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American 757 Economy: Renovated Interiors...?

American 757 Economy: Renovated Interiors...?

Old Jul 15th, 2014, 07:40 AM
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American 757 Economy: Renovated Interiors...?

My husband and I will soon be off on a much-needed vacation to Cape Cod. That's the good news.

We're going to celebrate my 50th birthday. That's the great news (a milestone's a milestone-- always a good excuse to drink!).

We will be flying to Boston out of LAX. Not so good news. Our preferred airport is LGB, but JetBlue no longer offers an early-morning nonstop, and I LOATHE flying red-eye (I associate it with family tragedies). And we got a rock-bottom price on the LAX-BOS airfare, so what the hell. LAX, here we come.

Nonstop on a 757, in Economy. Worse news.

On American.

And therein lie the questions.

Apparently American is spending some money it's accrued from its exorbitant miscellaneous fees on new interiors on the 757s. I'm hoping some experts can give me reviews of the experience. Are the seats more comfortable? Do they help increase leg room? The for-a-fee WiFi: Does it work? How about the streaming entertainment options? Are they done refurbishing all the skinny birds...?

By the way: If anyone can give me an idea of the TSA wait time in Terminal 4 at LAX (we're grumpy early in the morning, and we will be hitting the line at 5:30, so little chance of getting coffee beforehand), that would be wonderful.

And hell, while I'm asking-- any tips on the "best" LAX parking with frequent shuttles to and from the airport at 5 in the morning...?

Thanks for any insight you can offer, friends!
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Old Jul 15th, 2014, 08:56 PM
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I would park at Lot C at LAX. Go through the gate and at the first intersection turn right. Go down until you see the DEPOT on the right and look for a spot there. If not then you should find a spot a bit further down but still an easy walk to the depot. The buses to the terminal are frequent enough. Getting back to the lot from the terminal to the parking lot requires some patience. But I usually would arrive at T7 and sometimes the buses were full and didn't stop there. That is my SOP. Good enough that I haven't tried other options (other than SuperShuttle).
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Old Jul 16th, 2014, 11:32 AM
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I'd start the party early and spend the night before at an LAX hotel. The Marriott, for example, is nothing special but quite adequate. They may even offer a deal on parking. At least you'd have a chance to get some crack o' dawn coffee before facing TSA!
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Old Jul 16th, 2014, 06:53 PM
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No way to know if you'll get a refurbished 757 or not. Not that it matters very much - you can look forward to 5 hours of pretty sucky flight either way. If you have the new seating, legroom is maybe 1/2 - 1" more (the seats are thinner) but no wider. The wifi works fine. Buy a Kindle or iPad with the money you saved on airfare if you want IFE.

We used to call them SlAAveShips.

Try for a 738 on the way back - slightly more comfortable, and the flight's almost an hour longer due to headwinds.
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Old Jul 25th, 2014, 06:40 AM
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When did JetBlue stop offering that 7:30 AM flight? You are going through all of this because of the timing?
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Old Jul 25th, 2014, 07:04 AM
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JetBlue hasn't offered a morning flight LGB-BOS in years, which I'm STILL irked by. Since we're renting a car and staying in B&Bs, I want us to get on the plane, get off the plane, collect our bags, collect our car and drive to our first B&B and check in.

Note that at no point will we be leaving bags locked in the trunk. I'm a bit paranoid about theft out of rentals (and let's face it, in a tourist zone a less-than-one-year-old clean, neutral-color car without dealer license plate frames or any personalization is probably a rental). This plan eliminates any stops for lunch, waiting to check in, etc.

LAX is a hassle, but we can handle it. As far as the equipment, the aa.com website now shows that we'll have WiFi on both 757s. We'll just fire up my MacBook Pro with retina display and enjoy (we're now a 100% Mac household!). Or sleep. As long as we're going on vacation, we'll be happy. We survived HNL-LAX on a 757; we can get through anything!
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