Originally Posted by
faloppi
I recently used AA miles to fly Club Europe class (the equivalent of "First") on a BA flight from London Heathrow to Athens. The 767 was falling apart, literally. Pieces coming off the seats. A broken entertainment system. Lighting that kept flickering on and off, and the worst, some electrical issue causing the chime (like when someone rings a call button) to ding every 5 minutes for no reason.
Your experience is pretty typical for one of the longer CE routes. The 767s are mostly falling apart inside and badly maintained. On the >3 hour routes, it is pretty miserable on the planes. Try to doing LCA-LHR, a 5 hour trip in a broken seat with binging call bells and flashing lights, and you really see how bad it is.
In many ways domestic First or a short business class flight to the Caribbean or Central America, if flying within a mealtime window, is way superior (priority boarding, big massive seat, pre-departure drinks, nuts, big meal, cookies/ice cream, friendly service, multiple drinks round). The AA product is only let down, in my view, by poor lounges and lack of SPMLs. Otherwise I would much rather sit on a AA plane than a decrepit 767 for 3-5 hours.