Originally Posted by
number_6
But the OP clearly knows what he is doing and has deliberately chosen inferior services (avoiding the fine CX service HKG-LHR and the better BA service LHR-US; sadly AA F service has slipped badly in the past year and I can no longer recommend it, as it is generally inferior to the new BA J+ service on most routes -- and if you recall my past posts, I was an avid champion of AA and often chose to fly AA F over BA F in the past, so I do this with regret). AA has made one change too many in cutting back on its premium services -- and it shows. I guess those new J seats -- a complete disaster -- are costing too much money, and the rest of the service has had to give.
The tickets haven't been issued yet, so I could switch HKG-LHR from BA to CX. Since I'm on a DONE and my partner is on a OW F (Z) award, if there was any way to upgrade the CX flight, especially if someone was willing to trade that for an AA VIP, I'd be delighted.
We're flying AA instead of BA LHR-LAX because that way we can both be in F, since I can use a VIP. On previous trips where I was on a DONE and my partner was on a D (U) award, we avoided AA for all international flights, even going so far as to change in Canada to be able to fly BA and get miles. On those trips, we were both in J and so wanted the carriers with the nicest J. On this trip, we want to be in F as much as possible.
Thanks for the information about the CX lounge food.