Review of American Airlines flight New York Los Angeles in Business

Airline American Airlines
Flight AA 19
Class Business
Seat 9D
Aircraft Airbus A321
Flight time 05:55
Take-off 06 Oct 15, 11:00
Arrival at 06 Oct 15, 13:55
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
jetsetpanda
By 2917
Published on 23rd October 2015
Hi and welcome to the last segment of this series. Below is my schedule:

SFO-JFK on AA Y - http://flight-report.com/en/report-11775.html
JFK-GIG on AA Y - http://flight-report.com/en/report-11776.html
GIG-JFK on AA Y - http://flight-report.com/en/report-11903.html
JFK-LAX on AA J - you are here
LAX-SFO on AA F - will not report


After waiting inside the plane for a few minutes we finally disembarked and everybody rushed to Immigration. There was a line for US citizens but the staff working the lines did an efficient job by redirecting people to other booths. I finally emerged into the counter area and went through security. Thankfully there were not many passengers today and in a couple of minutes I was at the other side.

I decided to go to the AA Club in concourse C since I found it less crowded the last time I was there. I requested a shower upon check-in and was immediately escorted to one. There is nothing like a hot shower to wash the grime off after a long flight.

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View of tarmac.

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I have covered this AA lounge during my first visit back in Sept., so I am going to skip the details and just say that I like this lounge better than the one in concourse B at the entrance of security because it feels more intimate and less crowded. After my shower I sat down and ate some oatmeal while fighting to stay awake. I still had about 3 hrs before my flight so I left and went to the other lounge hoping that the walk would wake me up.

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Admirals Club in B concourse.

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I have been in this lounge before and found it open and crowded. However, today it was not so full and I took the opportunity to take some shots.




The buffet.

The usual breakfast spread with breads, pastries, yogurt, oatmeal and fruit salad. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed that the container on top of the fruit salad was dripping water into the food from the condensation of the bowl. AA has to either re-arrange the order of the bowls and place the salad on top or come up with a better way to offer the food. I will never look at the fruit salad the same way again.




Those are not metal utensils - they are plastic with silver coat.

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My snack and for obvious reasons I skipped the healthy fruit salad.

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I then left for my gate.

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I wonder which airline has this livery?

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A LAN 787 parked nearby.

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Gate.

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At 30 min. before dept. the agents started to board the plane. I was greeted by a FA upon entering and there was a beverage set up for the F cabin right after I turned right.

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View of J cabin.

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A duvet and pillow set was on each seat along with headphones, menu and a bottle of water. The main FA assigned to the J cabin was a Japanese lady that was attentive and efficient.

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Pre-dept. beverage.

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Something was wrong with my screen. It kept re-loading and after I told the FA, she advised the purser who did the reset a couple of times with no results.

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After take off hot towels were distributed and the purser came to my seat and apologized, offering me a tablet from F. Luckily F was not full and they had an extra one to spare.

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Menu.




Wine list.

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Service started with warm nuts and beverages. I ordered my half orange and half cranberry juice cocktail.

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Then white linens were placed on each table and a tray with the appetizer and salad was delivered. Notice the redundancy between the appetizer and the salad. I find that it is very frugal for AA to serve a vegetarian appetizer on a premium transcon route, let alone a small salad that is about the same as the appetizer. I overheard another passenger nearby make this comment to his seatmate too, so I am not alone in my opinion.

One more thing - according to the menu the small salad is served with watermelon radish. Do you see anything like that from the pics? My thoughts exactly. Instead it had shreds of onion. I guess the contrasting flavor between the appetizer with the pickled shallots and the salad with the shredded onion is supposed to be intriguing. By the way, the small salad was served with a choice of dressings and I chose a creamy orange one. For a moment, I envisioned eating salad with Hermes Eau d'Orange Vert. :P The FA offered an assortment of warm breads from a basket.

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I don't like the light colored linen on the tray. What was wrong with the dark colored one before?

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I pre-ordered the Thai beef and this was acknowledged by the FA. Its taste was quite a revelation. Here is one of the few dishes that I really enjoyed onboard a plane. The beef was not overcooked and had some pinkness to it which is hard to get inside a plane. The spicy sauce paired beautifully with the creaminess of the coconut rice but the presentation with the sauce could be improved. At times it reminded me of globs of mayo mixed with Sriracha sauce. For those who don't know what is Sriracha, here is a link with more information:

http://www.huyfong.com/

Main dish.

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Afterwards the FA's rolled out a trolley offering dessert. I asked for both an ice cream sundae and the cheese plate. The FA said that she will get back to me on the cheese plate since she only had two plates left and this was in row 6. There were 4 passengers ahead of me who refused any dessert so I wonder how many cheese plates does AA actually load on this flight. After the FA's finished with the last row my cheese plate arrived along with a set of utensils.

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Eventually I dozed off and woke up to use the WC. A few minutes later the FA offered warm cookies so I knew that we will soon arrive.

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We arrived earlier at 13:32, but for some reason the plane had to make a big detour on the runway and we lost some time arriving at the gate. I had to run to catch the bus to the satellite gate where the AA Eagle flights depart. In the end I made it to my connecting flight to SFO, but had to check my bag at the gate because all the overhead bins were taken.
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Verdict

American Airlines

8.8/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Meal/catering8.5

American Airlines Admirals Club (Concourse C) - 8

5.5/10
Comfort3.0
Meal/catering3.0
Entertainment/wifi8.0
Services8.0

New York - JFK

8.1/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness9.0

Los Angeles - LAX

8.1/10
Efficiency7.0
Access8.5
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.5

Conclusion

This was a nice flight on AA with efficient and professional crew.

I liked the Thai beef dish and kudos to AA for offering something a bit more outside of the box. However. the appetizer and salad courses were disappointing - repetitive and lacking. For a lucrative transcon route that gets so much marketing attention, I think a more elaborate appetizer needs to be offered. I feel that on a non-premium domestic long haul, I would get a better appetizer than what I received on my flight. The dessert trolley after the meal service is always a welcoming feature but I think that AA should load a higher amount of cheese plates so that passengers can have more choices. For what they charge on these routes, this is not asking for much.

Not every flight is perfect and in this case my entertainment system crashed. Things can go wrong but what counts is how the problem was solved and whether the resolution was satisfactory to the affected party. In my experience I felt that the FA's did their best to resolve my problem by offering a replacement tablet from the F cabin, but I wonder if the F cabin was full, would they still have an extra spare to give me? 5-6 hours without entertainment can be an agonizingly long flight.

Finally, the AA lounge needs to come up with a better way to present their offerings, particularly the breakfast's fruit salad. I was honestly appalled when I saw the condensation from the container above dripping into it. In addition, given the size of the containers, wouldn't a bigger bowl make more sense in order to cut down on the frequent replenishment?

Information on the route New York (JFK) Los Angeles (LAX)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 25 avis concernant 4 compagnies sur la ligne New York (JFK) → Los Angeles (LAX).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est JetBlue Airways avec 8.1/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 6 heures et 25 minutes.

  More information

16 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 149112 by
    Jetset 52 Comments
    I am really into your FRs. Good quality pictures and detailed reporting. For my taste a little too much text, but others might be fine with that.

    You didn't say if the tablet worked for you. Did it offer the same features as the common IFE (except Airshow)?
    • Comment 327386 by
      jetsetpanda AUTHOR 2283 Comments
      Thanks for your support and kind words Jetset.

      The tablet was just as good as the IFE. The only problem is that it had to be plugged into the power source and I couldn't plug my computer which was low in batteries. Eventually I fell asleep for a few hours.
  • Comment 149116 by
    Caribel 113 Comments
    Glad to read AA exceeded all your expectations on the air and in the ground. :)

    The crashing of IFE is a very common issue outside the airline's control. Seat/interior cabin manufacturers over-promised and under-delivered. The current glut of orders has meant quality controls sacrificed to meet large orders. Otherwise, the cabin manufacturers have to pay penalties to the air carrier for delays.

    My best guess, AA gets away with serving two vegetarian courses because technically they are different categories. Rockets constitute a herb starter, the salad is a mesclun. Probably, they are separated to avoid offending pax not accustomed to the flavor.

    Can't complain about the service. The FA warmed your nuts, fixed your Madras libation just the way you find ecstatic and surprised you at the end of the flight with her warm cookie. A very busy day for you. ;)

    • Comment 327387 by
      jetsetpanda AUTHOR 2283 Comments
      Glad to read AA exceeded all your expectations on the air and in the ground. :)
      - What can I say? I am easy to please. :P Maybe I should set the bar higher.

      My best guess, AA gets away with serving two vegetarian courses because technically they are different categories.
      - Maybe they have their passengers' best interest in mind and have decided to provide healthier offerings. With the obesity epidemic that affects so many people nowadays, it's good to see an airline trying to make a difference. :P I think I should look for a cheerleader uniform for Halloween.

      Can't complain about the service. The FA warmed your nuts, fixed your Madras libation just the way you find ecstatic and surprised you at the end of the flight with her warm cookie. A very busy day for you. ;)
      - You are right. Only thing that she did not do was tuck me in bed. Perhaps on my next flight. ;) Oh and next month I will be sampling a bunch of carriers - UA, TP, IB, AY, TK and CX.

      Thank you Caribel.
  • Comment 149156 by
    SMilano 1284 Comments
    It's always a pleasure to read you.

    Thanks for sharing with us this nice report :)
  • Comment 149173 by
    tn92 173 Comments
    I requested a shower upon check-in and was immediately escorted to one. There is nothing like a hot shower to wash the grime off after a long flight.
    The shower looks quite basic in terms of design BUT I definitely agree with you - a shower is the best thing ever you can get after a long long flight.

    A duvet and pillow set was on each seat along with headphones, menu and a bottle of water. The main FA assigned to the J cabin was a Japanese lady that was attentive and efficient.
    I still find it so unique to have this product in a narrow body. =P All the narrow-body aircrafts in Asian airlines only have those unattractive regional business class seats. Still comfortable though! But nothing as good as a lie-flat (or was it almost lie-flat?)

    Here is one of the few dishes that I really enjoyed onboard a plane. The beef was not overcooked and had some pinkness to it which is hard to get inside a plane.
    Woah the meal looks great and delicious. Your description of the food definitely made the photographs of the food to appear even tastier haha!

    Thanks for sharing this nice AA experience with us!
    • Comment 327442 by
      jetsetpanda AUTHOR 2283 Comments
      ..a shower is the best thing ever you can get after a long long flight.
      - Spoken like an experienced frequent flyer.

      I still find it so unique to have this product in a narrow body. =P All the narrow-body aircrafts in Asian airlines only have those unattractive regional business class seats.
      - Narrowbody on the outside, widebody wanna be on the inside. But I wish that U.S. carriers would deploy more widebodies for domestic flights, especially transcon ones. At least in Asia it is more common to see a widebody being used for regional routes.

      Your description of the food definitely made the photographs of the food to appear even tastier haha!
      - Can you tell that I am into food? ;)

      Thank you very much for your comments.
    • Comment 327507 by
      tn92 173 Comments
      Spoken like an experienced frequent flyer.
      Hahaha on the contrary, I am actually not an experienced flyer. I only had the opportunity to experience a shower before/after a flight just a few times till date, and those were really good experiences.

      At least in Asia it is more common to see a widebody being used for regional routes.
      Yup! This is definitely true. SQ flies a wide-body between SIN and KUL. KA flies wide-body aircrafts as well on the very short hop between HKG and CAN!

      Can you tell that I am into food? ;)
      Hahaha I certainly can tell that. xD I love food too.
  • Comment 149221 by
    Chibcha SILVER 540 Comments
    As usual, great report! I'm looking forward to your next trip!
  • Comment 149337 by
    AFGK1 46 Comments
    Hi!

    Wonderful and Detailed airport as always!


    The usual breakfast spread with breads, pastries, yogurt, oatmeal and fruit salad. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed that the container on top of the fruit salad was dripping water into the food from the condensation of the bowl. AA has to either re-arrange the order of the bowls and place the salad on top or come up with a better way to offer the food. I will never look at the fruit salad the same way again.
    -The spread in the lounge looks lacking, which is normal for an American lounge, but having fruit salad with Water dressing? No thanks.

    I'm impressed with the service of AA including the bar before takeoff even if it's just three different types of drinks, other airlines give you a pre-departure beverage, AA gives you a bar in which you can drink to your heart's content.

    The meal looks promising. I find it odd to see two salads as starters, but maybe AA wants people to eat more greens??? Hehe

    The beef was not overcooked and had some pinkness to it which is hard to get inside a plane. The spicy sauce paired beautifully with the creaminess of the coconut rice but the presentation with the sauce could be improved. At times it reminded me of globs of mayo mixed with Sriracha sauce.
    -The main course looks very promising, it makes me think of green curry. You wonderfully described the beef that you left me dreaming of Thai food, hehe.

    I like how they serve cookies as a pre arrival snack.

    See you on your next flight!

    • Comment 327770 by
      jetsetpanda AUTHOR 2283 Comments
      Thank you AFGK1 for your comments.

      I'm impressed with the service of AA including the bar before takeoff even if it's just three different types of drinks...
      - I must warn you that pre-dept. beverages are not always offered consistently on AA and this is a complaint among frequent flyers.

      The main course looks very promising, it makes me think of green curry. You wonderfully described the beef that you left me dreaming of Thai food, hehe
      - A good curry with some steamed rice can be very comforting. ;)

      I like how they serve cookies as a pre arrival snack.
      - The cookies used to be better. Hopefully they will return to the old brand.
  • Comment 149515 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Thanks for a beautiful report as always! A salad appetizer with a side salad? What genius came up with that idea. The main, on the other hand looks good. It's funny how all 3 Major US carriers have the same exact seat for their Premium Transcon Business class. AA's definitely looks the best of the 3 though. I think that livery at JFK is SATA, a Portuguese airline from the Azores. Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 327771 by
      jetsetpanda AUTHOR 2283 Comments
      A salad appetizer with a side salad? What genius came up with that idea
      - Maybe it was the bean counter. :P

      It's funny how all 3 Major US carriers have the same exact seat for their Premium Transcon Business class. AA's definitely looks the best of the 3 though.
      - AA seems to invest in the seats but not so much in catering.

      I think that livery at JFK is SATA, a Portuguese airline from the Azores.
      - You might be right. Thanks for the tip.

      Your comments are greatly appreciated as usual.

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