American Airlines A319 economy class seating layout

I’m a morning person. There’s nothing I like better than getting up at the crack of dawn and starting my day with a bang. That bang usually starts with a bike ride or a long walk, which for me, is the perfect kind of activity that gets the blood flowing and my brain ready for the day. I’ve always been like this – taking care of the to-do list for the day as early as possible so that I can relax and enjoy the rest of my day is how I like to do it.

I’m telling you all this because I want you to understand how devastated I felt when I got that that text message at 9am the morning of this flight informing me that the departure time would be delayed by 3 hours.

The normally scheduled departure time of this flight was already a bit out of my “morning person” comfort zone (12:40pm), but suddenly and unexpectedly being faced with the situation of waiting around all day to even begin this trip kind of sucked. I was ready to go now!

AA1815
San Diego, CA (SAN) – Miami, FL (MIA)
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Aircraft: A319-112
Registration: N757UW
Duration: 4 hours, 18 minutes
Seat: 12D (economy class)

american airlines a319 side view
American Airlines A319 (N757UW) side view illustration by norebbo.com
SAN to MIA route map
Our route from SAN to MIA this afternoon

So yeah. A three hour delay? How in the world does that kind of thing even happen for an airline as large as American? The weather was relatively clear all over the US when this flight was scheduled to leave MIA, so weather had absolutely no role in this.

And I do understand that sometimes stuff breaks and it needs to be fixed, but I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that AA didn’t have a spare A319/A320/737 in the entire system to swap in and reduce this delay from something massive into something minor.

There was no sense in grumbling about it. It was only 10am, and the flight had been delayed until 3:08pm, but screw it – I still walked out the door and went to the airport anyway. That’s how I roll.

Actually, I should probably rephrase that. What I mean is…”that’s how much of an airliner nerd I am“. Sitting in an airport all day is fun! Sometimes…

SAN airport exterior
Okay, it’s waaaay too early to be at the airport, but oh well. Here we are!
Terminal 2 east SAN
Into terminal 2 east I go.
American Airlines check in SAN
American Airlines check in counter here in terminal 2 east.

Sitting around at SAN for 5 hours when I really didn’t have to wasn’t that bad actually. I started out with a delicious and slow lunch from Camden Food Co, walked terminal 2 from end to end a time or three, and just enjoyed watching the airport at work. Am I weird? I think I know the answer to that, but it was actually a nice way to spend an afternoon.

San Diego airport lunch
The “Healthwhich” from Camden Food Co. Mmm mmm good!
Apple Watch airport
I’m done eating lunch, and it’s only 12pm. What am I going to do for three whole hours??
american airlines delayed flight
This delay sure is a doozie.
SAN plane spotting
Plane spotting at SAN is always a good way to kill time…
Japan airlines 787 San Diego
I can’t believe that I haven’t tried the Japan Airlines flight to NRT yet. It’s on my list!
SAN airport vehicles
While oogling over that JAL 787, I noticed this van right below the window. Looks like nothing special, right?
Airliner World magazine airport vehicle
But if you look closely, you’ll see a copy of Airliner World magazine on the dashboard. My peoples! Nice to see airport employees with a passion for what they do.
SAN airport plane spotting
Okay, back to plane spotting…
SAN terminal 2 east gates
Ok, what time is it? I’m ready to go now.
SAN terminal 2 east ceiling
Having a lot of time to kill was actually kind of a good thing, as it made me notice things about the airport that I hadn’t seen before. Like this ceiling sculpture for example. Cool!
SAN airport spotting
Finally! She’s here! A bit beyond “fashionably late”, but still good to see her nonetheless.

The inbound aircraft (N757UW) came from MIA, and I was highly impressed in how quickly they turned that thing around. Boarding for the return to MIA commenced just 10 minutes after the last inbound passenger had deplaned. Speaking of inbound passengers, most of the people who came off that plane didn’t look happy. I suppose that’s what three-hour delays will do to customer morale.

SAN gate 28
It’s gate 28 today. The one gate in all of San Diego International Airport where it’s impossible to see any of the airplane from the gate windows.
American Airlines mobile boarding pass
I’ve literally waited all day for this. Let’s do it!
SAN jet bridge
Down the jet bridge.
SANspotter selfie jet bridge
SANspotter, still a happy guy after a long three hour delay. Gotta stay positive!
American Airlines A319 SAN
This has to be one of my favorite liveries at the moment. Looks even better up close IMHO.
boarding american airlines a319 SAN
A little congestion here at the boarding door.
american airlines 2017 airline of the year
2017 Airline of the Year? Even with three hour delays like this?
a319 boarding door
Alright, let’s step onboard and see what this “Airline of the Year” crap is all about.

The boarding gate looked to be quite full, but such was not the case onboard. It seemed that most of the other passengers had rebooked onto something else because of the massive delay, because once the boarding door closed, the final load factor looked to be less than 40%. There were empty seats in every row – including next to me, which was very much appreciated.

American Airlines A319 economy class
American Airlines A319 economy class.
American Airlines A319 economy class seats
American Airlines A319 economy class seats. Nowhere near as fluffy as the seats you’ll find in Avianca A319 economy. Just sayin’.
American Airlines A319 economy class seating layout
American Airlines A319 economy class seating layout. This looks very tight – especially when comparing it to the legroom you saw in my American Airlines A321 Main Cabin Extra review.
American Airlines A319 economy class cabin, looking forward
American Airlines A319 economy class cabin, looking forward.
american airlines a319 seat backs
No personal video screens to be found in these seats.
American Airlines A319 economy class seat pitch
American Airlines A319 economy class seat pitch. Decent.
SANspotter airplane selfie american a319
I love empty flights!

The older woman in the window seat was obviously a new flier, because she had to ask me how the seat belt worked. We all make fun of the overly-simplistic safety demonstrations sometimes, but it really is true – there are people out there who need to hear that stuff. She didn’t seem nervous or excited about flying, but she was very friendly and ended up being a nice seat mate for the ride to Miami.

American Airlines A319 safety card front cover
American Airlines A319 safety card front cover.
American Airlines A319 safety card inner cover
American Airlines A319 safety card inner cover.
American Airlines A319 safety card full interior
American Airlines A319 safety card full interior.

Sorry folks – this is another trip report where I’m in an aisle seat as opposed to the window, so there will be limited take off and landing pics for this one! I tried my best though.

SAN airport taxi to runway
Taxiing out to the runway. Something a little different than my normal “taxi to runway” pics!
american airlines a319 takeoff SAN
We’re outta here! We may have been three hours behind schedule at this point, but it was a good feeling to finally be on the way.
american airlines a319 take off pic
It was actually kind of fun being in the aisle seat and getting take off pics from a different perspective.

Once in the air and pointed east, I tried plugging my phone into the power outlets at the base of the seat. I say “tried” because it didn’t work too well. The sockets were so loose that it wouldn’t hold the plug and it just fell out on it’s own whenever I pushed it in. There’s probably a dirty joke in there somewhere, but I won’t go there. Instead, I’ll just say that it was irritating to not be able to charge my phone on such a long flight.

american airlines a319 in seat power
There are two sets of power ports in every row, but the one closest to me wouldn’t hold the plug. Not quite up to “Airline of the Year” standards, IMHO.

Drinks and food-for-purchase were offered within the first 45 minutes of departure, and I splurged on a fresh turkey sandwich. It was actually quite good – well worth the price actually, which isn’t something I admit very often. It might have been due to how hungry I was, because my tolerance for expensive food goes up quite a bit the hungrier I get.

American Airlines in-flight menu
Let’s eat! American Airlines in-flight menu.
American airlines food for purchase menu
That turkey sandwich looks good…
American airlines drink menu
The drinks menu.
american airlines economy class meal
Ok, I’m set. Bon appetit!
American Airlines turkey sandwich
The turkey sandwich didn’t look quite as good as it did in the pictures, but it was still quite tasty.
american airlines a319 forward cabin
This is what it looks like to be hurling towards Miami at 500mph. Not as exciting as one would imagine, right?
American Airlines in-flight entertainment menu
American Airlines in-flight entertainment menu. You can access this content from your own device.
American Airlines streaming content menu
Instructions on how to connect to the free streaming content.
Rear cover of the American Airlines streaming content menu
Rear cover of the American Airlines streaming content menu (for all you super-hardcore airliner nerds out there).
American Airlines streaming content welcome screen
American Airlines streaming content welcome screen.
american airlines streaming entertainment
There were very few people on today’s flight, so the system was very fast and responsive.
American Airlines streaming entertainment movies
I found the movie selections to be quite good actually. Many options!
American Airlines wifi
You can also purchase WiFi access if you just gotta stay connected.

The rest of the flight was smooth and uneventful, and actually quite comfortable due to the very light load. There was plenty of room to spread out, and I just spent the time catching up on all the Podcasts I haven’t had time to listen to over the past few weeks. Long flights are perfect for that sort of thing. Another round of drinks were served with one hour and thirty five minutes of flying time remaining.

american airlines a319 economy class lavatory
Wouldn’t it be nice if the airlines would personalize the bathrooms a bit? They all look the same!
American Airlines A319 economy class cabin pic
American Airlines A319 economy class cabin, from the rear.
American Airlines A319 wing
The woman sitting in the window seat got up to use the lavatory when I did, so I had this one chance to get a wing pic. A trip report doesn’t feel right without it!
A319 window view in flight
You know me. I can never just take one picture of anything.

It was completely dark by the time we began the descent into Miami, and we touched down exactly three hours behind schedule (just before 11pm local time). Oddly enough, there wasn’t a single apology or explanation from the flight crew about the delay.

They didn’t say a word about it, so perhaps they were thinking we wouldn’t notice if they didn’t mention it. Um…sorry American. It doesn’t work that way.

I should also mention that they never reached out to me after the flight offering an apology. I wasn’t expecting one, but I’ve been apologized to for much less in the past. Interesting.

american airlines a319 cabin at night
Darkness falls over the cabin as we begin the decent… (Ok, a bit over-dramatic, but it was better than saying “we’re landing, yo.”)
Final approach into MIA
Final approach into MIA.
deplaning american airlines a319
We made it! Thankfully my body was still on west coast time, so even though it was 11pm here in Miami, it only felt like 8pm to me.
American Airlines A319 first class cabin
This is the first class cabin. Looks pretty good, but I’ll have to try it first to confirm.
american airlines terminal interior MIA
Welcome to Miami International Airport!
terminal D miami international airport
If you’re curious, despite how big and gnarly this airport looks, a 1 hour layover is usually enough time in Miami. I was lucky that I didn’t have to attempt it this evening, but I figured it would be nice to end this review on a reassuring note. You’re welcome!

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