As the final leg of our trip home from France, we’ll be on an American Airlines A321 between Toronto and Charlotte. Originally I wasn’t going to do a flight review of this AA A321, but that’s because this flight was scheduled to be another AA A319. I didn’t think that 2 American A319 Economy reviews within a few weeks would helpful and almost too boring, even for me.
As a last minute change to the A321, we didn’t really notice until we were at the gate. I checked in the AA app and saw that our plane had changed and so I selected some new seats for us near the back of the plane. As the A321 is much larger than the A319, the seat map was mostly empty and I was able to select seats with no one in the middle between us.
Bottom Line: I weirdly enjoyed this flight. Sure, an AA A321 is not an exciting plane, but everything here was perfectly pleasant. The flight was on-time, clean, comfortable, and quiet. I really don’t want or expect much more on a quick sub 2 hour flight.
Anyway, let’s get into the AA A321 Economy Review.
Flight Date: June 2022
American Airlines A321 Boarding Process
American Airlines boards by zone, we’re pretty much nobodies on AA so we’re in Zone 5 today. Economy flyers with an AAdvantage account are in zone 5 so it’s pretty popular boarding zone.
Onboard the American A321 in economy section I was pleasantly surprised. The interior in this plane is in much better shape and seems newer than the A319 that took us here. It’s also mostly empty, I think if this was an A319 flight that plane would have been pretty empty too.
American Airlines A321 Economy Seat Review
We found our economy seats in the rear section of the American A321.
This is another area that I was pleasantly surprised, the leg room on the American A321 is pretty good. It’s not breathtaking, but in comparison with some other short haul narrow bodies, it’s very welcome.
The American doesn’t offer induvial entertainment screens on the A321. The seats do have the ability to hold a tablet but not a phone. There are lots of power points on the A321. Here on the seat back is a US power point.
Down below were universal AC power points. A nice little feature is that there are 3 of them in this row, many airlines just include 2 per row of 3 people. Not that we need it today, there’s only Val and I in this row. Nice empty middle seat.
Because of the very light load today, there’s lots of overhead space on the A321. I would estimate that when the boarding door closed, the economy cabin was less than 30% full. One of the flight attendants came around and told me I could move to an empty row if I wanted. That way I wouldn’t have to sit in the same row as anyone, I joked that I don’t mind sitting next to my wife. We all had a good laugh.
American Airlines A321 Toronto Departure
When the door closed the pilots added their welcome and told us that the flight would be just under 2 hours from Toronto to Charlotte. The flight attendants gave their safety announcement and we pushed back.
We took off from YYZ right on time, maybe even a few minutes early.
As we climbed, we got a great view of downtown Toronto. Toronto is a city I’ve not visited enough and need to make an effort to get back here.
American Airlines A321 Economy Inflight Snack Service
Very soon after takeoff the flight attendants came around and offered their drink and snack service. Because there are so few people on the plane, they didn’t bother with the drink carts. The flight attendants just came around to the few people on board and took drink orders and returned with beverages and snacks.
I ordered a Dr. Pepper, again flying an Airline based in Texas has some advantages. The snack was pretzels, this flight I got ORD branded ones. AA has their hubs on the pretzel bags, a cute little touch.
You can really see how few people are on this flight to Charlotte. I’m wondering if the flight up to Toronto was very full and needed the capacity.
Val put her iPad into the tablet holder and to read her book. It works great for tablets, but not so much for phones, it’s too big.
Outside it was a great day for flying. There’s something relaxing about a smooth flight with only a few people. There just seems to be no rush and I’m ok with it.
American Airlines A321 Bathroom Review
This is the rear lavatory on the American A321. There’s nothing fancy about a generic toilet but it was clean and the space was adequate.
Nothing amazing to report from here.
American Airlines A321 Charlotte Arrival
As we descended into the Charlotte area the weather outside was beautiful. We got a great view of the lakes in the Charlotte area. The flight attendants came around and collected the remains of the snack service.
A few minutes later we’re on the ground here at CLT. Nice smooth flight, we’re a few minutes early, a very welcome event.
Waiting on the ground were a few unexpected visitors. An AF777, DL757, and a QA777. After looking up the tail numbers these are all diversions that were scheduled to land in Atlanta. Due to weather they had been diverted here to Charlotte. Hopefully they can get on their way soon. The weather here in CLT is perfect.
American Airlines A321 Economy Review Final Thoughts
I weirdly enjoyed this flight. Sure, an AA A321 is not an exciting plane, but everything here was perfectly pleasant. The flight was on-time, clean, comfortable, and quiet. I really don’t want or expect much more on a quick sub 2 hour flight.
The American A321 is a better ride than the A319. The seats are more comfortable and have more features. Just the simple addition of USB power ports and tablet holders is very welcome. The interior in economy class is also just in better shape than on the AA A319.
The snack service was simple, nothing unexpected. I do like Dr. Pepper and AA is one of the few airlines that stocks it that so good enough for me. The best thing is that this flight was mostly empty, an empty plane is always great.
At the end of the day I enjoyed this flight and would gladly take AA again.
Follow This Trip
- Flight Review: American Airlines A319 Economy. CLT-YYZ Trip Report
- Flight Review: Air France A350-900 Business Class. YYZ-CDG Trip Report
- Hotel Review: OKKO Hotel Nice Aéroport
- Flight Review: EasyJet A320 Economy. What is it like to ride with EasyJet?
- Hotel Review: Teku Boutique Hotel-Bari Sardo Sardinia Italy
- Hotel Review: CasAunoe Boutique Hotel-Olbia Sardinia Italy
- Hotel Review: Best Western Hôtel Lakmi Nice France
- Lounge Review: The Infinity Lounge Nice Airport Terminal 2
- Flight Review: KLM 787-10 Business Class. AMS-YYZ Trip Report.
- Flight Review: American Airlines A321 Economy Class YYZ-CLT