Europe Double Dip: Amsterdam (AA new J), Dubai (EY J/ EY F), and Paris (AA J/F)
Jan 27, 2015, 9:29 pm
#1
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: DFW
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Hilton HHonors Gold
Posts: 2,863
Europe Double Dip: Amsterdam (AA new J), Dubai (EY J/ EY F), and Paris (AA J/F)
Hi folks,
I will consolidate two trips in one report here, to facilitate everyone's reading. Before going home over Christmas, I had spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Amsterdam (and Haarlem) before flying to the UAE for a shopping detour to Dubai. I flew to AMS on American Airlines business class on the new B773 - a fantastic product indeed - before flying Etihad Airways (still J class, A333) to Abu Dhabi; I would then fly back home again on Etihad Airways, but this time in First Class (A346). Overall, it was a great trip - we really loved The Netherlands despite the cold and AA/EY delivered a solid experience.
Then in January I came for a long weekend to Paris - my third time to Europe in just a month and half. My visit coincided with the terrorist attacks at Charlie Hebdo; while this brutal event scarred the city, I was totally blown away by how the city came together in this difficult situation. In the end, terrorism can never win. For this trip I flew exclusively AA, business class on my way there and First Class on my way back. Overall, it was a good trip and my AA flights were pretty good.
I hope you will enjoy this new adventures of mine. As always, thanks for reading!
========================================
2014 is almost over. Which means that the Holiday Season has arrived. I must admit that the period ranging from the weekend before Thanksgiving till the weekend after New Year’s Eve is quite awesome in the US – as it is a concentration and sequence of endless eating, drinking, and partying. Everyone – even more so here in the South – is happy, merry, and thankful for what they have. Most Americans, especially over Thanksgiving, travel to their families across the Country to celebrate this uniquely-American holiday, which means that domestic flights are painfully full – and expensive. But almost no-one travels internationally and, as business travel comes to a halt during this time of the year, this means that very good deals can be found to take a break abroad.
While last year I celebrated Turkey Day in the US, this year I decided to take the chance to meet up with my dad and girlfriend in Europe. We did some brainstorm and we settled to meet in a city none of us had visited before. We shortlisted Dublin and Amsterdam, and eventually we settled to visit the capital city of The Netherlands.
So, after just terminating my previous trip report on Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, here I am chronicling the oneworld82’s family adventures in Holland. Of course, given the low season for international travel to and from the US I decided to be creative and fly in style.
On my outbound, after a delayed and uneventful economy class flight from Dallas to Miami on American Airlines in economy class, I would try AA’s triple-seven-threehundred’s business class for the very first time – an exciting proposition to see where the “New American” is heading to.
Then I would meet my family at London Heathrow and together we would fly to Amsterdam on a short British Airways flight in business class.
We would spend Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Amsterdam – trying new food, drinking Jenever, visiting World-class museums, and – why not – shopping with a half-day trip to beautiful Haarlem. Then, I would bid goodbye to my folks to start my counter-intuitive journey back home. Taking advantage of the Slingshot-effect (just like Rosetta did to reach the comet it is orbiting now) I would fly Etihad business class from Amsterdam to Abu Dhabi and I would spend ~24 hours in Dubai, staying at the Hotel Sheraton Mall of the Emirates. Then I would fly Etihad Airways First Class all the way back to the US to Washington-Dulles to sample, once again, one of my very favorite First Class products out there.
All in all, it looks like a fun 6-days. This trip report will be divided as follows:
1. MIA-LHR on American Airlines Business Class (77W)
2. British Airways Business Galleries Club South (LHR T5) + LHR-AMS on 3. British Airways Business Class (319)
4. Exploring Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Central Amsterdam
5. A Day trip to Haarlem
6. On Dutch food and drinks
7. KLM Crown Lounge @ AMS and AMS-AUH on Etihad Business Class (332)
8. Shopping in Dubai and the Hotel Sheraton Mall of the Emirates
9. Etihad Airways Business Class Lounge @ AUH T3
10. AUH-IAD on Etihad Airways First Class (346)
I am very excited to share this trip with you all. I hope you’ll enjoy and comment of this short Thanksgiving break.
----------------------------
Here's the second part of my trip report - the Paris leg. We went for 4 days right during the big French Soldes, and we had a blast. We happened to go right after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, and while the atmosphere in Paris was a bit tense, we still had a very enjoyable time (and witnessed the strenght and unity of Parisian people).
Three simple parts for this report, as follows:
1. ORD-CDG on AA J (763)
2. Three days in Paris + Renaissance le Parc Trocadero and InterContinental Le Grand Hotel (and lots of food)
3. LHR-DFW on AA F (772)
Hope you will enjoy!
I will consolidate two trips in one report here, to facilitate everyone's reading. Before going home over Christmas, I had spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Amsterdam (and Haarlem) before flying to the UAE for a shopping detour to Dubai. I flew to AMS on American Airlines business class on the new B773 - a fantastic product indeed - before flying Etihad Airways (still J class, A333) to Abu Dhabi; I would then fly back home again on Etihad Airways, but this time in First Class (A346). Overall, it was a great trip - we really loved The Netherlands despite the cold and AA/EY delivered a solid experience.
Then in January I came for a long weekend to Paris - my third time to Europe in just a month and half. My visit coincided with the terrorist attacks at Charlie Hebdo; while this brutal event scarred the city, I was totally blown away by how the city came together in this difficult situation. In the end, terrorism can never win. For this trip I flew exclusively AA, business class on my way there and First Class on my way back. Overall, it was a good trip and my AA flights were pretty good.
I hope you will enjoy this new adventures of mine. As always, thanks for reading!
========================================
2014 is almost over. Which means that the Holiday Season has arrived. I must admit that the period ranging from the weekend before Thanksgiving till the weekend after New Year’s Eve is quite awesome in the US – as it is a concentration and sequence of endless eating, drinking, and partying. Everyone – even more so here in the South – is happy, merry, and thankful for what they have. Most Americans, especially over Thanksgiving, travel to their families across the Country to celebrate this uniquely-American holiday, which means that domestic flights are painfully full – and expensive. But almost no-one travels internationally and, as business travel comes to a halt during this time of the year, this means that very good deals can be found to take a break abroad.
While last year I celebrated Turkey Day in the US, this year I decided to take the chance to meet up with my dad and girlfriend in Europe. We did some brainstorm and we settled to meet in a city none of us had visited before. We shortlisted Dublin and Amsterdam, and eventually we settled to visit the capital city of The Netherlands.
So, after just terminating my previous trip report on Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, here I am chronicling the oneworld82’s family adventures in Holland. Of course, given the low season for international travel to and from the US I decided to be creative and fly in style.
On my outbound, after a delayed and uneventful economy class flight from Dallas to Miami on American Airlines in economy class, I would try AA’s triple-seven-threehundred’s business class for the very first time – an exciting proposition to see where the “New American” is heading to.
Then I would meet my family at London Heathrow and together we would fly to Amsterdam on a short British Airways flight in business class.
We would spend Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Amsterdam – trying new food, drinking Jenever, visiting World-class museums, and – why not – shopping with a half-day trip to beautiful Haarlem. Then, I would bid goodbye to my folks to start my counter-intuitive journey back home. Taking advantage of the Slingshot-effect (just like Rosetta did to reach the comet it is orbiting now) I would fly Etihad business class from Amsterdam to Abu Dhabi and I would spend ~24 hours in Dubai, staying at the Hotel Sheraton Mall of the Emirates. Then I would fly Etihad Airways First Class all the way back to the US to Washington-Dulles to sample, once again, one of my very favorite First Class products out there.
All in all, it looks like a fun 6-days. This trip report will be divided as follows:
1. MIA-LHR on American Airlines Business Class (77W)
2. British Airways Business Galleries Club South (LHR T5) + LHR-AMS on 3. British Airways Business Class (319)
4. Exploring Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Central Amsterdam
5. A Day trip to Haarlem
6. On Dutch food and drinks
7. KLM Crown Lounge @ AMS and AMS-AUH on Etihad Business Class (332)
8. Shopping in Dubai and the Hotel Sheraton Mall of the Emirates
9. Etihad Airways Business Class Lounge @ AUH T3
10. AUH-IAD on Etihad Airways First Class (346)
I am very excited to share this trip with you all. I hope you’ll enjoy and comment of this short Thanksgiving break.
----------------------------
Here's the second part of my trip report - the Paris leg. We went for 4 days right during the big French Soldes, and we had a blast. We happened to go right after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, and while the atmosphere in Paris was a bit tense, we still had a very enjoyable time (and witnessed the strenght and unity of Parisian people).
Three simple parts for this report, as follows:
1. ORD-CDG on AA J (763)
2. Three days in Paris + Renaissance le Parc Trocadero and InterContinental Le Grand Hotel (and lots of food)
3. LHR-DFW on AA F (772)
Hope you will enjoy!
Last edited by oneworld82; Apr 21, 2015 at 9:57 am
Jan 28, 2015, 7:00 am
#5
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Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: DFW
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Hilton HHonors Gold
Posts: 2,863
LINK TO FULL BLOG POST
To get to Europe I decided to fly via Miami today to connect on AA’s new triple-seven-three-hundred, which would give me the best chance to upgrade to business class today. Having only tried AA’s old hard product, I was very excited about the prospect to try what’s dubbed as one of the best business class seats out there.
To be honest, I did not have high expectations for this flight – especially not after my last experience on AA from Paris to Dallas back in September. That flight was truly un-inspiring. But I decided to give AA the benefit of the doubt – even though that meant a double connection in MIA and LHR. My other realistic option was flying US Airways to Philadelphia and then nonstop to Amsterdam, but I did not want to fly Transatlantic on a 757 – so here I was.
My DFW-MIA flight was uneventful – but we were delayed about 30 minutes which made my connection in MIA somewhat tight. Thankfully, we had no further delays and I got to the gate in Miami five minutes before boarding started.
Flight AA81, MIA-LHR
Business Class, Seat 13J
11.27.2014, B777-300ER
My seat for the day was 13J. While I had the chance to visit the 773 right before its launch in 2013, I had forgotten how gorgeous the cabin looks like – and how private it feels. Honestly, the privacy found in this type of configuration is unrivaled by other airlines. One noticeable thing is how much storage space there is – something not necessary but certainly useful for people like me that always like to have tablets, phones, and cameras next to them.
I settled down in my little “suite” and started to play around a little bit to check everything out. I loved the number of power ports found everywhere – a real necessity for businessmen these days (and not only them!). The usual AA amenity kit was already present at the seat – AA could do better in terms of amenity kits (even more so in First Class), but I like, I must admit, the Eames Foundation dotted design. Also, apparently the products inside the bag have been downgraded in business class, as Dermalogica is now offered only in First Class.
After almost all passengers had boarded, the flight attendant offered guests a first round of drinks. Water, orange juice, and sparkling wine (I like that she referred to it as sparkling wine and not champagne) were offered. Too bad AA has not got rid of those ugly plastic glasses yet – that’s my only complaint here.
A second round was offered before departure, and then we took off promptly on time. The captain announced a flight time of less than 8 hours – which would allow me to catch some sleep after all. The amenity kit featured updated products, but the bag was the same as always.
Food orders were taken before take off, and the menu read as follows:
Overall, I found the menu adequate for a business class flight. Still, I am not sure that a poor fish like tilapia be a good choice for a premium cabin…
Once airborne service started promptly – a first round of drinks with warm nuts was brought out.
About 15 minutes after my table was set and the first tray with salad and appetizer was brought out. The chicken appetizer was edible, but not great, mostly because the meat was cold and I am not a big fan of cold chicken. room temperature would have been great though. The salad was fresh.
The service of the meal was well-paced and the flight attendants made an effort to replenish my glass with the Gosset Champagne anytime they saw my glass getting empty. This is what ally made the difference between this flight and the last flight to DFW I had on AA: an efficient, friendly, no-nonsense service. You can have the best hard product out there, but if the service is not on par well, you lose.
Anyways, the chicken was timely brough out, and I was positively surprised by the quality of the dish. it was moist, perfectly crusted, with tasty spinach and rice. It did lack a bit of seasoning, but a bit of salt and pepper did the trick. Overall, a very decent entree.
I opted out dessert but had some cheese with Sherry wine instead. Here too AA seems to have somewhat improved the quality – not bad cheddar and swiss cheese anymore. Yet again, there is room to improve this dish as well – and in a cost effective way too! Add a decent matured cheese and a blue cheese and you have a winner.
I skipped coffee as I wanted to sleep, but I couldn’t help over-hearing the conversation between the guy before me and the FA. He asked for an espresso (clearly offered in the menu), but the FA said (in a very polite way) that it was only available for First Class passengers. When the guest rebuked that and showed what the menu said, the FA looked quite surprised but nonetheless made sure that the guest received his espresso, A little bit more training I think would help here.
During the meal I watched a very interesting albeit sad Irish movie – Calvary. Beautiful photography, and moving story centered around the Catholic church role in modern society in rural Ireland.
Anyways, I put my seat in bed mode and boy it was comfortable! I slept like a baby for 3 or 4 hours, and I was woken up by the sound of cutlery as breakfast was already being served. Overall I slept well and – while it wasn’t nearly a long-enough sleep – I felt refreshed.
The flight attendant came by asking me whether I wanted eggs or fruit and yogurt for breakfast, and I opted for the latter. Fruit was fresh and the yogurt came with granola, which was actually of good quality.
After circling over London a couple of times we landed on time in a foggy and gloomy weather. Soon after I was on my way to Terminal 5. So, how was my AA flight? Well, it was very good. While my SWISS in-flight experience was better earlier in August (mostly because of better. more polished service and better F&B), this was by far my best AA premium cabin flight to date. AA certainly has a solid product ard here, and I felt that the soft product was better than usual as well. Hopefully, with a little time and training AA will catch up with European competitors on this aspect, but nonetheless this was a very enjoyable flight.
To get to Europe I decided to fly via Miami today to connect on AA’s new triple-seven-three-hundred, which would give me the best chance to upgrade to business class today. Having only tried AA’s old hard product, I was very excited about the prospect to try what’s dubbed as one of the best business class seats out there.
To be honest, I did not have high expectations for this flight – especially not after my last experience on AA from Paris to Dallas back in September. That flight was truly un-inspiring. But I decided to give AA the benefit of the doubt – even though that meant a double connection in MIA and LHR. My other realistic option was flying US Airways to Philadelphia and then nonstop to Amsterdam, but I did not want to fly Transatlantic on a 757 – so here I was.
My DFW-MIA flight was uneventful – but we were delayed about 30 minutes which made my connection in MIA somewhat tight. Thankfully, we had no further delays and I got to the gate in Miami five minutes before boarding started.
Flight AA81, MIA-LHR
Business Class, Seat 13J
11.27.2014, B777-300ER
My seat for the day was 13J. While I had the chance to visit the 773 right before its launch in 2013, I had forgotten how gorgeous the cabin looks like – and how private it feels. Honestly, the privacy found in this type of configuration is unrivaled by other airlines. One noticeable thing is how much storage space there is – something not necessary but certainly useful for people like me that always like to have tablets, phones, and cameras next to them.
I settled down in my little “suite” and started to play around a little bit to check everything out. I loved the number of power ports found everywhere – a real necessity for businessmen these days (and not only them!). The usual AA amenity kit was already present at the seat – AA could do better in terms of amenity kits (even more so in First Class), but I like, I must admit, the Eames Foundation dotted design. Also, apparently the products inside the bag have been downgraded in business class, as Dermalogica is now offered only in First Class.
After almost all passengers had boarded, the flight attendant offered guests a first round of drinks. Water, orange juice, and sparkling wine (I like that she referred to it as sparkling wine and not champagne) were offered. Too bad AA has not got rid of those ugly plastic glasses yet – that’s my only complaint here.
A second round was offered before departure, and then we took off promptly on time. The captain announced a flight time of less than 8 hours – which would allow me to catch some sleep after all. The amenity kit featured updated products, but the bag was the same as always.
Food orders were taken before take off, and the menu read as follows:
Overall, I found the menu adequate for a business class flight. Still, I am not sure that a poor fish like tilapia be a good choice for a premium cabin…
Once airborne service started promptly – a first round of drinks with warm nuts was brought out.
About 15 minutes after my table was set and the first tray with salad and appetizer was brought out. The chicken appetizer was edible, but not great, mostly because the meat was cold and I am not a big fan of cold chicken. room temperature would have been great though. The salad was fresh.
The service of the meal was well-paced and the flight attendants made an effort to replenish my glass with the Gosset Champagne anytime they saw my glass getting empty. This is what ally made the difference between this flight and the last flight to DFW I had on AA: an efficient, friendly, no-nonsense service. You can have the best hard product out there, but if the service is not on par well, you lose.
Anyways, the chicken was timely brough out, and I was positively surprised by the quality of the dish. it was moist, perfectly crusted, with tasty spinach and rice. It did lack a bit of seasoning, but a bit of salt and pepper did the trick. Overall, a very decent entree.
I opted out dessert but had some cheese with Sherry wine instead. Here too AA seems to have somewhat improved the quality – not bad cheddar and swiss cheese anymore. Yet again, there is room to improve this dish as well – and in a cost effective way too! Add a decent matured cheese and a blue cheese and you have a winner.
I skipped coffee as I wanted to sleep, but I couldn’t help over-hearing the conversation between the guy before me and the FA. He asked for an espresso (clearly offered in the menu), but the FA said (in a very polite way) that it was only available for First Class passengers. When the guest rebuked that and showed what the menu said, the FA looked quite surprised but nonetheless made sure that the guest received his espresso, A little bit more training I think would help here.
During the meal I watched a very interesting albeit sad Irish movie – Calvary. Beautiful photography, and moving story centered around the Catholic church role in modern society in rural Ireland.
Anyways, I put my seat in bed mode and boy it was comfortable! I slept like a baby for 3 or 4 hours, and I was woken up by the sound of cutlery as breakfast was already being served. Overall I slept well and – while it wasn’t nearly a long-enough sleep – I felt refreshed.
The flight attendant came by asking me whether I wanted eggs or fruit and yogurt for breakfast, and I opted for the latter. Fruit was fresh and the yogurt came with granola, which was actually of good quality.
After circling over London a couple of times we landed on time in a foggy and gloomy weather. Soon after I was on my way to Terminal 5. So, how was my AA flight? Well, it was very good. While my SWISS in-flight experience was better earlier in August (mostly because of better. more polished service and better F&B), this was by far my best AA premium cabin flight to date. AA certainly has a solid product ard here, and I felt that the soft product was better than usual as well. Hopefully, with a little time and training AA will catch up with European competitors on this aspect, but nonetheless this was a very enjoyable flight.
Last edited by oneworld82; Feb 1, 2015 at 8:30 am
Jan 28, 2015, 9:23 am
#6
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Denver, Colorado
Programs: IHG Spire, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Titanium, Mileage Plus Gold
Posts: 1,736
Has AA downgraded their meal service to US Airways standards? It looks like a downgrade from the hoopla with the launch of their new Business Class on 777 300.
Jan 28, 2015, 11:47 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2012
Location: MCO
Programs: AA, B6, DL, EK, EY, QR, SQ, UA, Amex Plat, Marriott Tit, HHonors Gold
Posts: 12,809
Nice report so far! Looking forward to the EY portion!
Jan 28, 2015, 1:13 pm
#8
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
This particular meal certainly looks to be the best out there as there are quite a few which are now borderline or entirely inedible. See this post for one of those...
Jan 28, 2015, 1:19 pm
#9
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Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: DFW
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Hilton HHonors Gold
Posts: 2,863
Jan 29, 2015, 8:09 am
#12
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Jan 31, 2015, 6:12 pm
#15
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Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: DFW
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Hilton HHonors Gold
Posts: 2,863
As usual, here are the links to my previous trip reports:
Central Asia Express: Exploring Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on LX C/LH F/EY F/AA F
Four Days in Hawai’i – Kona 2014 featuring AA 763ER in F HNL-DFW
To Taiwan! How to burn USDM on CX and JL (new) First Class
LH New F (DFW-FRA) vs BA F (LHR-LAX) + French Riviera, Brussels, Luxembourg, and NYE
A seat (LH F), a Porsche, a bed (LH F/EY F), Southern OZ+AKL, a tasting menu (QF F)
A lion here, a rhino there... a safari in South Africa & Swaziland feat. AA J class
Hanami in Tokyo for the weekend: DFW-NRT (AA F) vs NRT-JFK-DFW (NH F Square, UA F)
A weekend in Santiago de Chile: DFW-SCL-DFW on AA Business Class (763ER)
A weekend in Dubai: DFW-LHR-DXB in 72 hrs. Lots of pics, feat. BA Club World
oneworld! Vietnam, Laos, Philippines, Australia trip reports + CX F/J, QF J and AA F
Cathay Pacific NYC - HKG - SIN in First/Business class: unforgettable!
MNL-SYD in Qantas business class + Qantas Club in MNL
Coming back from Down Under - Qantas A380 Biz Class CNS-MEL-LAX and AA F to SJC
Tales from Israel & the West Bank - IB/LY in Y
Kangaroos are so cute! Let's eat them! 12 days in Australia from Sydney to Cairns
Central Asia Express: Exploring Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on LX C/LH F/EY F/AA F
Four Days in Hawai’i – Kona 2014 featuring AA 763ER in F HNL-DFW
To Taiwan! How to burn USDM on CX and JL (new) First Class
LH New F (DFW-FRA) vs BA F (LHR-LAX) + French Riviera, Brussels, Luxembourg, and NYE
A seat (LH F), a Porsche, a bed (LH F/EY F), Southern OZ+AKL, a tasting menu (QF F)
A lion here, a rhino there... a safari in South Africa & Swaziland feat. AA J class
Hanami in Tokyo for the weekend: DFW-NRT (AA F) vs NRT-JFK-DFW (NH F Square, UA F)
A weekend in Santiago de Chile: DFW-SCL-DFW on AA Business Class (763ER)
A weekend in Dubai: DFW-LHR-DXB in 72 hrs. Lots of pics, feat. BA Club World
oneworld! Vietnam, Laos, Philippines, Australia trip reports + CX F/J, QF J and AA F
Cathay Pacific NYC - HKG - SIN in First/Business class: unforgettable!
MNL-SYD in Qantas business class + Qantas Club in MNL
Coming back from Down Under - Qantas A380 Biz Class CNS-MEL-LAX and AA F to SJC
Tales from Israel & the West Bank - IB/LY in Y
Kangaroos are so cute! Let's eat them! 12 days in Australia from Sydney to Cairns