Incidentally, this flight took place on N776AN, which was the airplane that was chartered for Pope Francis’ recent visit to the US. It’s nice to know AA put him on such a classy 16 year old plane…
This report will also serve as a reminder of the disparity in long-haul premium cabins. Both AA and JL operate flights NRT-LAX that depart at the exact same time. I tried to get on the JL flight operated on a B77W with SkySuites, but it was already full when my ticket was booked 3 days before departure so I ended up with AA. Why did AA still have seats? You’ll see soon.
Pre-flight:
After clearing immigration, I had 20 minutes until boarding was scheduled to start. A quick look at the FIDS, which already marks my flight as “go to gate.”
I decided to make a quick pit stop in the JAL Sakura Lounge on the way to the gate.
Entering, the counter was swarmed with people and I had to fight my way to the counter to get scanned in. The agent barely acknowledged my presence, just scanned my boarding pass and told me to go downstairs. A little bit of foreshadowing… Down the escalators we go.
The seating area downstairs runs along the windows.
The food offering is quite poor for a hub, just some onigiri and packaged snacks.
I grab a coffee and tea and head to a seat.
I quickly finish my drinks, and then make a loop around the lounge before heading to my gate. Business center in the corner.
Pay phones for Kevin.
JL B788 getting ready to leave for SAN parked in front of the lounge.
I walked to the main dining area and was met with this sign denying my entry.
A quite disappointing visit to the JAL Sakura Lounge. It was overcrowded and just not that nice looking. Boarding for my flight was already underway, so I had to rush off to Gate 71. Arriving at my gate, a peak down shows priority boarding is already going on.
My plane ready to go. Yes this is NRT, even though there are 3 AA heavies visible in the background at the satellite terminal.
——————————-
American Airlines, AA 170 Equipment: Boeing B777-200ER [N776AN “Shepherd One”, delivered May 1999] Departure: 17:25 (ATD: 17:48) Arrival: 11:25 (ATA: 10:38) Flight time: 8:50
Boarding pass.
I board with economy. My boarding pass gives a red light (I didn’t bother exchanging the boarding pass that JL gave me at NGO). I get pulled aside as they manually board me. I get the thumbs up and head down into the jetbridge. Fuselage shot.
Entering the cabin, the one FA standing there wasn’t even paying attention and I didn’t even get a welcome as I entered the plane. Another foreshadowing moment for what is to come. I just went back to my seat where my seatmate was already waiting.
Since the J cabin was already full, no shots. This antiquated cabin is not very photogenic; it looks really tired with the vintage angled seats in a 2-3-2 configuration in J. The seat pitch is not that good for J. I can’t get out without bothering my seatmate.
Pillow/duvet were preplaced on the seat. The amenity kit and slippers were preplaced in the cubbies in between seats.
The AA slippers (black with red piping) and TWA amenity kit. The TWA kit is perfect for Christmas. The AA kit is so-so, I don’t like the closure mechanism and the contents are average, but at least there is a pen!
The battle worn armrest.
The vintage center console that is really small, with rather unresponsive seat controls.
The plastic wall containing a small IFE (Y sized) that was extremely poor quality. There were wavy lines through all the programs. I’ll talk more about content later on.
Pre-departure drinks were offered. I’ll gladly take this champagne from a plastic cup. This is long-haul J and you are serving me in a plastic cup… I wouldn't be surprised if AA charges for water cups in Y… (I shouldn’t speak too soon; this might be coming soon to a UA flight near you!)
A peak out my window is the big shiny silver wing. Even if the cabin is 15 years old, the paintjob on this plane is really nice.
The front door closes 10 minutes before the scheduled time. My seatmate and I both look at our watches and then give each other glances of shock. Leaving early: a first for an American carrier. We didn’t get pushed back for another 15 minutes though.
During this time, my seatmate noticed that the 5-seats to our right were empty. He casually slid over into the aisle of the middle section. An FA immediately approaches him and asks him where his assigned seat was. He points at 13B, the FA rather rudely tells him to get back then walks off. Another FA (that will serve my row) passes and my seatmate asks why he can’t take an empty seat. She says that there was an infestation in the crew rest so they had to block off 5 seats in J for the crew to sleep. We both look at each other in disbelief. Did she really just say that we are on a plane with a known infestation? Taking into account that information, the load in J was 100%. This is what the cabin looked like when I checked in at NGO, so there were some upgrades and reorganization of the cabin.
Menus were distributed (I’ll show this later) and the safety video fired up as we were pushed back.
Some spotting as we taxi to the runway. A JL B763.
Hmm, this plane looks familiar. It’s the JL B738 that I arrived on from NGO still sitting on the tarmac.
NH B763.
DL B744.
JL B788.
NH B77W.
EY A345 lurking in the distance.
Cargo operations.
By the time we got to the runway, there was no wait and we were quickly on our way as we lift up over Narita.
The cabin on take-off. If you notice, an older Japanese man took one of the crew rest seats, he’ll be kicked out soon.
The safety card is located in this small slot in the center console. There is no other inflight literature in these seats.
#Murica.
The duvet and pillow are both high quality.
As soon as we level off, Bose headsets are distributed.
The childish IFE remote.
Oshibori are distributed. These are really thin and are the same that NH offers in Y.
Aperitif service: a Kirin to go along with my ramekin of warm mixed nuts. You can see how quickly the center console gets cluttered.
Thankfully there is this rather useful fold down tray on the seatback.
The menu for this flight.
A nice feature of AA is that they offer a Japanese meal on their flights, but you have to pre-order it. I had called the day before to request a special meal. I figured that Japanese food ex-NRT is probably better than what AA will offer on its Western menu. After looking at the rather uninteresting Western menu (vegetarian appetizers are becoming standard on AA!), I’m glad I did it.
Meal service started with linens being laid.
As the cart arrives, I can confirm that mine was the only special meal loaded.
The FA lays down the pathetic caprese salad for my seatmate, then looks at me and says “You had the Japanese meal, right?” I eagerly nod. She pulls it out, says “I don’t know why more people don’t do this…” Then sets down my first bento box, hands me another Kirin, and offers me bread.
The lighting wasn’t great, but the presentation was all up to Japanese standards and it was nice to get some fish for my appetizer.
Not a bad offering, I was happy with my choice.
The cabin mid-service. Notice the overhead projector on the bulkhead? Old school.
When the cart arrived with entrees, my seatmate got a rude awakening when he was told there was only one option left: chicken. He grumbled and took it. He took only one bite of the meal so I don’t think it was well received. As always, AA serves even flights front to back and odd flights back to front, so pick your seat accordingly since they under load their catering severely.
My first bento box was taken away and I received my second bento box.
The vegetables were so-so and the presentation doesn’t look great. The fish did taste good, so that was at least a positive. Again, I don’t care for fried rice; just give me plain steamed rice. The miso soup was rather insipid, a miss for NRT catering.
The cabin after mains were cleared showing the designated crew rest area.
When the dessert cart arrived, I was not given the option of a sundae… Is this gone from international flights? It was on the menu, but it was nowhere to be seen. I got stuck with this blueberry tart. The blueberry tart tasted frozen and was not very good at all. I also declined the cheese plate. I got a Baileys and coffee to wrap up the meal.
Meal service took 2.5 hours, which is really long on a flight that is less than 9 hours. We were almost to the date line by the time we wrapped up service and had the cabin lights dimmed.
Water bottles were distributed.
I tried my best to put my seat into “bed” mode. I must have been really tired because I actually slept for 3 hours in this seat and no wedgie waking up.
I woke up around here.
I also woke up to find that I have an iPad now. Actually that’s just my seatmate’s, who felt it necessary to put it on my side of the center console.
I did some acrobatics to get out of my seat over my sleeping neighbor. The lavatories on this plane were pretty crappy. Not even close to what is on offer in the refurbished B772s.
Cabin shot (with phone).
Settling back into my seat, I fired up the IFE. Pretty prehistoric and slow.
Let’s look for some movies and see what they have for “new releases.”
Two movies listed as “new releases.” That’s it?
Most of my time navigating the IFE was spent looking at this screen.
To amuse lagentsecret, let’s look at the music offering.
Three rock albums…
One of the FAs noticed that I was up and came to me and asked me if I wanted anything to eat from the galley since I was trapped in my seat. I asked for a banana and a water, which was promptly delivered with a smile.
As we approached the California coast, the sun started to rise.
I was still feeling peckish, so I did a backflip over my seatmate to get out. This was the lowly offering in the galley. Looks pretty Y to me.
An FA saw me poking around the cart and asked me if I wanted to try one of the mid-flight snacks. She pulled out both trays and asked me if I wanted one. I decided to try the udon. I also asked for coffee, she said she’d bring it to my seat in 10 minutes.
The udon is served with the sauce in the jar. I don’t really like cold udon or soba, but it was okay. The fruit was good. Overall, the presentation was very good on this mid-flight snack.
The big shiny wing.
Some more snacks from the FA. The FA working my aisle was very attentive to me so I think I got lucky.
About 2 hours to arrival, the lights were turned on and the meal service started. It is now daylight outside as we are really close to San Francisco.
I was asked which option I wanted, I went with the lighter fruit option. Pastries were offered. I was also offered a mango smoothie that was really good. Note, that there was no linen laid for this meal service nor oshibori distributed. This was the entire breakfast offering.
Flying over Marin County.
We headed south from San Francisco down into the valley.
What polluted city is under all these clouds? LA!
We swing in over Malibu.
Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.
Our approach.
Burbank.
A U-turn to land from the east over a smog covered LA.
Reaching LAX.
What an eclectic bunch as we land at LAX: MU, LY, and NK.
Nice spotting as we taxi around to TBIT.
CM and DL B737s.
UA B788 in the hangar.
The Aussies are here in force.
AA B757 in tan can livery.
AA A321.
Another AA B757 in tan can livery.
Asian heavies at TBIT.
NH B77W that beat us from NRT.
AA operations at Terminal 4.
Whose gate is this? JL62 (JL's flight NRT-LAX that leaves at the same time). At least we beat them to LAX, a small moral victory.
LA B788.
We stop short of our gate and have to get towed into our gate at Terminal 4. We didn’t arrive at TBIT so will have to take a bus back to TBIT for immigration. Deplaning, I was bumrushed by Y since no one blocked off the J cabin. The Y passengers immediately encroached into our cabin and no one stopped them. Casual bye as I left the plane. Our plane on arrival.
Out onto the tarmac to get on to the bus, for the 1-minute bus ride across the tarmac.
Immigration at LAX was slow. My bag was already circulating by the time I got through immigration. Then I was met with a 20-minute line to clear customs. Very inefficient. I took the shuttle to pick up my rental car. As a bonus, there was some plane spotting from the rental car parking lot as I walked to my car.
Thanks for stopping by this report and please check out the rest of this series!
See more
Verdict
American Airlines
5.3/10
Cabin4.0
Cabin crew7.0
Entertainment/wifi3.0
Meal/catering7.0
JAL Sakura Lounge
5.0/10
Comfort4.0
Meal/catering4.0
Entertainment/wifi8.0
Services4.0
Tokyo - NRT
8.5/10
Efficiency10.0
Access6.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness10.0
Los Angeles - LAX
7.0/10
Efficiency6.0
Access6.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0
Conclusion
My first time on AA in international J. Not the greatest of first experiences. I think that if I was on any other aircraft than these crappy old B772s, my experience would be much different. The cabin and IFE really drag down the experience. The Japanese meal was probably better than normal AA catering, but the breakfast was a little light. Crew was a mixed bag.
Cabin comfort: Full cabin and vintage. It wasn’t a very comfortable flight. These seats are really jammed in there and you can barely get out of the window seat even if your seatmate is in the full upright position. AA needs to pick up the pace on the refurbishing because these cabins are disgusting and non-competitive. I did get 3 hours of sleep, so it wasn’t that bad, but it’s still not acceptable in the current market. Don’t even want to touch the “infestation” issue.
Crew: Non-existant crew boarding and deplaning. Some rude remarks from some crew members to some passengers regarding the crew rest. They seemed rather frazzled at the start. The FA working my row was quite friendly so that really made up for some other negative interactions with some crew members.
Meal and catering: The pre-departure drinks in plastic cups is cheap. The Japanese meal was good, I’m glad I requested that. The first tray was better than the second, but I was happy with my selection. AA’s western catering just doesn’t look inspiring. The vegetarian appetizer needs to go. The dessert situation was also not good. The mid-flight snack options were okay (udon), but the snacks in the galley were poor. The breakfast was on the light side.
Entertainment: A joke. No newspaper offered. The IFE is 15 years old and looked every bit of it. Blurry screen, low resolution, no content. Not a very good offering.
On-time performance: Perfect, landed almost an hour early, which is a great gift when in a crappy cabin.
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As a perceptive avgeek you known already that AA's long haul J class is not the best option to choose. ;) Were you pressed for time to rush in the US not to consider a routing via ICN or another regional hub to avoid flying AA ?
The Sakura Lounge at NRT is very disappointing. ANA's one seems to have a better offering.
Old plane, old seats, old IFE... At least the Japanese meal was correct... Fortunately you thought to pre-order it ! The wine list is quite poor. Even the AA's signature sundae is missing on this flight !
See you for the domestic (how thrilling ! lol) leg.
As a perceptive avgeek you known already that AA's long haul J class is not the best option to choose. ;) Were you pressed for time to rush in the US not to consider a routing via ICN or another regional hub to avoid flying AA ? - I was hoping for a refurbished B772 with the Cirrus seats. Most of AA's fleet is now decent (B77Ws, B787s, A330s, and refurbed B767s). Service will always be lower standard than Asian carriers, but I have to pick a US carrier and UA and DL aren't any better. I didn't buy this ticket since this was for job interviews, so I had minimal input in routing. Their preferred carrier was AA, so I asked for JL segments, but it was already sold out so they offered me JL Y or AA J. J > Y even if it is AA.
The Sakura Lounge at NRT is very disappointing. ANA's one seems to have a better offering. - I agree 100%, the ANA Lounge is a much better looking lounge with a better offering. I like how the JL Sakura Lounges still have the old style coffee pots^^
Old plane, old seats, old IFE... At least the Japanese meal was correct... - I'm very glad I pre-ordered my meal, it was very easy to do. It doesn’t compete with JL’s catering, but for a US carrier it is a strong catering option.
See you for the domestic (how thrilling ! lol) leg. - It will be a short report, but not a lot of B6 reports on FR so I will do one.
This is really funny, I took one look at that picture of american and the 787 in the back and thought hmmm looks like the day i was there. And i just looked and it was! my report is there somewhere :)
Thank you for sharing this report and showing how much these old AA 772s are in need of a retrofit!
All the negative parts about this experience even started from the lounge access, and the lounge didn't even look good.
Boring to hear not even a 'Welcome onboard' was offered upon boarding.
You can definitely see the cabin needs a retrofit ASAP, the IFE screen looks similar to the the crappy IFE screen I had on my LH flight from Munich to Delhi in Y.
Glad to hear that at least your japanese meal was good however the 'snacks' in the galley looks like a joke. The breakfast looks colourful but wasn't obviously enough.
Nice spotting shots from LAX with many different heavies as expected.
It must have been a relief to disembark from this bird! Too bad the JL flight was full :(.
All the negative parts about this experience even started from the lounge access, and the lounge didn't even look good. -The Sakura Lounge at NGO is almost as nice (with respect to food/drink offerings) so that really says a lot about the state of their lounges in the hub.
Boring to hear not even a 'Welcome onboard' was offered upon boarding. - It was really weird. There was an FA there at the door, but she was turned around doing something else as we kept filing into the plane. I boarded with Y, so maybe that is the difference.
You can definitely see the cabin needs a retrofit ASAP, the IFE screen looks similar to the the crappy IFE screen I had on my LH flight from Munich to Delhi in Y. - I haven't seen an IFE this bad in a long time. The content and quality were both embarrassing for AA. I'm probably going to have to fly NRT-LAX for Christmas and I'm going to find a different option than AA given the planes they use on this route.
Glad to hear that at least your japanese meal was good however the 'snacks' in the galley looks like a joke. The breakfast looks colourful but wasn't obviously enough. - Based on what I've seen in other AA J reports, this was a very bad snack offering in the galley. The breakfast is light, but I wasn't that hungry since I had the udon mid-flight. The smoothie was an interesting option since it looked like it was being poured out of an old PET bottle with the label removed.
Nice spotting shots from LAX with many different heavies as expected. - LAX is a spotter's heaven. Blue skies and great diversity in aircraft.
It must have been a relief to disembark from this bird! - It was very nice to land 1 hour early :)
Thanks for sharing your report with us. I'm sorry to hear about the flight being not so great. I feel like AA can be really hit or miss. The food looks tasty though, and it definitely sounds like picking the Japanese meal is the best way to go.
AA is hit or miss right now, there are too many older planes still operating. It's a situation where you really need to do a routing to get onto the newer planes to get a better experience. The catering seems to be stagnant, people say there have been improvements, but the vegetarian starter trend is worrying. The Japanese meal at least has more substance to it.
Thanks for sharing this flight report with nice pictures!
Unfortunately you get on the old 772. Agreed with member Rl777 that AA should refurbish these planes ASAP. In today’s standard the business class looks so unattractive. But it seems that AA has slowdown the retrofit progress as they are still finding a new seat supplier according to recent news LOL
BTW did the crews really sleep on the blocked J seats throughout the flight?
“The TWA kit is perfect for Christmas”. --> AA should distribute it as gifts to child passengers in the coming Christmas!
The IFE looks like the friend of windows 9x. Luckily at least your Japanese meal was not bad. It is worth for you to pre-order online.
Nice plane spotting in LAX with good weather! The sky is so blue!
But it seems that AA has slowdown the retrofit progress as they are still finding a new seat supplier according to recent news LOL - That's what Kevin said is that everything is on hold right now so the NRT birds are behind schedule. When you compare AA's hard product to CX's hard product, there is no comparison.
BTW did the crews really sleep on the blocked J seats throughout the flight? - Yep. All 5 seats had someone in them mid-flight napping. They were in them for maybe 2-3 hours maximum.
The IFE looks like the friend of windows 9x. Luckily at least your Japanese meal was not bad. It is worth for you to pre-order online. - The Pentium II processor was struggling with the vast depth of content in the IFE. You pretty much have to pre-order your meal on line (whether Japanese or Western). Since only one of the four options was left by the time the cart reached my row, it's to your advantage to pre-order the Western meals too.
Nice plane spotting in LAX with good weather! The sky is so blue! - It's southern California, it's (almost) always good weather :)
Well I'm late to the party, but you know I still have my 2 cents :-)
Too bad AA fired Zodiac Aerospace while they were in the middle of retrofitting the 772 fleet with the backwards-forwards cabin concept. The retrofits seemed to be moving right along (after initially long delays), but now they have come to a screeching halt. I know AA was frustrated with the delays in retrofitting due to the seat manufacturer, but they are making it worse and delaying the process even more now as they search for a new manufacturer. And in the end, we could end up with a different product, which would add to yet another J product in the AA fleet. This is not good for AA's brand image or product consistency! AA already has a ridiculous amount of Business class products: Angled flat (NGBC) seats on TATL 757 fleet and non-retrofitted 763s and 772s (as featured in this report), Old school recliners on the pmUS TATL 757 fleet, A new Backwards-forwards herringbone/reverse-herringbone mixed concept on the 787 fleet and retrofited 772s, Zodiac Cirrus seats on the 77W fleet and pmUS A330 fleet, and full-flat B/E Aerospace Diamond seats in 2-2 configuration on the Transcon A321 fleet. Adding a new seat type would just be pure craziness. Ok, sorry, AA J seat rant over :-P
Visually, the JAL Sakura lounge looks nice (though this could just be good photography since you say it doesn't look that good), but the offering seems poor. Japanese carriers have been influenced too much by U.S. carriers. Though I must say, U.S. carrier lounges in Japan, are usually much better than in the U.S. The DL NRT clubs are among the best in the system, food offering-wise (i.e. above average for U.S, but below average by any other standard). I'll be hitting up the JAL First Class lounge in January. Hoping it's a little better.
Pay phones for Kevin. - Hmmm...ok, why? LOL
Since the J cabin was already full, no shots. This antiquated cabin is not very photogenic - Yeah, sadly ever with your good photography skills this sad NGBC cabin doesn't look appealing. In the movie Up in the Air they managed to make it look decent, though that was 3-4 years ago. I guess it takes Hollywood magic to make this cabin seem ok, lol.
Did you feel blessed to be flying Shepherd One? Or at the very least not unlucky to be in row 13. I hope the Papal party had nothing to do with the infestation of the crew rest. And btw, EEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew, infestation!! Nasty!! I would have asked her what exactly infested the crew rest because I wouldn't want to be flying on a plane where an infestation could spread. I'm imagining bed bugs, or scabies in my head, yuck.
I see AA was offering a real champagne again after I got Prosecco that they called champagne this summer. I have to say, this is probably the best looking catering I've seen on AA. I'll have to order a Japanese meal to check it out when I fly out of NRT.
The seats may be old, but it's good that you were able to get a few hours of sleep. It was a beautiful SoCal day for planespotting on arrival. Great pics as usual.
Your point is completely valid and a reason why I hate traveling on some carriers. You always have to play that guessing game on what product they are going to have. I guess for the AV geeks, it gives us more chances to try different seats, but on the other hand it is unnecessary worrying: am I going to get a refurbed B772 or a crappy B772?
Visually, the JAL Sakura lounge looks nice - It looks dated. The JL Sakura Lounge in NGO looks almost identical. I just don't like the wood and gold combinations that they use. I'm sure you first class lounge experience will be far superior ;) Just make sure you are there during a non-peak time. I was there right before all the TPACs left to the west coast and it was very busy.
Hmmm...ok, why? LOL - You love the pay phones and smoking rooms in the lounges in Japan^^
I hope the Papal party had nothing to do with the infestation of the crew rest. - LOL, you can't trust those Cardinals... I checked my scalp for lice on arrival. The infestation was something I didn't want to talk about. Sometimes the less you know, the better.
My last 3 long-haul J flights were angle lie-flat so I'm getting used to sleeping on them :(
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595 reviews
12 Comments
As a perceptive avgeek you known already that AA's long haul J class is not the best option to choose. ;)
Were you pressed for time to rush in the US not to consider a routing via ICN or another regional hub to avoid flying AA ?
The Sakura Lounge at NRT is very disappointing. ANA's one seems to have a better offering.
Old plane, old seats, old IFE... At least the Japanese meal was correct... Fortunately you thought to pre-order it !
The wine list is quite poor.
Even the AA's signature sundae is missing on this flight !
See you for the domestic (how thrilling ! lol) leg.
As a perceptive avgeek you known already that AA's long haul J class is not the best option to choose. ;) Were you pressed for time to rush in the US not to consider a routing via ICN or another regional hub to avoid flying AA ?
- I was hoping for a refurbished B772 with the Cirrus seats. Most of AA's fleet is now decent (B77Ws, B787s, A330s, and refurbed B767s). Service will always be lower standard than Asian carriers, but I have to pick a US carrier and UA and DL aren't any better. I didn't buy this ticket since this was for job interviews, so I had minimal input in routing. Their preferred carrier was AA, so I asked for JL segments, but it was already sold out so they offered me JL Y or AA J. J > Y even if it is AA.
The Sakura Lounge at NRT is very disappointing. ANA's one seems to have a better offering.
- I agree 100%, the ANA Lounge is a much better looking lounge with a better offering. I like how the JL Sakura Lounges still have the old style coffee pots^^
Old plane, old seats, old IFE... At least the Japanese meal was correct...
- I'm very glad I pre-ordered my meal, it was very easy to do. It doesn’t compete with JL’s catering, but for a US carrier it is a strong catering option.
See you for the domestic (how thrilling ! lol) leg.
- It will be a short report, but not a lot of B6 reports on FR so I will do one.
http://cdn2.flight-report.com/photos/jB4A2Rs1o5/S4720027.JPG
All the negative parts about this experience even started from the lounge access, and the lounge didn't even look good.
Boring to hear not even a 'Welcome onboard' was offered upon boarding.
You can definitely see the cabin needs a retrofit ASAP, the IFE screen looks similar to the the crappy IFE screen I had on my LH flight from Munich to Delhi in Y.
Glad to hear that at least your japanese meal was good however the 'snacks' in the galley looks like a joke. The breakfast looks colourful but wasn't obviously enough.
Nice spotting shots from LAX with many different heavies as expected.
It must have been a relief to disembark from this bird! Too bad the JL flight was full :(.
See you on the next one!
All the negative parts about this experience even started from the lounge access, and the lounge didn't even look good.
-The Sakura Lounge at NGO is almost as nice (with respect to food/drink offerings) so that really says a lot about the state of their lounges in the hub.
Boring to hear not even a 'Welcome onboard' was offered upon boarding.
- It was really weird. There was an FA there at the door, but she was turned around doing something else as we kept filing into the plane. I boarded with Y, so maybe that is the difference.
You can definitely see the cabin needs a retrofit ASAP, the IFE screen looks similar to the the crappy IFE screen I had on my LH flight from Munich to Delhi in Y.
- I haven't seen an IFE this bad in a long time. The content and quality were both embarrassing for AA. I'm probably going to have to fly NRT-LAX for Christmas and I'm going to find a different option than AA given the planes they use on this route.
Glad to hear that at least your japanese meal was good however the 'snacks' in the galley looks like a joke. The breakfast looks colourful but wasn't obviously enough.
- Based on what I've seen in other AA J reports, this was a very bad snack offering in the galley. The breakfast is light, but I wasn't that hungry since I had the udon mid-flight. The smoothie was an interesting option since it looked like it was being poured out of an old PET bottle with the label removed.
Nice spotting shots from LAX with many different heavies as expected.
- LAX is a spotter's heaven. Blue skies and great diversity in aircraft.
It must have been a relief to disembark from this bird!
- It was very nice to land 1 hour early :)
Best,
Matthew
AA is hit or miss right now, there are too many older planes still operating. It's a situation where you really need to do a routing to get onto the newer planes to get a better experience. The catering seems to be stagnant, people say there have been improvements, but the vegetarian starter trend is worrying. The Japanese meal at least has more substance to it.
Unfortunately you get on the old 772. Agreed with member Rl777 that AA should refurbish these planes ASAP. In today’s standard the business class looks so unattractive. But it seems that AA has slowdown the retrofit progress as they are still finding a new seat supplier according to recent news LOL
BTW did the crews really sleep on the blocked J seats throughout the flight?
“The TWA kit is perfect for Christmas”. --> AA should distribute it as gifts to child passengers in the coming Christmas!
The IFE looks like the friend of windows 9x. Luckily at least your Japanese meal was not bad. It is worth for you to pre-order online.
Nice plane spotting in LAX with good weather! The sky is so blue!
Looking forward to your next report!
But it seems that AA has slowdown the retrofit progress as they are still finding a new seat supplier according to recent news LOL
- That's what Kevin said is that everything is on hold right now so the NRT birds are behind schedule. When you compare AA's hard product to CX's hard product, there is no comparison.
BTW did the crews really sleep on the blocked J seats throughout the flight?
- Yep. All 5 seats had someone in them mid-flight napping. They were in them for maybe 2-3 hours maximum.
The IFE looks like the friend of windows 9x. Luckily at least your Japanese meal was not bad. It is worth for you to pre-order online.
- The Pentium II processor was struggling with the vast depth of content in the IFE. You pretty much have to pre-order your meal on line (whether Japanese or Western). Since only one of the four options was left by the time the cart reached my row, it's to your advantage to pre-order the Western meals too.
Nice plane spotting in LAX with good weather! The sky is so blue!
- It's southern California, it's (almost) always good weather :)
Too bad AA fired Zodiac Aerospace while they were in the middle of retrofitting the 772 fleet with the backwards-forwards cabin concept. The retrofits seemed to be moving right along (after initially long delays), but now they have come to a screeching halt. I know AA was frustrated with the delays in retrofitting due to the seat manufacturer, but they are making it worse and delaying the process even more now as they search for a new manufacturer. And in the end, we could end up with a different product, which would add to yet another J product in the AA fleet. This is not good for AA's brand image or product consistency! AA already has a ridiculous amount of Business class products: Angled flat (NGBC) seats on TATL 757 fleet and non-retrofitted 763s and 772s (as featured in this report), Old school recliners on the pmUS TATL 757 fleet, A new Backwards-forwards herringbone/reverse-herringbone mixed concept on the 787 fleet and retrofited 772s, Zodiac Cirrus seats on the 77W fleet and pmUS A330 fleet, and full-flat B/E Aerospace Diamond seats in 2-2 configuration on the Transcon A321 fleet. Adding a new seat type would just be pure craziness. Ok, sorry, AA J seat rant over :-P
Visually, the JAL Sakura lounge looks nice (though this could just be good photography since you say it doesn't look that good), but the offering seems poor. Japanese carriers have been influenced too much by U.S. carriers. Though I must say, U.S. carrier lounges in Japan, are usually much better than in the U.S. The DL NRT clubs are among the best in the system, food offering-wise (i.e. above average for U.S, but below average by any other standard). I'll be hitting up the JAL First Class lounge in January. Hoping it's a little better.
Pay phones for Kevin.
- Hmmm...ok, why? LOL
Since the J cabin was already full, no shots. This antiquated cabin is not very photogenic
- Yeah, sadly ever with your good photography skills this sad NGBC cabin doesn't look appealing. In the movie Up in the Air they managed to make it look decent, though that was 3-4 years ago. I guess it takes Hollywood magic to make this cabin seem ok, lol.
Did you feel blessed to be flying Shepherd One? Or at the very least not unlucky to be in row 13. I hope the Papal party had nothing to do with the infestation of the crew rest. And btw, EEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew, infestation!! Nasty!! I would have asked her what exactly infested the crew rest because I wouldn't want to be flying on a plane where an infestation could spread. I'm imagining bed bugs, or scabies in my head, yuck.
I see AA was offering a real champagne again after I got Prosecco that they called champagne this summer. I have to say, this is probably the best looking catering I've seen on AA. I'll have to order a Japanese meal to check it out when I fly out of NRT.
The seats may be old, but it's good that you were able to get a few hours of sleep. It was a beautiful SoCal day for planespotting on arrival. Great pics as usual.
Thanks for sharing and see you on the next one!
Your point is completely valid and a reason why I hate traveling on some carriers. You always have to play that guessing game on what product they are going to have. I guess for the AV geeks, it gives us more chances to try different seats, but on the other hand it is unnecessary worrying: am I going to get a refurbed B772 or a crappy B772?
Visually, the JAL Sakura lounge looks nice
- It looks dated. The JL Sakura Lounge in NGO looks almost identical. I just don't like the wood and gold combinations that they use. I'm sure you first class lounge experience will be far superior ;) Just make sure you are there during a non-peak time. I was there right before all the TPACs left to the west coast and it was very busy.
Hmmm...ok, why? LOL
- You love the pay phones and smoking rooms in the lounges in Japan^^
I hope the Papal party had nothing to do with the infestation of the crew rest.
- LOL, you can't trust those Cardinals... I checked my scalp for lice on arrival. The infestation was something I didn't want to talk about. Sometimes the less you know, the better.
My last 3 long-haul J flights were angle lie-flat so I'm getting used to sleeping on them :(
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