The Details
- Flight: AA4716
- Aircraft: E175
- Class: Domestic First
- Seat: 1F
- Route: Indianapolis (IND)-Boston (BOS)
- Distance: 875 miles
- Duration: 1hr 46min
- Departure: 9:12AM
- Arrival: 11:48AM
The Preflight
On this trip, I was flying to London to visit my sister for the weekend. I was able to book Lufthansa First-class on board their A380 from Boston with a connection in Munich with a separate ticket on American Airlines from Indianapolis to Boston. My complete routing would be from Indianapolis to Boston to Munich and finally London Heathrow.
For an early Saturday morning, IND was packed with families on summer vacation. The shuttle from the parking lot to the terminal which usually takes 10 minutes took over 30 minutes. As I was traveling with just carry-ons, I was able to skip the large lines at the American check-in area. TSA PreCheck took another 10 minutes as there was a larger than-normal line.
The E175 flying us to Boston, registration N418YX, was delivered to Republic Airways in 2013. Republic Airways, one of the regional airlines with a hub in Indianapolis, operates a total of 91 E175s on behalf of American Airlines as part of American Eagle.
Departure was at 9:00 AM exactly and boarding began on time at 8:35 AM from gate B6.
The Flight
American Airlines has a total of 12 Domestic First class seats on board their E175s arranged in a 1-2 configuration. I was seated in 1F.
Each seat was 20″ wide with a generous amount of legroom in the bulkhead. In between the two seats were an 110V outlet and USB port.
There was a small cocktail tray in the center armrest while the tray table was stored in the right hand armrest.
We pushed back on time at 9AM and took off twelve minutes later from runway 23R. Once at cruising altitude, the flight attendant serving the first class cabin came through taking drink orders. I went with my usual Bloody Mary. Unfortunately, on flights less than 900 miles, American Airlines no longer offer a meal. Instead, there is a “premium” snack basket offered. Snack options included plain Ruffles, Haribo gummy bears, chocolate chip cookies, nuts, and popcorn.
The rest of the flight was uneventful with the flight attendant making two more passes for drink refills.
We landed in a cloudy rainy Boston at 10:58 AM twenty minutes ahead of schedule. Eight minutes later we pulled into gate B4 for an early arrival.
This was a simple no frills standard Domestic First class flight with American Airlines. There is really no differentiator between American and Delta who both fly this route non-stop on E175s and I would pick between the two soley on price.