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After postposing my trip to Amsterdam twice due to COVID restrictions, it was finally time to begin my journey. I took a flight from Columbus to Dallas and relaxed in the AA Flagship Lounge before boarding.

While I would have preferred business, premium economy fares where pretty low when I rebooked. Around $800 for Amsterdam and Brussels. I’ve flown AA’s Premium Economy from Dallas to Honolulu back in 2018. It was great for my day time flight to Honolulu. I struggled to sleep on the return, but that’s nothing new.

I was excited to be trying the hard product again to see if it held up to my memory.

American Airlines 787-8 Premium Economy Dallas to Amsterdam

Booking

I’ve previously covered this in a post. The short story is this was a cash flight as premium economy fares were low.

If cash prices are high, you might consider using points. Premium economy costs 40,000 from the US to Europe. This number is just a benchmark. AA does have dynamic pricing and web specials. When running a search, you might find lower amounts or higher amounts than the 40,000.    

Check-In

I originally checked in Columbus. The process didn’t take too long. I was asked to show my passport, Dutch Entry Form, and COVID test. The whole process took about 5 minutes. With boarding passes in hand, I headed through security and on to my gate.

Boarding

Boarding started promptly 50 minutes prior to departure. Our gate was D29. Boarding started with Group 1 which was business class passengers. Then I boarded with Group 2.

Seat

I selected seat 9D at booking. This is an aisle seat in the middle section. I would have preferred a window seat. Those where all taken at booking. A couple hours prior to the flight it looked like I was going to get the entire row to myself. I was surprised when a couple took their seats next to me.

The cabin was arranged with four rows of a 2-3-2 layout.

The leg room was nice at thirty-eight inches between seats. For this short person, it was more than enough. Tall people will be happy. All seats reclined well. It can be a tad tight when the person in front of you reclines.

If you are in any row but the front, there is a footrest connected to the seat in front of you. Front row flyers’ footrest comes out of their seat.

Waiting at my seat was a blanket, pillow headphones and amenity kit. This was all wrapped in plastic. Both the blanket and pillow where from Casper. I found the pillow to be a bit flat. I typically use a memory foam pillow. The blanket kept me pretty warm throughout the flight.

Amentiy Kits are from Shinola with D.S. & Durga products. The kit came with socks, eye mask, dental kit containing a toothbrush and toothpaste, lotion, ear plugs, and a pen.

I typically don’t use the headphones provided on the plane. This time I did. They were pretty good quality. They kept most of the cabin noise out making the IFE easy to hear.

The IFE was connected to the seat in front of me. It pulls out of your seat if you are in the front row. It must be stored during taxi, take-off, and landing. The screen could be adjusted up and down for better clarity when the seat in front reclines.

I typically am not able to sleep on planes for more than an hour. I ended up sleeping for about three hours.

Bathroom

The bathroom was located between the premium economy cabin and business cabin. One was located on each side of the plane. It was pretty small but kept clean and stocked throughout the entire flight.

There was hardly anything located in the bathroom except for Bigelow soap and paper towels.

Food and Drink

Two meals were served on this flight, dinner and breakfast.

Dinner service started about an hour and a half after take-off. Meals were served first followed by drinks.

I preordered my meal in advance. Nothing scares me more than not getting a meal I can eat. Though, the last time I preordered I ended up with the wrong meal. When I flew to Hawaii in premium economy, I pre-ordered my meal, but the flight attendants never confirmed it. Options were short rib or pasta. I chose the pasta.

I not really sure what the sauce was. It was kinda like alfredo, but much less creamy. It also had broccoli and cauliflower in it. I enjoyed it. The main dish was accompanied by a salad and dessert. I didn’t try the salad, but it looked crisp. Dessert was a lemon cheesecake.  

Drinks were also available for free. Choices were wine, beer and soda.

Breakfast was served about an hour before landing in Amsterdam. There was only one choice, a fruit plate. There were a couple different types of fruit including pineapple and honeydew. The fruit was fresh and tasty. You also got a warm cinnamon roll. It was okay. The last breakfast item was Greek strawberry yogurt with granola.

American Airlines 787-8 Premium Economy Dallas to Amsterdam Bottom Line

This was a really solid option getting from the US to The Netherlands. I felt recharged and ready to explore Amsterdam. One area I think could be improved is the food options for breakfast. I’m normally an eggs for breakfast type of person.

The seat was great for the nine-hour flight. While I would have preferred a lie flat seat, I was pretty happy with my choice of flying AA Premium Economy. And I couldn’t go wrong with the price.

After clearing immigration, it was time to head to my hotel, drop my bags and start exploring Amsterdam!

These opinions in this article are the author’s not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.