After a night filled with excited anticipation, I headed over to DFW terminal C to check in with my two large suitcases. Terminal C, still under renovations (like most of DFW), was full of passengers waiting to check in. Thankfully, due to my ticket and my AA EXP, I had a much shorter wait time. After checking in, I used the Skylink to get to Terminal D as I still had several hours before boarding. Once I arrived at terminal D, I walked over to the best lounge at DFW, The American Express Centurion Lounge. I had a quick lunch and a gin and tonic. The food, inspired/curated by Dan Fearing is quite delicious, and includes a to-die-for chicken dish. However, I do wish that the menu changed more often; I’ve had the same dishes several times over the past year. Still, the service, food and the spa make the Centurion Lounge an ideal stop if you have time in DFW. Just be aware that the Skylink can sometimes break down, so you may have to take the train in the opposite direction, which can increase the time taken to get to your terminal.
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A Qantas A380 at Terminal D.
Sadly, there were no massage appointments prior to boarding. Sad, because I have had the massage before, and the pressure is incredible…almost a true deep tissue massage.
Boarding was delayed for almost 45 minutes, as the aircraft had yet to be retrieved from the hangar…yes, it was a brand new, factory-fresh Airbus A321S. While not as popular/buzz-worthy compared to the transcon big brother (A321T), the A321S was more than comfortable, even with the revised seats. The IFE monitors were quite large, and the content was more than sufficient for a 4hr flight to JFK. Service was decent onboard, and the meal was decent as well. I had the cheese lasagna, which took up the entirety of the serving dish. If you are hungry, then it would be a carbalicious meal. I did realize that I would be spending the night at the Fairfield Inn at JFK in Jamaica, NY, and it would be difficult to find food near the hotel. Therefore, I ate about half, as the food from the Centurion Lounge had filled me up already.
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A horribly blurry image using my Samsung S6...sorry! I have much better photos, especially with my DSLR
After arriving at JFK, I waited what felt like hours for my bags. Attaching my baggage belt to the handles, I headed over to the Skytrain to reach Federal Circle station, where all hotel shuttles pick up. I would suggest calling the hotel enroute to the station, as the wait time was long when I called at the station itself. The shuttle came by quickly, and dropped off at both the Comfort Inn and Fairfield.
The Fairfield Inn at JFK is…..adequate at best. Keep in mind that JFK doesn’t have the best hotels in the area, and NY’s nicer hotels will cost at least $100 in roundtrip cab/uber/lyft fare, so you generally must do with what you can get. Being that Fairfields are usually clean, I chose to stay there overnight prior to my highly-anticipated JAL flight. After check-in, you have to take your luggage to a small elevator, which takes you down one floor. This elevator’s sole purpose appears to be to move guests from level 1 to the lobby…a rather bizarre design flaw IMO. Exiting the elevator, you walk down a small hall to the main elevator bank. My room, a standard king was relatively clean, although had a faint hint of mildew. While the sheets smelled fresh, I think the carpets could have done with a good steam clean. The two “warm” cookies were a brief snack prior to bed, although they were “warmed” to a hard, crispy shell. Doubletree cookies, these are not. Still, sufficient for one overnight stay, and at $180/- not bad at all.
Thankfully, the hotel shuttle takes you directly to the terminal rather than Federal Circle, so you only have to deal with that issue once.