The Details

• Flight: AA993
• Aircraft: A319
• Class: Domestic First
• Seat: 2F
• Route: Charlotte Douglas (CLT)-Indianapolis (IND)
• Distance: 447miles
• Duration: 1hr 4min
• Departure: 7:17AM
• Arrival: 8:21AM

The Preflight

After arriving in Charlotte aboard the redeye service from San Diego to Charlotte, I had an hour before the flight was scheduled to depart at 7:10AM. As I walked from C16 to C8, I had a gorgeous sunrise view of downtown Charlotte.

The A319 taking me to Indianapolis, registration N816AW, was delivered to America West on Halloween Day 2000. She flew for American West until the merger with US Airways in 2006. In April 2015, she was transferred to American Airlines after the US Airways and American merger.

Boarding started at 6:39AM.

The Flight

American Airlines only has a total of eight domestic first-class seats onboard their A319s arranged in a 2-2 configuration. There were also 120 economy seats arranged in a 3-3 configuration behind the first-class divider. This A319 had been retrofitted with American’s Oasis style domestic first seat. The Collins Aerospace MiQ seat offered 38 inches of pitch and was 21 inches wide.

Unlike the newer Kodiak retrofit seats, the “Oasis” MiQ seats lacked a seatback device holder. Instead, there was a literature pocket and a small pouch. The legroom was restricted due to a metal bar.

The large bi-fold tray table was stowed in the armrest. Unlike the newer “Kodiak” seats, these tray tables also lacked a tablet holder.

There was a small tabletop space for drinks on the center armrest. Below was the seat recline button. A small cocktail tray could be pulled out from the center armrest as well.

Underneath the armrest was a storage space which also had a 110V outlet and USB port.

Upon boarding, the first-class flight attendant offered a pre-departure beverage. I went with some orange juice.

Boarding finished at 6:59AM and we pushed back five minutes early at 7:05AM. The taxi to the runway took 12 minutes and soon we were off toward Indy. On the climb out, I had a foggy morning view of downtown Charlotte.

Service began immediately when we reached cruising altitude. The flight attendant came by to offer a round of drinks.

Unfortunately, American’s short-haul mainline food service is still severely lacking. Breakfast consisted of a fig bar served from a cardboard box.

Thirty minutes later we began our initial descent into the Indianapolis area.

There was an average lavatory at the front of the first-class cabin.

Our approach into IND brought us directly over downtown Indy and we had a bird’s eye view of Salesforce Tower.

We looped north over Indy and had great views of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well.

We landed at 8:21AM and had a 12-minute taxi to gate B7. Deplaning was quick and I was soon on my way home. Thanks for the flight!

This was an unremarkable quick domestic first-class flight with American Airlines. I appreciated the beverage service and seat. Nothing much to complain about on a short one-hour flight.