Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
No need to get snarky. There's no bar being set here. I much prefer the AA hard product to that of JL when flying TPAC. I can deal with the bad food by taking my own, and I don't need much from cabin crew. I'm perfectly happy to get up and fetch my own Coke. Should that be the "bar" or standard for international J? Of course not. But I'll put up with a fair amount in order to avoid the coffin-like J seats on JL.
Please note that this is only my own personal calculus for selecting a carrier for TPAC, not the new standard for international J.
Absolutely agree with you about the current JL J seat. I'd take AA's seats any day over the JL Sky Suite that's on most if not all TPACs. It's way too narrow and there's nowhere to put your stuff / devices beside you, just the shelf under the TV. Though I actually don't hate the Sky Suite II on the 767s and the III on the regional 789s that gets a bad rap for lack of adjustability. I'd much rather have those as the long haul seat than the 77W Sky Suite. I haven't yet seen the new A350-1000 seat, will fly it the first time in August, but looks nice. This is exactly the same argument I'd make for AA vs. BA on TATL as well, their old seat is god awful and suffers the same coffin effect as the JL Sky Suite, but at least JL has aisle access without disturbing the sleeping person in the next seat. I think BA only has 4 seats on those planes that don't require stepping over someone's footrest (or being stepped over), who ever thought that was a good design?
Food, though I don't bring my own for international I've never had anything on AA I'd consider inedible and sometimes it's been quite decent. Domestic is another story and as often often as not it's pretty bad, but I can tolerate it for a relatively short flight. Typically I tend to connect in airports with AA FL's so can get some decent food there ahead of time, I'd rather do that than pay a 3-4x multiplier for airport restaurant food vs. 'normal' prices outside, but if you don't have a FL to access then there's definitely a solid use case for bringing your own despite airport markup.
I think AA is a solid value in a RTW. Sure it's not to the standards of QR, CX, even JL aside from the seats but good value nonetheless. And as long as you can code it with QF, JL, QR, or AY then is still good for AAdvantage credit as well. (For that matter coding it as ANYTHING except AA, BA, and IB). I don't see people saying QF segments are a waste but in my experience their food is quite similar to AA and their seat is no better / worse, their crew is certainly no better, I've experienced very friendly QF crew but they're often just as lazy and they won't bring your first drink until meal service starts, which greatly annoys me.