V-Flyer

As this was a fairly late decision to take this trip to celebrate a friends birthday it was coach or nothing, as there were no Gs showing for the dates I needed. As VS had wanted silly money for the priviledge of shipping us accross the atlantic we opted for the AA option.
Having travelled up on Thursday night we left the Crowne Plaza at 6.20am and were in T3 at 6.30. We had been unable to check in online but used the self check- in terminals and bag drop which was quick and painless.
We were quickly up the stairs and through security in 5 minutes as there was absolutely nobody else (passenger wise) there. Due to the dearth of passengers we were coralled into the shoe carnival much to Mr DLs annoyance.
As I've been fortunate over the past few years to be ensconced in the CH on my trips I've never really paid a great deal of attention to the offerings in the general departure lounge (usually sprinting through).As we had a couple of hours to kill I meandered around doing a bit of retail therapy until I was rudely removed from my favourite handbag shop by MR DL who was very hungry and in need of sustenance.I'd decided to hit Chez Gerrard but it was very full with people waiting to be seated so as time was getting on we opted to have a quick bite to eat at the bagel place where we had a corner booth away from the melee of the main terminal.
Soon after finishing our foood the flight was called and we made our way down to the gate.Boarding was well organised with First and Business being called first and then the rest of the passengers being boarded by the 'group number' shown on the boarding card.This was strictly enforced and made for speedy organised boarding.
Once onboard we were greeted by the cabin crew and directed to our seats which looked OK. The 777s used on the route are all reasonably new and have the updated IFE system with seatback TVs which although isn't V-port is better than the old system.The choice of entertainment is limited and I missed the stop/start feature of V-port.Despite the limited offerings I managed to watch Mamma Mia, Filth and The Devil Wears Prada (again).
The seats are reasonably wide and the leg room much better than VS in economy (by a good 2-3 inches).
We were a couple of minutes late taking off but were soon airbourne and on our way.Breakfast was served about an hour later and was a pleasant surprise- a bowl of fresh melon, a hot option of either ommelete or cherry pancakes (which were really good),croissant with strawberry preserve (equally good),cheese and crackers and tea/coffeejuice/water.
The crew were visibly present, unobtrusive and efficent and performed their duties without fanfare.A couple of drinks rounds were done with soft drinks being free and a $6 fee for alcoholic beverages.No further food was served until about an hour from MIA when afternoon tea was served . Horrid!!A savoury pizza thing and some revolting cheesecake.Ugh. Inedible.Because of my worries about the in -flight catering I'd bought some sandwiches in the depatures hall and we'd eaten these a few hours previously.
We had made good time and landed in MIA 45 mins ahead of schedule.I should have known this was a bad omen! Having de-planed rapidly and been off the skytrain virtually first I had visions of us being out of the airport in record time. Alas it was not to be.....Anyway when I was finally allowed entry we hopped on the shuttle bus to pick up the car.At this point I had thought that my day couldn't get any worse, but it did (briefly). The car rental agent refused to give me my free confirmed upgrade (to an intermediate) and would only give me a compact car.Her manager overheard the conversation and stepped in.To cut along story short he apologised profusely and said we could have we could have a full size if we wanted to compensate for her rudeness.I jokingly said that I'd rather have the nice new Mustang that was sitting there and two minutes later we were pulling out in Sally (well what else do you call a Mustang?[:D]).
Sally saw us up the Florida turnpike in good time with Phyllis (our trusty sat-nav) delivering us to our destination without further drama.
Overall I was more than happy with what AA delivered for the price we paid.Professional and courteous staff who did what they were supposed to. Food a bit hit and miss. The aircraft was clean and tidy (even the loos stayed clean and the floors dry).Lets hope my domestic with them next week is as satisfactory.
DL

Glad that the flight was reasonably good: shame about the immigration and the car rental place - 'welcome to America' right...? [B)]

At least you got a good car out of it [:)]

At least you had a good breakfast service on your AA flight: sounds a lot better than the ex-LHR lunch service (which was the smallest, least substantial, slop of a lasagna that I have ever seen...). Really the pizza (served with a few sorry looking grapes only, I think) WAS the highlight of our LHR-ORD flight... Glad that you took some sandwiches to see you through - VERY wise move. Next time I fly longhaul economy, I will definitely stock up on food beforehand.

Boo