Great report! Reminded me of my days as a non-rev on American. The BusinessElite service sounds quite nice, how much recline do the seats have and are they leather or cloth or some variety?

I personally loved the MD11's when I worked at American, particularly in First Class with the huge brown leather and sheepskin seats. Very comfy indeed, with tons of legroom.

I remember when AA introduced the MD11 on the LHR-ORD service. I was flying out of LHR one afternoon and on rotation, the slats and flaps all performed an uncommanded retraction. We started to descend, before the crew accelerated the engines to 117% power and returned us to a positive rate of climb. We flew out over the English Channel, dumped fuel and returned for an emergency landing. Within 45 minutes of landing, were were on another MD11 en-route to ORD!

They were known as SCUD's, because once you took off, you never quite knew where you'd land!

Thanks again for a very well written, informative and enjoyable report.

[This message has been edited by 777Brit (edited 08-18-2002).]