Review of American Airlines flight New York → Los Angeles in First

Greetings Flight-Report Community. Thanks for stopping by and having a look at this report. This marks the sixth and final installment of the trip outlined below.

For this report I will finally be sharing a recent adventure. This trip took place in July 2015 so depending on when you're reading this I would consider it recent! This is also the first trip that I set out on with the idea of reporting at this site. With that I tried to use the tips I've learned by reading so many of your great reports on Flight-Report to take more detailed pictures.

The reports will be broken down as follows:

SEA AMEX Centurion Studio, The Club at SEA, and Delta SEA-NRT (Business)http://flight-report.com/en/report-10926.html
Narita Airport, Delta NRT Skyclub, and Delta NRT-SIN (Business)http://flight-report.com/en/report-10950.html
Singapore Airlines T2 Silverkris Business Lounge and ANA SIN-NRT (Business)http://flight-report.com/en/report-11006.html
JAL Sakura Lounge HND and Korean Airlines HND-GMP (First)http://flight-report.com/en/report-11022.html
Korean Airlines First Lounge ICN and Korean Airlines ICN-JFK (First)http://flight-report.com/en/report-11058.html
Delta Skyclub Terminal 4 JFK, AA Flagship Lounge JFK and AA JFK-LAX (First)(This Report)

I experienced several firsts on this adventure:

My first time on Korean Air in any class.
My first time on American Airlines in any class.

I had about 6 hours at JFK before the flight to LAX. Rather than heading directly to the AA terminal and Flagship Lounge I stopped by T4 to pay a visit to the Delta Skyclub. Specifically I was interested in the Skydeck. My connections at JFK have heretofore been either nighttime or dead of winter and the Skydeck has been closed at every attempt.

Walking to the T4 Skyclub I spotted Uzbekistan.



First order of business at the lounge was a shower and change of threads. No wait for a spacious shower room.



After refreshing I grabbed a beer and headed out to the Skydeck.



It's a lovely space and really fun for an airplane geek like me to spend some time. Unfortunately it's New York in the summer time and it was hot and sticky. I should have done the deck visit and then the shower!

A look at the big hole where T3 used to be.



I took a stroll around T4 and spotted N822NW, the first 242T A330 delivered to Delta.



Next I headed over to T8. Here is the premium check in area. There's not really much to it. It looked like there was no waiting, so that's nice.



Cool model airside in T8.



I made my way to the Admirals Club nearest my gate and the agent directed me to the other club which housed the Flagship Lounge.



Inside I found a well appointed, albeit crowded, lounge.

The seats along the window offer great tarmac views.



I helped myself to a glass of Procsecco.



I wasn't hungry but the food selection seemed more than adequate. It was certainly a more complete offering than the Korean Air First Class Lounge at ICN.



Yum, blood orange Pellegrino!



It was time to take the stroll to gate 46. Here is the aircraft that would perform AA181 tonight.



As soon as the call was made for First I went aboard. Here is a look at the clean and new appearing cabin and seat 3F.



Amenity kit. I still haven't opened it! Love that it says Air Cal! Brings back fond memories of seeing them at SNA back in the 70s and 80s.



Control panel.



Blanket and pillow.



Generous screen size.



The cabin during boarding.



I accepted sparking wine as the pre-departure beverage.



The purser was very friendly and genuine in her welcome and distributed menus.



Let's have a look at the offerings for tonight. I pre-ordered the vegetarian option, not that anyone would need to bit I wanted to try out the system. It's a great idea and I don't understand why more US domestics don't offer this.



We pushed on time and had a surprisingly short taxi. I get a kick out of going over roads when in an airplane in taxi.



Beautiful 747-8 ahead of us.



Up and away.



The moving map had some cool views to choose from. This HUD was fun.



A proper round of cocktail and warm nuts kicked off the service.



I opted for the smoked salmon starter. Holy caper berry Batman! The dish was flat and neither the smoke or the salmon mde much of an impact.



A salad next. Good color and textures.



The turmeric paneer main course. American Airlines owes the great country of India an apology for this abomination of culinary reproduction. The dish was not hot, the lentils were crunchy and the seasoning was flat/non-existent. Purple cauliflower looks cool though. I wasn't hungry so I tried a bite or two and folded my hand.



Ice cream is always delightful.



The cabin during cruise. A generous display of snack items were on offer at the front of the cabin.



Over Arizona about to enter California.



Sunset from 3F.



If there was any type of arrival service I didn't see it. I could have been sleeping.

Big Bear lake, I reckon.



In the basin approaching LAX.