TL;DR

American is retiring their MD-80s, so by the end of 2019, there will be none flying in their fleet. Although this can change, I don’t expect it to. I had a chance to try them for a very short flight, between Houston and Dallas. These planes used to run this route almost exclusively when I moved to college at Rice University, but now there are only one or two daily flights on the MD80.

The Good: Well Padded Seat, comfortable headrest, and a large bathroom.

The Bad: No IFE of any sort. Slow Wifi

The Noteworthy: The seats feel old, but they have a nostalgic feel to them too.

 

For more reviews, follow this link.

 

Booking:

 

This flight was part of a larger mileage run I did from Houston, to Hong Kong, back to San Juan. The flight was cheaper than flying from Houston to LAX direct. Plus, it would give me a chance to visit a few lounges in DFW I had been looking to try.

 

Check-In

Check in at IAH is usually quick, there aren’t that many hassles and agents are efficient. I have noticed that agents in the morning are friendlier than the ones working the last flights. Within 5 minutes I had my boarding pass. IAH’s Terminal A has two concourses. One of them has CLEAR and the other TSA Pre-Check. CLEAR is on the American side, and Pre-Check on the Delta side. This is weird, as DELTA offers CLEAR to their top elites, so I think they should shift the two, but that’s just me. Either way, both concourses are connected.

American Eagle CRJ-900

American Eagle CRJ-900

Fast Facts:

Airline: American

Cabin: Business Class

Aircraft: MD80

Seat: 3F

Route: Houston IAH to Dallas DFW

On Time: Yes

 

Boarding

I arrived a bit late, so I could not review the recently opened IAH Admiral’s Club. I did visit it later on in the year, so a full review will come by soon. Boarding was a bit messy, as every first class passenger seemed to want to board at once. I had picked 3F, because it was the last window seat available, and the bulkhead on the MD80 isn’t too bad.

 

Seat and Service

As soon as I sat down, I realized how much more comfortable these seats are than the more modern business class seats. It was easily 25 years old, but it was well padded. There was a blanket on the seat and the controls were controlled by a small lever, instead of a button.

Given the duration of the flight, the FA came by and offered water or juice before takeoff, and asked us what we wanted to drink after takeoff. I ordered more water, and decided to relax for the rest of the flight.

American MD80 Business Class Seat

American MD80 Business Class Seat

Flight Photos:

I was able to take a few good photos as we took off and before we landed. I thought I would share some with you all. My favorite thing about being a #avgeek is taking photos in the air, of airports and of airplanes.

Landing Thoughts:

These old Mad Dog 80s are more comfortable than most modern 737s. The wifi speed is terrible, but you can use it to stream video to your device. The seats are a gem, and their degree of padding cannot be seen on domestic fleets anymore. I am not too sad to see these planes be retired, but I wouldn’t mind them being kept around for short hops like this. Overall, would recommend the MD80 for a sub-one hour flight.

 

Here is a list of all my flight reviews: The Millennial Traveler Flight Reviews

Here is a list of all my lounge reviews: The Millennial Traveler Lounge Reviews

 

If you want to stay up to date with the latest airline news follow me on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn!

Also follow Travel Update and Boarding Area on Twitter!