Review: American Eagle Dallas to Santa Barbara, CRJ-900 First Class

American has a fairly new flight from Dallas to Santa Barbara, which was announced last Spring for first departure in June, 2016.

The flight is operated on a CRJ-900, with First Class, Main Cabin Extra and Main Cabin seating.

Here’s the flight times:

• Dallas to Santa Barbara, departing at 9:25a, arriving at 11:05a
• Santa Barbara to Dallas, departing at 12:05p, arriving 5:17p

The flights are actually very well timed — you can arrived out into Santa Barbara late morning, and then depart right around noon to head back, and are able to make connections in Dallas to the east coast.

Because this flight is operated by a CRJ-900, it departs from the American Eagle Terminal B in Dallas. Keep this in mind if you’re connecting.

Boarding began at approximately 8:55. For reference, the First Class cabin checked in full and no complimentary upgrades were processed. When I purchased this flight about 5 months ago, I used a Business Extra BXP1 upgrade certificate to confirm a seat in the First Class cabin.

As boarding was called, no other First Class passengers stepped forward other than myself, though the cabin soon filled up afterwards.

This regional jet is confirmed in a 1×2 configuration in First Class, with the single side obviously having both aisle access and window access.

I was in seat 2A, a single seat on the left hand side of the plane.

There’s a decent amount of legroom between you and the seat in front, though if you’re in one of the double seats, the person on the aisle will have to get out if the person on the window wants to use the restroom.

The bulkhead row has a decent amount of legroom as well.

The crew on this flight was quite friendly, with 3 flight attendants on board. Normally, this type of plane only carries two flight attendants, but one of the three was in training.

After take-off, drinks were served and I selected a Coke Zero –  bit too early for soft drinks, but I needed to wake up.

Breakfast was a choice between a bagel and salmon, or a granola cereal plate. I choice the bagel and salmon, as I’ve had the granola before, and it’s served with a non-perishable form of milk, which I’m really not a fan of.

The bagel and lox actually weren’t bad, but both the cream cheese and salmon were frozen solid. They needed to be sat out in room temperature for several minutes before they remotely resembled the texture they should have. Once edible, it was actually a tasty meal, though much smaller than the breakfasts you’d received on an ERJ-175, or a mainline flight. It wasn’t served with any fruit, pastries, etc., though there was a Fig Bar on the side.

Normally on approach into Santa Barbara there are some terrific views, but the day I flew was overcast, so I didn’t see much.

Tip: On a sunny day, sit on the right side of the plane for the best views into Santa Barbara.

Have you ever flown the CRJ-900 on a meal-services flight before?