A firsthand trip report flying American's new A321XLR Flagship Suite from JFK to LAX, plus connecting flights, lounges, and crew service.
Nicely done, @Espresso_Frankfurt! That's quite the routing you completed (talk about, 'take the long way home!') Wow, that ride with Santa Monica Flyers! (And great 'VIP' siting at LAX!)
At JFK T8, by 'Flagship Lounge' I presume you mean Greenwich as opposed to Soho/Chelsea (curious about access, if say, oneworld Emeralds on the transcon can still go to Soho, or are they excluding it?) I'm scheduled on XLR between LAX-JFK later this year. Looking forward to trying it.
Also, as far as 'standard device charging' you mean that there was no USB-C? (Or, literally no outlet whatsoever?) The lack of USB-C is odd for a new aircraft. Apologies that the US apparently hasn't adopted USB-C enough (but really should).
Thank you! It was a rare treat- really a mileage redemption of the caliber from the 'good ole' days' when OMAAT was just getting fired up! Yes, it was the Greenwich lounge. Not sure about access to Soho. The last picture over the Pacific was actually taken from the takeoff towards DFW. Still, that's not a huge problem. It was so funny, my CFI said that the school had 2 customers there just on layovers that very morning, but that it almost never happened in general! The taxi ride over was not bad at all. Especially after a week in the even more terrible traffic of NYC, the pleasant ride from LAX to Santa Monica Airport was a breeze.
For the charging cord, there wasn't a place to plug my base into. Not sure what was going on there.
Hope you enjoy your A321XLR trip too! The espresso option really made me happy.