RTW TP Run in Jan 2026: Day 20 – Los Angeles (LAX) to Dallas (DFW)

By Nige on February 6, 2026 at 10:56 pm
Type: Post
Story: Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026 Category: Travel
Tags: American Airlines | Dallas | DFW | LAX | Los Angeles

Gate 205 is one of the furthest gates from border control at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). I was one of the last business-class passengers to deplane, but it didn’t take long to catch everyone up.

It was a very long walk.

When I reached the Immigration Hall, it was completely empty and there was no one in the Global Entry lane. In fact, a Border Control Agent had to switch the system on so that it could perform the facial recognition check.

Once that was done, I was waved through without further questioning. No enhanced interrogation techniques were applied today!

From Arrivals, I walked straight out onto World Way, made my way around to Terminal 4, and checked in at the American Airlines counter.

I then headed through TSA Pre-Check, which was probably the slowest Pre-Check experience I’ve ever had.

Once airside, I made my way into the AA Flagship Lounge. It was busy, so I took whatever seat I could find.

Straight back out to Starbucks, where I ordered through the app. I was genuinely stunned when the total came to $15 — about £12. In the UK, I pay just over £5, and in Indonesia it was closer to £3.50.

Shocked. Appalled. Outraged at Starbucks profiteering!

Back in the lounge, I took the opportunity to grab a shower. I felt much better after freshening up. The shower itself was spacious, although the shower curtain left a little to be desired.

I briefly took the terminal connector bus over to T6 and then up to T7, but I turned back fairly quickly.

There was always the risk of bus delays, and if I missed my flight to Dallas, it would have been entirely my own fault — regardless of any mitigating circumstances.

As it turned out, missing the flight was never going to be the problem.

The flight was scheduled to depart from Gate 151 at 4:00pm. Quite early on, I received a notification from AA advising that the departure had slipped to 4:45pm.

No problem — at least there was plenty of notice.

I arrived at the gate shortly before 4:00pm and boarding eventually commenced at around 4:05pm. We started queuing on the airbridge, which to be honest is unusual for AA. Not long after, another notification landed advising that departure had slipped again — this time to 5:15pm.

There was a lot of murmuring around the queue. Everyone had received the same message. What was going on?

The gate staff then announced that we all needed to return to the terminal. They were looking for a new pilot. What was wrong with the old pilot?

A revised departure time of 5:30pm was announced. As you can imagine, it was bedlam at the gate. Gate staff were offering passengers the option of rebooking onto other Dallas flights or waiting it out for re-boarding later.

Eventually things calmed down, we all found seats, and waited patiently.

Boarding restarted at around 4:50pm and, this time, we made it onto the aircraft. I initially sat in the wrong seat (01F), but was quickly and politely redirected to 01A.

I don’t know whether that was down to me getting used to sitting on that side of the aircraft or perhaps it was simply down to tiredness!

We finally pushed back at around 5:35pm, and before long we were on our way to Dallas.

It was exceptionally clear, and even at cruising altitude there were great views of the ground from seat 01A.

My order was taken for drinks and dinner. The choices for dinner were chicken or vegetarian — no further detail offered — so I went for the chicken and hoped for the best.

American Airlines had decided to serve meals first to those who had pre-ordered. Everyone else had to wait.

This appeared to be a new policy, presumably designed to encourage more passengers to pre-order.

By my rough count, about ten passengers were served ahead of the me in row 1.

Thankfully, the chicken dish was excellent. It came in a creamy sauce with rice and green beans — genuinely lovely.

I skipped the side salad, which looked decidedly sad, but the creamy carrot cake for dessert was scrummy.

One thing worth noting: the service was brusque. My tray was almost thrown at me, and the cabin crew member working First Class seemed very much in a rush.

The rest of the flight passed uneventfully. I dozed, played a few games, and was glad when we finally touched down in Dallas.

We arrived into Gate A23 after a roughly 15-minute taxi.

Deplaning was swift, and I followed my nose out of Terminal A and back towards the DART Orange Line station.

I’d just missed a train, but the next one arrived fairly quickly. I had to try two ticket machines before one accepted my tap-and-go using my Monzo card.

I caught the 11:04pm train and jumped off three stops later at Hidden Ridge station. From there, it was a short walk back to the hotel.

Next up: A gallery of photos from Day 20 of my Round The World trip of a lifetime.

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Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026