For our trip to Greece, my mother, her partner and I crossed the Atlantic with American Airlines and flew from Charlotte to London. Our overall itinerary was Tampa to Charlotte to London to Athens, and I booked these for 57,500 American AAdvantage miles and less than $ 30 in taxes and fees per person. I am not going to write a detailed report on the transatlantic flight as I recently reviewed the American to Hawaii 777-200 Business Class so many details are similar. Our plane from Charlotte to London Rather, I just wanted to give Americans credit for what I consider to be a legitimately solid transatlantic business class experience, at least in these times. The way I see it, American got all the basics right here – great seating, solid furnishings, good food, and friendly service. This last category can often be the hardest to find, so kudos to the crew for that. The last time I flew across the Atlantic from Charlotte was on US Airways in 2013, and I still remember the purser of that flight – Miss Peggy. She was something … Anyway, let me share the highlights of this flight below. Reverse herringbone seats are greatWe flew an American Airlines 777-200 with inverted herringbone seats from Collins Aerospace. These are comfy seats so it’s not much better for a 7 hour 55 minute flight. For those who are curious what transatlantic cargoes look like these days: 22 of the 37 seats in Business Class were occupied on this flight. American Airlines 777-200 Business Class seat The ticket for our flight from Charlotte to London Solid furnishings, especially bed linenWhile not as good as United Polaris’ long-range bedding, American’s Casper bedding is excellent with a large pillow and cozy blanket. American Airlines Business Class Linen by Casper Bang & Olufsen headphones are also decent for anyone who likes to use in-flight entertainment on the plane (which I rarely do other than to keep an eye on the map).
My flight also had America’s brand new amenity kits from Shinola, which seemed mightily unobtrusive to me.
Surprisingly good foodHere was the menu for our flight: And then here is the drinks menu: The service started shortly after the start with drinks and packaged mixed nuts. I don’t usually drink when flying on US airlines, but when I saw Lanson champagne on the menu, I thought to myself, I’ll order a glass. I mainly ordered it on principle – I think if there is a decent wine option on American you might as well be seizing the moment as anyone can guess when that will happen again. ? Americans continue to use plastic cups, even though the spouts, at least, have been generous. American Airlines Business Class Drinks & Nuts Dinner was served shortly after departure and all dinner was on a tray. I really appreciate that American allows you to pre-order your meals so you’re guaranteed to get your first choice. Everything was served packaged, as is customary these days. I think I’m a fan of the one tablet service on a short transatlantic flight and I almost hope it stays as it really speeds up the service.
I have to say the food was very good.
The starter consisted of grated beef with lemon aioli, edamame guacamole and pico de gallo. There was also a packaged bun that was warm and surprisingly soft.
I decided to be petulant about my main course order and chose the crab cakes with lemon and chive cream sauce, broccoli chipotle coleslaw, and bubble tomatoes. While I have a feeling that crab cakes can go very wrong on a plane, they were rightly decent – I’d love to see these served in a mediocre restaurant (that’s a compliment, just to be clear) .
For dessert there was a salted caramel tart, which was good too.
Breakfast was served about 75 minutes before landing, with either a continental breakfast or an omelette. I chose the continental breakfast which had a nice varied fruit platter, cereal and yogurt. I skipped the croissant which was tough. American Airlines business class breakfast Friendly & professional serviceUltimately, a crew can make or break a flight, and that crew couldn’t have been nicer. The ladies in business class were professional, friendly, informal, playful, and seemed to really enjoy their work and that’s always so nice to see. Often it is the smallest things that make the difference. For example, on my United flight from Maui to Chicago a few weeks ago, the flight attendant took the food orders without any kind of greeting as follows:
On this flight, the purser Lisa took the food orders as follows:
US airlines will never be able to compete with Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways for consistent and professional service. What they can do, however, is strike a great balance between being authentic, fun, and professional, and this crew did just that. Hats off. The crew took great care of my mother! Bottom lineOn a good day, American Airlines can be really competitive across the Atlantic. You always get excellent flatbed seats with direct access to the aisle, along with solid bedding. The rest of the experience is consistently inconsistent. Fortunately, we were lucky on this flight, with great food, excellent champagne and an absolutely lovely crew. If only Americans were always this good. Oh, shoot, I completely forgot to mention the one thing (completely out of the crew’s control) that soured this flight out. I’ll save that for the next post. Via https://globalconnekt.com/a-perfect-flight-with-american-airlines-in-business-class/
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