Our week in Ireland via Air France La Première
Sep 7, 2016, 4:16 pm
#211
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Sep 7, 2016, 5:39 pm
#212
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Some places are victims of their own success. They probably draw enough just for being Ashford Castle that they can get away with mediocrity. Especially since most visitors are only going to come once in a lifetime anyway. It's a huge problem in Rome, Florence and Venice (especially the latter two). Enough that I can run a modest side business entirely predicated on helping new visitors to avoid those places 
It's sad, though, because it means a giant, majestic castle doesn't provide the experience that its appearance suggests. And in this category, you can't get angry, reproduce it and implement higher service standards. There's only one Ashford Castle.
It's sad, though, because it means a giant, majestic castle doesn't provide the experience that its appearance suggests. And in this category, you can't get angry, reproduce it and implement higher service standards. There's only one Ashford Castle.
Sep 7, 2016, 7:22 pm
#213
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The K Club grounds look fantastic!
Was the tour of the Guinness factory just follow a route or was it properly conducted tours with a guide? The place seems massive, much bigger than the Budweiser Brewery I visited in St. Louis.
LOL at the Stag guys on the truck thing. A lot of people are put off going to Dublin these days because of the amount of Stag/Hen do's heading there. Hotels seem to be trying to counteract having them in their premises by restricting the number of rooms that can be booked by one party.
Was the tour of the Guinness factory just follow a route or was it properly conducted tours with a guide? The place seems massive, much bigger than the Budweiser Brewery I visited in St. Louis.
LOL at the Stag guys on the truck thing. A lot of people are put off going to Dublin these days because of the amount of Stag/Hen do's heading there. Hotels seem to be trying to counteract having them in their premises by restricting the number of rooms that can be booked by one party.
That's not so bad. AA has been on my no-fly-to-Europe list for a while now. Especially in business (haven't flown first to Europe), my wife strongly prefers Air France. I'm a little more flexible - I really like Swiss and Alitalia as well. After seeing some of your pics, Alitalia might serve a better meal in business class than Ashford Castle does on the ground Man that's a real shame, but the rest of the trip looked awesome. I really want to plan a couple of nights at Ballyfin when we go to Ireland.
Man that's a real shame, but the rest of the trip looked awesome. I really want to plan a couple of nights at Ballyfin when we go to Ireland.
Sep 8, 2016, 8:45 am
#214
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After a lovely week in Ireland, it's time to head home.
For those looking for another fabulous First Class experience on our return, I'm sorry to say that this will sorely disappoint. For a combination of reasons, I opted to buy a Business Class ticket on American Airlines. Say what??? Yeah, I know. It seemed like a good idea some 4 months ago when it became apparent that we were moving from Denver to Orange County. We had Dublin-London-Denver BA First award tickets using pre-devaluation AA miles, only 62,500 miles per person plus the BA surcharges. Unfortunately, that wouldn't help us get home now. And, there were no other mileage options to LAX at that time.
But there was an attractive $2,200 Dublin-LAX-Rome Business Class fare. With BA fees running nearly $1,000 per person and a DEN-SAN F ticket running $300+, I rationalized that for net $900 per person I would save at least 250,000 miles and earn another 25,000 miles. Plus we could leave DUB at a more civilized 9am. Most importantly, once we survived DUB-JFK the rest of the itinerary was in First Class as I had used AA Systemwide Upgrades to upgrade both JFK-LAX (A32B) and LAX-LHR (77W) in December to three class First Class.
At least that was the plan. With only a short 25 minute car ride to the airport, we were at Dublin's Terminal 2 by 6:45am.
Since I had checked in online at the hotel, we went straight to Fast Track security where we were the only passengers.
We were thru security in a couple of minutes and in the pleasant shopping are of the Terminal 2.
Dublin is one of a number of airports with US customs Preclearance facilities allowing you to clear customs at your departure airport. This lets one arrive in the US as a domestic flight and afford better and smoother connections... at least that's the plan.
A few minutes later, we were at the end of the US departures wing and in the new US PreClearance Lounge, a common airline lounge reserved for Business Class passeners from AA, US, DL and EI.
As a Business Class lounge, it's quite attractive and comfortable, although the lack of 110V outlets seems to be a rather large omission.
But the best feature of the lounge is the proximity to active taxiways and runways. I don't recall a lounge that is this close to the action. Very cool plane watching.
Another Flyertalker?? LOL.
For a Business Class lounge not in NZ, Asia or the Gulf, a nice selection of food offerings.
The lounge dragon announced that our flight was available for boarding. Unfortunately we believed her headed next door to wait for another 10 minutes.
For those looking for another fabulous First Class experience on our return, I'm sorry to say that this will sorely disappoint. For a combination of reasons, I opted to buy a Business Class ticket on American Airlines. Say what??? Yeah, I know. It seemed like a good idea some 4 months ago when it became apparent that we were moving from Denver to Orange County. We had Dublin-London-Denver BA First award tickets using pre-devaluation AA miles, only 62,500 miles per person plus the BA surcharges. Unfortunately, that wouldn't help us get home now. And, there were no other mileage options to LAX at that time.
But there was an attractive $2,200 Dublin-LAX-Rome Business Class fare. With BA fees running nearly $1,000 per person and a DEN-SAN F ticket running $300+, I rationalized that for net $900 per person I would save at least 250,000 miles and earn another 25,000 miles. Plus we could leave DUB at a more civilized 9am. Most importantly, once we survived DUB-JFK the rest of the itinerary was in First Class as I had used AA Systemwide Upgrades to upgrade both JFK-LAX (A32B) and LAX-LHR (77W) in December to three class First Class.
At least that was the plan. With only a short 25 minute car ride to the airport, we were at Dublin's Terminal 2 by 6:45am.
Since I had checked in online at the hotel, we went straight to Fast Track security where we were the only passengers.
We were thru security in a couple of minutes and in the pleasant shopping are of the Terminal 2.
Dublin is one of a number of airports with US customs Preclearance facilities allowing you to clear customs at your departure airport. This lets one arrive in the US as a domestic flight and afford better and smoother connections... at least that's the plan.
A few minutes later, we were at the end of the US departures wing and in the new US PreClearance Lounge, a common airline lounge reserved for Business Class passeners from AA, US, DL and EI.
As a Business Class lounge, it's quite attractive and comfortable, although the lack of 110V outlets seems to be a rather large omission.
But the best feature of the lounge is the proximity to active taxiways and runways. I don't recall a lounge that is this close to the action. Very cool plane watching.
Another Flyertalker?? LOL.
For a Business Class lounge not in NZ, Asia or the Gulf, a nice selection of food offerings.
The lounge dragon announced that our flight was available for boarding. Unfortunately we believed her headed next door to wait for another 10 minutes.
Sep 8, 2016, 8:46 am
#215
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OMG. The ignomy.
It's one thing to put up with American on a domestic flight but here we are now on an international flight.
Now even though I had told Mrs. SFO777 that we were flying Business Class to JFK, I guess the term selective hearing applies. So we're standing at the gate waiting for "Boarding has commenced" to turn into reality, and it begins...
Mrs. SFO777: How many seats are in First Class?
Me: 16
Mrs. SFO777: 16???
Me: Well it's actually not First Class, it's Business Class
Mrs. SFO777: Business Class? BUSINESS CLASS?? **** **!
Even though she says that she understands and agrees with the rationale as to how we got here, it didn't really seem to matter at this point. The damage has been done.
Dublin-New York JFK
American Airlines 291
757-200
8:55a-11:30a
August 29, 2016
Business Class
Seats 3EF
When you set your expectations lower than low, you won't be disappointed. And that's exactly what we got today. I've flown enough AA to know. Mrs. SFO777? not so much. Today's flight was on an ancient narrow body AA single-aisle 757 with uncompetitive angled lie-flat seats. And with the usual AA crew.
So, my love, what do you think of American, our plane and your seat today? LOL.
Crew seats 4AB.
Our neighbor trying out the angled lie flat.
Today's menu.
And the wine list. Amazing that Ken Chase still has a job.
We were wheels up by 9:35a and our crew closed the lovely, thick and plush cabin dividing curtain. LOL. Yeah, that'll do the trick.
Our cabin crew went to work to prep the cabin for lunch. Whoa, what the rush? It's not even 10:30am. Oh well. I didn't even bother to ask about eating later as it wasn't offered and just not worth asking.
Showtime, AA style!
Ah yes, the ever luxurious AA hot towel.
Nothing fancy here, but it was edible.
Unlike the salad.
Just love those premium AA salt and pepper shakers.
We weren't drinking today so I wasn't even interested in wine, but our Flight Attendant never even offered it... to anyone that I could see.
We both had pre-ordered the Corn-Fed Chicken Breast with tandoori sauce, basmati rice and sautéed spinach.
It was moist and quite tasty.
The snack basket was never offered in the cabin, but it did sit in the galley. I guess we're supposed to know.
About 90 minutes out, we were offered a snack. A choice of Croque Monsieur or Thai Beef Salad.
The couple of bites tiny Greek Salad was tasty.
The Croque was institutional but was edible.
On the other hand, the Thai Beef Salad was horrid.
But, the big surprise was the Pots & Co. Salted Caramel Pot, which was delicious.
Fabulous.
The good news is that we landed on time. Like I said, I had low expectations and AA met them. Now we get lie flat 1-1 seating to LAX... or so I thought.
It's one thing to put up with American on a domestic flight but here we are now on an international flight.
Now even though I had told Mrs. SFO777 that we were flying Business Class to JFK, I guess the term selective hearing applies. So we're standing at the gate waiting for "Boarding has commenced" to turn into reality, and it begins...
Mrs. SFO777: How many seats are in First Class?
Me: 16
Mrs. SFO777: 16???
Me: Well it's actually not First Class, it's Business Class
Mrs. SFO777: Business Class? BUSINESS CLASS?? **** **!
Even though she says that she understands and agrees with the rationale as to how we got here, it didn't really seem to matter at this point. The damage has been done.
Dublin-New York JFK
American Airlines 291
757-200
8:55a-11:30a
August 29, 2016
Business Class
Seats 3EF
When you set your expectations lower than low, you won't be disappointed. And that's exactly what we got today. I've flown enough AA to know. Mrs. SFO777? not so much. Today's flight was on an ancient narrow body AA single-aisle 757 with uncompetitive angled lie-flat seats. And with the usual AA crew.
So, my love, what do you think of American, our plane and your seat today? LOL.
Crew seats 4AB.
Our neighbor trying out the angled lie flat.
Today's menu.
And the wine list. Amazing that Ken Chase still has a job.
We were wheels up by 9:35a and our crew closed the lovely, thick and plush cabin dividing curtain. LOL. Yeah, that'll do the trick.
Our cabin crew went to work to prep the cabin for lunch. Whoa, what the rush? It's not even 10:30am. Oh well. I didn't even bother to ask about eating later as it wasn't offered and just not worth asking.
Showtime, AA style!
Ah yes, the ever luxurious AA hot towel.
Nothing fancy here, but it was edible.
Unlike the salad.
Just love those premium AA salt and pepper shakers.
We weren't drinking today so I wasn't even interested in wine, but our Flight Attendant never even offered it... to anyone that I could see.
We both had pre-ordered the Corn-Fed Chicken Breast with tandoori sauce, basmati rice and sautéed spinach.
It was moist and quite tasty.
The snack basket was never offered in the cabin, but it did sit in the galley. I guess we're supposed to know.
About 90 minutes out, we were offered a snack. A choice of Croque Monsieur or Thai Beef Salad.
The couple of bites tiny Greek Salad was tasty.
The Croque was institutional but was edible.
On the other hand, the Thai Beef Salad was horrid.
But, the big surprise was the Pots & Co. Salted Caramel Pot, which was delicious.
Fabulous.
The good news is that we landed on time. Like I said, I had low expectations and AA met them. Now we get lie flat 1-1 seating to LAX... or so I thought.
Sep 8, 2016, 8:47 am
#216
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Posts: 21,602
No Wifi makes you oblivious to the outside world. So as we landed, I was pleased that we were on time, with only a 75 minute connection and we get true lie flat 1-1 seating back to LAX. What could go wrong? LOL. Without on board Wifi, I only got the wonderful news that our JFK-LAX had been CANCELLED as we were taxiing in. "... This is American Airlines calling about a flight cancellation. We apologize for the inconvenience. There's been a cancellation for your trip on August 29 for travel from New York Kennedy to Los Angeles. Record locator BLAH-BLAH. We have rebooked you on another flight. You're now confirmed on flight 21 Departing August 29th from New York Kennedy at 7:00 PM. Arriving Los Angeles at 10:17 PM. Your seats are 3A and 3F. Contact AA to check in for your flight view gate and terminal information and obtain check in time..." Oh my, this day just keeps getting better and better. What a garbage airline. Apparently, 3 A321T transcons had mechanicals last night. Our inbound was cancelled and there was no spare plane available.
An AA employee met us at the door of the plane with the news we arleady knew and our new boarding passes for our flight 7 hours later. So it was off to the First Class Flagship Lounge to assess our options. The old Admirals Club in the main concourse was being renovated.
But the Flagship Lounge was as always.
New York-Los Angeles
American Airlines 117
A321T
3:30p-6:45p
August 29, 2016
Business Class
Seats 6C and 9C
With no good options all day from JFK or even LGA, we were resigned to hanging out here for a while. After 3 hours here, we headed out to Gate 39 to standby for the 3:30pm JFK-LAX, agreeing to accept a downgrade to Business Class rather than wait another 3-4 hours. In the end, we were cleared into Business Class, albeit in different parts of the cabin. I was originally assigned 10A but when I saw dad and a lap child in 10C, I made a U-turn back to the gate and managed to eventually get 9C when that person didn't show up. OK, it's still better than regular domestic First but...
The Salad was terrible and the Char Siu Duck not much better.
On the other hand, the Cumin Rubbed Pan Roasted Chicken was quite good, kind of reminiscent of regular AA domestic meals before US Airways took over and trashed the airline.
Meanwhile up in 6C, Mrs. SFO777 wisely passed on the meal and slept for a few hours.
And then there was my creepy seat mate, who thought the seat divider was his and his alone.
Mercifully, our long day was finally over. And some good news at last. There was no traffic on the 405 and we were home in an hour. Thanks everyone for following along on this report and for all (or at least most) of your comments.
For more pics and an HD version of this report, please visit SFO777.com.
An AA employee met us at the door of the plane with the news we arleady knew and our new boarding passes for our flight 7 hours later. So it was off to the First Class Flagship Lounge to assess our options. The old Admirals Club in the main concourse was being renovated.
But the Flagship Lounge was as always.
New York-Los Angeles
American Airlines 117
A321T
3:30p-6:45p
August 29, 2016
Business Class
Seats 6C and 9C
With no good options all day from JFK or even LGA, we were resigned to hanging out here for a while. After 3 hours here, we headed out to Gate 39 to standby for the 3:30pm JFK-LAX, agreeing to accept a downgrade to Business Class rather than wait another 3-4 hours. In the end, we were cleared into Business Class, albeit in different parts of the cabin. I was originally assigned 10A but when I saw dad and a lap child in 10C, I made a U-turn back to the gate and managed to eventually get 9C when that person didn't show up. OK, it's still better than regular domestic First but...
The Salad was terrible and the Char Siu Duck not much better.
On the other hand, the Cumin Rubbed Pan Roasted Chicken was quite good, kind of reminiscent of regular AA domestic meals before US Airways took over and trashed the airline.
Meanwhile up in 6C, Mrs. SFO777 wisely passed on the meal and slept for a few hours.
And then there was my creepy seat mate, who thought the seat divider was his and his alone.
Mercifully, our long day was finally over. And some good news at last. There was no traffic on the 405 and we were home in an hour. Thanks everyone for following along on this report and for all (or at least most
) of your comments. For more pics and an HD version of this report, please visit SFO777.com.
Sep 8, 2016, 8:56 am
#217
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SEA
Posts: 3,955
At FCO, the Alitalia lounge has a flight sim and pilots to give instruction (or they did my last time through, which would have been in late 2015). It's pretty cool.
Sep 8, 2016, 9:24 am
#218
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: NAP
Programs: LH, BA, TK
Posts: 2,409
Wow, I can't believe to see a day where my inflight experience had matched the SFO777 one.
Even just for a cabin, before we part ways for good
Yes, that J on the 757 should be made illegal. Just had a MIA-LIM-MIA with the inbound red-eye and never again, no matter how low BA/AA price it.
Of course the insane opup policy in the US meant the 80% of the cabin were upgraded. Just to make the whole flight even more enjoyable. No thanks.
Even just for a cabin, before we part ways for good
Yes, that J on the 757 should be made illegal. Just had a MIA-LIM-MIA with the inbound red-eye and never again, no matter how low BA/AA price it.
Of course the insane opup policy in the US meant the 80% of the cabin were upgraded. Just to make the whole flight even more enjoyable. No thanks.
Sep 8, 2016, 11:56 am
#219
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 870
Wow, I can't believe to see a day where my inflight experience had matched the SFO777 one.
Even just for a cabin, before we part ways for good
Yes, that J on the 757 should be made illegal. Just had a MIA-LIM-MIA with the inbound red-eye and never again, no matter how low BA/AA price it.
Of course the insane opup policy in the US meant the 80% of the cabin were upgraded. Just to make the whole flight even more enjoyable. No thanks.
Even just for a cabin, before we part ways for good
Yes, that J on the 757 should be made illegal. Just had a MIA-LIM-MIA with the inbound red-eye and never again, no matter how low BA/AA price it.
Of course the insane opup policy in the US meant the 80% of the cabin were upgraded. Just to make the whole flight even more enjoyable. No thanks.
Sep 8, 2016, 1:52 pm
#221
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: hnl
Posts: 241
Sep 9, 2016, 6:40 am
#225
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,602
Wow, I can't believe to see a day where my inflight experience had matched the SFO777 one.
Even just for a cabin, before we part ways for good
Yes, that J on the 757 should be made illegal. Just had a MIA-LIM-MIA with the inbound red-eye and never again, no matter how low BA/AA price it.
Of course the insane opup policy in the US meant the 80% of the cabin were upgraded. Just to make the whole flight even more enjoyable. No thanks.
Even just for a cabin, before we part ways for good
Yes, that J on the 757 should be made illegal. Just had a MIA-LIM-MIA with the inbound red-eye and never again, no matter how low BA/AA price it.
Of course the insane opup policy in the US meant the 80% of the cabin were upgraded. Just to make the whole flight even more enjoyable. No thanks.
And I know Mrs. SFO777 isn't going to be on it.
I love it as well! It's one of a handful of movies that I don't mind watching again and again. Right up there with The Equalizer, Taken 1 and 2 and anything Jason Statham.
Thanks so much NoY for your kind comments.