bad issues with AA. I know I have. However, my comments here will only related to issues on using AA to get to and from travel locations, and about my experiences with the AA frequent flyer program. Personal issues with AA will not be approved for posting, and will be deleted.

Off to Sao Paulo with a pleasant surprise – riding on the new American Airlines 777ER (on an almost free ticket) – A Really Comfortable Plane!

I am off to São Paulo and Rio for 10 days on an almost free ticket.  It only cost me 40,000 miles from my AA Advantage account for this trip.  During the off seasons, it is actually possible to fly to Brazil without using all of your frequent flyer miles.  I have to admit that I am a real fan of the American frequent flyer program, and do anything I can to get frequent flyer miles.  I will write another blog post sometime on my method for getting AA miles.

This trip takes me from DCA (Washington Ronald Regan Airport) to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW), and then on to GRU (São Paulo, Guarulhos International Airport).  I will be in SP for a few days, and then on to Rio.

I will do a blog posting on clearing immigration and customs entering Brazil, and one on leaving Brazil.  Another thing to mention, is that a visa is required to visit Brazil.  I will not be discussing the process to get a visa because it may soon be possible to visit Brazil without a visa.

I had the luck of flying the new American 777ER flying between DFW and GRU shown below.  This plane will be used on other AA routes as new planes enter the fleet.  The new colors are very distinctive, and are quite different from the existing AA aircraft.

Slide1I am flying tourist class this trip, and the four improvements on the new American 777ER’s that I noted immediately were:

  1. 110 Volt AC electrical hookup on each seat,
  2. WiFi on International Flights,
  3. Seats that really recline in Tourist, and
  4. A nice entertainment system.

I had some trouble finding the 110 Volt to plug in my laptop, but with a little help from the flight attendant, that was quickly fixed.

WiFi connections on this flight over the ocean using satellite seems to be better than the WiFi you get when flying in the US.  Every now and then it drops out, but the connection was available again within a few minutes.

In a few minutes I am looking forward to some sleep.  Normally, I cannot sleep on overnight flights to and from South American unless I flight First or Business (I only do that when I have a frequent flyer ticket).  Anyway, this trip will be nice to be able to sleep in a tourist seat that actually reclines.

Photos of the 777ER entertainment systems and the new reclining seats are shown below.

Slide2The new layout for Tourist section of the 777ER is shown below.  While it may not seem like much, this new plane is one you should try to schedule for yourself if you are flying to and from Brazil on American.

Slide3I will be doing other updates later in the week about my entry into Brazil through immigration and customs.  I will also discuss getting money at the airport at GRU, and ground transportation to downtown São Paulo.