The Details

• Flight: AA1925
• Aircraft: B737-800
• Class: Domestic First
• Seat: 3A
• Route: Chicago O’Hare International (ORD)-San Diego International (SAN)
• Distance: 1,738 miles
• Duration: 3hrs 54min
• Departure: 8:13AM
• Arrival: 10:07AM

The Preflight

My flight was scheduled to depart from O’Hare at 8:17AM so I arrived about an hour prior to boarding at 6:40AM. There were a surprising amount of people checking in on this cold December morning. There was no one in the TSA PreCheck lane so I was through to airside within 10 minutes of being dropped off.

Terminal 3, home to American Airlines, was fully decorated and ready for Christmas.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic only one Admirals Club was open at T3, the one between the H/K concourses. The Flagship Lounge below has remained closed since the pandemic started.

The food offerings remained unchanged from my previous visit. There was individually packaged hard-boiled eggs, fresh fruit, yogurt and milk.

Additional options included cereal, bananas, and oranges.

There was also cookies and bagels. Condiments included peanut butter, jam, cream cheese, and butter.

From 7:00-10:00AM, there is also a made-to-order avocado toast and scrambled eggs station. I had an avocado toast topped with smoked salmon, egg, onions, and crumbled cheese. The scrambled egg toppings included bacon and cheddar cheese.

There was a beautiful red sunrise over Chicago which I tried to capture on my phone…

The views in the Admirals Club over the apron are amazing. My flight was departing from Gate K6 front and center.

Boarding began at 7:44AM and was relatively socially distanced.

Our beautiful B737-800 registration N926NN was delivered to American Airlines back in May 2013.

The Flight

This plane featured American Airlines’ newest Domestic First product – “Project Kodiak”. These seats are an upgrade from the original “Project Oasis” seats with slightly more padding and seat features. The cabin featured 16 seats in a 2-2 configuration with four rows.

Each seat had 37 inches of pitch with 21 inches of width. I actually found the padding on these seats to be more comfortable than the previous 737 Domestic First class seats.

Improvements to the original Oasis seats included a new seatback tablet holder and USB port.

I do miss the old seatback IFE screens.

There are 37 inches of pitch and I had more than enough room to stretch out my legs. There was also a small literature pocket.

In the shared center armrest was a large storage space.

The armrest itself folded up for better access to the space.

The 110V outlet under the armrest.

The seat recline button was in the center armrest as well. Unfortunately, the seats themselves barely reclined.

The tray table was located in the window side armrest.

A panel could be folded out to create a device stand.

The fully folded out tray table was large.

A nice addition to the Kodiak seats that is missing from Oasis seats is the small shared drink holder.

Upon boarding all passengers in both First and Economy were given a plastic bag containing a mini-bottle of water, Biscoff, and sanitizing wipe.

We pushed back five minutes early and had a very short taxi to the runway. There were quite a few international widebodies at Terminal 5, including an Air India 777-300ER, Korean Air 777-300ER, and JAL 787-9.

The take-off was smooth and we had great views of the Chicagoland suburbs.

I connected my tablet to the AA inflight Wi-Fi and browsed some of the movies and shows.

Service began with a round of drinks. I had a Bloody Mary and was served a double! A COVID-19 cutback was the ramekin of warmed mixed nuts and proper glassware.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, American Airlines has modified their inflight food offerings. For flights between 900 and 2,199 miles they offer a selection of snacks in addition to the open bar. Since this was a morning flight, the snacks were breakfast choices.

Breakfast was served from a basket. Options included a turkey croissant, yogurt and berries, or a fruit and cheese plate.

I went with the turkey croissant that was served with a small packet of mustard. The croissant was moist but the turkey itself was very dry.

My companion decided to go with the fruit and cheese plate. She said it was reasonable.

It was served with a small amount of mixed nuts and a chocolate.

The flight attendants were very personable and made multiple passes through the cabin offering drinks. I moved onto a G&T. Throughout the flight the flight attendants also were very strict with the mask requirements. The passenger in front of me fell asleep with his mask off and was awoken with a reminder to put it over his mouth and nose.

We passed over Colorado and had views of some beautiful snow capped mountains.

The lavatory up front was fairly well kept and had C.O Bigelow hand soap.

We had great views of the Salton Sea while approaching San Diego.

And some amazing views of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

As usual there were great views of downtown San Diego on the landing approach.

And some great harbor views with the US Navy in the background.

We had a very short taxi to the gate. Thanks for the ride!

As always we passed under a replica of Spirit of St. Louis, which Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic in 1927, on our way to the baggage claim area.

I must say I don’t hate the new “Kodiak” Domestic First class seats. They are comfortable, have an excellent amount of storage, and have multiple mounts for personal devices. In my opinion, these seats are much better than United’s newest generation of slimline Domestic First class seats.