[Anonymous]

[IanFromHKG]

Fifth leg in a seven-sector trip. This time, AA86 from Chicago to London in a B777. It should have been in business class, but as the title gives away, I actually travelled in first class.

CHECK-IN, IMMIGRATION & SECURITY

Not applicable, since this was an onward connecting flight and I had already completed all these procedures in Charlotte before the previous sector. All I had to do was to make my way to the AA Flagship Lounge, which was relatively near my departure gate.

LOUNGE

AA have several lounges in Chicago, so it came as little surprise that this lounge wasn’t especially large. However, since this is AA’s equivalent of a first class lounge, I had expected it to be rather better provisioned. Unlike the Dallas lounge (an “ordinary” Admiral’s Club lounge) which I had visited at the start of my third sector, I did not require a voucher to get premium drinks. Conversely, however, due to the smaller size of the lounge it was self-service – and the selection of food and drinks was decidedly limited.

There was, quite literally, nothing in the selection of food or snacks that appealed to me. I spent a while humming and hahing over the drinks too – a selection of decidedly mediocre wine, and not a wide selection at that, the usual spirits, and a small assortment of mixers and beers. Unimpressed. Had I had more energy at this point I might have moved to an Admiral’s Club lounge, but I was tired and decided to settle down and work on my trip reports. Fortunately it wasn’t hard to find a seat, but a nearby passenger talked incessantly on his mobile – not loudly, but enough to be a mild irritant, so after a while I moved to the “quiet room” which had the benefit of a better placed power point.

BOARDING & TAKE-OFF

A boarding announcement was made in the lounge. I noticed that a couple of other passengers discussed this and decided to wait a while, but I decided that given the lacklustre lounge facilities I was probably better off on board so headed to the gate. To my disappointment, however, they were far from ready for boarding. I spent 20 minutes in conversation with another waiting passenger before boarding started.

The Priority AAccess lane did not, frankly, seem to move any faster. So far, not so good. However, when I got to the front of the line I got the ominous bong from the boarding card reader and was just preparing myself to launch into full “outraged passenger” mode when the attendant, who had scurried off to another desk to see what the problem was, came back and told me I had been upgraded from business to first class! Yay! Despite being a top-tier frequent flier, I honestly cannot remember when this last happened to me. Things were looking up!

Getting on board from this point was a breeze, although the locker aove my allocated seat was unusable as it was full of emergency equipment (and was labelled to that effect). However, it did not cause much problem as there was ample alternative stowage.

The crew did not seem in any rush to take my jacket or offer me a drink, but given the upgrade I was disinclined to complain. Eventually I was offered a drink, chose champagne, and was given something nondescript and fizzy in a plastic glass. Hmmmm.

Take-off was, unsurprisingly, delayed by about 25 minutes, but no further drinks round was made.

IN-FLIGHT

The seats are large, and of an unusual design, but a rather outdated look and finish. The seats face forwards, and have a small TV monitor that pops up from the console on the side. There is an ottoman, but it is offset. The idea is that when converting to a bed, the seat swivels slightly to line up with it. It is also possible for the seats to swivel through 90 degrees, so that couples sitting in the centre rows (it is a 1-2-1 configuration) can face each other for meals, discussions or whatever (and indeed the couple in front of me did just this). Just like the business class seats on my second sector trip on American, the seats adjusts in a bewildering variety of ways, none of which were terribly intuitive to operate.

The IFE, despite being video-on-demand, was pretty woeful. A small, poorly placed screen of very low definition, unresponsive controls and, in my case, an annoying tendency to ask periodically if I wanted to quit, meant that eventually I gave up. The Bose noise-canceling headphones were excellent, but did little to offset the poor quality of the rest of the system.

The meal choices weren’t terribly inspiring but I was pleased to see that items were served and plated from the trolley, including an excellent and very nicely presented smoked salmon starter. The wine selection, however, was again surprisingly limited and not of the highest quality. The service was also a little desultory.

A crew member asked if I wanted to be woken for breakfast, but since I was dog-tired and had a long day ahead I demurred, and settled down to sleep. The seat was huge, comfortable, and a decent duvet was provided. I couldn’t be bothered to put the topper on the seat, I just reclined down and drifted off. Incidentally, pyjamas were also provided, as were slippers, but I didn’t use them.

One point I would mention – my jacket was returned after landing. This was great – after all, the whole point of having it hung up is so that it doesn’t get crumpled at my seat, which is still going to happen if it is returned an hour before disembarkation.

ARRIVAL

As requested I was not woken for breakfast so slept almost to the end of the flight. I was a bit slow packing up so business class passengers were already disembarking as I got to the door, so I am not sure if they had previously been held back. The usual long T3 walk to immigration, where there were quite a few queues, so I again opted for IRIS (only one working but only two people ahead of me) and was through to the baggage hall swiftly.

Unfortunately I hadn’t realised that AA take priority bags off the carousel and stack them to the side, so I waited for ten minutes after non-priority bags started arriving before realising mine were already waiting for me. I should have thought of this, it isn’t the first airline I have encountered that does it, I can only claim fatigue!

I know the AA arrival lounge well since CX also use it, but since I was anxious to meet my family I headed straight for the Hoppa Bus stops right outside the arrival hall and checked the timetable. I was pleased to see one was scheduled to depart soon, so I did not opt for a taxi. I was also delighted to see that the Air Canada arrival lounge entrance is situated between the two Hoppa Bus stops, so using my Priority Pass card I popped in to get some water since I was feeling rather dehydrated. They had problems scanning the card, but happily started processing it manually. When I said I only wanted a drink, though, they happily waved me in and invited me to take a couple of bottles with me. So, PP cardholders, there’s a top tip for you!

EDITED TO ADD: Although I did not use the AA arrival lounge on this sector, I did use it on the first sector of this trip. To see my review of the lounge on that trip, see http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/Cathay-Pacific-B777-300ER-(four-class-with-Premium-Economy)-Business

SUMMARY

Very ordinary lounge, somewhat shambolic boarding, a very pleasant upgrade, but I am not sure I would have paid the money to travel first class. Food a bit unexciting, service a bit desultory, the AVOD was woeful, but masses of space, good amenities and a comfortable if dated seat. If you want lots of room it’s a good alternative to BA, but eat before departure and bring your own entertainment. Top tip for Priority Pass cardholders if you don’t have access to the AA arrivals lounge – visit the Air Canada arrivals lounge, it is closer than you think!

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