morat121

yup - nothing. LPGS, I would bite their hand off!

Burger was ok. Shower didn’t work, no shower gel either. Bar staff nice at least. Everyone else seems bored and put out.

Won’t be bothering with a first flight out of JFK in future.

nldogbert

My 2nd visit - and this time, zero premium champagne available - only the Moet's.
From food point - at least what was on the menu was all available including the steak. However in my opinion, compared to presentation and quality of items, the FFD was really a notch up there. I think that they can also tone down the portion size.
Did hop over to the Soho lounge - and noticed the food offerings were not the same as Chelsea. It was OK from capacity wise - I guess because it's a public holiday in the US, so not many business travellers. Managed to snag a seat next to the window

Still all in all - not very impressed with the promised elevated experience from the Chelsea Lounge.

Cheers!

Lamb and Couscous

Roasted chicken

Prawn cocktail

Ice cream scoops

Chocolate Praline Dome with chocolate ice cream

LowValueCustomer

Seconding this. I'm here for the first time and severely disappointed, even going in with tempered expectations. How do you have a champagne bar without champagne?

ETA: to make this useful to readers, instead of just venting: the prawns are very good so I recommend them if you like seafood, but be sure to ask for very light sauce - they really drenched it in sauce.

ijgordon

Someone just posted a picture of the steak frites in the AA forum.

Ned1968

Steak 1 Nessie 0

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35027083-post236.html

(Interesting - positive - review of Chelsea and Soho, with photos)

Pilot37

Was in on Friday evening and the steak was available and tasty, but overall the serving standards resemble a street corner diner at 3am, not the top end lounge of 2 major carriers. When my main and starter were brought at the same time (which happened last time as well) my server joked that if she didn't grab the steak there and then, who knows when I would actually get it! Ordering took forever, cutlery only brought out after the food and even the 1 bar person had trouble keeping up with the cocktail orders being placed (and the place wasn't that busy!). Compared to the old FFD and CCR standards - this just isn't a patch on either and is a very disappointing replacement.

I am guessing all the original posts about BA realising they had messed up and a team was being sent to see what positive changes could be made have all just fizzled out?

Pilot37

nldogbert

yes, but becareful of the salt - I am not sure why they sprinkled some coarse salt over the dish, so had quite often bites of "salt burst" which sadly spoilt the dish. Other than that - yes all very "amateurish" elegant compared to the CCR in London for now.

Cheers!

ryanbriar

I’ll be passing through the lounge a few times over the next month (starting this Saturday) and looking forward to the “refreshed” menu / ideally a few glasses of LPGS so that I can get to sleep as soon as we’re in the air.

I’ll also ensure that I post some positive commentary (There were definitely some positives from my previous visits.)

zeer0

Was there yesterday. Expectations were already tempered by what I had read here, so I thought it was a decent space - but there's no "wow" factor like you would hope for in an F lounge in a premier hub. Sidenote: They need to rename these 3 lounges and re-train the staff on access rules. It was ridiculous seeing the agents and passengers all struggling with access rules. One of the agents wasn't even sure my JFK-SFO F ticket had access...

No premium champagnes were available, but I did enjoy trying all of the Moets, and the cocktails were very good!

All of the food options were available, I ordered the shrimp and mushroom toast apps, and steak frites main. Everything came out at once. The apps were decent, though as another poster said the shrimp comes drenched in sauce and lettuce. The real highlight was the steak, it was a thick restaurant-quality piece of meat that was delicious. Ordered medium-rare and it came out closer to rare, but I didn't mind as it seemed to be a high-quality piece of meat.

Service was very nice from both the servers and bartenders, big thumbs up on that front.


Steak frites


Favorite of the Moets

slate

I was there on Monday evening. Agent didn't want to let me in as a GGL travelling on a CW ticket - the mobile boarding pass doesn't say GGL on it so I asked her to scan it and check.

Service in the dining area was very slow and disorganised. It took a long time for the server to bring me a menu and then she immediately asked me what I wanted to order before I'd even had the chance to open it. I wasn't given a wine list and had to ask for it. Then both starter and main were brought at the same time, but no wine, so I had to chase this. Then it took ages for the server to come back to clear the plates and bring the dessert menu and a very long time for the dessert to arrive.

On the positive side, I had the beetroot, steak frites and chocolate dome and all were very good.

SEA737

I’ve stayed away from booking paid F or J for transcon from JFK on AA since these lounges opened. The inconsistency and low quality in the reports is insane to me, and ending up with a subpar meal that was my third choice on the menu alongside not having any of the nice wines available would sour a flight where I coughed up the extra dollars to indulge.

I would imagine the bad impression on people who were expecting the FFD experience would make them reconsider booking in the future. But maybe that’s not many of us. Not like AA cares about the brand of F at this point anyway.

jjLDNY

Visited tonight on a transcon to LAX. Some pushback on entry as I’m flying biz this time but I asserted I had entry and was let through.

LPGS running low and was finished shortly after I arrived. Lots of the steak and other entrées; and more staff today than I’ve ever seen - most of which seem a little more accustomed to pouring wine/beer or making coffees for pax rather than asking the single server at the bar which should mean faster service for everyone.

I had the shrimp and the steak. The shrimp was different today, vs the other 6 times I’ve been - smaller, less dressing and 7-8 vs 3-4 of them. Overall an upgrade. The steak was slightly better than I expected. Ordered and cooked medium rare and tender enough. The garnish as you can tell by the pics needs a bit of work, but very happy overall with the dish as it’s miles above recent times. I’d happily skip the F meal on flights back to London if it maintains.

So yes. As far as the hard product. Same old. Not a fan. But the soft product that they can still influence has improved.

no2chem

Here at Chelsea lounge for a good part of the day doing a segment run burning miles for loyalty rewards qualification...

Have to say, I was hoping that the reviews were wrong but seems accurate in general. A bit underwhelming, but I guess AA could care less about their Flagship "First" product these days, and BA gets away with not calling it "not a Concorde room". Sad. I was hoping JFK would become on par with LHR T3 (nice enough to choose over a more convenient connection such as AMS or FRA) but I guess not.

Also; while the FFD was nice, it was marginal in the last of its days (it frequently had no LPGS too in the end). I'd say the Chelsea lounge is an extension of that. The hard product is nicer though, but no quiet spaces.

Really wouldn't want to spend more than an hour here, sadly.

A bit early for champagne right now, but I only see the möet on display. Will try asking again in a hour.


Chipped glass
looks like some of the glass is already showing signs of wear.
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Breakfast menu


​​I ordered the bacon sandwich, which I don't really recommend. .


I think they could learn a thing or two about food presentation...


In the US, the QF F lounge in LAX is much much better, with the exception of the champagne. I'd vote QF F as still the best lounge in the US, though admittedly I have not been there post-COVID. Shame, as Chelsea had a lot of potential. Probably could get there if they sent all their staff to Sofitel or wherever QF gets their staff.

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Genius1

Whilst I agree that the Flagship First onboard product is underwhelming, Flagship First Dining at MIA and DFW is excellent, which makes it all the more perplexing how the same team manage to serve such (comparative) rubbish at JFK.

no2chem

It appears that the premium champagne is Laurent Perrier Rosé.

Sitting at the bar this afternoon I overheard the conversation between the bartender and the waitstaff asking what the premium champagne is (I guess they don't know themselves. Supposedly people keep asking for LPGS but "only rosé". And if they don't ask - möet. Which I'm perfectly fine with, I mean if you don't care it's a pretty good champagne, especially if you don't care (some people in this thread act like it's the end of the world lol, which, I also get.. if you connected via JFK expecting Krug..)

Yeah probably not a good idea to start your rotation off with Krug, but I guess it works for the bloggers. I do miss the days Flagship had Bollinger and Tattinger free pour though, those were good days.

Honestly though, LP rosé is quite good and id be just happy if they kept it in stock as the "default" premium and there were random surprise bubbles. But definitely keep something premium in stock please!



Lunch was much better than breakfast.

Steak fries were great. Honestly better than the steak I got at FFD in the past, nice crispy crust.
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