I am based in London and fly mostly SH in Europe so my point of comparison is BA Club Europe. In the last week I have flown in First Class 4 times, 3 on US and once on AA (the most recent). All the sectors with US were on Airbus and the AA on a 737. I thought I would share my experiences...
My US experience
On every US flight there was a single person working First, and boy did they work ! Drink offered within 2 minutes of taking my seat, attentive service throughout the flight, and warm friendly demeanour from all 3 of them. They each introduced themselves and on 2 of the 3 flights I was addressed by name.
The seats were wide and comfortable and the lack of IFE was no problem even on JFK-PHX, though the lack of at-seat power could have been problematic for the unprepared
Food was edible, and drink refills were freely offered.
I had rather low expectations before taking based on reading reports here on FT but came off each US flight thinking "pretty good experience actually, I'd gladly do that again !". Overall, comparable to a very good BA CE trip, but in a much better seat...
My AA experience
Oh dear, the crew on US1312 yesterday (PHX-JFK op. by AA) really let themselves down.
A Purser and a junior FA working the First cabin (I use the term "working" loosely...).
The door greeting was OK and we took our seats in the front row at 16 minutes past the hour (remember this time for later !).
My seatmate needed to put a bag up so I took my bulky coat out of the overhead. The Purser saw this and said he would hang it once boarding complete. So far so good...
About 15 minutes passed and people were still boarding - it was an almost full flight - but unlike all 3 US flights no sign of a pre-push drink, even though the Purser & FA were in the forward galley chatting for most of that time ...
Another 10 minutes went past and I noticed the purser was now helping a Coach passenger to stow something in the wardrobe so I stood up coat in hand... He fair snarled at me "I'm not ready !!" ...
Another few minutes passed and we were wheels up and established in the climb. Great, now I'll get my vodka and tonic ! Umm no, the priority seems to be to sell $5 headphones - to people in First Class with $300 Bose ones of their own...
So now it's 19 past the NEXT hour i.e. 1 hour and 3 minutes since my tush cosied up to the seat cushion... Suddenly - would I like a drink ? <redacted> yeah.... and all is well for about 10 minutes more as I suck it down. Now the junior FA comes out of his burrow...
OK so I'm a Brit and we hate all that "Hi, my name is Deshonne and I'll be your server today" BS... but this guy was abrupt even by our standards. His literal words to us were "Beef enchilada or chicken salad ?". No introduction, no human warmth, I might as well have been served by Asimo...
When the food came it was edible.
So, now I am at the bottom of my first drink and the Purser magically reappears... "Ah Mr and Mrs 1A and 1B would you like another drink ?". I smiled inwardly at his perfect timing, then... "Ah Mr and Mrs 2A and 2B....." Excuse me ? Did I forgetfully slip on Harry Potter's invisibility cloak ? I actually had to call the guy over to get my
second drink in 2 hours.... and even then he gave me attitude...
You know, I don't like to come across as a First World whiner (though I realise I may have done do above !) and to be fair to AA they got me to New York safely, in comfort and ahead of schedule.
But let's all pray that they keep the "American" brand with US Airways service rather than the opposite... !!!!