Leadership

Dear all,

I am very pleased to welcome you for this new serie of reports covering latest long haul products from Iberia and American Airlines, plus what is now very popular here, a review on the American Airlines A321 transcontinental service.

Wait IBERIA?
Yes you read it correctly Iberia, the unfamous Spanish carrier.
However along with their new brand image, they are modernizing their airline with new seats.
New York being served by their brand new A330-300, you are 100% sure that you will get their latest product, a full flat seat manufactured by Sogerma and already in use with Etihad, Thai, Asiana or Alitalia.

Then I wanted to try the new A321 transcontinental service offered by the legacy carrier American Airlines on their flagship route New-York JFK – Los Angeles.

And to go back to Europe, AA was also the airline of my choice, their new 777-300ER promised a lot in term of hard product with the Cirrus seats (same as Cathay Pacific) and bar, my other choice would have been BA but I already flown with them several times.

European feeding flights will be with IB on outbound and BA on inbound.

Final Routing is comprised of five flights:

1. Paris ORY - Madrid (Iberia, Business, A321)
   CLICK-HERE
2. Madrid – New York JFK (Iberia, Business, A330-300)
   CLICK-HERE
3. New York JFK – Los Angeles (American Airlines, Business, A321)
   CLICK-HERE
4. Los Angeles – London LHR (American Airlines, Business, B777-300ER)
   CLICK-HERE
5. London LHR – Paris ORY (British Airways, Club Europe, A320)
   CLICK-HERE
   

MY TRIP REPORTS

Leadership

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It’s difficult to judge an airline on a short flight, still Iberia delivers a solid product with an on time flight and an appropriate catering for their European Business class passengers.

Leadership

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Let’s face it, we were disappointed with our experience with Iberia and this is entirely due to cabin crew attitude, they were rude and impolite with us, they have no manner and no common-sense to serve passengers.

All in all, I have a mixed feeling, on one side the hard product is very nice and on par with top carrier, but on the other side the rudeness of the crew and the average catering make me want to stay away of Iberia at any cost!

janehoya

In regards to the "no gathering" rule, I was on a Lufthansa flight MUC-SFO last week and in one of her first announcements the purser mentioned that no more than "x" people could gather in one spot due to U.S. regulations, so it isn't just Iberia that enforces that rule.

Leadership

Thanks for this information, I am sure you are right but the way they were saying it was really rude "IT'S NOT ALLOWED FOR YOU TO STAY HERE, GO BACK TO YOUR SEAT", and how EK is doing with their bar on their A380 US bound flights?

Leadership

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American Airlines clearly did a very good job with their A321s, the cabin is sensational, even in Economy with the use of nice fabric, mood lighting and state of the art IFE which enhance the flying experience.

In Business, I was pleasantly surprised by the seat and the amount of space you get, sure you still have a seatmate but seats are designed in a way to maximize privacy as they are slightly angled and staggered.
Of course it’s going full flat and the IFE is at the top with the use of Bose headset.

DartagnanHSC

Nice OW Routing! IB's new hard product is great, though soft still needs lots of work. New seats aren't everything.

Yet another report that shows AA's great product on the A321T. Looking forward to the 77W report.

Leadership

Thank you for your message, seat aren't everything as you said.

Yes AA is now offering a terrific transcontinental product, if only they could improve their catering.

angrypenguin

Great report! Looking forward to the next part; I'll be flying LAX-LHR on AA in July and am looking forward to your thoughts.

Leadership

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American Airlines stepped-up their product with their new aircraft, and along with their A321T they selected some of the finest cabin furnitures and seats available today.

Beside that Flight attendants were attentive, proactive and funny, which is exactly what I expect from an AA crew, they were in good mood and seems happy to do the service despite a full cabin.

Once again catering is the weak point, I did not get my first choice and it was pretty bland and uninspiring, breakfast was good though but only one choice of warm dish (omelette).

Wine list was ok, with the noticeable presence of Gosset for champagne, if only they served it in proper glasses lol!

angrypenguin

Excellent write up!

Leadership

Thanks, glad you liked it

Skipcool3

Sorry to hear that the IBERIA flight was a bit rough, product looks pretty good.

Is there any other choice of Oneworld lounge you can use in LAX? The AA offerings are terrible food wise.

The new 777 -300 ER looks great, and the food offering Wayyyyyy ahead of BA on this route. BA don't even serve a hot breakfast, just fruit and a bacon roll.

Thanks for posting.

LDNConsultant

The new 777-300 flights for the LHR - LAX is a huge game changer for me since I was slightly disappointed with the BA283 and A388 on this route. Trying the AA flight next month so quite excited~!

Leadership

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As usual, British Airways did pretty well, their lounges at Heathrow are pretty nice but a bit crowded, food selection is appropriate with salad bar, sandwiches and some hot dishes. Waiters are not that polite and it takes some time before being served.

The boarding by bus was a bit chaotic. On board crew was very nice and attentive and took good care of their Business Class pax and also politely sent back a Y-pap who wanted to seat in CE (she probably did not notice it was a different cabin ^^).

Presence of oshibori is nice for such a short flight, a PDB would be a plus.

The afternoon tea tray affair is not my favourite but for such a short flight it’s adequate, and scone was nice, I also like to have my own bottle of Champagne to ensure the refill throughout the flight.