Weekend in Paris: American First Class Miami to London

FWIW LH has(use to have) 16 F on the 747 upstairs in F.

Ben: Entertaining and informative as always! I try never to miss anything that you write. Thanks!

Darn. I missed Curbed tonight. Good thing I DVR'd it.

Great report! Asia is fascinating but, having done most of my travelling in Europe, it's always great to see you go there.

Pretzel bread, Yum.

Windsor Castle is a very good place to visit. Wish we would have had more time to visit it and the town. Just had a few hours.

Are the Bose headphones similar to the QC15s?

Nice report, as usual. How do you get the menu details? Swipe a menu? Take a photo of it?

@ AdamH -- Ah, very true! I think the main distinction is that in the dozens or so times I flew Lufthansa first back when they had 16 seats, I think it was more than half full only once. First class on US airlines, on the other hand, is usually full.

@ Peter @ Ben -- Thanks!

@ rich -- Yes, I believe they're actually QC15s. As far as the menus go, I always take the menus with me and also take a picture of them while onboard, just in case I lose them.

LOL at Holiday Inn Express! Great report as usual, especially since I'm hardly ever on the dAArk side and really appreciate your perspective on it. It's interesting that AA's domestic catering has a reputation of excelling while international seems to lag a bit.

What was the booze selection/ wine list like? I flew AA in F back in '09 and it was mediocre J quality at best.

JRL

If those people were that happy being in American First Class, imagine if they had been flying Singapore or Cathy or Quantas' first class instead...

While I'm sure the food is as good as you described, it seems to me that, when comparing to some other airlines, the quantity seems much less than what others offer. One appetizer (and not even a choice of appetizers) and a salad? It seems more like something some Asian and European airlines would offer in business class...yes, it probably filled you up, but still...

Ben....I wonder if i can mix and match on the food? I have dietary restrictions, and so the only thing I can eat is the fish on the menu or the ravioli...but do they let you piece together a meal out of all the options? Actually, the fish meal has wine in it, so I cant even eat that..( http://www.barecipebox.com/recipeDetail.asp?recipe=000251)....Any idea on that? Great trip report !!

@ JRL -- Darn, I knew I forgot something. If it's alright I'll post the wine list with the return segment, since it was the same list in both directions.

@ Ozaer -- They load plenty of food for first class, so I suspect you could have mixed and matched as you wanted, possibly having two entrees if you couldn't have eaten the other stuff on the menu.

Thanks for this great very descriptive post. I love all the pics. I'm dreaming of flying first class with my fam (4) next year. I've almost earned enough miles for us to fly one way SFO - London on UA & one way Dublin - SFO on AA. Be interested to experience the differences.
Thanks for sharing!

I've been an AA Executive Platinum for many years now and I'm a huge fan of the AAdvantage program. As for AA itself, I think I can sum up the airline by saying this: any airline that serves pre-departure drinks in plastic cups in First class (or Business, for that matter) will never join the big leagues and quite obviously has no aspiration to do so, either. Everything else is a function of that mentality...

Re: Bose headphones. I could be wrong (of COURSE!) but I think that AA was the airline to pioneer putting the original QC1 bose in the premium cabins WAY back in the 90's. I'm happy to see they have maintained that policy. No other premium cabin NC headphones come close

As usual, great report.

I flew BOS to LHR last month to spend the weekend with my wife, who was already there on business. First over and coach on the way back (more on that in a later).

I have never flown AA first so it was new to me. It was a 757 so the seats were not full recline but I found them to be quite comfortable. I found the meals to be very good but you seemed to have had more choices on the 777. Is that a function of the type of planes and what they can carry for food? I will say that the crew on the way over, Boston based, were very good. The FA who served our cabin was outstanding. Caveat to that is there were only 4 people in first and half a plan load in coach. But, still, I really enjoyed the flight.

Now, the flight back was packed! Service was efficient. I guess a packed plane makes for efficient but less personable service. Crappy entertainment system to boot. So, here is a question for you, I flew First over but due to my wife having to fly coach on the way back (her company bought the ticket and upgrading was very costly). I flew back with her in coach. I seem to get an even split of people saying I should have flown back in first and let her fly coach or that I did the right thing by flying with her (for the record, I think I did the right thing!). Even my wife said I should have flown back first, but I would have felt guilty, maybe ? So, I ask, WWLD? (What Would Luck Do)

@ Sam -- The difference in meal options is because your flight was operated by a 757, which means you were in business class, since the plane doesn't have a first class cabin. American's meal options are actually very similar in business class on a two cabin plane and first class on a three cabin plane, with the major difference being more entree choices in first class. So that would explain that difference.

As far as the return goes, you did the right thing for sure. The only other reasonable option would have been to give her your business class seat. That's what lucky would've done if he wanted to get lucky!

Ben very nice trip report again. You're writing style is very funny, still cracking up over the Rice Crispies line.

I've done AA F round trip JFK-NRT and for sure it is no Cathay or SQ but then again it is not generally priced in the same league as those either. Similar to you I used eVIPs to upgrade a relatively cheap biz fare ($3.8k roundtrip to HK with the NRT-HKG legs on CX biz) to F. While it is not world class F, it is better than most business products in that the seats are larger and the food a little better and the service a little more attentive. Having done CX J and AA F on the same trip AA F was certainly superior.

I would not be surprised to see F disappear from AA over time maybe as they bring in the 787.

Actually AA has a number of 757s that fly internationally (primarily) and are fitted with full recline seats, and individual IFE, not to be confused with their worn out faux leather regular business class seat. We get them here on the JFK/STT route from time to time and the regulars are always confused by the fewer, nicer seats in business.

Lucky, it is nice to see a trip report on AA, especially in light of the rumors surrounding United's Mileage Plus. I get the impression that AA & UA are quite similar in their products and operations, although UA seems to have a better global network.

Hey! Have done that MIA-LHR seg 3 times in the last couple of months...interesting to read from another's perspective! Yes, that mango chili beef ain't bad at all! And yes, AA's got the new amenities for F and J now. Hope all's well,
--John

i just happened to find your blog out of the **blue** i gotta say you are one of my favourite trip report bloggers. i have LOL @ all the funny situations you were involved in, including the numerous episodes involving your PJs. hahaha
ive read about 40% of your trip reports and im in the process of finishing the other 60%.
anyway i gotta say, US-based airlines have got to do better, its not good enough to for them to just say “oh we are a US-base airline so dont have greater expectations of us”.
i’ve always said that airlines including Qantas, Etihad, and other so-so airlines, should give their execs, managers, cabin crew a complimentary flight on malaysia airlines, thai airways or singapore airlines, so they could learn a thing or two about service.

i love it