enviroian

Last week I flew BA CW ATL-LHR on a 77W. On the return I flew an AA 77W LHR-ORD in business as well. Here are some points I think are worth posting.

A little background: I'm a long time UA flyer new to One World this year. I redeem miles twice a year to visit my family over in Kent, England. I"m used to redeeming miles on UA and LH cabins.

BA's cabin in sharp. The seating arrangement was a staggered 2-4-2. I had a rear window facing seat and had a great view. The monitor was large and had a large choices of IFE to choose from. When exiting to the aisle when the person behind me and on the aisle put his seat into bed mode I had to climb over him.

The crew was great. Young attractive and polite British flight attendants. They were always smiling and coming through the aisle to see if there was anything I needed (or needed more of).

The food was awful. I don't know how else to put it. I ordered the steak and it looked like and tasted like the Swanson Salisbury Steak frozen dinner (sans the faux grill marks). I don't know how anyone in upper management can sit down and say "wow this is delicious". Needless to say after two bites it was deemed unedible. It came with a side veg (as the Brits like to abbreviate certain words) and some sort of potato cake also not worth eating.

The seat in the lie flat position was okay. I'm 6'1" and I felt a little compressed and felt a little like I was in a true coffin. I had a few in me so I felt asleep nonetheless.

I passed on breakfast so I can't comment.

On the way back I flew a new AA 77W, also my first time in AA transatlantic business. Right away I could see a far superior seating configuration: 1x2x1.
The seat had the similar type video screen like the BA one where it popped out the side panel and swiveled out to you. It also appeared to be the same size. I noticed the flight map software was the same as the 738 I flew SEA-PHX a few weeks back.

The service wasn't as nice as BA's. Nope. The flight attendants appeared tired and cranky and generated truly fake smiles. One was especially cranky when she had to explain the meal choices to the various children (10-12 years old approx) seated behind and to the left of me. Warm nuts were served in a ramekin (unlike BA's packaged variety).

The food was simply delicious. I had a skin on chicken breast with a cauliflower side and balti rice. It was juicy and tasty. The starter caprese salad was also very good. The side green salad was boring. I liked that AA had warm pretzel rolls too.

I had (obviously) full access to the aisle. In sleep mode I found the upper part of the seat (near my chest and arms) confining and didn't know what to do with my arms laying on my back position. There was definitely more leg room.

I passed on the before arrival snack of either a salad with salmon or flatbread pizza.

Hope this helps.

UA-NYC

I generally agree, though it should be noted you were on AA's best option when it comes to business seats...re-config 772/763 generally are seen as less desirable in terms of hard product.

SF Traveler

I found this comparison very interesting because my observations are similar but somewhat different. First, I agree completely that the new AA seats are much better than any of the BA seats. But be forewarned, because of AA's difficulty with the seat supplier, many of the planes that should have been remodeled by now have not been. If there is a last minute substitution, as happens not infrequently, you could get stuck with an older seat, even less convenient than the BA model. As to the food, I think it's all over the place. Some of the dishes on AA are reasonably tasty, for airline food, and some are inedible. In my experience, the pasta is particularly execrable. BA on the other hand tends to run out of everything I might actually wish to eat. This happens for both mains and appetizers. I've taken to preordering a seafood meal just so I'm not forced into airline beef. The staff is also variable. Some of the BA staff are younger, but, while some are quite friendly, others can be rather arch. AA's generally older staff on international flights are a mixed bag. I've definitely had the type that would have been more comfortable as a prison guard, but many are quite nice and happy to provide friendly and professional service. Unfortunately it's the bad ones that tend to stick in your memory. Right now, if I had a choice of equally convenient and priced flights in business class, I would choose AA because the seat is more important and the food and service are always going to be somewhat unpredictable. One caveat: choose your seats wisely and read the threads on whatever plane your are on. There are a lot of complaints about certain seats on 788 and 772. The 77W seats are much better.

pineapplejet

I'd say this is a mixed bag. BA has 2 bags of crews, the most convenient way to tell them apart is whether the ladies have hats. I found the hatless ones more attractive more often than the hatted ones

Interesting comment. I've always flown 77W since the type joined the fleet. While I enjoyed the seats and agree that it's some of the best in the industry I found a lot of short comings. Until only a few days ago I finally flew on a 772 re-config and actually liked its seats more than that of the 77W. A few points:

• In rare facing seats I can easily get in and out of seat from a flat bed position, an ordeal on 77W
• Significantly larger tray table that can slide when extended
• In rare facing seats the storage shelf is facing me
• audio jack is next to me (hidden in shelf on 77W)
• space on left and right to put my stuffs and drinks so I can either put away the tray or have plenty of real estate
• screen has a higher viewing angle so as to enable me watch a movie while laying down (since the screen cannot be tilted on either 772 or 77W

Just my two cents. Personally I would fly 772 over 77W, I purchase my tickets not through AA so I'm not eligible for F upgrade. I've also never had a single OpUp in my 15 years flying AA and 7 years as EXP. While I've had more than a dozen long haul OpUps in my 5 years of flying on BA (purchased on AA, BA or IB stocks) and flying with AAdvantage# from Y to W, W to J, and J to F

AlanA

Re the food
If you had taken the routes the other way around your food comparisons would also have been the other way around.

Every flight I have taken, I find from European caterers has been good, whilst the US caterers food is bland and awful.

AJones2000

I disagree with the abovez. American's catering has been above and beyond BA's in both directions

However, the best experience is LUS A330s via Charlotte and Philly. The crews, in my experience are great, and the seats are basically a primal versoin of the 77W

Shareholder

Whose hard product? UA's? All refurb'd AA widebodies are 1-2-1 and light years ahead of what UA has on offer, and BA for that matter. Even with their planned new biz seats, bot airlines will be maintaining 2-4-2 on 777s/744s and 2-2-2 on 763s. Other than the need to use tablet videoplayers on the 763s, those seats are comparable to SWISS and AC biz seats on some aircraft, though a newer model with improvements (and lots of table/work space).

The major difference on the refurb'd 777s is the mix of forward and rear facing seats, though still maintaining the 1-2-1 across.

roberto99

Interesting...

AA has never been my #1 carrier.

However, 100% of my BA flights (in Business class) have been ugly. NASTY crew, lousy food, and the worst EU seats (I tolerate other EU carriers' short haul Business seats). Must they be so arrogant to PAX?

On AA in Business I've pretty good luck. My only complaint is the early pickup of Bose headphones. Fake smiles? Much better than the cruel BA FA's that I encountered.

Is it me? I doubt it. I've had many great flights on VS, LH, OS, AA, IE, IB, TK, LX, JL, NH, CX, and occasionally on UA, too.

JonNYC

I'd say that you most definitely are in the distinct minority.

brewdog11

The AA 77W is hard to beat. They got the hard product down 100% in Business. The seat is very roomy, and it makes a 16-hour flight pleasant.

AA Business food is generally good. The chicken dishes are usually a hit, and the beef usually sucks (I just don't bother with airplane beef).

Crew is a total mixed bag, as you have pointed out. My experience with BA crews has been mostly above-average to positive with none standing out as negative. On the other hand, I have run into some very hostile crews on AA.

In all my BA flights, the crews have been, at worst, disinterested.

I haven't ever been screamed at to return to my seat when asking for something with the seatbelt sign off on BA.

UA-NYC

No - I was comparing to the other AA biz seats, didn't say anything at all about UA. 77W > 787/772/763 generally speaking.

Stripe

AA clearly wins on the seating. BA's Club World was first out of the block with full lie-flat seating but their design has essentially remained unchanged. Almost every other major airline has now passed them by. AA's IFE selection is generally more extensive and the Bose headphones are nice.

Otherwise, it's just the luck of the draw whether a specific BA flight will be better than an AA flight. Crews can be great or just old and nasty on either airline, although I think it's probably more likely on AA. And catering can be highly variable.

BA's lounges are certainly better, although when you fly out of LHR on AA you can still use BA's.

Centurion

Love AA 77w over BA. If BA go for upper deck

PUCCI GALORE

I'm afraid that I would agree. Truly in far too many flights around Europe, I have had one Purser who was lazy and condescending. Most I have found pleasant and sometimes really outstanding.

I'm interested in people's opinions as I am going to be using AA quite a bit this autumn. For example on our CDG-DFW are 8H and 8J "good" seats for the two of us - and since the demise of FEBO, how do they take meal orders to obtain these gastronomic delights that you speak of?

Epicura

Seems I am the only one who's bothered by this but in terms of a clean cabin: BA is just dirty, AA is awfully dirty.

Cabin on a 6 months old AA 77W was already in a terrible shape due to a lack of maintenance. Continental EU carriers seem to have much higher maintenance and cleanliness standards.