Montreal – Philadelphia – New Orleans flight reviews with American Airlines

Here’s my review of our flights to New Orleans on American Airlines, thanks to using Avios miles.

The flight combination we’d chosen was ideal:

Of course, we’d love to see a direct flight between Montreal and New Orleans… our readers in Toronto get that luxury with Air Canada! 😉

Montreal – Philadelphia on American Airlines

We don’t need to introduce Montreal Airport’s corridors again: most of our reports start out of YUL, so the airport is pretty well documented on Milesopedia!

The transborder terminal has a single lounge, the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, which we’ve described how to access in this article… and photographed in this other article.

Having arrived right on time for our bag check-in, and after a long wait at US customs (roll on Nexus for us, very soon!), we headed straight to our boarding gate.

In the end, heavy rain in the Northeastern US caused serious delays. New York airports, for instance, stopped accepting incoming flights for several hours… so Philadelphia was a good choice! Our flight was only about twenty minutes late! Phew!

Just enough time for us to keep soaking up our upcoming destination thanks to the digital version of the Ulysses Guide to New Orleans (kindly provided to us by Ulysses Travel Guides).

A new print edition was about to come out, and we had an early look at the 2019 version!

Time for us to board. Alexandra, a seasoned traveller at the ripe age of 3, knows the way.

One of my favourite views, boarding from the aircraft door. You can see the weather was also gloomy in Montreal that day.

Since this is a short-haul flight, the aircraft is a single-aisle with seats arranged 2-1. Alexandra, sadly a bit too spoiled and used to seats at the front of the plane, tries to sneak into the first seat she sees. Nope: we’ll be in row 13 (superstitious folks, look away!)

The leather seats are brand new, with very good headrests: a point in American Airlines’ favour.

If you’re travelling solo, go for the left side of the aircraft. Since there were two adults, one child over 2, and one child under 2 among us, we had a full row of 3 seats to ourselves.

Plenty of legroom for both Alexandra and me.

A little anecdote: during online check-in, American Airlines had automatically assigned seats, and our 3-year-old daughter ended up alone elsewhere in the cabin…! Not much artificial intelligence on American’s side 😀 The issue was resolved at the gate.

A quick glance to our right at a Delta Airlines aircraft.

And to our left, a mix of American / United / Air Canada, all headed to the US. And a small view of the Airport Marriott hotel.

A view of the cabin: the aircraft was full that day heading to Philadelphia.

After an early wake-up, Audrey and Arthur fall asleep…

… while Dad and Alexandra play / work on their respective devices

If you’re looking for headphones for your child, I highly recommend the ones sold on Amazon. The one Alexandra is wearing was picked by her (she looooooves red). Others also perform well with Bluetooth (I probably should have gone for that version, actually…)

As for me, it’s the headphones that need no introduction: Bose QC35, a gem for air travellers thanks to their noise-cancelling feature (kids crying… it’s exhausting :twisted:)

We take off quickly, crossing the St. Lawrence via the southwest of the airport.

The flight will be very quick, just over an hour. Just enough time for a coffee and a glass of orange juice. No individual screens available, and no Wi-Fi.

The connection in Philadelphia

Most flights from Canada arrive at PHL’s transborder terminal: the F gates.

To get to the airport’s other terminals, you’ll need to take a bus/shuttle, which lets you skip going back through security. The signage couldn’t be clearer.

Careful though: 2 buses will take you to different gates. Again, this is clearly signposted and staff direct passengers. Our flight will depart from the B gates.

The transfer takes less than 5 minutes. To my great disappointment, given how short our connection was, we won’t be able to visit the American Express Centurion Lounge, whose photo report is still missing from Milesopedia after the ones already covered for New York La Guardia, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Miami, and Hong Kong.

In Philadelphia, it’s at the C gates.

So we make our way calmly along the moving walkways to our gate.

A little thought for our four-legged friends (and especially Matthieu’s dog Milo): Philadelphia Airport thought of them too!

A quick look at the tarmac and control tower along the way.

Finally, we reach our gate… 1 minute before boarding begins. And here, a big disappointment and a real gripe with American Airlines.

Unlike our flight out of Montreal (where we were in boarding zone 2), families with children departing from the US clearly don’t get priority boarding. Worse, they’re placed at the very end of boarding (Zone 8).

American Airlines staff at the gate showed no mercy for our youngest, who was starting to get particularly restless. They applied “the rule by the book,” as they told me when I pushed back.

In short, we boarded last. A bad mark for this leg with American Airlines.

Philadelphia – New Orleans on American Airlines

All 4 of us sat in a row of 3 seats. Here too, the seats are brand new. No screen, but an entertainment system accessible from your smartphone / tablet / laptop.

A view of the cabin, which will be about ¾ full.

Legroom is more than sufficient. And you can see a power outlet is available to charge your devices.

Instead of the usual screen, a spot to stash 2-3 magazines, not much more than that (my 13-inch laptop won’t fit in there).

The flight will go smoothly all the way to New Orleans. Well… until I discover on my phone the various Marriott/SPG announcements made that day! So I spent the 3-hour flight writing my article about those announcements, and was happy to have good-quality Wi-Fi!

Conclusion

Despite our little run-in with American Airlines on our second flight, I have nothing bad to say about these two flights! British Airways Executive Club Avios miles let us fly American Airlines at low cost and get to our destination quickly!