SFO - MEX: Best routing option for AA Flagship Dining
#33
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2006
Programs: AAdvantage PP
Posts: 13,913
I think this is an ego thing. Its hey I got served a McDonalds style breakfast bagel sandwich while you the great unwashed in steerage will get nothing more than a small, stale cookie. Yes I enjoy the lounges when flying but could never imagine seriously going out of my way to visit a lounge.
#34
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: SLC/HEL/Anywhere with a Beach
Programs: Marriott Ambassador; AA EXP 3MM; AS MVP, Hilton Gold, CH-47/UH-60/C-23/C-130 VET
Posts: 5,234
More like, if I connect at LAX, I can eat and drink at the QF Lounge -- and the Flagship Lounge isn't bad. On the other hand, if I connect at DFW or PHX, the options are poor. If I need extra EQM's, Miami has a nice Flagship Lounge and a great international vibe.
So all things being equal when traveling internationally, I'll connect at LAX or MIA as my first choices, JFK or ORD as my second choices, DFW as third choice, and PHL/CLT/PHX at last choice. Not sure that's an obsession
Of course, sometimes things aren't equal -- poor connections, high fares, bad weather, etc.
#35
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2006
Programs: AAdvantage PP
Posts: 13,913
I don't view our obsession as obsession
More like, if I connect at LAX, I can eat and drink at the QF Lounge -- and the Flagship Lounge isn't bad. On the other hand, if I connect at DFW or PHX, the options are poor. If I need extra EQM's, Miami has a nice Flagship Lounge and a great international vibe.
So all things being equal when traveling internationally, I'll connect at LAX or MIA as my first choices, JFK or ORD as my second choices, DFW as third choice, and PHL/CLT/PHX at last choice. Not sure that's an obsession
Of course, sometimes things aren't equal -- poor connections, high fares, bad weather, etc.
More like, if I connect at LAX, I can eat and drink at the QF Lounge -- and the Flagship Lounge isn't bad. On the other hand, if I connect at DFW or PHX, the options are poor. If I need extra EQM's, Miami has a nice Flagship Lounge and a great international vibe.
So all things being equal when traveling internationally, I'll connect at LAX or MIA as my first choices, JFK or ORD as my second choices, DFW as third choice, and PHL/CLT/PHX at last choice. Not sure that's an obsession
Of course, sometimes things aren't equal -- poor connections, high fares, bad weather, etc.
#36
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: AA EXP, B6 Mosaic, UA Plat, Bonvoy Plat, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,777
I think this is an ego thing. Its hey I got served a McDonalds style breakfast bagel sandwich while you the great unwashed in steerage will get nothing more than a small, stale cookie. Yes I enjoy the lounges when flying but could never imagine seriously going out of my way to visit a lounge.
#37
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,231
Agree with this, even better lounges like the BA Concorde Room, The Wing in Hong Kong, etc. They are just not that big a deal; at best a pleasant place to sit with free drinks, usually mediocre wines, and bad food (relative to just about anything reasonable you could get outside an airport).
#38
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: The FT AA forum, until it no longer wants me.
Programs: CK or bust
Posts: 1,913
#39
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2006
Programs: AAdvantage PP
Posts: 13,913
There's obsession, then there's stupidity. Flying thousands of miles out of your way and spending hundreds if not thousands of $$ to eat an Applebee's type meal in a bunch of not too particularly comfortable chairs? I'll leave others to figure out whether that's the former or latter.
#40
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: The FT AA forum, until it no longer wants me.
Programs: CK or bust
Posts: 1,913
If it's the right aircraft, EQMs are needed, it doesn't cost extra, and time is aplenty, why not? Flying is just in the blood sometimes (just not in all aircraft).
That is indeed the absurd/ridiculous/borderline "we need to talk" fantasy component that sparks pages of FT posts with perspectives about life, what's real, and "you would spend xxxx to get monopoly points?"
#41
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2006
Programs: AAdvantage PP
Posts: 13,913
There's definitely that rush that when you walk into the doors of an AC and people walking by are wondering must you be famous and/or rich? (LOL if they ever saw some of the people and behavior that goes on in the AC, not much better than the gate.) Back in the days of solely EQMs I did my fair share of flying to somewhere and right back to build for EXP status (HNL, FRA, NRT come to mind). But the fares were cheap (again before the terror of BE) and the SWUs cleared easy and early.
Today I'm slumming in PLT status settling for MCE and a free drink, along with some upgrades (I for the most part have cleared near 100% of those I put in for).
Today I'm slumming in PLT status settling for MCE and a free drink, along with some upgrades (I for the most part have cleared near 100% of those I put in for).
#42
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: The FT AA forum, until it no longer wants me.
Programs: CK or bust
Posts: 1,913
People walking by are wondering must you be famous and/or rich is about as real as my push for official recognition of terminal swagger which surprisingly has still not found acceptance in the venerated halls of the medical community. Real class has nothing to do with any imaginary status granted by blindly spending on some airline or the location of a seat on a plane.
Now, holding a 77W past D0 for a single pax or tarmac transfers in an Escalade are quite a bit more interesting .
#43
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: LAX
Programs: AA EXP.
Posts: 1,325
slightly off topic but kinda relevant if im flying LAX-MEX in F will i have access to flagship first dining or qantas f lounge or just the business ones?
im assuming just the business but you never know.
im assuming just the business but you never know.
Last edited by Amil; Oct 9, 2018 at 10:19 pm
#44
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,464
#45
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 11,245
Flagship First Dining is limited to passengers in First in 3 class and up cabins. Which means First Class in the a321T (JFK-LAX/SFO) or F on the 77W.