I was fortunate enough to be on Flight 73 on the inaugural date of Dec. 17th, 2015 and wanted to share my experience. Since this entire trip was a bit of an indulgence for me, I decided to go ahead and purchase “Kardashian Kare” aka Five Star Service. On the day of the flight, I was dropped off at Flagship Check-In at about 6:50 PM where I was met by my designated greeter Brenda (Five Star coordinates with your car service so that they‘re there when you drive up). After introducing herself, she accompanied me into the facility where I was issued a new boarding pass and my single piece of luggage was checked in quite expeditiously. She then escorted me through security and to the Flagship Lounge. After ensuring that I was settled, she told me she would be back at an appropriate time to escort me to the gate when the festivities were to start. By now it was just about 7:15 PM so I had a bit of time to kill. Brenda came back in about thirty minutes and took me to the gate where I had my picture taken with a baby roo. There was a buffet of Australian themed food and a DJ playing some music and incorporating a didgeridoo into the mix. There were also lots of freebies for all passengers including neck pillows, key chains, etc. After a bit Brenda and I decided to go back to the FL rather than wait for the boarding call. While there she introduced me to Charles who is the Elite Services Manager for Premium Customer Services at LAX. Charles informed me that they were not going to charge me for the Five Star Service since American Airlines intended to incorporate Five Star Service into their F service to Sydney. I thought this was a very nice gesture on AA’s part and thanked him for the goodwill. Brenda then took me back to the gate to hear speeches but we were fortunate enough to get there after they had finished. Shortly thereafter, we decided to board and Brenda escorted me to my seat (1A) and introduced me to Bertie who would be the purser for the flight. Strangely enough, the captain never came out and introduced himself to the first-class passengers so I presume he had more important things to worry about. I must say this is the first time I have been on an international flight on a 77W or 777 where the captain did not come out and greet the FC passengers. Soon after, another FA came by and offered water, champagne, or OJ. Bertie came by again with pajamas and amenity kits. Pushback from the gate was about 40 minutes late but we were soon airborne and on our way to Oz. I was really not very hungry at all so I decided to have the wedge salad with blue cheese and the pan seared scallops. After Bertie cleared my tray of dinner detritus she asked if I would like my bed made up. Of course I said yes and the next thing I knew when I came to is that there was just about three hours left to Sydney. Bertie is an extremely personable and competent flight attendant. When I told her that the entire crew had autographed my first class menu on the DFW to HKG inaugural flight, she took my menu and had the same thing done to it for this flight. That was very cool on her part and I really appreciated the effort. She was constantly checking on her passengers asking if we were comfortable and if there was anything she could get us. Breakfast was served about an hour before arrival in Sidney with more choices than I remember on other international flights. I opted for the pancakes and they were actually quite good. Touchdown in SYD was just about 7:16 AM and we were treated to a pretty cool water cannon salute by the Sydney Airport Fire Service.
At Sydney, both 1L and 2L were used for deplaning which is super convenient for those in first-class. Arrival formalities were cleared fairly quickly and I was soon on my way to the Sydney Harbor Marriott. In my estimation, this flight will be one of AA’s premier international flights and I think they’re off to a good start with this inaugural effort.