Hello

I had the opportunity to upgrade J>F on AA coming back from JFK to LHR earlier this week, so thought I’d give it go as I’d never flown it before, also not sure I’ll get the opportunity to do so again.

Here’s a quick comparison...

Check-in
BA win. You can’t beat the first wing.

Lounge and preflight
BA win, but Krug champagne in the AA lounge was good. The issue is the AA F lounge is a dining room with little in the way of lounging. The main lounge, with comfy areas, is busy and lacks the good food options. The CCR, with its spa, cabanas and range of seating knocks the new Flagship lounge out of the park. Even the popular “wing” section wasn’t all that - it seemed rather bland. Nice bar though and marginally better food than in the normal lounge. The food in F Dining was good but the lamb was over cooked and the tarte tatin was a 2” thick apple pie... oh, America...

Boarding
BA win. Group 1 at the gate so strolled straight on. Whilst not always offered, I’ve always found BA staff more welcoming. All I got was “down there on the right” from AA. I then sat for about 15 minutes without any interaction from the crew before I wandered to the galley and asked for a drink and some PJ’s. I’ve found BA much more proactive at coming to say hello. They made up my bed nicely enough when asked, but the service all seemed rather functional rather than any sort of genuine care. Certainly no BAnter.

Soft Product
BA win, other than the AA PJ’s which were much nicer - softer and with pockets. The PDB in a plastic cup is ridiculous in F, as is collecting in headphones 45mins before landing as “people steal them”. The new BA glassware is much better as is the crockery. The amenity kit contains almost identical items to the J version, it’s just in a larger bag. The food was nice; good soup, nicely done steak with good potatoes. The wine list was very disappointing - no top shelf champagne, general low quality wines and no additional posh spirits over and above those in J. The dessert wine was nice but so it is on BA. Overall, there was nothing truly special about any of the AA soft product.

Hard product
BA win. Whilst I like the idea of the AA swivelling seat when pointing at the desk to work, in the fully-forward position (compulsory for TTL) it is uncomfortable to be so twisted to reach the ottoman. In reclined mode it was extremely comfy and didn’t have the overhangs of the BA 789 seat which really eat into your space. The big issue is privacy - there isn’t any. You can see everyone around you and vice-versa. The IFE is more reliable on AA as it’s only on one aircraft (773) and so is all the same quality, so there’s no lottery about unrefurbed aircraft.

Arrivals lounge
BA win. It has a spa whereas the AA one doesn’t.

Overall, very disappointing and ill be sticking with J in future (which is a lot nicer than BA J until CS arrives in every aircraft, even the unpopular 772 seats).