How does AA's service compare to BA on long-haul in economy?
 

Hello,

after more then 70 short-haul flights over the last 15 months, I finally managed to book my first long-haul flight, from LHR to JFK.

The return leg will be on AA metal, so I wondered how AA's long haul service compares to BA's in economy? Is the food and drink service compareable and for free?

One last question: I wasn't asked to choose my seat whilst booking (also not against money). Is that normal or should I contact BA?

All the best!

The service is very similar, but only beer and wine are free on AA - you have to pay for "premium" alcoholic drinks.

You can book seats for free on AA - if you go to manage my booking on the BA website, you should be able to click through to AA.com and choose your seat.

I would argue that BA has slightly better service but it all depends on what mood your crew are in on your flight; BA also has better food/drink (I know some will disagree on this lol)

No appreciable difference for me and both can be good or bad experiences dependent upon the crew. I generally choose BA purely because of their day flights home which AA no longer offer on that route.

Get the AA PNR and go to AA.com and you will have access to choose seats. Some seats will be available for selection for free, others will be for a fee - the selection can change depending on how close to the flight you are. If you are on a 77W it might be worth it to pay for MCE.

Not all AA planes have AVOD so depending on your plane type you might want to provide your own entertainment.

I've actually heard better things about AA's economy food than BA's but that's not saying much.

Mini pizza for the second meal on the westbound flight is preferable to a sandwich any day!

All the LHR-JFK bound planes have avod.

AA for long haul economy any day, in my opinion.

If you have status you can book Main Cabin Extra for some leg room.
New 777-300s have power sockets on every seat even in economy. Available on loads of flights.
Food is much better (especially substantial second meal and mid flight ice cream on longer flights vs BAs half a sandwich). More drink runs.
Crew slightly less personable, though.

10across on the 777 in Ŷ is terrible. If you have status, grab a seat in the front rows with enhanced leg room and 9 across in Ŷ. Not panicked about food on a night flight...

I would say that the food is far better on BA, greasy pizza, no thanks. :p

I flew AA Y LHR-MIA on one of their older 772s and I had a fine flight. Configuration was 2-5-2. Beer ran out after the first meal service (which was a nice pasta with a fresh salad and a nice wholemeal roll), but AA have a good selection of soft drinks. Crew were friendly, but a little casual.

I'm not sure what eastbound TATL Y is like as on the return I was in J on a77W.

I assume you weren't in the middle seat of that central row of 5.

It's an absolutely rotten way to spend several hours.

Yeah, I was in an aisle seat on the side. I have endured the middle seat of a central 5 on MH PER-KUL a few years back. At least it was only a 5 hour flight!

Interesting divergence in opinion here. If you can get into Main Cabin Extra I think that wins the day for AA, but if not I greatly prefer BA. Food is much of a muchness but where a bad BA crew might just not be around much a bad AA crew can make you feel like you've enlisted in the army or been put in some kind of prison.

I did BRU-ORD a couple of times on the old AA planes which was horrible. Both seating and food at that time was not good. Cabin Crew was very attentive and did their best.

I've also done YUL-LHR on BA recently on a 777 and this wasn't good either in economy.

Best flight long haul for me so far was LHR-DFW on AA on the new 777-300ER with 3-4-3. Even in economy I thought the seats were OK, IFE was excellent, staff was friendly and food was decent enough. Furthermore the inflight wifi was faster than my business broadband by BT (ugh) so I was very productive with catching up on work during the flight.

Next up is JFK-LHR on the 777-300ER with AA in Main Cabin Extra so can't compare that yet but what I've researched looks promising. It's not Business Class but for the fare that I paid MCE seems like a steal.

If I plan a next trip across the pond in Y it's either AA on the 777-300ER with Wifi or BA A380 just because of the plane and I've never had the opportunity to fly the A380.