After arriving from Orlando, I had just 40 minutes to make my connecting flight to London, again with American Airlines. Fortunately, my baggage had been checked all the way through to London, so all I had to do was to get from one gate to another, although at different terminals.

Getting around at Fort Worth is very quick and easy, thanks to to airport's sky train, which links all of the terminals. Within 10 minutes of landing, we had taxied to terminal C, I had disembarked, found my way to the sky train and traveled to terminal D.

I arrived at the gate and it was fairly hectic. Having selected my seat on the airline's website only a few days before, I knew this was to be an almost full flight, so that explained that dozens of people sat around. Anyway, boarding didn't begin until around 7.15pm - 5 minutes before departure - and as always, it is business class, silver/gold status frequent flyers and then economy class in group numbers instead of row numbers.

It was 7.50pm by the time we eventually pushed back and an announcement from a very abrupt crew member, in not so many words, blamed this delay on passengers who would not take their seats. Fortunately, the seat next to me remained vacant, even though the load of the flight was around 95%.

This Boeing 767-300 had obviously been turned around in the quickest possible time. My tray table had crumbs on it and a ring of coffee. The pocket also had a crisp packet hanging out it, which cannot have been overlooked by a cleaner!

Our flight time to London was expected to be 8 hours and 57 minutes, with a scheduled arrival time of 10.45am the following morning. The captain gave us a brief explanation of the route to be taken the and weather en-route and then our journey got under way.

Not too long after reaching the cruise altitude, the crew began the inflight service, which began with drinks. It was no surprise to me that American Airlines charges for alcoholic beverages but I found $6 to be a little steep. Soft drinks, hot drinks and juices are provided at no additional cost, as are the meals. The evening meal was a choice of beef and mashed potato or chicken and rice. I went for the chicken and rice, which was not fantastic. The rice was mixed with peas and carrots and thrown on top were two tiny pieces of chicken, topped with a spicy and sloppy brown substance. The usual bread roll, salad, cheese and crackers were also on the tray, along with the most disappointing dessert ever - an oatmeal biscuit!

This Boeing 767 was not equipped with individual TV screens so we had to settle for the few 14" screens scattered around the cabin, which later proved not to be too much of an issue, simply because the entertainment was dreadful. Two films were shown; Ice Age II and Hotel For Dogs. It astounded me that the airline could show two children's films. The radio channels were reasonable, however.

Although American Airlines does provide blankets and pillows on the flight, amenity kits containing socks, an eye mask, ear plugs and a toothbrush are sold for $6, which again, I was appalled by. This airline, whilst not a low cost, was starting to feel like one.

I drifted off to sleep and woke several hours later to find breakfast had been left on the empty table next to me. It was nothing too exciting - a warm croissant with butter and jam, a yoghurt and some fruit, but after the measly dinner served at the beginning of the flight, I was very hungry.

We landed at Heathrow at 11.00am, 15 minutes behind schedule, and seemed to vacate the runway and straight onto the gate. Terminal 3, which is usually a nightmare to get through, was very quiet and it took 30 minutes to get from the aircraft to the arrivals hall. Baggage delivery was very efficient and both immigration and customs were a breeze.

As for American Airlines, nothing was too much of a surprise to me. I didn't fly with them because their service is better than any other airline (which is most certainly is not), but because their fares were cheaper than any other airline. I knew the flights would be pretty ordinary and they were.

The state of the crew on this flight was what appalled me most. Many comment on the ages of the staff, and although not an issue for me, I would guess that nearly all of the crew were well into their 50s/60s on this flight. One member of the crew was very overweight (not chubby, more obese) and this seemed like a safety issue to me. In the event of an emergency, she didn't appear to be the most manoeuvrable of people. The attitudes of most of the crew were appalling (like with the reason given for the delay) and it was also clear that many of them didn't want to be on the flight. I don't recall seeing very many smiles coming from them!