#237268 by slinky09
08 Aug 2005, 10:58
Had to pop over to Chicago for a friend's birthday party, and what with over-personal-expenditure on Upper Class this year could only afford economy on this trip. So, with some old American Airline miles in the kitty thought that I and the no. 1 would try to use them for upgrades. Well, I left the booking a bit late and then the prices went through the roof and the cheapest I could get was 750 each in coach and via New York (direct would have added another 3-400 each!). Then couldn't upgrade going out but thankfully could on the return (and that was direct, another post follows this). Wish Virgin would resurrect Chicago, could have had a PE for this price ... [:(]

Anyways - the AA Web site is in my humble opinion by far the best of any transatlantic carrier. It's a bit complex and not as well designed as Virgin's but has great functionality. One example is the ability to view seat maps for every flight in every class for the next year, before you book. On a 777 (most AA transatlantic flights are on the triple 7) row 31 in coach is the exit row and so I booked 31A and B. These are fantastic coach seats with about 7' of legroom - there's a crew jump seat and then a lavatory but that doesn't bother. You have to be a premium Aadvantage member to be able to book these seats though (a good tip for Virgin?).

Arrived at LHR at 0640 for this 0830 departure, used the kerbside check in at T3 which is actually really useful and quick, though again you have to premium status in Aadvantage to use it if not booked in business or first. No upgrades available so headed to Chez Gerard for breakfast. And thank god I did! Found seats, noticed little had changed since last AA flight and settled in. AA coach seats are quite comfortable, but particularly good with legroon at 34' - however they're inserting extra rows this year and it'll go back to the standard 31' or 32' by 2006. Pushed back at 0830 and take-off at 0854.

Checked the IFE options and as usual they were terrible ... four movies (and one was a BBC tv drama) with the feature being Miss Congeniality 2, plus Fever Pitch and old Harry Potter. There are another four or so TV channels full of old stuff. So, as usual didn't bother getting the screen out at all and simply put the iPod and headphones on. On this trip I took along the Bose QC and Sennheiser NC headphones for a real test in the back of the plane - and I'd forgotten how noisy it gets behind the engines. Have to say that the Bose win, purely on the basis of the ear cup size that blocks out noise more effectively.

Anyway, then fell asleep and stirred briefly as breakfast was served. I had an orange juice, which if it had seen an actual orange would be surprising. The no. 1 had the breakfast and said it was dismal: solid omelette, creasy hash brown thingies, slices of pineapple and a weird snack box containing oreos, pringles, some candy, cheese, biscuits ... just what I want at breakfast time. Glad I missed it and had the Chez Gerard smoked salmon [:)].

As us usual, the AA flight crew were grumpy and unhelpful. They really do give off an air of 'I'm only here because I have to be, and service is not what I do'.

Woke properly after 5 hours of kip, marvellous, and with 1 1/2 hrs to go lunch was served. Now AA used to do coach food well and in particular could always be relied on for a good beef dish. Lunch however was another snack box of oreos and the rest ... absolutely amazing, not even a sandwich, and this is of course getting on for 2 p.m. UK time. I was gobsmacked! So lunch for me consisted of coffee.

Well at least we landed on time, got to the gate quickly and left. Even at the door of the plane there was no goodbye and thank you that you usually expect.

So overall, I knew AA was getting worse, I didn't expect it to be this bad. On the good side we were on time, the seats were spacious and comfortable. On the bad side the service, IFE, food were apalling. In future, there is nothing I could recommend about flying in coach with AA since the one thing that differentiates is the legroom and they're getting rid of that.

Briefly to finish - we jumped in a cab to La Guardia and actually had a pleasant lunch there in the 'Fig' restaurant. The next flight was on an MD80 which is a horrible little plane but this time the crew were far more jolly, a club soda and pack of pretzels was the only thing on offer but perfectly fine. And an hour and 45 mins later we touched down at O'Hare.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests

Itinerary Calendar