AZB in NYC ( a brief review)

Hello, everyone, I am in NYC, unfortunately, to attend a funeral.
First of all: American Airlines reservation agents were kind enough to give me the special offer and waved all the requirements (ex: advance purchase and conditions). But the real shocker was the $128 dollars taxes. Yes, on a 300 hundred dollars RT fare, I paid 128 dollars worth of total taxes. That also included the 10 dollar departure tax.
So lets see what do you get for the increased taxes? First of all: no lunch, just a bag of chips and a coke.
My carry-on bag was not checked by anyone. I had seen almost all the Dominicans being checked, yet i was allowed to pass by the check points 2 times and no one was interested in checking my carry-on baggage. I saw no armored door in the cockpit. No air-marshal type looking men anywhere, everyone was a Dominican (except a tourist couple... no way they were air-marshals).
Flight was very smooth and despite the recent crash, the plane was full to the max. JFK airport was in total fog and the plane made a category 1 landing (instrumental landing); the ground was seen when the plane touched the runway. Yes, it was an Airbus 300 (the same type which crashed). Needless the say, i was impressed with its performance.
Upon landing in NYC, I saw very little security changes in the airport. Yes, there were some national guards monitoring the new arrivals but they were only there for presence.
Being from the Middle Eastern background, I was a bit apprehensive arriving at the immigration. To my surprise, I was greeted like everyone else and welcomed to NYC. No one asked me any questions and customs didn't even notice me and let my go through. Everyone was normal and I didn't feel i was treated any different from anyone else.
The new Yorkers are all very normal and fear plays no part in their lives. At least I didn't see it evident in anyone's mind. I was treated like a normal civilian everywhere I went. No one even noticed me as I spoke in my language with my buddies. No one cares.
So what is all the CNN propaganda of fear and of Muslim back lashing? I am not sure where its all coming from.
I must say that even though I am here on personal visit (not pleasure), i felt very much at home and actually enjoyed coming back to my town where i grew up in. New Yorkers are great people and I felt normal and fearless as I had felt before 9/11 event.
Tomorrow, I will be back to my beautiful isla and among my friends.
Cheers.

sorry to hear about the funeral

Thanks for the update though...informative.

Lo siento, amigo. Bienvenido for Sunday. Hablo soon!

the good things. we wont need to use AA very soon. Mexicana will start the route Santo Domingo-Miami and will use Santo Domingo to flight to most european cities. Plus, Dominicana and Aeromar will travel to US very soon too.
Finally, we wont need to use AA again.
4 hours trip without lunch? jeez

Don't be too critical of the food AZB ...

After all, it is carefully chosen so as not to offend you.

Hindus - sorry. Also sorry for the vast majority of the population which might enjoy pork sometimes.

I paid 128 dollars worth of total taxes. That also included the 10 dollar departure tax.

AZB,

They are just that, Dominican Taxes, nothing goes to AA

Of course thry were nice to you, they don't know you like we do

Sorry for your loss...

Re: Back in paradise.

So glad to be back home.
Now the return half of the trip:
When they say you have to be there 3 hours before the departure, they really mean it. The lines were longer than food lines in kabul. I had to wait 40 minutes to check in my luggage. Then I was forced to wait in another long line to go through the security check to the gates. That line was thick and really long. Fortunately, I was escorted on to the front because my flight was about to leave. Again, my bags were not checked and I was let go after the bags were scanned in the x-ray machine. There were lots of national guards and security personnel all over the airport. Then at the gate, as we were boarding the plane, many people were diverted to another security check point. An Indian businessman was stopped and searched in detail. He even had to take off his shoes and empty out his pockets. His money was counted and he was interrogated as though he was boarding the flight to join the taliban. The sad thing was that he was not even muslim. On the other hand, I was simply let into the aircraft.
Then there was a miscount and some confusion of how many people were on board. A few people managed to get themselves rejected from boarding in the plane so their baggage was forced to be unloaded. This whole process delayed the aircraft 1 hour and 10 mins.
In simple: there is a big mess in major US airports. If you guys have to connect flights in US airports, make sure you have a few hours of gap in between. If you have only an hour or 1 ? hour gap, then you may find yourselves in trouble. The security is really tight and rules are changing on daily bases.
No food on any AA flights. Not even a lousy sandwich. So make sure you eat before you go to the airport. A thin simple pre-packed sandwich can cost more than 7 dollars in a snack shop.
Airplane security: This was a 767 Boeing, again, without armored door or any person who would resemble an Air-marshal. Everyone was Dominican and only 2 elderly non-dominican couple. You think the air-marshals could be among the Dominican passengers? In there such a thing as Dominican air-marshals?
So what is the deal, we pay 128 dollars in increased taxes and then they expect us to fight off the hijackers to take back the plane?.in case it gets hijacked?
Doesn?t AA know, how difficult it is to fight off trained hijackers on empty stomach?
On the final note, I am glad there would be other airlines to compete with AA monopoly.
Have a nice day.

Re: curious? what passport you travel under?

I carry a Afghani (Taliban issued) passport for all my US traveling.
Ok, to be serious:
I carry US passport but i guess, i was dressed in business attire and seemed like a nice guy that I really am.
I mean, who would confuse me for anything else? Everyone else seem to love me on DR1, criss can't seem to get enough of me.

In seriousness, i guess, i got lucky in all, the check points. Even I was surprised at the ease of being let go without a complete check-up of my luggage.

Re: curious? what passport you travel under?

No offence to middle eastern people is intended, but it is nice to see my tax dollars are spent giving some poor hindu indian fellow the third degree, while a middle eastern gentleman walks through without even getting his bag opened.

I get my bag searched every day on the way into work, and two in person id checks by armed guards and one electronic card scan. Metal detectors are being installed. I think the security in my building is better than the airlines, not that that is saying too much.

Re: curious? what passport you travel under?

Mr. Hardley,
Your money is being well spent. Almost everyone was being checked at one point or another. I simply got lucky.
Don't worry about the poor indian fellow, he was almost asking for it. He was wearing a very expensive gold/ diamond Rolex watch and a fat diamond gold ring. he was tall and stood out among the rest. He seemed rich and acted acordingly. After a brief conversation with him, turns out he is soon to be the owner of a new factory in zona franca.
That doesn't mean that he deserved the hassle but he stood out as different and spoke english as everyone else was chatting dominican slang.