This is my very first first FF tripreport for me. You can also read it on my new blog (www.theluxurytravelexpert.com), including photos (I did not know how to add these here), when you click on "blog" and scroll down, or click on "flights" and then "flight reviews"

On January 15th 2014, I flew in a new boeing 777-300ER of American Airlines (AA) from London (LHR) to Los Angeles (LAX). The 777-300ER planes are currently being introduced in AA’s fleets to replace the older wide-bodies, and AA currently operates them on selected routes to and from the United States. The overall experience was brilliant, confirming that this is currently the single best business class product to fly across the pond.

1. THE BUSINESS CLASS SEAT

Thanks to the herringbone layout in a 1-2-1 alignment, all business class seats have direct aisle access (no more jumping over people's feet here) and a significant amount of privacy. The business class seats on the sides are angled toward the window (offering great views), while the seats in the middle are angled towards each other. The seats in row 3 and 4 are located in their own little private cabin and are therefore highly recommended; the window seats in row 5 and 11 are missing a window and should therefore be avoided (for a seating plan of AA's 777-300ER, click here).

AMERICAN AIRLINES BUSINESS CLASS

Each seat has plenty of storage space for all your personal items, as well as a smaller storage compartment that contains a mirror, a bottle of water, an amenity kit and American’s trademark noise-canceling Bose headphones. Oddly enough, however, the place to connect those headphones is also ‘hidden’ inside that cabinet. Next to the seat are the seat and entertainment controls, reading light and power port.

seat storage

Every part of the seat, including the seat back, head and leg rest are adjustable. The seats feature a large tray table in addition to a work surface so you can eat and work at the same time, which given the nice, extended meal services is a productive and nice touch.

business class seat AA

When tired, you can recline the seat into a very comfortable, fully flat-bed, ensuring some hours of rest (in fact, this is one of the few long-haul flights where I did manage to fall asleep a couple of hours).

business seay fully reclined

The private screen is big and swings out from the right side of the seat suite. However, it doesn’t tilt up and down, so unfortunately, watching the screen from the near or fully flat-bed position is almost impossible.

panasonic inflight entertainment

2. AMENITIES

Each seat comes with a nice blanket, a good pillow, a pair of slippers (AA being one of the few airlines to offer these), and an amenity kit. The latter comprises essentials like an eye mask, earplugs, wash cloth, toothbrush, toothpaste, lip balm, skin lotion.

amenity kit

3. MEALS

Just under 45 minutes into the flight, I was served an assortment of warm nuts. I ordered a sprite with ice and lime.

warm nuts

Soon thereafter, lunch was offered, all served on a single tray. Food was ok but not memorable: it was better than expected for an US airline but not as great as compared to the gastronomic delights of Singapore Airlines or Austrian Airlines. The starter consisted of smoked salmon with spring peas & cream cheese, and a green salad with asparagus & pesto bocconcini. As an entrée, I choose the seared scallops, enhanced by lime champagne sauce, leek rice pilaf and mushroom and asparagus sauté. Scallops were, unfortunately, totally dried out and tasteless. For desert, I ordered American’s trademark ice cream Sundae with berry toppings and whipped cream (delicious).

menu

menu

menu

menu

starter

entrée

desert

90 minutes prior to landing, we were served a light lunch, with the choice between Uno’s Four Cheese and Pesto Pizza, or Tandoori Chicken with potato salad (which I choose, and was quite nice). Chocolate caramel mouse was served as a desert.

4. OTHER INFLIGHT EXPERIENCES

# CREW: the crew did a great job and was extremely friendly. Kudos to all of them! In my opinion, AA has the most service-minded crew of all US Airlines and I hope that will not change with the US Airways merger.

# BAR: after the main meal service, a walk-up bar stocked with snacks and refreshments was set up in the galley for business and first class passengers. It was a very nice spread of a large assortment of snacks (a visual delight!) that was constantly replenished during the 10 hour flight.

snack bar in galley

snack bar in galley

snacks

# LAVATORY: American has put a lot of effort and money into the design of its premium cabin lavatories with porcelain sinks, wood siding, granite floor texture and luxurious toilet products. All lavatories were kept clean during the flight.

# WiFi: WiFi is available for purchase once on board the aircraft, where you will be able to use any Wi-Fi-enabled device to purchase one the following passes: 2 Hour Pass for $12, 4 Hour Pass for $17, or duration of flight pass for $19. I found the WiFi speed to be relatively ok, actually faster than expected. B

# ENTERTAINMENT: the Panasonic inflight entertainment features an impressive catalog of 120 movies, 150 TV shows, and more than 350 audio selections. You can select what you want by scrolling on the touch screen.

# VIEWS: we enjoyed some tremendous views while overflying the snow-covered National Parks of Yellowstone and Grand Teton, as well as Salt Lake City.

view

Salt Lake City

view

5. VERDICT

While food was just ok (and could definitely have been better), I loved AA’s new reverse herringbone seat, their WiFi, and their always hardworking and friendly crew.

Seat : 9/10
Food: 6/10
Inflight entertainment : 9/10
Overall experience: excellent : 8/10