Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: American Airlines

Flights – London Heathrow to Los Angeles (American Airlines)

[I originally posted this in July 2018 about a flight in January 2018, but I’ve reposted it to fix the broken image links]

For a little bit of variety in January 2018, I decided to use American Airlines to get to the United States from London rather than British Airways. They’re still part of Oneworld and I think that there’s some sort of revenue share on the flights, so it wasn’t total disloyalty to British Airways….

American Airlines depart from Terminal 3 at Heathrow and the transfer process from Terminal 5 was easy with numerous airport staff available to help. The welcome desk at American Airlines was exactly that, enormously welcoming and friendly. The staff member asked if I was taking an ex-EU flight (meaning Europe rather than European Union, it’s often a cheaper way to travel, my ticket was from Ireland) which I said I was, before she added that it was becoming increasingly common.

The aircraft felt modern with the economy cabin being clean and well presented. The IFE screen was of a reasonable size given the cabin and I particularly liked the easy to access power to ensure my devices were kept nice and charged. The selection of films and television seemed quite wide ranging with some modern films being available.

It’s not rare now on airlines, but this was the first time that I’ve encountered this on my flights. It was news being fed to the aircraft whilst we were in the air, so I heard about the resignation of a Cabinet Minister.

I was going to America, so I had to have a Dr. Pepper. By “had to have”, I meant that I consider it to be a national drink of the United States, although I suspect most Americans would pick something else.

The main meal of mashed potato on minced meat (that’s not its official name) didn’t look very pretty, but it tasted better than it looked. There was some salad, which seemed superfluous to me, as well as a pleasant cherry crumble cake. The roll tasted American, so it was rather sweet.

There was ice cream handed out during the flight.

I liked the packaging, it looked exciting 🙂

Inside the box was a fajita pepper wrap on one side, and a lemon sponge cake on the other side. Served alongside another Dr. Pepper, it was a perfectly acceptable breakfast.

I liked the entire flight, indeed more than I expected. The service was polite, efficient and fast throughout. I had an aisle seat in a bank of only two seats, which although at the back of the cabin didn’t cause me any problems with noise or disturbances.

There were sufficient washrooms for the number of customers and the environment seemed clean and comfortable. British Airways seem to have had real problems recently keeping their aircraft clean, and American seemed to be more on top of that issue. It all adds to making the flight a little more pleasant.

August 13, 2025
2022 US Trip – Day 25 (Chicago – American Airlines Flagship Lounge)
This was my second visit to the American Airlines Flagship Lounge, as I had visited on day 13 of my trip, and I was very excited to be back. I was one of the first to enter the lounge for the day and was given my special card to use to be allowed onto this luxury floor. I must warn my two loyal readers that there is quite a lot of mention of food in this post.

First it was time for a quick shower in one of their decadent bathrooms. I had to be smart for a decent lounge like this.

Then I got some pick and mix to go along with my welcome drink of a mimosa. What a time to be alive….

This was just what I needed after a week of excess in Las Vegas. I say excess, it was hardly the Hangover movie, but there we go.

This is pretty much the perfect breakfast for me.

I can still remember this plate of food, pure luxury. I didn’t sit far from the food. I was quite amused that a staff member went on for some time that the omelettes were coming soon as the chef was coming out to make them. She told everyone where they’d need to queue and explained it was best to get in first before the wait. I’m not really an omelette person so I focused on devouring capers and chorizo, but I thought that I’d watch the rush and the countdown for opening. Let’s just say that the rush wasn’t quite what the staff member expected. The chef came out, there was no-one there and they went back into the kitchen.

Note that the Americans can cook bacon, all crispy and the fat burnt off, which is the correct way of serving it as far as I’m concerned. My breakfast was all about the cold selection, but there was no shortage of choice here for those who wanted it.

I had seven hours in this lounge, so a lot of it was spent with my laptop whilst occasionally gazing out onto the tarmac.

And it wasn’t always raining.

The boardroom area.

One of the many quieter seating areas and I think this was the easiest lounge I’ve been to in terms of finding a plug to charge my devices at.

The cinema room.

I fell a bit asleep in the cinema room and a staff member came over when I was slightly awake, I initially thought to complain at me. Sleeping in lounges is a bit controversial, as is evident from the latest discussion about the matter on the BA forum of Flyertalk. However, she wasn’t complaining at all, she wanted to let me know that they had these sleeping areas if I would prefer that. I did.

After my little nap I thought I’d better check the beer selection in the lounge and there were around five craft beer options. This was certainly one of the better efforts that I’ve seen in any airport lounge and although I don’t really drink wine, there looked like an extensive range of those as well.

And then the cakes, as it was starting to get to lunchtime.

For anyone interested, they were delicious.

It’s important to stay hydrated.

And before I knew it, I was ready for lunch and the menus were switched to excite me.

The chicken and prawn dishes were very moreish.

Note the vegetables nearly covering my plate.

A post meal snack and beer.

I sat here pondering that I could happily live in this lounge for a couple of days, or, at a push, around ten months.

Not long before my flight, so I thought I’d better have a final snack.

I changed my mind and thought I’d better have another final snack. I don’t get to go to Flagship lounges very often.

I thought that this looked exciting, but it seems to just be a cargo aircraft.

With that, it was time to leave. It’s fair to say that I’d had a quite marvellous time. I was here on my silver status from BA that I got back in January 2019, with the flight I was about to take costing $9 and some Avios. I’m not sure that BA have made much on me to be honest. With regards to this lounge, it’s one of the finest going and American Airlines should be very proud of it.
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December 27, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 25 (American Airlines – Chicago O’Hare to New Orleans Louis Armstrong Airport in Main Cabin Extra)
After a pleasant several hour long visit to the American Airlines Flagship Lounge I was pleased to note that the gate area for the flight to New Orleans was spacious and comfortable. The flight was leaving on time and was expected to get into New Orleans at just after 19:00 and as a spoiler, I’m pleased to say that it did with no delays. It had been a relaxing day and I thought quite productive (not just in terms of eating through their menu), but I was getting quite tired by this point despite my little nap in the lounge.

I was able to get an emergency exit row seat, although was sitting in the middle, which I had picked as I realised that there’s something called Main Cabin Extra on American Airlines that had nearly entirely passed me by. These are the seats with extra legroom and also free drinks, and this is an upgrade that can be paid for, but which also comes free with the Silver status that I had with British Airways at the time (now gone I’m sad to report…..).

I boarded fairly early and put my bag into the overhead lockers, a process which is less time consuming than with British Airlines short-haul where it’s like watching a complex game of Jenga as bags are moved in and out. And there’s usually one passenger that tries to fit a bag into the overheads that simply cannot physically fit. It’s entertainment for a while watching the arrangement and seeing the exasperated, but yet ever so polite, looks of the cabin crew. Boarding on American Airlines was efficient and the crew were offering a positively upbeat welcome, it was all very agreeable.

Despite having read up on the arrangement, I still wasn’t entirely sure what I could get on Main Cabin Extra and I was disappointed when the lady seated to the left of me ordered a water. I was hoping to see if she got her drink for free, but as she asked for water then that told me nothing. I asked the crew member if I could get an alcoholic drink and he said that was what I had paid extra for and I most certainly could. I picked the Goose Island IPA which gave me fond memories of my brewery tour in Chicago and that came with a little biscuit snack as well. The lady to my left then said she hadn’t realised she got a free drink, which the man on my right then repeated, leading to a confused crew member as to why three of us had paid for this upgrade that we didn’t understand. In reality, I suspect that the other two just wanted an emergency exit row seat, whereas I was just getting the best free seat that I could.

That’s the best photo that I could get of the A319 aircraft after disembarking. The air bridges make it difficult to get photos, at least with budget airlines they make you walk to the airport terminal which gives an opportunity to take a photo of the aircraft.

And safely into New Orleans airport. I was only planning to be here for two evenings and just one full day because I wanted to visit the national World War II museum. I had missed it on my previous trips to New Orleans as I didn’t have time, but I was determined on this occasion to not just visit, but to make sure that I had sufficient time to see everything. This was my third and final American Airlines flight of this trip and all of them met or exceeded my expectations.
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December 25, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 13 (American Airlines’s Admirals Club at Charlotte Douglas Airport)
As previously mentioned, I was at Charlotte Airport with five hours until my flight whilst pondering whether the aircraft to Chicago would take-off given that Hurricane Ian was hitting the terminal. It was much weaker than when it was in Florida and South Carolina, but I was conscious early on that flights were starting to be cancelled and passengers were starting to leave the lounge to go home or make different plans.

Whatever happened, I intended to be well fed. That’s actually the story of my life I think, but there we go. This is the breakfast selection and I’d note here that the welcome at the entrance to the lounge was warm and friendly, it all felt an inviting location. I sat at a table with a power supply, so I had food, drink, electricity and wi-fi. What a time to be alive!

The hot food selection.

Bacon bits. Bloody delicious. I had a lot of these.

I was annoyed when the bacon bits ran out and the lunchtime selection was put out.

This is very American Airlines. Indeed, I’m delighted to hear that their lounge at Heathrow T3 has just reopened, as they have pick and mix there. Proper food.

I understand that I likely caused huge distress and concern by checking into Untappd with Miller Lite. However, this was the only beer that was free of charge, so not being made of money, I decided it would have to suffice. I felt a little sorry for the staff member behind the bar, she had to warn customer after customer that they’d have to pay for their choice. Many already knew, some didn’t care and some were disappointed or annoyed. This is the problem that American Airlines have, they have so many status passengers that they have to draw the line somewhere. However, more on this and how it impacts positively on those of us with BA status (although I’d add mine is about to run out at the end of 2022, but that’s another story).

Things were looking better outside, the rain was easing off.

I posted this in my previous post, but this was the state of the airport. My flight was still departing on time, the flight Gods were looking down on me positively. As for the lounge, I enjoyed my time there, with friendly staff, a clean environment and plenty of food. Maybe they could be more generous with their free alcohol offerings, but I wasn’t unhappy with what they offered and I can imagine there must be financial limitations on what they can do.

Apparently it’s possibly to buy a day pass for $59, which at the moment is about £50 and I think that’s a little excessive. However, the lounge was spacious with two separate wings, one each side of the main entrance. I got entrance with my BA status and my flight was already very cheap, so I left feeling that I had received very good value for the small amount that I had paid. Most of all, I was just pleased that my travel plans weren’t impacted as I didn’t have much slack in the rather fierce itinerary that I had given myself.
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November 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 13 (American Airlines – Charlotte to Chicago O’Hare)
After several hours in the lounge, I was pleased that my flight to Chicago O’Hare was taking off on time given the situation with Hurricane Ian. Incidentally, I paid £4.30 and 7,000 Avios points for this flight which I thought was very good value for money, the redemption on internal US flights is generous especially as I had so many Avios from previous trips with BA.

Here’s a photo of a corridor. OK, I’m running a little short of photos for this post. I can’t remember why I took this photo either.

My BA status meant that I was one of the first to board the aircraft. Wooooo. I’d add here, in case anyone thinks this is a bit decadent, that I managed to secure BA silver status back in January 2019 by a series of cheap flights to Malta, I’ve been living off that ever since…. I’m slightly sad to say it’ll end (temporarily) in December 2022.

Nice out.

I really enjoy internal US flights, as although it’s not as good as train travel with Amtrak, it’s quite relaxing to gaze out over the country.

The weather got better as we neared Chicago, but the pilot never turned off the seatbelt sign. The crew also remained seated and there was no service offered during the flight, the weather conditions just didn’t allow it.

We sat on the tarmac for around thirty minutes after landing at Chicago O’Hare and I looked longingly at the British Airways aircraft. I don’t know why as I didn’t want to get on it, it’s just reassuring in its own way. As a flight, all was comfortable with American Airlines and I was pleased that I had arrived into Chicago on time. What could possibly go wrong…. (more to be revealed in later posts)
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November 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 13 (Chicago – American Airlines Flagship Lounge)
Having safely arrived at Chicago O’Hare airport I remembered something that I had read on Flyertalk, which is that American Airlines allow access into their lounges to departing and arriving passengers. I’m not used to this set-up, not least as in most European airports they don’t allow departing and arriving passengers to mix at all. But, nothing ventured and nothing gained. Although that sentiment can be reversed to be nothing ventured, but still the potential to be refused and look an idiot.

Anyway, despite the potential downsides, I thought that I’d visit the lounge and see what they said, with a friendly and helpful man at the desk saying that I was absolutely allowed to enter and not just that, I could visit the floor with the Flagship Lounge. Very lovely. It’s also quite exciting as they then press the button on the elevator and then a staff member already waiting on the second floor takes the card and offers a formal introduction to the lounge.

I’m going to come back to this lounge again as I had a much longer visit later on during this trip, but since I liked it so much, there can be two posts. Here’s the dining menu which was rather decadent and I liked the attempt to use local suppliers where possible. I was quite impressed at how neatly the cutlery was arranged and even how posh the napkins were. I thought it was all a bit too decadent for me, but it’s important to embrace these things, especially when they’re free.

It’s all self-service as part of a buffet arrangement, here’s the cold selection.

And the hot selection.

This was a rather lovely welcome back to Chicago and not one that I had really expected. I had been carrying the champagne they gave me at reception around the lounge not really knowing why I had accepted it as I’m more of a beer person, but I wasn’t going to let it be wasted. I had found a bottle of Samuel Adams Octoberfest, a new beer to me, to complement my prawns, thin little carrots (I don’t know what the technical term is) and roast potatoes.

Being somewhat uncouth and primitive, I have a habit of eating food with my hands, not least because chicken strips, burgers and pizzas are all best consumed in that manner. The food here was suitably upmarket for that to be rather difficult, it’s quite hard to use my fingers to eat a ceviche in a couth manner. What with the surroundings being spotlessly clean, the ambience feeling inviting, the food and drink being plentiful and finding it necessary to use a knife and fork, this was the little treat that I needed.

I took the time to charge up my devices to face the wild outside that was Chicago and then a second beer before I thought that I really must go and find my hotel. And that proved to be more of an adventure than I had anticipated, much more of an adventure…..
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November 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 2 (American Airlines Flight from Heathrow T3 to JFK T8)

Suitably refreshed after visits to the Qantas and Cathay Pacific lounges, it was time to board the American Airlines flight from Heathrow T3 to JFK T8. See, I did tell readers that this trip would eventually get to the US! There was strict adherence to boarding by groups, despite the best efforts of some passengers to try and get on earlier than the group number on their ticket. The staff member said “group 3 now and anyone from groups 1 and 2 yet to board” and a passenger said to her “does that include group 8?” to which she replied that no it didn’t. Boarding was sluggish though, the flight departed 45 minutes late given the slow boarding and stowing of bags.

I had a bulkhead seat which gave me plenty of space and legroom. The aircraft was a Boeing 777-300, registration N722AN, which has been operated by American Airlines since they acquired it new in 2013. I was happy with this seat which I had been able to book for free before the flight, it felt comfortable on what was an entirely full flight. Apparently there was just one empty seat on the flight and that was someone at the airport who had cleared security but gone missing. I could hear the crew member say that he was likely asleep in a lounge and that it was too late to get anyone on stand-by onto the aircraft to replace him. With American Airlines, you can see how many people are on stand-by for each class and they got nearly everyone on board.

Legroom on the other seats looked manageable, but not entirely comfortable, especially if someone reclined into that space. I didn’t have to worry about that issue fortunately and I think the person behind with child was likely relieved that I didn’t recline either.

I didn’t use the in-flight entertainment as not much seemed particularly interesting, despite their claims of hundreds of hours of content with something for every taste. I did though watch an episode of the US version of The Office before getting bored and reverting back to podcasts.

The main meal service, I went for the chicken, green beans and starch option, although I was puzzled as to what that starch was. There was also a salad with dressing, a roll, crackers with cheese and then a carrot cake. I thought it was entirely satisfactory, nothing exceptional and the starch didn’t sound overly appetising, but it all tasted OK and it kept me amused for fifteen minutes or so.

I went for American Airlines over British Airways as they offer Dr. Pepper and have air vents. Simple things and simple minds….

In between naps, I went for Sprite as I managed to run them out of Dr. Pepper. I had quite a lot of little naps during my flight. Fortunately, there were power points on board so I had everything fully charged, and still had chance to lend the charger to my neighbour (on the plane, not in Norwich) as they couldn’t get theirs to work.

The personable crew member came to offer everyone an ice cream, mentioning to give it twenty minutes as it was so hard. He took a long time getting through the cabin as he kept talking to passengers, I got the impression that he rather liked his job, or he certainly looked like he did judging by his interactions. Indeed, all of the American Airlines crew were friendly, informal and they seemed to work well as a team, it give a positive ambience to the arrangements.

The breakfast options were beef or vegetarian pockets. Everyone else seemed to be going for the vegetarian one, but I was brave and went for beef and the crew member commented on my bravery. Not the most encouraging thing to say after ordering a meal, but the food was fine, although it was mostly pocket and not much beef.

A little girl came to talk to me as she wanted to look at my phone and see photos of my children. After checking her parents were content with this plan, which they were as they were trying to deal with a crying young baby, I checked she would be satisfied just with photos of a friend’s children. She was and we then went through hundreds of photos of Liam’s children who she decided that she liked. She thought Liam’s girl was her favourite as she looked the naughtiest.

The problem with airbridges is that it makes it hard to take photos, as opposed to when passengers are allowed to walk down steps. Anyway, the aircraft is in the photo to the left and that’ll have to do. There were a ridiculous 45 minute wait on the ground to get a stand, before another ninety minute wait at border control. They didn’t try any interrogation on this occasion, the officer just checked if I was in the US for tourism or business. I remember when a border control agent asked me a few years ago if I believed in the JFK rumours that he was killed by the secret service, which is quite a tricky question to know how to answer when arriving tired into a new country.

Anyway, the flight had made good time and there were no delays to the services I had taken during the time because of the Queen’s funeral which was potentially going to impact operations at Heathrow. It had been a good day.

This is terminal 8 where American Airlines and British Airways are combining operations, after many years for BA at Terminal 7. There’s a fair chunk of construction work going on at the moment and there’s going to be one large Oneworld lounge, albeit separated into three sections depending on class (of the flight, not of the individual) and loyalty scheme status. This model is likely to become more common I suspect, it feels odd that there are four Oneworld lounges at Heathrow T3, much as I like that situation.

September 21, 2022
Flights – Los Angeles to Boston Logan (American Airlines)

I’ll start this post by commenting that I’ve written to American Airlines (not that the customer service staff can really do anything with my message), as the crew member said that they appreciate all feedback (which is the sort of mistruth that is often said). It was a frustrating flight, as nearly everything was excellent. The lounge exceeded my expectations, the airport staff and cabin crew were friendly and efficient, the entertainment system was decent, the snacks were fine, the service was quiet as it was a night flight, the aircraft was clean and we arrived on time.

However, the problem is the recline on the seats, or at least, it’s a problem for me. Once thought of as the preserve of the budget carriers such as easyJet and Ryanair in Europe and Allegiant in the US, decent airlines are now scrapping the damn things, or at least offering customers the choice of rows where seats can’t recline. They cause seemingly endless arguments on flights and with the limited seat pitch and space between seats, they intrude far too heavily into the person behind. British Airways have started to scrap reclining seats in some of their short-haul flights and Delta have started to cut back how far the seats recline.

The compromise of having several rows which have no recline seems to me to be an excellent one. No system is perfect in meeting the needs of every passenger, but that will mean that the majority of seat recliners get their seat recline, and the majority of those who don’t like seats reclining also get their way. I’m very pleased that at least British Airways has seen sense on this issue.

The screen, which was bright and had an excellent range of different films and television programmes. One clever innovation is that you can also watch these films and programmes from your phone should you wish, which is probably a pre-cursor to the screens being removed in the future.

The business class seats that I wasn’t in….

The coach seats that I was seated in, which were actually otherwise entirely acceptable in their unreclined state.

The crew came round and offered a free drink, with snacks of pretzels and biscuits. I opted for my usual Dr. Pepper, with the crew serving everyone efficiently. I was surprised that they served with the cabin in darkness, but they didn’t seem to experience any issues.

Arriving into Boston, the pilot mentioned that those sitting on the right hand side would be a good view of the city, and fortunately, I was sitting on the right hand side by the window.

So, in short, the flight was excellent, but the airline’s overly generous recline policy means that I won’t likely be flying with them again in short-haul. Which means I’ll be back to Allegiant.

May 8, 2019
American Airlines (Las Vegas to Chicago)

This flight was on 18 January 2017 and I flew with American Airlines from Las Vegas McCarran to Chicago O’Hare. I was randomly allocated a window seat, seat 23F and the above photo is of the aircraft when we had arrived into Chicago.

Goodbye to Las Vegas…..

As far as flights go, the view on this one was far better than I had expected because clouds weren’t in the way. Although there was some cloud cover towards the end of the flight, I was able to look out onto the varied terrain of the United States for most of the journey.

There’s a free snack and drink, and I can rarely resist Dr. Pepper when in the United States…. Not sure why American Airlines selected such a European snack though.

There was in-flight entertainment, which for some reason I hadn’t expected on this flight.

Flying into Chicago and over Lake Michigan.

This was a much better flight than I had expected and it was my first internal journey with American Airlines, as I’d only flown with them long-haul. Service was efficienct and polite, with the cabin being clean and comfortable. The views were also a highlight I hadn’t anticipated and the in-flight entertainment was another welcome distraction.

The flight cost £65 which I didn’t think was too bad, although I’ve since realised that I can get better value by using my Avios balance. Using American Airlines also gives me the advantage of my Oneworld card, so I may as well as remain loyal to that scheme.

February 27, 2019
Heathrow T3 – American Airlines Lounge

For BA customers who have silver status or above, or who are travelling in a premium cabin, they can access all of the Oneworld lounges at Heathrow T3, which are Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, British Airways and Qantas.

I get to fly American Airlines from time to time, both internationally and within the United States, and I’ve never had a bad experience. The staff member at the reception desk was typically American, full of enthusiasm, customer service training and friendliness.

The lounge itself is large and wasn’t particularly busy, but everything seemed pretty well stocked up. There’s a First Class section to the lounge as well, but that’s beyond my access level unfortunately…..

The lunch menu consisted of smoked Spanish style chicken and chorizo with roast new potatoes and green beans. There was also a cured meat platter and and a pasta option.

There’s the cured meat platter mentioned on the menu.

This is the Spanish style chicken and chorizo, although I neither saw nor tasted any chorizo element to it. It all tasted fine, the chicken was tender and the green beans were served al dente (I think that phrase really applies to pasta, but I’m applying it to green beans anyway).

So Cathay Pacific are very proud of their noodle bar serving dim sum and other delicacies. American Airlines don’t have anything like that, but they have a sweet counter instead. This is partly why I like American Airlines so much…..

How rather lovely.

Reading other reviews, not many people pick the American Airlines lounge as their favourite if they’re taking part in a lounge crawl. Perhaps it isn’t, but I think it’s better than a fair few people say it is. Friendly service, spacious and, well, it has unlimited jelly beans and chocolate mints.

January 20, 2019