I’ve been on dozens of ERJ175s in the last year and I always really enjoy the plane. Today I’ll be back on an American Airlines ERJ175 in economy class. I’ll be flying from DCA to CVG on the AA ERJ175. I just arrived at DCA via an American Airlines CRJ900 so it will be nice to compare the two competing aircraft back to back on AA. I arrived at DCA a few minutes late and I was a little worried as my connection was short, it ended up not being an issue so that’s good news. Missing a flight always sucks, especially to start out the work week.
I’m really hopeful that AA doesn’t have a dumb rule about carry on bags on the AA ERJ175 like they had on the CRJ900. I’m still really confused as to why that’s an AA policy anyway.
Bottom Line: At the end of the trip I was very pleased with the AA ERJ175 in Economy. It’s a good product for short haul flights. American Airlines economy service on these short flights isn’t anything special, but it’s adequate for a sub 90 minute flight.
DCA Arrival and Delay
I arrived at DCA delayed from my inbound AA CRJ900. DCA is a decent airport to make a connection at. It’s relativity compact and the architecture is pretty iconic.
After rushing to the gate, I walked up and thought I missed my flight. The door was closed and there were very few people in the gate. I looked outside and there was no plane. I quick conversation with the gate agent:
Me “I didn’t miss the flight did I?”
Her “nope you’re just fine”
Me looking at the time “ok that’s good, I guess we’re delayed?”
Her with an apologetic smile “it’s not showing delayed…”
Me “ok, so we’re delayed, no big deal, I’m just glad to make the flight!”
Anyway, I found a great seat by the window. DCA has these really comfortable chairs facing the empty space where the AA ERJ175 should be.
This is almost as good as a lounge, I’d genuinely rather sit here than some of the obscenely crowded lounges. After about 20 minutes, just around our scheduled departure time, our American ERJ175 arrived.
American Airlines ERJ175 Boarding
Very quickly it was time to board again. This looks like it will be an extremely lightly loaded plane over to Cincinnati. They ran through the boarding groups quickly as there were so few people in each group. I boarded with group 4.
Interesting this time no one said anything about my bag and it goes right into the overhead on the ERJ175 without issue.
American Airlines ERJ175 Economy Seats
I settled into my seat and a few announcements were made. Mostly sorry for the delay and they also asked us to not change seats without permission, due to weight and balance issues with the smaller plane. With this few passengers it could cause issues for the ERJ175.
Leg room on the American ERJ175 is pretty decent, not amazing, but I didn’t have any complaints.
No in seat entertainment on the AA ERJ175. There is Wifi offered, there should be a stream to your own device option too.
The ERJ175 has power in each row here in economy. There’s both USB and a universal AC port, I’m pretty lucky on this flight, no seat neighbor on the trip over to CVG.
The boarding door was closed and a few people asked to shuffle around, pretty much everyone who wants their own row can have it. We’re about 40 minutes late pushing back, not a huge deal, but not great.
American Airlines ERJ175 Economy Departure
Outside it’s raining here in DC. Not sure if that’s the reason we’re delayed or otherwise, they never really told us other than “The incoming flight is delayed.”
We pushed back about 40 minutes late, DCA isn’t a very large airport so we quickly taxied to the runway.
Not a great view taking off from DCA today. It’s very cloudy and I’m on the wrong side of the plane for the runway usage anyway. Flying in and out of DCA can get you some great views of the DC Mall, but not today.
Almost as soon as we were off the runway our AA ERJ175 passed into the first layer of clouds.
American Airlines ERJ175 Economy In Flight
In the cabin the ERJ175 is pretty quiet, there are not a lot of people traveling today. Even the first class section of the ERJ175 wasn’t full, just not enough people to upgrade. I don’t have AA status so I’m not eligible.
Outside we started to get a little sunshine. We had passed through the most dense layer of clouds.
American Airlines ERJ175 Economy Snack Service
The flight attendant soon came around and offered drinks and snacks. No cart needed for so few people, he just served a few people at a time. It only took 10 minutes to get through the whole ERJ175 economy cabin. I again just had water and some biscoff. I’m not a huge fan of pretzels so I’ll save those for a later snack.
I tried to use the stream to my device entertainment option, but it just didn’t work. It would just repeat the same Marriott advertisement endlessly. Oh well, podcast time.
American Airlines ERJ175 Bathroom
It was pretty smooth and the pilots turned off the seatbelt sign. I took the opportunity to go to the bathroom. It’s funny to me, some of the smaller planes have much better and larger lavitory facilites than larger planes. The AA ERJ175’s bathroom was a good size, not huge, but adequate. This was the rear bathroom, there’s another in the front of the ERJ175.
As you can see, this ERJ175 was very lightly loaded. Everyone who wanted their own row was able.
American Airlines ERJ175 Decent and Landing
About 30 minutes from landing the seatbelt sign was turned back on and it got a little rough out. Nothing crazy, just a little bumpy. The garbage from the snack service was collected.
As we descended into the CVG area we were back below the clouds. Looks like it will be another rainy day here in the Cincinnati/Covington area.
On the ground and heading to the gate. We’re about 25 minutes late in total, not bad considering the departure delay, but obviously on time would have been better.
American Airlines ERJ175 Economy Final Thoughts
The ERJ175 continues to be one of my favorite aircraft to ride on. Even in economy the seats are comfortable and AA has nice features like in seat power and wifi. Unfortunately the “stream to your own device” entertainment option didn’t seem to work, not sure why, but it’s a short flight, I’ll live. The ERJ175 is also great because AA apparently allows carry on bags into the plane, unlike the CRJ900. Still not sure if that’s official policy, but I’m glad to bring my bags with me onto the plane.
On these short flight AA offers a quick snack and drink service in economy, today it was very fast as there were so few people on the plane. The ERJ175 bathrooms are surprisingly good, for a small plane they are very serviceable. If this flight was on time it would have been a perfect flight, still a 25 minute delay in landing isn’t terrible. I’d gladly ride on the AA ERJ175 again, even in economy.