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596 reviews
For the last flight of 5 on my trip from Los Angeles to Cuba, I will be on the A321T in Business Class. I have flown the First Class product many times, but this would be my first time in 5 years to try out the Business Class offering. I was excited to see how it was holding up.
Overall, I was impressed with this flight. Everything ticked the boxes from comfortable seats to good food, and decent service, this flight went without a hitch.
I was sitting on a lot of trip credit with American Airlines. With one-stop flights from Havana to Los Angeles upwards of 900$ in business class with recliner seats, I found a fare that consisted of a 737 to Miami, 772 to JFK, and the A321T to LAX all for 477$. As someone who loves flying this is an unbelievable deal, if I had booked all three tickets separately it would have come out to 2300$.
Access is usually reserved for passengers flying in First Class with British Airways, or for passengers flying First Class with American Airlines on qualifying routes. These consist of almost all international flights in lie-flat seats from New York and transcon hope between Boston/New York & Los Angeles/San Francisco.
Once I arrived at the Greenwich Lounge the staff scanned my boarding pass and apparently, it showed, "Access to Chelsea Lounge" even though I was flying in business class.
The agent was friendly and laughed, advising me to head over to the Chelsea Lounge since it showed as having access! The Soho and Chelsea Lounge are located next to one another near Gate 14. As you can see, access is extremely restricted.
Once I got upstairs I met the agent who scanned my boarding pass and was as perplexed as I was. He had never seen such a thing before.
The reason why it showed as eligible for Chelsea Lounge access was due to the agent in Miami putting in an interest for an upgrade on my behalf. My thoughts are that there is a glitch in the system where if someone shows an interest in an upgrade, they are granted access to the Chelsea Lounge. Thankfully, the agent let me in, thank you!
The Chelsea Lounge is a small space with a capacity of 60-70 people. This was the busiest I had ever seen (7 pm) and there were around 30 people in the lounge. Since I didn't have much time, I stopped off at the bar and asked for a glass of Krug. AA serves Krug and LPGS but they don't feature it on the menu. The server was friendly and said she would bring it to my table for dining.
The menu seems to be on rotation as there was a terrific New York Strip Steak last time I was here!
Regarding the champagnes, there are certain champagnes on the menu and others that are off the menu. Rumor has it that AA removed Krug from the menu since people would come here and drink too much.
My drinks came out within about 5 minutes. What a treat it was to dine in the Chelsea Lounge while not being really allowed to?.
Within 15 minutes a beautiful short rib was presented. This is where the Chelsea Lounge has every other lounge in the USA beat. The short rib was tender and restaurant quality. The recommended wine was a great pairing as well.
Another aspect I want to mention is that they have great liquor options at the Chelsea Lounge. AA even has one of my top 5 tequilas, Clase Azul!
Here are some other pictures of the lounge!
On the way out of the lounge, I had a talk with the front desk agent who informed of the upgrade cost on this leg to LAX. Usually, an upgrade can range from 300-1000$, but he quoted me an incredible 227$ for this flight. The only issue was that I had already spent some time in the Chelsea Lounge, and the purpose of this routing was to fly the A321T in Business Class since I had done First Class. If you are curious about upgrade pricing, don't hesitate to ask!
After a terrific hour in the Chelsea Lounge, a pleasant surprise, I made my way to the "dark side" of terminal 8. This evening, AA117 would be departing from Gate 33.
Eventually, I reached the gate, where the last people were just getting on board.
Due to being in business class today, I had access to group 2 boarding. I jumped the queue and made my way down the jetbridge with no wait.
Once I stepped on board, I walked by the Flagship First Product. Straight after I found my seat 6F for the 6-hour flight over to the west coast this evening.
Upon taking my seat, a friendly FA came around to offer a pre-departure beverage. The choice consisted of sparkling wine, orange juice, or water. Of course, I chose sparkling wine. I only drink when I travel so I might as well enjoy it when I can?.
My jacket was offered to be hung up! Yay, AA!
By 7:49 pm, boarding was complete. I love how low-dense this A321 is as it means efficient boarding and deplaning.
A minute later the captain came on to announce our flight time of just over 5 and a half hours.
We pushed back right on time at 8:00 pm.
It was a 25-minute taxi out to 22R, looking out at the pouring rain of New York. There is something nostalgic about 22R, as I remember sitting next to my mum in BA F on a 747 rolling down 22R bound for London. It's just a memory I will never forget.
By 8:25 we were airborne departing south.
The A321T is the world's lowest-density commercial A321, featuring 102 seats across three cabins. There are 10 first-class seats, 20 business seats, and 72 economy seats.
These seats are dated, and they are lie-flat, which is nice but they have certainly seen better days. The seat controls are located at the middle table for both of the two seats.
There is a small partition, which I don't see the point in as it offers little privacy. My guess is it is more for decoration.
A tray table pulls out from the middle console. I like this design as it doesn't restrict your sleeping position in any way.
While I don't have any pictures of the bed, it allowed me to sleep comfortably for a solid 4 hours. Being in the first row was a good idea as the footwell is about triple the size!
Lastly, there was a TV screen in front of you to watch movies and such.
20 minutes after takeoff, the service started with the FA offering hot towels to customers. These aren't the best quality but the thought is there!
After a couple of minutes, my table was set. Being in the first row means everything in the meal service moves a lot quicker.
Dinner began with the traditional AA warm nuts. I always feel awkward declining them (I know it's a waste).
5 minutes later my AHA and sparkling wine were brought out. AHA is perfect as it is hydrating and tastes great!
For my main, I had pre-ordered the beef fillet. There are a couple of different options to choose from, but when the FA asked me, I confirmed that I would stick with my preorder selection.
The lovely FA (I believe the pursuer), came around and offered a choice of breads. She offered to let me take as many as I wanted and I took a couple, to say the least?.
Steak in business class on American carriers seems to be not so great. While the steak was dry, at least there was a little bit of pink to it. The sauce also made it a little more flavorful. After my meal in the Chelsea Lounge, I wasn't complaining.
The FA came around and asked if I wanted dessert. I asked for the sundae which was promptly served with a refill of my sparkling wine. The sundae was delicious as always, I cannot recommend the sundaes on AA enough!
I asked the FA for a double Amaretto when the sundae was brought around. This was amazing and brought out to me in less than a minute! One of my favorite aspects of American Airlines is that they serve Amaretto.
Waiting upon my seat when I arrived was a bag containing a pillow and a blanket. I find the blanket that American Airlines offers to be fantastic quality and keeps me warm on these longer flights.
Fantastic quality B & O headphones were offered to customers in business class. These are fantastic headphones that are noise cancelling.
Wifi was available for a fee. On these A321T's AA has Panasonic Wifi, which isn't great at all and costs 29$ for the full flight. Seeing as there are plenty of business travelers on this route, I imagine the wifi gets bought plenty.
The IFE system was holding up well for its age! Each seat contains a screen that is touch screen (looking at you SQ).
I ended up watching Pirates of The Caribbean, my favorite movie series of all time. "You can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest, it's the honest ones you have to watch out for"- Jack Sparrow.
Extensive options were provided for movies from action to comedy to whatever you really wanted. I guarantee anyone could find a movie to keep them entertained on this system!
It had been a long day so I decided to get some rest. I wasn't planning on sleeping the whole flight but the seat was so comfortable, I woke up 10 minutes before landing!
After a solid 4 hours of sleep, we touched down at 11:15 pm local time on 25L. Sadly, we still had a plane at our gate, so we ended up holding it for 20 minutes before pulling into our gate at 45 this evening.
I made my way off the plane and straight onto the bus. My trick for LAX when I don't have a car service, is to hop on the first bus I see and get out of the airport. This bus took me to the employee parking lot where I called an Uber for $ 60$ to take me down to Orange County.
As with my last two flights, I found the service to be nothing short of spectacular on the flight. Here are a few points that stood out to me.
1. Seconds of bread was warmly offered.
2. Smiles were constantly shown by the crew.
3. The lead FA was happy to accommodate me in any way possible, especially with the Amaretto.
If you are interested in reading more about my adventures feel free to follow my blog here!
Up next, Air Tahiti!
It's tough to get this kind of service on one flight with American Airlines, let alone three on the same day, on a Saturday! The A321T is a comfortable way to fly from coast to coast with lie-flat seats and plenty of space in the first row to stretch out and sleep. The steak was decent, and the pretzel bread was incredible, but the highlight of the meal was the Sundae. I am excited to see what AA can offer once they get the new business class on. the XLR's.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 25 avis concernant 4 compagnies sur la ligne New York (JFK) → Los Angeles (LAX).
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.
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1 Comments
Lucky you, that's one crazy unintentional hack! Sometimes AA's buggy IT can work in one's favour! haha
Yup, this makes sense. I assume that the agent waitlisted a segment in First class in your PNR, which ultimately tricked the system because there's technically a transcon First class booking in your records---even if it's not confirmed...the First class cabin just being in the booking sounds like it was enough to trigger the entry requirements. Just a guess based on experience with airline systems and GDSs. If this is really a thing, hopefully doesn't get out too much, because everyone will be doing this "hack" and then of course...as always, AA will find a way to fix this glitch and shut it down. So Shhhhhhh ? hahaha
Even though each one of the US3 have literally the same Diamond Business class seat on narrowbodies on Premium transcons, AA's looks the best with the nicest finishes in my opinion--at least when the cabin is well-maintained, which seems to be hit or miss.
Thanks for sharing!
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