For the first time in forever, the travel gods were not in my favor.

I have been contemplating a trip to CDMX for at least 2 years since a good friend from business school lives there. Combine that with a work trip to Philly, the beginning of Thanksgiving week, and the ability to work remotely before Thanksgiving, and it seemed like the perfect situation! Wrong.

From the moment I checked in to the time we lifted off 13 hours later than planned, this was not a great reflection of PHL airport or American Airlines.

I’d also like to throw in that from the time I first saw this flight to the day I finally booked, all the economy seats sold out and I had to choose between buying another train ticket back to DC and taking a connecting flight or choosing business class. Not a fun place to be, but the price difference wasn’t much (as you’ll see below biz class product not so different from premium economy) and I was able to use miles for a free flight back. In hindsight, should I have chosen to fly from DC? Probs haha.

Check In

No wait, no problem. I asked if the Flagship lounge had any updates on opening, and didn’t get a yes or no. Instead she told me I would be lucky to get access to any Admirals Club. Mind you, I have Oneworld Sapphire status through British Airways, a shoe in for lounge access. She said, “you’ll just have to try your luck when you get there.” I laughed inside, deep down to my cold-hearted, entitled airline status soul.

Security

Don’t normally review security but there was no line and Precheck didn’t have me remove my high heeled boots. That’s a first!

Terminal and Admirals Club (take 1)

A east. YIKES. it felt like a run down regional airport. Easy enough to access other terminals, which I highly recommend.

The lounge is located between A4 and A6. There is a strange wooden door that looks like it leads to the tarmac. A novelty if you want to feel like you’re taking a secret passageway.

To nobody’s surprise but probably the check in lady, I was admitted to the lounge no problem. When I walked in, I thought I was going through one room before arriving at a larger area of the lounge. NOPE! This was hardly larger than my 2 bedroom apartment. Seats were very full. Only one bathroom. A closed off bar area. Limited snacks. No afternoon guac. The one saving grace was that it was pretty clean. I received 2 premium drink tickets and chose a seat with a half sliding table, plugs, and side table. One tv playing CNN on a far wall. Packed in like sardines.

Flight (take 1)

I went to board the flight and there were no issues with the process. Flying business class (no first) for this particular route, and unfortunately the business class seats are like a first class domestic seat. Large chairs, more than normal recline, no footrest, and no 180 degree bliss. Only 8 seats on board this plane. I was hoping for a bit more. How does an international flight only have domestic style business class? How come my similar length LA flight had 3 classes, all with lie flat seats?

The flight attendant gave me the “LAST” bottle of sparkling wine on board. They didn’t seem to restock the plane before we boarded.

After speaking with the guy in the seat next to me who has an amazing career in event security (what’s Kanye really like?), we noticed that too much time had passed. Flight attendants were in a tizzy. Something was up. We learned of a mechanical error. I was told they found one last bottle of champs. It never arrived.

The issue was then “resolved.” We stayed put. About an hour later, they said there was a “weight issue” with the plane and 20 passengers had to be left behind. WHAT?!

The guy next to me saw straight through this. The second we didn’t take off in time he said we would deplane, they’d probably have to cancel because the crew would leave from overtime, and they wouldn’t be able to find a new crew.

He was right about everything except the cancellation.

The crew outside provided us with Doritos, water, and other chips that flew from the shelves faster than you could say Mezcal. They switched the plane. Some dry sandwiches arrived. I passed. We lost the pilots due to them being illegal after enough time. The guy next to me was like there is no way a new crew will come at this hour (10:00pm). Either they had a glass of wine at dinner or they didn’t feel like it. So right.

AA kept delaying the flight each half hour until suddenly, it bumped from 1:00am to 8:00am. They tried desperately to avoid this because it meant hotel vouchers. I was told that because my flight originated here, even though I have a one way ticket and I’m not from Philly, I may not be promised a room. Seriously?

I walked to the airport Marriott to try my luck. See you in the morning, fools.

Hotel

I made the short walk to the hotel and checked the app for rooms. Yay availability! Except “tonight” on the app meant the next night since it was already past midnight. No luck. No rooms. No help even with my status. I walked over to charge my phone which was now on 1% battery and quietly wept. I cancelled my flight back from MEX and contemplated taking the L for the whole trip.

Around that time the SECURITY GUARD brought me a list of nearby hotels and said he did research on which ones still had availability. Bless him. I hailed an Uber and with now 4% battery, I called ahead to make a res. Ran into others trying their luck at the airport Marriott who had a cancelled flight to Bangalore, and I suggested they come with me to a spot that had confirmed rooms. When things get rough, misery always brings people together for better or worse.

We ended up at the Renaissance airport hotel. Front desk guy felt bad and I got upgraded to a suite, which felt silly because it was nearing 1 am and what good is a suite for 5 hours? Still, it was a comfortable nap and the bed more than made up for the slightly dated decor. He also offered me a drink on him at the bar. I passed. A 4.5 hour nap ending in a 5:45am alarm is not conducive to hotel bar activities. Appreciated the thought though!

Managed to sleep for real and still wake up with my alarm which is always a rarity. Usually too little sleep hypes me up too much to rest.

Lounge (take two!)

Upon check in at the Admirals Club, I saw someone on my flight trying to get in. He had been in the lounge the night before as a guest, but his dad wasn’t there this morning. I invited him to be my guest, especially after hearing he didn’t sleep the night before. He also got my premium drink tickets. I think he needed it more than me.

Check in lady tried to deny me until I showed my British Airways credentials. She mentioned my ticket was booked under my sad AAdvantage program, hence all the issues. I guess it all makes sense now! She rewired everything so my boarding pass switched to BA. Access and status finally unlocked… and mental reminder to check my FF account tagged to bookings BEFORE I fly.

Flight (take two!)

When we arrived at the gate and found our other new friends from the Doritos station the night before, they didn’t look anywhere close to boarding. Turns out… no crew showed up again! OMG. The gate people were on phones and didn’t look worried, so I tried my best to be optimistic.

When a pilot and flight attendant rolled up to the gate, they got a round of applause. We finally boarded, and took off 13 hours after our planned departure.

This plane seems newer but still not great. Set up is the same… 8 sad biz class seats and economy.

The flight attendants are really pleasant, and quickly acknowledged our pain with drinks and relatable sarcasm. Loved it.

My seat mate and I were disappointed we no longer had a steak meal, and for the first time in 14 hours I was the one who guessed correctly that our meal would be eggs and potatoes. Ding ding! Add some sausage too. And a Bloody Mary. I hate eggs on a plane but this was surprisingly flavorful!

Somehow, this flight doesn’t include seatback entertainment. How is it my flights to Charlotte and Dallas have this but international flights to/from Philly don’t? Why is it always Philly? Thinking back to an equally awful AMS to PHL route. WHY?!

Gogoinflight WiFi works well which is how I’m writing this now. Without using a flight pass, the basic connection gets you enough to know what’s happening on aa.com.

Bathrooms are clean, and temperature is comfortable.

At this point, we all just want to get there! We were so excited when this plane pushed back and took off. For once, I didn’t roll my eyes at airplane clappers… but I will never admit if I clapped along with them.

Bottom Line

The crew is trying their best. They all did their jobs. My main complaint is with the Airline in general– how did it take so long to identify fuel pump issues? Why didn’t this happen sooner so people didn’t have to sleep 4 hours in airport hotels or the airport itself? Couldn’t you have done more to help us other than delay the flight by 30 minutes at a time and then leaving us on our own? Why is this plane so sad for an international flight to a major city?

Like I said, misery brings people together and I met some pretty cool people last night and this morning. Not cool enough to leave me content with AA. It will take some serious sparkle to win back my regular, high praise.