My wife and I let my 6 six year daughter pick one of our summer destinations. She asked for either Venice (she wanted to see what a city with boats instead of cars was like) or Cairo (to see the pyramids). Neither is my ideal summer destination! But I decided Cairo in July just wasn’t going to happen. And Venice could be manageable:

• Arrive on a Monday and stay midweek, avoiding peak weekend hordes of tourists
  
• And do it at least after peak of peak dates had passed (once the tourist tax on day visitors expired for the season)

I thought the easiest way for our family to make the trip from Austin would be the new American Airlines Dallas – Venice flight.

The flight was initially announced as operated by a Boeing 787-8. I was surprised to see it change to a 777-200. Our flight had over 100 seats open in coach, so at least for that day I’m not sure that change was worthwhile!

There were business class awards available from 55,000 miles apiece. However I picked the specific Austin – Dallas segment I wanted, and paid 61,000 miles for each seat. Transatlantic redemptions have gotten much easier this year.

The infant ticket was $267 U.S. to Venice in business class [$238.00 fare + Taxes & carrier-imposed fees]. Oddly last month we flat roundtrip in first class on American, and the lap infant cost me just $132 ($58 plus taxes and carrier-imposed fees, and I suspected this was a misprice, infant fares are complicated).

The journey itself was fairly uneventful. Our flight from Austin to Dallas departed on-time. There isn’t much to report about that 44 minute hop, except that predeparture beverages were offered. On arrival everyone was asked to remain at their seats so a passenger with a medical issue could disembark first. This passenger was traveling with family and left on their power – they walked off the aircraft, with no medical personnel meeting the aircraft – so it wasn’t serious.

For our Dallas – Fort Worth layover I redeemed 20,000 miles for a Flagship First Dining pass and we had a nice meal there. Our boarding passes would have allowed Flagship lounge access (as business class passengers) but not Dining. That’s a great value considering the $270 bottle of champagne they pour, plus the meal was excellent.

Our flight was delayed about 15 minutes.

Onboard we had the old Safran ‘Concept D’ business class seats. These were designed before US Airways took over American and they had a couple of flaws.

• The dividers between middle seats would break (this was so bad that American ordered its next business seats without dividers) so they’re generally locked open.

• The seats ‘rock’. Each set of forward/rear-feacing seats are connected to each other and if one person moves, you feel it in the connected seat.

These seats also lack any meaningful storage space to speak of.

There’s generally good entertainment, though I tend not to use it. American’s wifi on these aircraft is poor, from Panasonic, and I didn’t use it on this flight. (In fairness, the service is better than it used to be, but doesn’t come close to ViaSat or Starlink.)

The Caspar bedding – pillow and blanket – is good, but these seats are old and would really benefit from a mattress pad like American is now providing for Asia, Middle East and India routes. I have no complaints about Bang & Olufsen headphones (though I didn’t use them on this flight, as I tend to either sleep or watch my own content).

New Brandon Blackwood amenity kits were at each seat. The contents though were no different and really meager.

Here’s the menu for the flight which was at each seat on arrival.

Catering on this flight was o.k. I had pre-ordered beef but was given the fish. They had run out of beef by that point. I normally like the fish but this was not good.

The midflight snack setup is decent, though not anything that especially appealed to me though I did not each more than a couple of bites of dinner. Fortunately I’d eaten in the lounge beforehand!

At breakfast I asked for an espresso. The flight attendant replied “we don’t have that.” I asked again, “are you sure you don’t have the machine onboard?” And she said “I don’t usually work business class,” checked and told me I could have one. Breakfast itself was inedible.

Crew on this flight were a bit odd. One was very stern, another was cheerful but somewhat hapless. It wasn’t a bad flight, I’d say, just pretty average for American Airlines.

Arrival into Venice was easy, and no lines for immigration. With small children I can’t use the kiosks but there was no wait for an agent and we were on our way. Bags came out in a reasonable amount of time and we were off.

Pilots kept the seatbelt sign on through most of the flight, though there was very little turbulence. I certainly agree with staying belted whenever at my seat – there’s little reason not to, so worth the protection in the event of a significant surprise turbulence event. But it was a bit inconvenient on this flight.

My one year old son did get a little bit fussy a couple of times during the night. My immediate reaction is to get him out of the cabin if that happens so he doesn’t disturb anyone. He’ll be totally quiet if we walk the aisles. There’s also the snack bar by the galley. And we can even spend time in the lavatory if we need to!

One of the flight attendants would have nothing of it since she was quite stern about remaining belted compared to any crewmember I’ve ever experienced. To be clear, those are the rules but still unusual. She snapped at several passengers getting up to the lavatory throughout the flight. Fortunately I could keep my son very calm and quiet even at the seat, but I was stressed about that.

Overall value across the Atlantic was fantastic. The seats are mostly fine, though the new suites are better. Food was below average for American, and service was pretty ordinary, but a good way to cross the Pond. Getting any of American’s other seats would have been better, food is usually better, and many crews are too. So I don’t hesitate to fly them, I just feel like they can do better than they did here – but I did get my points worth as it were.