Review of American Airlines flight New York London in Business

Airline American Airlines
Flight AA106
Class Business
Seat 7D
Aircraft Boeing 777-200ER
Flight time 06:55
Take-off 12 Feb 16, 19:55
Arrival at 13 Feb 16, 07:50
AA   #69 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 591 reviews
KévinDC
By SILVER 3560
Published on 8th August 2016
Hello and welcome to the next segment in this new series of Flight-Reports. These flights were taken back in February–it was a quick trip to Ireland to see a good friend over the long Presidents Day holiday weekend. This report will cover the 2nd leg of this trip: a short hop across the pond from New York to London on a recently refurbished American Airlines B777-200ER

Here is the full routing:

Washington DCA ✈ New York JFK | American Airlines, B737-800, First Class
New York JFK ✈ London LHR | American Airlines, B777-200ER, Business Class
London LHR ✈ Dublin DUB | British Airways, A320-200, Economy Class
Dublin DUB ✈ Philadelphia PHL | American Airlines, B757-200, Business Class
Philadelphia PHL ✈ Washington DCA | American Airlines, E175, First Class

Here we are at AA's Terminal 8 in JFK. Because of the half hour delay on our inbound connecting flight from DC, we only had about 15 minutes before boarding was due to close on the flight to LHR. So, unfortunately, no time to visit the Flagship Lounge.

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Quick shots of our triple seven during boarding

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Two very friendly Flight Attendants greeted us warmly at the door and pointed us to our seats. Nice to see some friendly faces after a bad experience with Mr. Sunshine, the grouchy Lead FA, on the previous flight.

Because there are two of us travelling together, I had selected forward facing seats together in the middle section.

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This is my second time flying on an aircraft with this forwards-backwards configuration Zodiac seat in Business class. My first time was on an AA 787 from Tokyo to Chicago.

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One major thing I hadn't noticed on the 787 was the partition screens between the seats in the middle section.

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The partitions aren't movable, which makes it impossible to speak to your neighbor. I wouldn't have chosen the middle seats, had I known. It would have been much better if the partition screens could come down like on BA and others. The 77Ws don't have screens. I don't find them necessary as the seats are far apart and you would have to lean forward to see your neighbor.

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At the time AA was still doing the Heritage Amenity kits.

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This is like the 3rd time I've gotten a US Airways kit–they must have had excess stock.

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A few more cabin and seat shots.

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My seat 7D

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Legroom is great, of course.

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Seat control

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IFE control and IFE screen

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Bose headsets were distributed by the FAs during boarding

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Shortly after, our friendly flight attendant offered pre-departure drinks. Some champagne for me.

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Afterwards menus were distributed.

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It is nice that AA offers a choice of 4 mains. I had already selected mine online to make sure my choice was available.



The moving map on the IFE is nice and modern, like on the 777-300ER and 787 fleets

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The flight was running a bit behind schedule. Luckily I had over 2 hours to connect to my next flight in London.

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Yep, we're definitely on a 777-200(ER).

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One particularity of these seats are the car-like over-the-shoulder seat belts for forward-facing seats. These only have to be worn during takeoff and landing.

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We pushed back about 25 minutes late. The safety video played as we taxied out.

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A very short flying time! Less than 5 1/2 hours from New York to London. There must have been some crazy tailwinds.



As with most of the AA fleet, this aircraft has WiFi.

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With the smartphone-like IFE controls, one can browse movie titles while having the airshow on the main screen. This is definitely a nice feature for AvGeeks!

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Relaxing while waiting for the meal service to begin.

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Row 7 is right behind the galley. Light and noise may be bothersome for some. Of course, that's what eye masks and noise-cancelling headphones are for.

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While watching a movie, you can have the airshow on the remote control's screen.

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The seats can be adjusted to custom positions.

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Aperitif service began as we were reaching the coast of Nova Scotia.

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I asked for more champagne

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The mood lighting was turned on.

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Which made the light from the galley much more pleasant.

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On these shorter overnight flights, the meal is served on one tray.

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Appetizer course: Flaky tomato tart with grilled artichoke hearts

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Main course: Roasted duck breast with curry lime sauce, coconut jasmin rice, broccolini and peppers
It was delicious and I have to give AA credit for creativity with a curry duck dish.

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Cheese course

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Ice cream sundae for dessert.

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After dinner I tried to get some rest, as there wasn't much time left.

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I woke up in the middle of the flight and got up to stretch my legs.

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It's nice that even on a short Transatlantic flight, the bar is set up with a nice selection of snacks. I imagine a lot of it goes to waste, however, on short night flights.

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Brought back a little snack.

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With so little time left, I took another quick nap.

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I woke up south of Ireland and had breakfast

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The orange mood lighting made photographing the breakfast a bit difficult.

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It's a rather hearty breakfast for such a short flight. I was still full from dinner and the mid-flight snack so I couldn't finish my breakfast.

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Went to freshen up before landing.

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Almost there

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Flight attendants prepare the cabin for arrival.

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We landed with some delay, but had made up some time in flight.

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We got to the gate about 25 minutes early.

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One advantage of being by the galley is that we were the first people off the plane, which is always good in LHR, where passport control and security can be slow.
We headed straight away for the airside shuttle to Terminal 5 to catch out connecting flight.

Thank you for reading and see you for the next report which will include a visit to the British Airways First Class lounge and a short hop to Dublin on BA.
See more

Verdict

American Airlines

8.6/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi9.5
Meal/catering7.5

New York - JFK

8.0/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

London - LHR

7.8/10
Efficiency5.5
Access8.5
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.5

Conclusion

An enjoyable flight with AA aboard a refurbished 777-200ER. The new 777/787 Zodiac seats are much nicer and more comfortable and spacious than the old angled seats, but not quite as nice as the 777-300ER Cirrus seats. These seats are noticeably tighter than the 77W Cirrus seats. Another negative aspect of these seats is that they shake when the person behind you moves, which can be a bit annoying. Due to chronic delays with seat deliveries, earlier this year, AA cancelled their contract with Zodiac to supply seats for the 787 and 777 fleets. Only 13 of 47 777-200ER aircraft had been retrofitted with the new Zodiac seats. AA recently announced that the remaining 777-200ER and upcoming 787-9 fleets will be outfitted with new B/E Aerospace Super Diamond suites, which resemble the Cirrus seats found on the 777-300ER fleet. The new B/E Aerospace seats are flying as of a few weeks ago, which means that there are currently 3 types of seats on the 777-200ER fleet: Old angled flat, the new Zodiac forwards-backwards herringbone seats featured in this report, and the new new B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seats. Once all the old angled seats are gone, the passenger experience will be much more consistent.

Aside from the seats, other aspects of the flight were enjoyable. The cabin crew was very friendly and professional. Catering was overall very good. Again, I give AA credit for having 4 choices of mains and for creativity with the Duck Curry. AA is definitely starting to get away from the usual and boring "chicken or beef". The bar on these long-haul aircraft gives a very premium feel to the Business class passenger experience. The latest generation IFE on the newly refurbished planes is great. There is a lot of content and the airshow is very nice.

Information on the route New York (JFK) London (LHR)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 36 avis concernant 5 compagnies sur la ligne New York (JFK) → London (LHR).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Virgin Atlantic avec 8.2/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 6 heures et 54 minutes.

  More information

10 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 361845 by
    eminere™ 271 Comments
    Wow, catering really looks amazing - both the quantity and the quality! Is it because this is considered a "prestige" route?
    • Comment 361846 by
      KévinDC TEAM SILVER AUTHOR 6668 Comments
      It is possible that more effort is made on this route, but I had some pretty good catering on the return from Dublin to PHL as well, which wouldn't be considered a prestige route. Hopefully AA is just upping their catering game in general across the board. Thanks for the comment
  • Comment 361848 by
    757Fan 632 Comments
    Looks like you had a great flight with AA in J. I agree with the comment above ... the catering looks great! I'm impressed.

    Wow. 5 hours 24 minutes? That's incredibly fast.

    Looking forward to your return flights.
    • Comment 361958 by
      KévinDC TEAM SILVER AUTHOR 6668 Comments
      Thanks for the comment Matthew! Yes, it was a very pleasant flight and more than made up for the bad experience on the previous flight. Once again AA shows that they've made improvements in catering. I used to think that having everything on one tray was cheap, but on such a short overnight flight, the faster service is appreciated. Yeah, 5h 24m is freakishly fast--it's those winter winds for ya! Thanks for stopping by.
  • Comment 362464 by
    Rl 777 802 Comments
    Thank you for sharing this FR with us!

    I'm glad you had a great crew this time compared to the previous flight.

    The new cabin looks great compared to the older one, I've probably said this a few times on some reports but like the colours AA used for these new cabins.

    I'm glad you got a bird equipped with the new cabin, seats look good but it's a shame the partitions weren't movable.

    "With the smartphone-like IFE controls, one can browse movie titles while having the airshow on the main screen. This is definitely a nice feature for AvGeeks!"
    - Absolutely fantastic feature!

    Catering looks fantastic, that's a lot of food for this flight!

    Have a good one, see you!

    • Comment 367937 by
      KévinDC TEAM SILVER AUTHOR 6668 Comments
      Thanks for your comments! I like the color scheme and design of the cabin interiors as well--they look very modern and it's nice to see an airline get away from the traditional boring blues of most cabin interiors. Yeah, it's a shame the partitions don't move. Apparently it's one of the many complaints AA had with these custom seats aside from delivery delays. AA ended up terminating the contract with Zodiac and is finishing the rest of the fleet with B/E Aerospace super diamond seats similar to the Cirrus seats in the 77W.
  • Comment 368421 by
    NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
    "This is like the 3rd time I've gotten a US Airways kit–they must have had excess stock.”
    - I have 4 TWA kits if you want to trade ;)

    "These only have to be worn during takeoff and landing.”
    - That scarf was your attempt at getting in the mood for Ireland? :P

    That tablecloth looks napkin sized on that tray table, and serving the champagne in a tumbler is perfect for your thirst for alcohol.

    “The mood lighting was turned on."
    - Do you find it strange that English and Chinese are the only languages on the overhead sign? I’ve always been a fan of the American flag moodlighting.

    Catering seems to be a mixed bag. The single tray for dinner isn’t the best , but it is completely understandable given the very short flight time to ensure people are fed. That said, I think most business folk would probably skip both meals so having a traditional service option for those wanting to stay up could be offered. The duck didn’t look to bad at all as you pointed out and the breakfast is one of the more comprehensive i’ve seen on a TATL, almost comparable to what is offered on a TPAC for breakfast (2x the flight length).

    “We got to the gate about 25 minutes late.”
    - 7:25 looks to be 25 minutes early…

    Overall a pretty good TATL flight with AA on this flagship route. I wonder how much this catering is a result of JFK-LHR, versus an overall enhancement to AA catering. The Cirrus seats are nice to have, but not completely necessary for you since you never sleep^^

    Thanks for sharing Kevin!
    • Comment 368427 by
      KévinDC TEAM SILVER AUTHOR 6668 Comments
      "I have 4 TWA kits if you want to trade ;)"
      - Sure! Wait, I think I have 3 of those too, LOL

      "That scarf was your attempt at getting in the mood for Ireland? :P"
      - Exactly! I was also wearing my "Ireland - Dublin' Your Pleasure" T-shirt underneath the sweater ^^

      "serving the champagne in a tumbler is perfect for your thirst for alcohol."
      - Truer words have never been uttered. Who needs fancy flutes; it's all about cubic volume :-P

      "Do you find it strange that English and Chinese are the only languages on the overhead sign?"
      - Not really...aren't those the only languages that matter anymore? Which as a Frenchman hurts my soul

      I thought I wouldn't like the single tray thing, but that flight is sooooo short, I was happy about it in the end.

      "7:25 looks to be 25 minutes early…"
      - Oops, yep. That was a typo. Changed to "early". Yeah, there was that crazy tailwind. We would've gotten to LHR almost an hour early if we hadn't left the gate in JFK late.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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