Aventura now seems to be the same homogenous offering of most US mainstream malls so we stopped off at Loehmanns Fashion Island on the way back (lots of Ed Hardy stuff but nowhere near as good as the store in San Francisco for high end ladies stuff).
A few drinks back at the hotel, and we decided to re-pack the bags in the morning .The following morning the morning sun was cracking the pavements so once we'd had a late breakfast and packed up, we headed off towards Coral Gables and following a wander around the Dadeland Mall had a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (again).We stopped off at the Mall of The Americas on the way back so I could visit Nordstrums Last Clearance ( makes Filene's look uber, uber expensive) and got some great bargains.
We headed back to the airport and had major problems finding Dollar due to the roadworks (even with Sat Nav).Car returned, we headed to the airport. As we'd been unable to check-in online we used the self-seve booths. A painless process, and we retained the seats allocated on our PNR. We then queued to have the bags tagged (ultra rude AA groundstaff[V]) and then took them to security for screening. I was checking in the bag that had caused concern at MCO and BNA and explained to the TSA agent what had happened at the previous departure points. He was fab- and came back once the bag had been screened and said there was no problem [y].
General security was chaos with fast track even worse (ie slower). Once through security there's liitle to do so Mr DL and I had a few beers before the flight was called.
Boarding was again very organised (VS please take note). Priority boarding and then strictly enfored zone. A speedy effortless process.Once boarded the Captain announced we would be departing shortly followed by another announcement by him minutes after, advising we had a technical problem . Apparently the paper fuel load didn't tally with the instrumental reading in the cock-pit and the Captain stated that he didn't want to run out of fuel mid-atlantic([:0]) and was having the engineers on the ground do a manual check. An hour later we were still there, and I had visions of banging on the mdviponds doors at the Loews (pleading Joseph and Mary syndrome) but after an hour an a half all was proclaimed OK and we were off (the crew had brought around water and juice whilst we were on the tarmac).The flight was again busy and once airbourne drinks and dinner service were swiftly commenced. Meal was OK- mixed salad, beef with veggies and potatoes or cheese pasta and a cinnamon flapjack.Food was generally OK but the drinks were served simultaneously (probably because of the delay). I opted for a G+T (AA manage lime[}:)]) which saw me through the next few hours. Soft drinks are free with alcoholic costing $6. Again the aicraft was a new 777 with a few of the crew who had been on the outbound flight,and was very clean and comfortable (yes, the loos remained clean even just before landing). The configuration (2-5-2) isn't great if you're in the middle row but was great for us in 34 H and J. IFE was exactly the same as the outbound flight on 31.0.08 so not exactly riveting. The captain had said he'd try and claw back some of our delay and he was true to his word. We sped accross the Atlantic with the crew keeping a constant presence in the cabin (they don't like people congregating by the loos though, and don't like you visiting a loo not in your 'zone'). Breakfast was served an hour out from LHR- juice/coffee, fruit and croissant. More than palatable.LHR was busy (according to the Captain ) and we circled and traversed our way back to Essex before heading back to LHR for our final descent (great views which drew ooohs and aahs from some of the passengers).
Once on the ground we were immediately off to a gate and disembarking 10 mins after landing.Making haste we headed to the IRIS lane booths where both were operational and nobody was waiting(ordinary EU queue was significant) .Mr DL took the right and I took the left. 10 seconds later we were both through and off to bagage re-claim. Bags were off a few minutes after we arrived in the hall and once again ours were amongst the first off.25 mins after touching down we were heading out of the airport to collect the car and were back home 3 hours after that.
AA exceeded my expectations. OK no amenity kit, but a decent seat pitch and width, reasonable food, and an efficent disciplined cabin crew who have a slightly more mature and focused outlook than some of the VS crews I've encountered lately .Oh yes ,quite a bit cheaper(loads actually) than VS were too for the same dates.
I've been pretty loyal to VS over the years (with the odd foray to BA) but in the current economic climate I'd be happy to use AA (in Y) again.
DL
Your TRs just get better and better."
