A Brief Intro
My wife and I cashed in tons of AA points (thank you Citibank, and thanks to FT for alerting me to the deal!) this spring to nab tickets for a June trip to Spain. Hopefully I can give a little back with my first trip report!
My wife was an international premium travel newbie – we’ve been all over the world together, but she’s never done an international work trip so had always been in Y+ at best. She is a champion sleeper, including on a one-hour RyanAir flight, (really) so it hasn’t bothered her much.
Nonetheless, as the flight approached, she was positively giddy at the prospect of an international lounge, amenity kit, and lie-flat seats (ok, I was too). In fact, she was a little disappointed to be taking a red-eye, as we’d be “wasting” all those hard-earned flight hours and opportunities for free boozing!
The Trip
Check In
I didn’t nab any check in pictures of the premium check in area at JFK. Hopefully you can make do with your imagination. Picture, if you will, a check in area like any other, but with shorter lines!
As pedestrian as that sounds, it was great to have such a smooth check in experience and for security to be so fast. Off to the lounge!
BA Galleries Lounge, JFK
We’ve all seen airport lounges, yes? Good. This was certainly nicer than the UCs I usually frequent. Had to flag down a waiter to get bubbly and we made ourselves comfortable reading the dreck publications that inhabit such places (Private Jet Traveller?).
I also got Port.
And Beer.
Boarding
Boarding was on time. Went to the priority lane but once through still had to get in line with the coach passengers (horrors!) on the jetway. Apparently there was a vapid college girl convention in Madrid the next week, as we were stuck in a throng of them. Thankfully, we turned left, and they didn’t.
Cabin During Boarding
Seats – 6A and 6B
There is a phenomenal amount of room here – the seatback pockets are basically useless because they’re so far away. Apparently IB removed a row so every BusinessPlus seat could lie 180 degrees flat; 6A and B used to be angled but I can confirm they’re now completely flat as are all the others.
There’s a nice little area between the seat and the wall that can fit a small briefcase – very handy!
Things are looking a bit worn, though.
Flight
After takeoff, we got hot towels and remedied our dangerously low BACs.
Meal Service
Menus (clickable):
Started off with a lovely veal consommé (no pic, I believe you’re all familiar with the appearance of broth?). Also some bread, cheese, and a smoked salmon salad. We both opted for a nice rioja.
Then a duck in raspberry sauce – which was as delicious as it was beautiful (not at all). More wine helped.
A chocolate fudge cake cleansed my palate, along with some very old sherry.
After dinner drinks? Yes please: we had the Crema de Alba (brandy-based) and Glenfiddich 12.
Time for my wife to sleep, and for me to check out the tail cam.
Probably 2.5 hours had elapsed, so I dozed off for a few. Woke up for an uninspired breakfast of yogurt and toast.
View after sunrise:
No pics of deplaning, but we were some of the first off and were through customs in no time. The vacation had started!
I’ll supplement with pics of Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and BA F (in the nose of a 747) in future posts this weekend. Hope people enjoy!