American Airlines 737-800 economy review: Better than taking the bus I guess

At first glance, American Airlines 737-800 economy doesn’t seem that bad.

The seats look pretty good, the streaming in-flight entertainment works flawlessly, and more often than not, they’ll give you a full can of your beverage of choice (without even having to ask for it).

The problem is that once you start paying attention, you’ll realize that there are very few American Airlines employees who actually give a sh*t. Especially about flying on a 737-800. It’s weird.

Flight Number:	AA2640
Route:	Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (DFW) – West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)
Aircraft:	Boeing 737-800
Registration:	N922NN
Flight Duration	2 hours 16 minutes
Seat:	10A (Economy)

American Airlines 737-800 side view illustration by NorebboStock.com

American Airlines 737-800 economy from Dallas-Fort Worth to West Palm Beach

I arrived into Dallas-Fort Worth on a flight from San Diego with about two hours to spare before this flight to PBI. That’s about an hour and a half too much IMHO. I mean, hanging out in a place where the majority of patrons are down in the dumps American Airlines economy class passengers isn’t exactly my idea of fun.

Scott walking through the DFW airport on his way to catch a flight — That moment when you realize that you forgot how big ‘n gnarly DFW really is.

Walking through the C concourse DFW airport — Realizing that some of it (especially the C concourse) is stuck in the 1980s had slipped my mind as well.

Scott standing in front of a DFW sign at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport — Fear not! Every now and then you’ll run into something featuring modern colors and typography. I was far more amused by this than my blank expression would lead you to believe.

Even the windows here in Concourse C are tinted in a way that’ll make everything you’re seeing look like an old photograph from the 1980s. That’s the 737-800 that will be taking me to West Palm Beach by the way.

Gate C22 dallas-Fort Worth airport — This flight will be departing out of gate C22. Eventually. Not now.

The boarding process

Boarding was called 9 minutes late. But I guess that’s not surprising considering how low energy the gate agents seemed to be.

American Airlines Dallas to West Palm Beach economy class boarding pass — Soon, baby, soon. Not that I’m in a rush to fly American Airlines 737-800 economy or anything.

By the way, be prepared to wait if your boarding group is 4 or higher. There are 9 boarding groups total, and it takes a while to get through them all.

Passengers waiting to board flight at gate C22 DFW — *“The f*ck is taking so long?”* (What I assume the woman standing in front of me is thinking)

Gate C22 jet bridge DFW — I’ve walked down some interesting jet bridges in my time, but this is by far one of the weirdest. And sketchiest.

Scott walking down C22 jet bridge DFW — Here I am thinking about what kinds of horrific things might be happening on the other side of that partition. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that they tried really hard to prevent us from seeing what was going on over there. What are they not telling us?

American Airlines 737-800 forward boarding door — The bicycle helmet is genius actually. Flying into south Florida this time a year can be quite turbulent!

Walking through the first class cabin on the way back to economy — The first class cabin. Look at how they tuck in their extremities to avoid making contact with economy class filth such as myself.

American Airlines 737-800 economy seat overview

It’s an industry standard 3-3 seating configuration here on the 737-800. Legroom is 4 inches less than what you’ll get in American Airlines 737-800 main cabin extra, and I’m here to tell ya – you’ll miss every inch of it.

American Airlines 737-800 economy cabin overhead bins — Welcome to economy class. Hate to say it, but the overhead bins look more spacious than the seats.

American Airlines 737-800 economy seats row 10 — Row 10 (seats 10A, 10B, and 10C). I can already think of 10 reasons why I’d rather be flying in first class instead.

American Airlines 737-800 economy seat size — To be honest it’s not all that bad. It’s just a lot more fun to sound like a whiny little b*tch, that’s all.

American Airlines 737-800 economy legroom and under seat storage space — Legroom is decent. What I’m thinking about the lack of under seat storage space is not.

There are no video screens in these seats. However, USB charging ports and 110 V electrical outlets are included.

American Airlines 737-800 economy seat back with no video screen — No video screens and a safety card that hasn’t been updated since September 2021. This is gonna be a fun flight.

American Airlines 737-800 economy passengers — I think she was asking Chat GPT what to do when the person sitting next to you on a flight is taking pictures of his crotch and the safety card.

American Airlines 737-800 economy adjustable headrest

American Airlines 737-800 economy USB charging port

American Airlines 737-800 economy cabin looking forward from row 10 — It’s too late now. We’re all stuck in American Airlines 737-800 economy whether we like it or not.

The departure from DFW

They weren’t able to make up any time during the boarding process. This resulted in us getting pushed off the gate nine minutes late as well.

Gate C22 jet bridge exterior DFW — So long to one of the weirdest (and sketchiest) jet bridges I have ever known.

The taxi over to 35L took just 12 minutes (which has to be a record of some kind for DFW). We may have been a few minutes behind schedule so far, but the consolation prize was the promise of decent weather all the way to West Palm Beach. Just when I was ready to do some butt puckerin’!

American Airlines 737-800 taxi to runway DFW

American Airlines 737-800 taking off from runway 35L DFW — Yee-haw, y’all!

Busy freeway interchange Dallas-Fort Worth area — Who had it worse? The person who had to figure out how to design this interchange? Or the person who had to build it? I get heartburn just looking at it.

In flight entertainment

The lack of video screens in the seats is a pretty big deal IMHO. Mostly because American considers themselves to be direct competitors to both Delta and United (which feature video screens at nearly every seat of nearly every aircraft).

American Airlines 737-800 economy in flight entertainment main menu — I can think of worse things to be forced into. The main menu looks pretty good!

Don’t tell anyone, but I actually consider the American Airlines streaming in-flight entertainment system to be as every bit as good as what Delta and United are offering. There’s live TV, loads of movies and TV shows, games, podcasts, and free Apple Music.

American Airlines 737-800 economy in-flight entertainment movies

American Airlines 737-800 economy in-flight entertainment movie selections

American Airlines 737-800 economy personal device holder — There’s a personal device holder built into the seats that’ll even accommodate small phones (depending on how much patience – and dexterity – you have). It took a lot of trial and error to get my iPhone 14 Pro into this position, but it was worth it.

American Airlines 737-800 economy wi-Fi pricing plans — The high of figuring out how to wedge my tiny phone into the oversized device holder was ruined by the realization that Wi-Fi is not free. At least not yet anyway. It’s coming in 2026.

Food and drinks

American Airlines may be slacking in a variety of areas, but at least they’re still serving a free drink and a snack to all economy class passengers. It won’t be much (either a Biscoff cookie or a small bag of snack mix) – but it’ll be just as much as what Delta and United offers.

American Airlines 737-800 economy tray table — Tray tables large enough for a full plate of freshly carved roast beast and a generous side of mashed potatoes!

American Airlines 737-800 economy snack and drink — I wonder how long it’s gonna be until a bag of pretzels, a Biscoff cookie, and ginger ale is something that we are going to look back on with feelings of nostalgia?

Scott eating a snack in American Airlines 737-800 economy — Hopefully I’m dead by that point. I still haven’t got over the loss of the freshly carved roast beast.

I like the fact that they will more than likely give you the full can of whatever it is you’re drinking. I don’t like the fact that the food for purchase menu is nowhere near as delicious looking as what Delta offers. For the record, United kinda sucks too.

Full can of soda in American Airlines 737-800 economy — Cheers to the fact that they’re still giving us any food at all, right?

Seat and cabin comfort

It wasn’t obvious at first, but an hour and a half into the flight, I realized that the leg room in these economy seats is noticeably less than what you’ll get in United or Delta economy. It’s tight. Restrictive. And slightly uncomfortable.

American Airlines 737-800 economy seat recline — Go ahead Mr. 9A, recline all you want. It’s not like I’m all that comfortable back here anyway.

American Airlines 737-800 economy open tray table with reclined seat — **Pro tip:** suck in that gut when the person in front of you reclines their seat. For a moment there I was pretty sure that my tray table was gonna slice me clean in half.

The descent and arrival into West Palm Beach

Perhaps the most shocking thing about this entire review is the fact that we didn’t have to dodge popcorn-like thunderstorms on our way into PBI. It was a surprisingly chill descent.

American Airlines 737-800 view of engine and wing from seat 10A

Approaching West Palm Beach from the air

Approaching West Palm Beach airport from the west — I’ll bet there are a sh*tload of snakes and alligators down there that would be more than happy with a planeload of plump and juicy humans crashing into their territory. Just sayin’.

American Airlines 737-800 short final for West Palm Beach airport

American Airlines 737-800 landing on runway 10L PBI

We landed on runway 10L at 6:27 PM. This was 10 minutes late, but it was timed perfectly with a beautiful (and typical) monsoon like South Florida downpour as we docked at gate B8.

Concourse B with an American Airlines A319 parked at it PBI

Unbuckling my seatbelt in American Airlines 737-800 economy — *“Righty tighty lefty…what?”*

Passengers retrieving their luggage from the overhead bins in American Airlines 737-800 economy — Thankfully I was able to figure out how to unbuckle my seatbelt, because I’m not sure if any of these people would’ve been willing to help. *“You want me to reach where?”*

Walking up the aisle American Airlines 737-800 economy — ~~I quit~~ I’m out!

I think the best way to sum up this experience is to say that I ain’t flying American 737-800 economy again unless it is significantly cheaper than any other airline. As I said: it’s not that bad. I just prefer a cabin crew who can at least pretend like they enjoy their job, that’s all.

American Airlines 737-800 economy review: Better than taking the bus I guess