#62 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
967 reviews
Welcome to the next segment in another transatlantic series of flights.
Like every year, we flew back to Europe for the Holidays, making a few days' pit stop to visit family on the East Coast on the way. As this would be our first time flying out of JFK since British Airways re-located to Terminal 8, I was looking forward to seeing the new facilities and lounges.
Reviews in this series:
After dropping off the car at the Rental Car Center, we took the AirTrain one quick stop to Terminal 8.
Though we were travelling in Business, our oneworld Emerald status gave us access to the more exclusive Premium Check-in facility, which I believe used to be the Flagship First check-in area. It is accessible to British Airways and American long-haul First class passengers as well as oneworld Emerald status holders.
It's a chic and well-designed space. Overall I like the modern yet warm aesthetic.
It feels more like a lounge than a check-in area.
There are no loud baggage conveyor belts here–staff take bags away by hand, which has a premium hotel feel. AA and BA have definitely done a nice job with this premium check-in experience.
Upon exiting the Premium Check-in zone, it leads right to the TSA Pre-check lanes, which is very convenient.
We headed right to the lift leading up to the new premium Chelsea and Soho Lounges.
The Chelsea Lounge is the most exclusive, reserved uniquely for American Airlines or British Airways long-haul First class passengers, as well as those with invitation-only-level status (AA Concierge Key or BA Gold Guest List). This is the equivalent of the Concorde Room, BA previously operated at Terminal 7.
The Soho Lounge is accessible to top-tier oneworld Emerald frequent flyers along with First class passengers for all other oneworld airlines. This is the equivalent of the BA Galleries First Lounge. The former AA Flagship Lounge has been re-branded as the Greenwich Lounge and is located in a different part of the terminal. All other premium passengers—Business class passengers and oneworld Sapphire frequent flyers—have access to the Greenwich Lounge.
The Soho Lounge is large with plenty of seating areas and tables, and importantly, there are large windows, which is one thing missing from the more-exclusive Chelsea Lounge.
It wasn't terribly crowded despite the busy evening departure bank to Europe.
There are convenient phone booths towards the back of the lounge, where one can take calls without bothering others.
There's a good variety of fresh food and hot dishes from the self-service buffets, a step above the typical Flagship Lounge fare. However, there is also a good selection of food that can be ordered and delivered to the table.
Champagne can be ordered from the bar or to the table from your phone through the QR code at each table. There were several premium champagnes on offer, which change often from my understanding. This evening there were 5 different champagnes, including two rosés. I enjoyed a few glasses of Laurent-Perrier Brut Rosé.
As mentioned, there is a QR code at each table, which leads to a menu where dishes can be ordered and delivered to the table.
Being a joint American Airlines-British Airways lounge there was a good mix of British and American fare, as well as international dishes.
And desserts, though there wasn't a huge selection. There were more desserts available at the buffet.
I helped myself to a few items at the buffet for the appetiser and then ordered the Fish and Chips with mushy peas for the main.
Though it's nothing fancy, it was very good and I like the addition of the mushy peas, which is so British. It also came with a side of malt vinegar, which I appreciated.
The ice cream cookie sandwich was surprisingly huge…my son just made a mess of it haha ?
Our flight was showing a little 10 minute delay–no big deal, it gave us a little more time to enjoy the lounge.
The gate was a quick walk from the lounge. By the time we got there boarding had already begun with Group 1 so we joined the queue.
First time on a 787-10, exciting! We were welcomed on board by a very cheerful cabin crew.
Though I generally prefer smaller cabins, there aren't any mini-cabins on the very long 787-10. There are two Business class cabins: one with 6 rows and one with 7 rows. Still better than the super long main Business cabin on the A350-1000 and 777-300ER.
Though I'd never been on a 787-10, I'm very familiar with British Airways Club Suites from flying the BA A350-1000 regularly in and out of my home airport of San Diego. There was no apparent difference between the seats on the 787-10 and the A350-1000. I expected that the seats would perhaps be slightly narrower than on the A350 due to the narrower fuselage of the 787, but that was not the case—the seats were just as wide and spacious. If anything, it's possible that the aisles were a bit narrower to accommodate the width of the Club Suites on the narrower fuselage—but it wasn't noticeable.
On each seat were a large pillow, a bedding set—including a mattress pad and comfortable duvet from the White Company—noise cancelling headphones, an amenity kit and bottle of water. On these shorter transatlantic flights from the East Coast, the menus are also pre-placed at each seat, rather than being distributed later to save time.
Club Suites are a modified version of the popular Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat model with the addition of a door. Laid out in a reverse-herringbone patter in a 1-2-1 configuration, all seats in Business class have direct access to the aisles.
In the side console you'll find the in-flight entertainment remote controller, a headphone jack, a 110v universal power outlet, and 2 USB-A ports. The only thing missing is a USB-C port, but these cabins were designed slightly before USB-C became generalised.
Legroom is very good as can be expected. When laid fully flat, seats convert into a 2m (78") long bed.
Pre-departure drinks were served as boarding continued–the usual choice of water, orange juice, or champagne.
Let's have a look at the menu. The evening menu on shorter East Coast flights is slightly simplified compared to what I'm used to from the West Coast. There are less options of appetisers, which is fine as the service needs to be quicker given there are 3 less hours in the air. I was a bit disappointed to see that 2 of the 3 options of mains were exactly the same as our last Eastbound transatlantic on BA a few months prior.
Despite a bit of a late start to boarding and the announced 10 minute delay, boarding wrapped up quickly and we pushed back from the gate close to on time.
The safety video played as we taxied to the departure runway.
Being on the tail end of the busy evening transatlantic departure bank, taxi time wasn't as long as it can get earlier in the evening, where a 45 minute taxi time can be pretty normal.
We taxied for less than 20 minutes and were off.
Ouch, only 5 hours 49 minutes flight time into London…that is short! Not as short as it gets, as I've had sub-5-hour flight times on this route with crazy jetstreams in the past. But being more used to the longer 9-10h flight times from the West Coast, this is rough for a night flight—very little time for sleep.
The moving map is not the same interface as I'm used to on the A350-1000.
Checking out the in-flight entertainment as the dinner service begins. There's tons of contents in multiple languages: Movies, series, documentaries, music, games, and children's programming.
It's also nice to be able to view the map on the handset while viewing content on the main screen.
The flight attendant working my side of the cabin was very friendly and super attentive. He pro-actively came over to tell me the contents in the child meal for my son ahead of time. Knowing that BA's child meals in Business are always too big for my four-year-old son, I asked for just the main to avoid any waste, in case the appetiser could be of use elsewhere.
Just the main and dessert with a small side of crudités was plenty of food for a CHML, no need for an appetiser—which was also chicken apparently, so no big loss there.
For my appetiser I had the prawns, which was tasty with bold flavours and very nicely presented.
Marinated king prawns
Avocado salad, carrot and ginger dressing
For the main I went with the Cod Masala. I've had this dish several times on other BA flights and it's always a good option…the problem is that it's been on the menu so often. I would really love to see more frequent changes in the menu and a greater variety of proteins. I've said this before, but I'd love to see lamb or duck more often, just something more interesting that the usual chicken, beef, or fish. Nevertheless, the Cod was very good, well-spiced, and perfectly cooked.
I hesitated with the Christmas Dinner option as that was something different, but it just sounded so heavy and we'd eaten in the lounge just a few hours earlier.
Cod Masala
Mustard rice, seven spiced broccolini,
Fried Onions
To finish the meal, I had the cheese board with a port. I wasn't hungry enough to ask for cheese and dessert, but it's usually not a problem to ask for both, since for us Frenchmen, cheese should technically be a separate course before dessert.
For some reason the Wi-Fi never worked. I checked several times throughout the flight, and it was always unavailable. I asked our flight-attendant about it, as we chatted a bit after the dinner service, and he'd heard it had been happening to some aircraft recently, that there may have been a satellite outage.
Not a big deal on such a short flight, but it was curious.
With less than 4 hours flight time left to sleep after dinner I skipped breakfast and slept up until the last possible minute when seats had to be returned to the upright position for landing.
It was cloudy and stormy with low ceilings that morning, so no good views of central London, just a quick glimpse of Twickenham stadium coming out of the clouds.
Not sure I'm a fan of this over-simplified map look.
It was a quick taxi time to Terminal 5.
Despite a short 10-minute delay originally announced in JFK, we had departed on time and arrived early into Heathrow.
A very good flight in BA Club Suites once again--nice first experience on the 787-10. The cabin crew were lovely as always. The flight attendant working my aisle was very exceptionally attentive and super friendly. I always enjoy it when cabin crew take the time to have a little chat. The only problem is that these East Coast flights are just too short to fully enjoy the service and get some rest. The catering is always good and of better quality since the switch to Do&Co a few years ago; however, as we fly BA so often, it's been disappointing to see the lack of variety in the menu with the same dishes over and over again. #FirstWorldProblem I know.
For some reason, the Wi-Fi never worked at any point during the flight---I had checked several times--so I'm lowering the IFE-Wi-Fi rating as a result. Otherwise everything was about as good as can be for this quick hop across the pond.
The Soho Lounge in JFK was really nice and lived up to my expectations. It definitely felt like a nice upgrade from the Flagship Lounges, which are already quite nice.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 38 avis concernant 5 compagnies sur la ligne New York (JFK) → London (LHR).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Virgin Atlantic avec 8.2/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 6 heures et 53 minutes.
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6 Comments
Nice to discover the Soho lounge, love the colors and furnitures. Not sure I'll have the chance to enjoy it before my status downgrade - but hey I suppose I'm gonna survice ;)
Also never had the chance to test the Club Suites so far on the airline. My transatlantic flights are mostly starting from Dallas and BA send there the A380 with the old configuration which I always try to avoid - so my preference for AA. Also not sure I'm fan of the BA catering and prefer the originality of AA on TA flights. The crew seems more attentive tho and I'm glad you had once again a great experience.
Looking forward to reading your next report!
Yes, it's very chic--it really does feel like an elevated experience over the Flagship Lounge, which was already quite good by US standards.'
Ah, sorry to hear that. I believe your OW status is with BA? I don't know if they have a way to buy your way back up to Emerald like AA does, but that might be an option. Personally, I'm switching from AA status to BA status, which I'm working on building, because it's actually easier to get to Gold/Emerald than on AA with my flying patterns flying mostly long-haul J...with AA it was getting harder and harder to renew status, especially since AA cut in half earning from BA flights, which I fly most. It just makes sense that I move to BA programme since I mostly fly BA/IB. Plus it'll be nice that I'll be able to get into OW lounges on domestic flights now, haha
Yeah DFW makes sense as an A380 market being a huge-Hub to huge-Hub market. It sounds like the A380s won't be getting Club Suites until 2025-2026...hopefully in the meantime BA may swap out the A380 to a 77W some days, you never know
AA's catering is often more creative, I agree. However, in my experience AA catering always sounds better on paper than it is in real life. BA's catering is generally better executed and better presented, it's generally more elevated than AA's....unfortunately for frequent BA flyers, the lack of variety and originality does get boring.
Thanks for your comments!
It is a good looking lounge aesthetically, I like the inclusion of the faux-wood beam ceilings and the green velvet chairs (though probably a nightmare to keep looking new). Noticeable edge over Flagship Lounges, which is good for distinguishing products.
The aisle does look narrower than the A35K, but on a shorter flight like this, you are likely not in the aisle often to notice. These seats barely fit in the Dreamliners, the dimmer is almost blocked by the seat. With the F cabin, makes it look more like flying a B789 in J.
Aww, where is your sense of adventure? Maybe they’d even give you a paper crown to wear while you eat. As you pointed out, not great variety on the menu, much more consistent with the US3 on these shorter TATLs in terms of options, but presentation is much better giving it more of a premium feel.
That would be Twickenham, a rugby ground.
Me too, I definitely noticed how nice and non-generic the ceilings were, which certainly adds to the overall premium feel of the lounge.
Yeah, I figured the aisle has to be narrower and it does look that way visually, but it's still plenty of space to move around. I'm glad the Suites fit (though barely) on the 787 fuselage, because it would feel really claustrophobic if they had to install a narrower version. Honestly I don't know how they'll get Club Suites on the upper deck of the A380, which is even narrower than the 787...that probably will require a modified version.
Yeah, it's one of those "can't have it all" situations. US carriers have more variety, more choice of mains, and often more creative dishes, but, the execution is often poor and the meals are generally of lower quality. It's like I said above...US carrier catering always sounds good on paper, but is never quite as good as the description.
Oops, yep I knew that too, since I've seen it like a bazillion times, don't know why I had Tottenham on the brain. Fixed, thanks!
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow the checkin was fancy and flawless! Love that romero brito sculpture!
Jeez that lounge is just amazing, thanks for the virtual tour.
Nice and yummy tradional fish & chips!
Ur kid mustve loved this ice cream sandwich!
Same suites as A350 and as you said I was expecting the seats to be narrower.
True 6 hours to eat, go to the toilet and faf around isnt that much time to sleep.
Food is well presented.
And rightly so!!
I wasn't thrilled when BA announced they would move in to T8 with AA, especially since they had just recently renovated the First Lounge in T7, but I was super impressed with the new facilities at T8. Everything from check in to lounge is very elegant. I honestly felt that AA would drag down BA's service levels, but everything in the combined T8 facilities is now more premium then what BA had separately in T7.
I really dislike eastbound night flights from the East Coast for how short they are, but we often have reasons to stop on the East Coast on the way to or from Europe so I have a few more East Coast flights coming up. I'll survive, haha ?
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