tfung
Jun 20, 01, 6:33 pm
Trip report LHR-LAX AA137 June 20th
After getting to Terminal 3, I picked up my suitcase from Left Luggage and proceeded to get my bag checked in for the AA flight. Since I was issued a boarding pass already in Dubai, I just went up to the First class check-in to get my bag on. The agent tagged my bag and handed me a new boarding pass. The boarding pass was put into a clear plastic holder, which I thought was quite interesting. Waste of money for them though to give everyone these things. I headed to the AA Flagship lounge and was the only person there at that time. It was still very early, and my flight was not for another 4 hours. The lounge wasn't as big and nice as the United one, but the seats were more comfortable. Food selection was also a bit lacking, but as they were just serving breakfast foods, that was to be expected. I spent the next 4 hours lazing around the lounge, and watching people come and go. Also managed to get a phone cord from the Admirals lounge next door so I could get on the net. As phone usage was not free, I logged on for about an hour (£30 charge) only. The rest of the time, I was bored out of my mind, and was relieved when boarding time finally came, and I headed to the gate.
Flight AA137 was departing from gate 18, and it took me less than 5 minutes to get there. After checking my boarding pass and passport, I was let into the waiting area. I was told that the flight came in a little late, so boarding would not start for another 10 minutes. Boarding finally commenced at about 10:40, and First class passengers were asked to board. Only one of the jet-ways was being used, and everyone boarded through door 1. I took my seat in 2A, and was quite impressed with the First class setup. It had the Flagship suites, and it looked a lot better than the pictures I've seen on airliners.net. The seats were a little wider than United First suites, and were quite comfortable. A pillow, blanket and amenity kit was already on the seat. Only thing I did not like about the seat was that the headrest jutted out a bit too much, and my head neck wasn't too comfortable in the upright position. As I was getting settled in, I plugged my laptop into the power port, and was happy to find that the ones they had were those of a normal car cigarette lighter. This is much more convenient for a lot of people who might not necessarily have the dedicated airplane power adapters.
First class was completely full, and while people were still trying to board through door 1, the purser Carol, was going around handing out pre-departure drinks. The drinks were served on hard plastic cups, much better than the flimsy UA ones. Menus were also handed out while the last passengers got on and the doors closed. Between that time and take-off, I read through all the in-flight magazines. I can't believe that they have a normal one, and another one for their "premium" passengers. Both magazines weren't terribly interesting, and I preferred the UA Hemispheres. Pushback was at 11:25, just a little behind our scheduled departure time of 11:05. Taxiing took a while as there were quite a bit of ground traffic, and we were finally airborne at 12:00. Flight time was going to be 12 hours 26 minutes, and our cruising altitude was 33,000 feet. After takeoff, I experimented with the Flagship suite and turned it to the work position facing the windows. It was quite interesting looking out of the windows that way, but it wasn't for me, so I turned it to the normal flight position facing to the side. I popped up the video screen, and I was very impressed with their system. Although the screen wasn't as big as CX or SQ, it was touch-screen. Didn't have to bother with controls or anything like that. This is by far the best system I've used, although I can imagine them getting a ton of problems down the road.
Bose noise-cancellation headsets were handed out before drinks were served. When the orders were taken, the Carol asked for all the passengers' first names. For the rest of the flights, she just addressed all the passengers by that. Never seen any airline or purser do this, and it was quite strange to me after all my BA and CX flights where they always addressed the passengers by Mr. so and so. Anyways, I asked for Ginger ale, as I didn't really feel like champagne at noontime. They were serving Moët & Chandon, which gave me a little laugh. My friends and I in Hong Kong have a joke about it as it sounds sort of like Mao ZeDong when you say it in Cantonese. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Anyways, drinks were served with warm nuts and vegetable sticks in a dill sauce. The nuts were the same as on United, except twice the portion. For lunch, we had the following menu, which was a combination of normal airplane style or dine upon request:
LUNCH
The Caviar Cart
Caviar with traditional garnishes and blini or toast points
or
Smoked salmon with capers
The Salad Cart
Please selection any combination of the following served with Uno's Focaccia bread:
Fresh seasonal greens with ginger orange dressing or olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Roasted shallot chateaubriand in a soy sauce and sake marinade
Your choice of vegetables including artichoke quarters, red peppers, Kalamata olives and cucumbers
Entrees
The following a la carte vegetable options are available with your entrée:
Wild rice with vegetable medley, braised leeks with chervil, and roasted carrots with sage butter
Lamb Chops
Rosemary-roasted double lamb chops, enhanced by a Merlot sauce, presented with a broccoli-tomato medley and yellow potato wedges with Thyme
Lemon Thyme Grilled Chicken
Grilled breast of chicken served with sautéed Haricot Verts and sun-dried tomatoes, accompanied by a potato soufflé
Penne Pasta with Grilled Eggplant
Penne pasta with grilled eggplant complemented by an oven-roasted tomato sauce, smoked Mozzarella and freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Yankee Pot Roast
Tenderloin of beef braised in a red wine broth, accompanied by oven-roasted potatoes, carrots and pearl onions
Lighter Fare
Presented as an alternative, your Lighter Fare entrée may be created from our Salad Cart
or
from our selection of a la carte vegetables
Dine Upon Request
You may choose one of the following entrees to be served with caviar, smoked salmon with a peppered lavosh cracker and a specially prepared dessert, presented all at once, at any time you wish
Lemon Thyme Grilled Chicken
Penne Pasta with Grilled Eggplant
Yankee Pot Roast
Dessert
Fruit and cheese
Ice Cream Sundae
Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream with a choice of hot fudge, butterscotch or seasonal berry toppings, whipped cream and pecans
Grand Marnier fruit salad presented with sorbet
Selected chocolates
Wines
Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial Vintage Champagne
Zaca mesa Santa Barbara Country 'Zaca Vineyard' Chardonnay 1998
Château Olivier 1998
Shepherds Ridge Marlborough New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 1999
Wynns Coonawarra South Australia Shiraz 1998
Labouré-Roi Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru 1996
King Estate Oregon Pinot Noir 1997
Royal Tokaji 'Blue Label' Tokaji Aszú 1996
Before lunch was served, I started my personal video. Their choices were quite good, and some of them I haven't seen yet. It's always the US airlines that get the newest movies. I haven't taken United this month, so I don't know if the selection had changed. But I haven't seen a lot of the ones on AA, so I was quite happy. Hot towels were handed out, and the caviar and salmon was first served. Since I don't eat caviar, I had some smoked salmon with a glass of champagne. The smoked salmon was quite good, but too bad I only got one piece. I think they ran out before I could ask for some more. I had the salad with the orange ginger dressing, which really didn't taste like much, but I asked them to add two slices of chateaubriand, which sort of made up for the lack of taste in the salad. For my main course, I asked for the pot roast, which I have actually never tried before. I had no idea what it was, except that it was some sort of beef. Well, I actually quite enjoyed that, as the beef tasted pretty good and wasn't too tough. I fell asleep after that, and I was woken up when they served ice cream. The scoop of vanilla ice cream was HUGE, and I had added butterscotch and nuts to it. Overall, I'm very impressed with the meal service on AA, especially the dessert. However, my only complaint was that the entire service took 2 hours! Maybe it's because of such a large First class cabin, but still… 2 hours for lunch service is just a little too long.
After lunch, I continued watching my movies, and on the entire flight, I watched 3 movies before I took a little nap. My nap lasted till 2 hours before landing, and I got up to go stretch a bit. I got a drink from Carol in the galley (she doesn't seem to need to rest) and also picked up some snacks from the snack tray. They had an assortment of chips, cookies, and chocolate. The chocolate included Toblerone and Godiva ! Something we've been missing out lately on United. Anyways, about an hour and a half before arrival, we were served a light meal. The choices were:
Afternoon Meal
Feta Baked Salmon
Fillet of salmon topped with baked Feta cheese, accompanied by a salad of wilted greens, roasted yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives and a cucumber-mint dressing.
or
Pineapple Chicken with Asian Slaw
Slices of chicken breast in a pineapple soy marinade, served with julienned Asian slaw including cabbage, carrots, red bell peppers and fresh cilantro
Ice Beverages - iced tea, lemonade and mineral water offered in chilled glasses with lemon and fresh mint
Fresh fruit
Cookies, freshly baked on board
For this meal, I picked the salmon instead of my usual chicken, as the one vegetable that I absolutely hated is cilantro, and the chicken had that in it. The salmon was very well made, and had a thick piece of Feta cheese on top. Very strong taste which was kind of good to wake yourself up. Lemonade was served with this, and although it wasn't fresh lemonade, it was still quite refreshing. For desert, we had a fresh fruit salad and also an oatmeal cookie. Descent started when we were 200 miles out from LAX. It was not until 10 minutes before landing that the captain put on the seat belt signs. On UA, the seat belt signs came on half an hour before landing. We landed in LAX at 14:25 and taxied at the gate at Terminal 5. We had to be towed in and that took a little while. Disembarkment was made through door 2, and luckily the FAs held up all the Business class passengers to let us off first. At the US immigration, there were only 3 lines open, one for visitors and 2 for US citizens. By the time I got up to the immigration officer, the crowd around the small immigration area was already building up. For some strange reason, the immigration officer (an old asian guy), let me through within 1 minute, whereas the previous 3 people took more than 5 minutes each. He questioned all of them very thoroughly whereas he was smiling and just stamped my passport right away. Another strange incident. By the time I got to the luggage area, a lot of bags were on the carousel already. I spotted my bag and proceeded through customs. It was the first time that I was stopped to ask about foot and mouth disease. The past few times going through BOS and SEA, I was never asked about this. Of course, I haven't been on a farm and was sent on my way out of the airport. I waited about 20 minutes for the airport shuttle to bring me to my airport.
On this flight I picked up a Business class menu on this flight, but couldn't get an Economy one, as they didn't give them out. I wonder if that is just for this flight or does AA not give out menus at all for Economy. Anyways, notice the similarities between the First and Business class menus:
BUSINESS
LUNCH
Appetizer
Hot-smoked salmon accompanied by a fresh grapefruit and cucumber salad
Salad
Fresh seasonal greens offered with ginger orange dressing or olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Bread Basket
Warm breads, freshly baked on board
Entrees
Lamb Medallions
Rosemary-roasted lamb medallions enhanced by a Merlot sauce, presented with a broccoli-tomato medley and yellow potato wedges with Thyme
Lemon Thyme Grilled Chicken
Grilled breast of chicken served with sautéed Haricot Verts and sun-dried tomatoes, accompanied by a potato soufflé
Penne Pasta with Grilled Eggplant
Penne pasta with grilled eggplant complemented by an oven-roasted tomato sauce, smoked Mozzarella and freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Yankee Pot Roast
Tenderloin of beef braised in a red wine broth, accompanied by oven-roasted potatoes, carrots and pearl onions
Dine Upon Request
You may choose one of the following entrees, complete with an appetizer and a specially prepared dessert, presented all at once, at any time you wish
Lamb Medallions
Lemon Thyme Grilled Chicken
Penne Pasta with Grilled Eggplant
Yankee Pot Roast
Vegetable Plate
Dessert
Fresh fruit and cheese with selected crackers
A scoop of Häagen-Dazs Ice cream
Chocolates
Afternoon Meal
Feta Baked Salmon
Fillet of salmon topped with baked Feta cheese, accompanied by a salad of wilted greens, roasted yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives and a cucumber-mint dressing.
or
Pineapple Chicken with Asian Slaw
Slices of chicken breast in a pineapple soy marinade, served with julienned Asian slaw including cabbage, carrots, red bell peppers and fresh cilantro
A walnut tart with caramel filling topped with a fresh strawberry
Wines
Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial Vintage Champagne
Château Olivier 1998
Shepherds Ridge Marlborough New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 1999
Labouré-Roi Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru 1996
King Estate Oregon Pinot Noir 1997
Royal Tokaji 'Blue Label' Tokaji Aszú 1996
After my flight with AA, here are my impressions. I find that AA offers a much better International product that a lot of other airlines, namely United. I think it is on par with some Asian and European airlines, like CX and BA. Of course, their operating style is typical American - friendly and down to earth. I like this aspect a lot more than the typical by the book Asian or European service. They are quite similar to United in terms of service, but I did think our purser on this flight Carol was exceptional. I would bet that it's just that I got a good one on this flight, and not all are like that. Food wise, AA is a bit below CX and BA, although it is a lot better than United. I think United really needs to do something if they are to compete with American. The only thing I see that United has going for them is their extensive routes and also their mileage program. I still believe that United has a better mileage program, as it seems a lot more flexible than American and OneWorld. How nice it would be if United and American would merge into one airline - a combination of the bests of both companies… http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
After getting to Terminal 3, I picked up my suitcase from Left Luggage and proceeded to get my bag checked in for the AA flight. Since I was issued a boarding pass already in Dubai, I just went up to the First class check-in to get my bag on. The agent tagged my bag and handed me a new boarding pass. The boarding pass was put into a clear plastic holder, which I thought was quite interesting. Waste of money for them though to give everyone these things. I headed to the AA Flagship lounge and was the only person there at that time. It was still very early, and my flight was not for another 4 hours. The lounge wasn't as big and nice as the United one, but the seats were more comfortable. Food selection was also a bit lacking, but as they were just serving breakfast foods, that was to be expected. I spent the next 4 hours lazing around the lounge, and watching people come and go. Also managed to get a phone cord from the Admirals lounge next door so I could get on the net. As phone usage was not free, I logged on for about an hour (£30 charge) only. The rest of the time, I was bored out of my mind, and was relieved when boarding time finally came, and I headed to the gate.
Flight AA137 was departing from gate 18, and it took me less than 5 minutes to get there. After checking my boarding pass and passport, I was let into the waiting area. I was told that the flight came in a little late, so boarding would not start for another 10 minutes. Boarding finally commenced at about 10:40, and First class passengers were asked to board. Only one of the jet-ways was being used, and everyone boarded through door 1. I took my seat in 2A, and was quite impressed with the First class setup. It had the Flagship suites, and it looked a lot better than the pictures I've seen on airliners.net. The seats were a little wider than United First suites, and were quite comfortable. A pillow, blanket and amenity kit was already on the seat. Only thing I did not like about the seat was that the headrest jutted out a bit too much, and my head neck wasn't too comfortable in the upright position. As I was getting settled in, I plugged my laptop into the power port, and was happy to find that the ones they had were those of a normal car cigarette lighter. This is much more convenient for a lot of people who might not necessarily have the dedicated airplane power adapters.
First class was completely full, and while people were still trying to board through door 1, the purser Carol, was going around handing out pre-departure drinks. The drinks were served on hard plastic cups, much better than the flimsy UA ones. Menus were also handed out while the last passengers got on and the doors closed. Between that time and take-off, I read through all the in-flight magazines. I can't believe that they have a normal one, and another one for their "premium" passengers. Both magazines weren't terribly interesting, and I preferred the UA Hemispheres. Pushback was at 11:25, just a little behind our scheduled departure time of 11:05. Taxiing took a while as there were quite a bit of ground traffic, and we were finally airborne at 12:00. Flight time was going to be 12 hours 26 minutes, and our cruising altitude was 33,000 feet. After takeoff, I experimented with the Flagship suite and turned it to the work position facing the windows. It was quite interesting looking out of the windows that way, but it wasn't for me, so I turned it to the normal flight position facing to the side. I popped up the video screen, and I was very impressed with their system. Although the screen wasn't as big as CX or SQ, it was touch-screen. Didn't have to bother with controls or anything like that. This is by far the best system I've used, although I can imagine them getting a ton of problems down the road.
Bose noise-cancellation headsets were handed out before drinks were served. When the orders were taken, the Carol asked for all the passengers' first names. For the rest of the flights, she just addressed all the passengers by that. Never seen any airline or purser do this, and it was quite strange to me after all my BA and CX flights where they always addressed the passengers by Mr. so and so. Anyways, I asked for Ginger ale, as I didn't really feel like champagne at noontime. They were serving Moët & Chandon, which gave me a little laugh. My friends and I in Hong Kong have a joke about it as it sounds sort of like Mao ZeDong when you say it in Cantonese. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Anyways, drinks were served with warm nuts and vegetable sticks in a dill sauce. The nuts were the same as on United, except twice the portion. For lunch, we had the following menu, which was a combination of normal airplane style or dine upon request:
LUNCH
The Caviar Cart
Caviar with traditional garnishes and blini or toast points
or
Smoked salmon with capers
The Salad Cart
Please selection any combination of the following served with Uno's Focaccia bread:
Fresh seasonal greens with ginger orange dressing or olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Roasted shallot chateaubriand in a soy sauce and sake marinade
Your choice of vegetables including artichoke quarters, red peppers, Kalamata olives and cucumbers
Entrees
The following a la carte vegetable options are available with your entrée:
Wild rice with vegetable medley, braised leeks with chervil, and roasted carrots with sage butter
Lamb Chops
Rosemary-roasted double lamb chops, enhanced by a Merlot sauce, presented with a broccoli-tomato medley and yellow potato wedges with Thyme
Lemon Thyme Grilled Chicken
Grilled breast of chicken served with sautéed Haricot Verts and sun-dried tomatoes, accompanied by a potato soufflé
Penne Pasta with Grilled Eggplant
Penne pasta with grilled eggplant complemented by an oven-roasted tomato sauce, smoked Mozzarella and freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Yankee Pot Roast
Tenderloin of beef braised in a red wine broth, accompanied by oven-roasted potatoes, carrots and pearl onions
Lighter Fare
Presented as an alternative, your Lighter Fare entrée may be created from our Salad Cart
or
from our selection of a la carte vegetables
Dine Upon Request
You may choose one of the following entrees to be served with caviar, smoked salmon with a peppered lavosh cracker and a specially prepared dessert, presented all at once, at any time you wish
Lemon Thyme Grilled Chicken
Penne Pasta with Grilled Eggplant
Yankee Pot Roast
Dessert
Fruit and cheese
Ice Cream Sundae
Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream with a choice of hot fudge, butterscotch or seasonal berry toppings, whipped cream and pecans
Grand Marnier fruit salad presented with sorbet
Selected chocolates
Wines
Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial Vintage Champagne
Zaca mesa Santa Barbara Country 'Zaca Vineyard' Chardonnay 1998
Château Olivier 1998
Shepherds Ridge Marlborough New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 1999
Wynns Coonawarra South Australia Shiraz 1998
Labouré-Roi Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru 1996
King Estate Oregon Pinot Noir 1997
Royal Tokaji 'Blue Label' Tokaji Aszú 1996
Before lunch was served, I started my personal video. Their choices were quite good, and some of them I haven't seen yet. It's always the US airlines that get the newest movies. I haven't taken United this month, so I don't know if the selection had changed. But I haven't seen a lot of the ones on AA, so I was quite happy. Hot towels were handed out, and the caviar and salmon was first served. Since I don't eat caviar, I had some smoked salmon with a glass of champagne. The smoked salmon was quite good, but too bad I only got one piece. I think they ran out before I could ask for some more. I had the salad with the orange ginger dressing, which really didn't taste like much, but I asked them to add two slices of chateaubriand, which sort of made up for the lack of taste in the salad. For my main course, I asked for the pot roast, which I have actually never tried before. I had no idea what it was, except that it was some sort of beef. Well, I actually quite enjoyed that, as the beef tasted pretty good and wasn't too tough. I fell asleep after that, and I was woken up when they served ice cream. The scoop of vanilla ice cream was HUGE, and I had added butterscotch and nuts to it. Overall, I'm very impressed with the meal service on AA, especially the dessert. However, my only complaint was that the entire service took 2 hours! Maybe it's because of such a large First class cabin, but still… 2 hours for lunch service is just a little too long.
After lunch, I continued watching my movies, and on the entire flight, I watched 3 movies before I took a little nap. My nap lasted till 2 hours before landing, and I got up to go stretch a bit. I got a drink from Carol in the galley (she doesn't seem to need to rest) and also picked up some snacks from the snack tray. They had an assortment of chips, cookies, and chocolate. The chocolate included Toblerone and Godiva ! Something we've been missing out lately on United. Anyways, about an hour and a half before arrival, we were served a light meal. The choices were:
Afternoon Meal
Feta Baked Salmon
Fillet of salmon topped with baked Feta cheese, accompanied by a salad of wilted greens, roasted yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives and a cucumber-mint dressing.
or
Pineapple Chicken with Asian Slaw
Slices of chicken breast in a pineapple soy marinade, served with julienned Asian slaw including cabbage, carrots, red bell peppers and fresh cilantro
Ice Beverages - iced tea, lemonade and mineral water offered in chilled glasses with lemon and fresh mint
Fresh fruit
Cookies, freshly baked on board
For this meal, I picked the salmon instead of my usual chicken, as the one vegetable that I absolutely hated is cilantro, and the chicken had that in it. The salmon was very well made, and had a thick piece of Feta cheese on top. Very strong taste which was kind of good to wake yourself up. Lemonade was served with this, and although it wasn't fresh lemonade, it was still quite refreshing. For desert, we had a fresh fruit salad and also an oatmeal cookie. Descent started when we were 200 miles out from LAX. It was not until 10 minutes before landing that the captain put on the seat belt signs. On UA, the seat belt signs came on half an hour before landing. We landed in LAX at 14:25 and taxied at the gate at Terminal 5. We had to be towed in and that took a little while. Disembarkment was made through door 2, and luckily the FAs held up all the Business class passengers to let us off first. At the US immigration, there were only 3 lines open, one for visitors and 2 for US citizens. By the time I got up to the immigration officer, the crowd around the small immigration area was already building up. For some strange reason, the immigration officer (an old asian guy), let me through within 1 minute, whereas the previous 3 people took more than 5 minutes each. He questioned all of them very thoroughly whereas he was smiling and just stamped my passport right away. Another strange incident. By the time I got to the luggage area, a lot of bags were on the carousel already. I spotted my bag and proceeded through customs. It was the first time that I was stopped to ask about foot and mouth disease. The past few times going through BOS and SEA, I was never asked about this. Of course, I haven't been on a farm and was sent on my way out of the airport. I waited about 20 minutes for the airport shuttle to bring me to my airport.
On this flight I picked up a Business class menu on this flight, but couldn't get an Economy one, as they didn't give them out. I wonder if that is just for this flight or does AA not give out menus at all for Economy. Anyways, notice the similarities between the First and Business class menus:
BUSINESS
LUNCH
Appetizer
Hot-smoked salmon accompanied by a fresh grapefruit and cucumber salad
Salad
Fresh seasonal greens offered with ginger orange dressing or olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Bread Basket
Warm breads, freshly baked on board
Entrees
Lamb Medallions
Rosemary-roasted lamb medallions enhanced by a Merlot sauce, presented with a broccoli-tomato medley and yellow potato wedges with Thyme
Lemon Thyme Grilled Chicken
Grilled breast of chicken served with sautéed Haricot Verts and sun-dried tomatoes, accompanied by a potato soufflé
Penne Pasta with Grilled Eggplant
Penne pasta with grilled eggplant complemented by an oven-roasted tomato sauce, smoked Mozzarella and freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Yankee Pot Roast
Tenderloin of beef braised in a red wine broth, accompanied by oven-roasted potatoes, carrots and pearl onions
Dine Upon Request
You may choose one of the following entrees, complete with an appetizer and a specially prepared dessert, presented all at once, at any time you wish
Lamb Medallions
Lemon Thyme Grilled Chicken
Penne Pasta with Grilled Eggplant
Yankee Pot Roast
Vegetable Plate
Dessert
Fresh fruit and cheese with selected crackers
A scoop of Häagen-Dazs Ice cream
Chocolates
Afternoon Meal
Feta Baked Salmon
Fillet of salmon topped with baked Feta cheese, accompanied by a salad of wilted greens, roasted yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives and a cucumber-mint dressing.
or
Pineapple Chicken with Asian Slaw
Slices of chicken breast in a pineapple soy marinade, served with julienned Asian slaw including cabbage, carrots, red bell peppers and fresh cilantro
A walnut tart with caramel filling topped with a fresh strawberry
Wines
Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial Vintage Champagne
Château Olivier 1998
Shepherds Ridge Marlborough New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 1999
Labouré-Roi Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru 1996
King Estate Oregon Pinot Noir 1997
Royal Tokaji 'Blue Label' Tokaji Aszú 1996
After my flight with AA, here are my impressions. I find that AA offers a much better International product that a lot of other airlines, namely United. I think it is on par with some Asian and European airlines, like CX and BA. Of course, their operating style is typical American - friendly and down to earth. I like this aspect a lot more than the typical by the book Asian or European service. They are quite similar to United in terms of service, but I did think our purser on this flight Carol was exceptional. I would bet that it's just that I got a good one on this flight, and not all are like that. Food wise, AA is a bit below CX and BA, although it is a lot better than United. I think United really needs to do something if they are to compete with American. The only thing I see that United has going for them is their extensive routes and also their mileage program. I still believe that United has a better mileage program, as it seems a lot more flexible than American and OneWorld. How nice it would be if United and American would merge into one airline - a combination of the bests of both companies… http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif