It’s been several years since I’ve flown American Airlines out of London Heathrow, but I’d just taken a trip in their Flagship First Class to Sydney and back – with broken inflight entertainment on the outbound and cabin in disrepair on the return.
Still, the seat gives more space than business class. There are only 8 seats in the cabin, which creates a sense of privacy and tranquility even with seats that aren’t very private. And American’s bedding is quite good, even if the food is the same as in business class. The headphones are good, too.
Since I’ve reviewed American Airlines first class so recently (and so often in the past) I’ll just focus here on what was good and what was bad in this flight experience rather than going into extreme detail about the flight.
Boarding was on time. You turn left and walk through the forward business cabin to reach first class.
It was nice that we’d be half the cabin. I tend to select row 1, yes it is closer to the galley and lavatory, but I also don’t see the passengers in row 2 so it’s like they aren’t there. Plus, if my one year old makes any sounds I can quickly whisk him out of the passenger cabin.
Predeparture beverages were offered – just water, orange juice, champagne and mimosas. That is… not a very international first class first impression.
Pajamas were handed out. They offer two sizes, “S/M” and “L/XL.” On my flight back from Sydney they didn’t have any larges, but I somehow now fit the ‘small/medium’ so I took that size again. (I’d worn an extra pair of American’s first class pajamas on my Dallas – Venice flight over to Europe in business class, American is adding pajamas to ultra-long haul business class but not Europe flights.) I do appreciate the slippers.
The purser was handling these things at the start of the flight. She was noticeably grumpy (already! we’d just started!) and was still wearing her WAR pin. The union distributed or ‘WE ARE READY’ pins during contract negotiations. They didn’t wind up striking, and got a new contract, but this crewmember was ready.
I thought it would actually be a good flight, though, when she was asking passengers prior to takeoff whether they’d like turndown service. Now, it’s better to come around and offer it after the meal, or better still to notice when a passenger may be ready to retire. But it seemed proactive and like it wouldn’t be one of the crews that scoffs at the idea of helping to set up the bedding.
However this was the odd part. People would opt in but nobody ever got any help with their bedding. The flight attendant never returned to do it, never offered again. She wrote down along with meal orders whether or not they wanted turndown service but didn’t do anything with that information.
Meanwhile, I had a look through the amenity kit. I hadn’t seen the first class Brandon Blackwood kit yet. The contents are the same but the bag feels cheaper than the unbranded black first class bag it replaced, which I didn’t think was possible. Is it too much to ask for them just to go back to the ThisIsGround bags they were using before the pandemic?
A return to the contents they used to offer in those bags would be nice, too.
Here’s the menu for the flight. Remember that business and first class meals really aren’t differentiated, and there’s no hot midflight snack on U.S.-Europe.
Once we were up in the air, drink service was offered along with nuts and olives. I do like the green olives.
I connected to the wifi, but had quite a bit of trouble with it. American was getting $35 for internet on this flight, and it’s Panasonic – American’s Panasonic service doesn’t work super well, though it’s at least better than it used to be a couple of years ago.
The problem on this flight was authenticating to it. I bought the service but it wouldn’t recognize I had done so, or logged in. It kept demanding I log in and kicked me out while trying to do so. Finally I managed to log in with my phone. I hoped that switching devices would help, and then I’d be forced to re-authenticate with my laptop. No such luck. The only way I was able to get any work done was finally just staying logged in on my phone and using my phone as a hotspot for my laptop.
My wife wasn’t ever able to get this far – she only managed to spend the $35, not to get any actual wifi, and her charge was refunded on request.
My wife ordered a glass of wine with her meal. I know better. She asked for the chardonnay and actually shuddered as she took her first and only drink of it.
To be clear, this was Flagship First Class – a product marketed like Singapore Airlines Suites, Air France La Premiere, and Etihad’s First Apartment. And they’re serving bottles that fetch $6 at retail.
At the same time, there are certainly wines you can drink at the $6 price point. After I watched her reaction I just had to take a taste and I cn say that the bottle we were served was not one of those wines.
The crab avocado salad starter was pretty good, though, but a bit spicy in a way that didn’t seem to me to make sense for the dish. I enjoyed it, my one year old did not. Also the solid cold butter was unspreadable on the room temperature bread that was served.
The soy glazed beef cheeks, though, were excellent. The rice they sat one were pure mush, but the meat itself was very good. My son agreed, and he ate almost all of it. I only got a couple of bites.
I had the ice cream sundae for dessert. It didn’t come out the way I’d requested it, and the ice cream was hard as a rock (still frozen solid). It doesn’t strike me as the highest grade ice cream but still a good comfort item.
The flight otherwise was fine. I was perfectly comfortable in the first class seat. I love the spaciousness compared to business class and the relatively calm cabin. The crew was indifferent, but I didn’t need much from them.
I did visit the galley midflght to check out the snacks that were put out – the sandwiches were left with the BC (business class) and ‘misc’ labels on them. The one I tried had sweated in the plastic, so the bread was completely moist. It was fairly disgusting. I took just that one bite.
One thing I had been looking forward to trying, though, was American’s announced afternoon tea service. The second service out of London and Paris had been a tea offering. American’s joint venture partner British Airways does a really lovely first class tea. Maybe American had copied it? I hadn’t actually seen reports (though also hadn’t looked closely for them).
Unfortunately our second service wasn’t the tea. Instead it was a choice of pork buns or pasta salad. I chose the pork buns, which came out like they’d been reheated in a toaster over for about twice the recommended time. So while I enjoy good dim sum, that was… not this.
It’s sad the depths to which American’s Flagship First Class product has fallen. They are eliminating the product, but the truth is going the other direction wouldn’t have been hard. Without even spending money on better seats they could have included their Five Star ground service program for first class passengers, invested just a small amount more (and a small amount of effort) in catering, and worked through better service standards in the cabin.
My flight attendants in first class on Sydney runs have been much better, and of course perhaps the real lost opportunity at this airline was doing a new flight attendant contract with big raises without asking anything service-wise in return.
@Gary: I have posted about how I loved AA Flagship First as value, even if it wasn’t the best, but you have more than adequately written here on why I have changed my airline allegiance after 30+ years as CK/EP.
I am a Port drinker. The listed Port is $10/bottle, i.e., not great.
And why, oh why, does AA continue to litter the seats with yuge bedding packages. Overhead space can be tight in this cabin due to crew rest over the two middle first row seats as it is.
I am sooooo glad AF is flying an A350 from my US home airport these days……………
A one year old in first class?
I shutter.
This sounds entirely accurate for AA FC. With them you roll the dice on whether you get the usual surly FA (likely, since the seniors all get priority allocation for the transcon routes) or someone that actually wants to do their job, and make the best of what’s a fairly lame hard product. Compare that to Singapore, Air France, Qatar, Cathay etc etc, all of whom at least can offer consistency in their service, and much higher quality food and bev. I like in Dallas, so my only real choice is AA to Europe (BA conceded their slot, who are also not great, but I find their cabin staff far more pleasant).
As you say Gary, AA could have made this great, but instead gave up on it entirely, and offer a minimally viable product. Sometimes the price/points make it less stinging, but nevertheless, first class should actually be first class.
I think AA First International is worth it once in life. Then business is really all you want to book after that. I won’t miss this product. It is from an AA of a different time.
@ Daniel
It looks like these 1st class seats don’t have a door or other means to ‘shutter’, unfortunately !
,,, lol
Remember, Daniel, that one year old will pay your Social Security and Medicare benefits. And all that money you have and are contributing in taxes for “future” benefits……? It’s going to your grandparents and parents today. Take a deep breadth and put on your B&O headphones.
The food and wine is terrible for business class standards!
Why don’t you book yourself in better airlines??
So a reasonable coach class food service in first class.
@ Gary — Yoy certainly seem to have quickly burned through those Conservation International miles. Do you regret not buying more? I do. If only we had had more open credit on MasterCards that day! If this had only been a VISA or AMEX promo…
so why fly with them???
Chin up ! … Aren’t the days of this pathetic AA anachronism quite limited ? I didn’t even see any duct tape in the cabin from the posted pics ! Maybe you’ll be lucky and that grumpy F/A will be retired as well …. and the ‘suffering’ will end !
It’s embarrassing how Isom has abandoned the Flagship First hard product but thinks he hasn’t permanently damaged the AA Flagship brand…
With Gary’s wife. When I realized the chardonnay , I felt the enamel on my teeth melt and wished for an antacid.
It’s not the flight attendants to blame for this service and shoddy product you are being given. It’s management, Isom, and his yes-men. Their vision is Son of Spirit in the air. We, flight attendants, want a better product and service. But management keeps putting this crap out with less staff to give a proper service!
What is the point of this review? AA is phasing out F as soon as possible.AA gives zero phucks about a poor review of F.
I flew AA FC LAX-LHR last week (upgraded from Business with miles) because it may have been my last opportunity before they eliminate FC. Cabin was full and my guess was mostly with paying passengers. Seat spacious but dated. Food was ok (didn’t think much of the choices); Service was ok (flight attendants pleasant). FAs had to work hard to find space for all the volumes of bedding they had to store. Wine, as Gary says, was indifferent. Worked all flight on the $35 wifi, which only disconnected a couple of times. Not significantly better than Business. Why, oh why doesn’t American just revert to the washbag amenity kits from the 90s? They are at least useful.
@Gene – Yes, in hindsight I should have bought more. But while I was confident the deal would pan out… remember, it took a little while! … there was SOME non-zero risk involved, right? So I had to decide how much money I was comfortable putting out.
I had written assurance from AA on the deal… it was for a donation to a Mastercard charity. At Christmas. But it required someone at Mastercard to go to their boss and admit they screwed up, probably an 8-figure screw up expense… And wait for them to sign off on the extra money they’d have to pay AA. Surely that was always going to happen.
Knowing with certainty it would work, sure, I’d have bought a lot more miles than the 7 million I did given that the cost was below 50 basis points. Worst case that’s prepaying travel at a minimum of 50% off.
You’d have to be either ignorant, hopelessly stubborn, or a sadomasochist to choose to fly AA internationally, especially in a premium cabin. I mean, wtf to you expect will happen? If you keep rewarding them with business, then nothing will change. I’m just hoping someday a CEO will come in and have the balls to lock out the garbage AA FA union, bring in young eager workers that actually want to do the job, and completely turn around this national embarrassment.
It’s an AA flight. The seats are good! The food is mid. The drinks – stick with the champagne and the cheap single malt and you’ll be fine. The service can be good or not good. But the seats are good and it’s a comfortable way to get across the Atlantic for good value (Conservation International value sure, but even AA miles devalued value).
Pretty funny that in AA’s premium pivot they are taking away the one could be positive point of differentiation between them and DL/UA. As Gary continues to note, it wouldn’t take much…
Some time ago AA wine budget for F and J was reduced (and it was already low to start with). After that AA buys what fit the budget and some $6 wines are quite drinkable. The Chardonnay your wife had is 3.8 average on Vivino with the following review popping up: “Really enjoyable drinkable wine – nice selection for a DFW-LHR flight”. of course, individual palates are …, individual. My main complain is that last time when I asked for a glass of Champaign for a dinner I was poured Prosecco. I asked what was in the glass and was ensured it was Champagne… Then they had no choice but to open the right bottle.
About the only beverage of quality is Tito’s or water. Beyond that, drink at your own risk.
Food is still a crap shoot. I had a decent piece of beef the other day even though it was overcooked.
I’m a senior. In the last year I’ve flown AA internationally on 6 flights, all in business class, including LA to Sydney and Auckland to LA (LA isn’t my home base. That’s PHL, so I’m more or less stuck with AA.) That said, yes the food is mediocre and the entertainment system okay in BC, though I prefer my own iPad and what’s on it to AA. (All of my seats and my wife’s had everything working and the seats and cabins were clean.)
I don’t drink alcoholic beverages when I flight because they’re diuretics and therefore dehydrate me. I stick to tomato juice and ginger ale and it’s fine and I feel a whole lot better on and after the flights and end up with virtually no jet lag particularly compared to those who drink alcohol during much of the flight.
According to the Mayo Clinic, dehydration can make jet lag symptoms worse. From what I’ve seen they can change the wording of their statement from can to will. They suggest passengers avoid alcohol and caffeine, as these can dehydrate you and affect your sleep and thus exacerbate jet lag.
Finally, in the last 2.25 years since the pandemic ended I’ve had nothing but pleasant experiences with flight attendants on AA on my ten international flights and 30+ domestic flights, all in FC. Yes, I’m sure the flight attendants know that I’m Executive Platinum, but I don’t think that enters into it. I think it’s because I don’t act like so many in FC and BC as an entitled jerk. I show consideration and respect to flight attendants and get it back. I see too many FAs treated like servants up front and therefore it’s no wonder that they often dish it right back to those passengers. I think I’d probably do the same. None of them are perfect, but they aren’t the stiffs that I read about here by the whiners who have unrealistic expectations. Have you flown on United recently? I have and their product isn’t noticeably better than AA on the flights I’ve been on.
@ NSL14 You, sir, are the problem. You accept garbage service, never open your meek mouth, and then offer goofy praise because the AA flight attendant succeeded in bringing you a ginger ale? Embarassing. You are paying business class international fares — and getting Greyhound bus service. But you say it’s the rest of us (who expect value commensurate with the dollars spent) who are the problem??? It’s flyers like NSL14 (I’ll tolerate garbage and I’ll like it) which are the reason AA will never improve.
Gary should’ve had some more cheese with that whine. Flagship anything is still a decent product, hard and soft. For hard, the new Suites should make a big difference (789, new a321XLR); for soft, Gary and other really should stop bashing flight attendants on here.
That is a top shelf champagne. Some reason that wasn’t consumed instead of a low quality chardonnay?
A 1-year-old in first? Sigh . . . The kid would rather be home.
Trump should make All U.S Carriers Great Again , these airlines are shame of the coutnry: bad service, lazy staffs, greddy management and constant strike…fired all of them and give the job to the younger genration when want to work
Don’t blame the employees for the service standards . That is designed by the airline . It is only one flight attendants working First during the service . The purser goes to the back (business ) and stays therw for the whole service . So it is one person working galley and aisle in first . It used to be both of them working first in the past , but the airline cut staffing. So I am not sure what you expect .
If I were a flight attendant and spotted a one year old in first class, I’d make myself scarce.
I really don’t understand the great interest in taking these incredibly mediocre premium class international flights. Airplane travel is transportation. Sure, it’s better to be more comfortable than less, but at what price and effort? Candidly, sitting in coach with an empty middle seat across the Pond is not materially less comfortable than a premium cabin (it’s just less fancy, unless you must lie down). So why make extraordinary effort/expense to try to game a “meh” experience? If you want to game a “free travel experience,” game cruising. For example, Nick Reyes at Frequent Miler has been telling people how to get “free” cruises. Dinner on MSC, which is not a premium cruise line, is a zillion times better than what was served to you in first class on American — both service and food-wise. And you’ll be much more comfortable in your cabin. A much more memorable travel experience, with much less effort and expense.