CHOPCHOP767

Favorite premium cabin! Quite an endorsement SFO777. Favorite overall? Or favorite hard product? I'm looking at a trip to nowhere in January and was considering a la Premier run, but now you have me thinking about EY. Thanks as always for the time and effort to put together such a wonderful TR.

rosensfole

An epic trip SFO777.
I read ahead on your website and I noted the picture for the Etihad flight containing the name of the flight captain: Sophie Blanchard. I thought I recognised that name then it came to me. Did you know that Sophie Blanchard was an aeronautical pioneer at the start of the 19th century? The current Sophie was clearly born to be a pilot!

extramileage

Great report as always. Too bad you CAN-DXB flight didn't have the DP Rose, which is currently on select EK F sectors right now in addition of the regular DP.

Question: you booked QR and EY with AA miles. What did you use for EK? Cash or EK/Amex? Carrier imposed fees are awful, as I'm sure you know although outstation prices can be sometimes be pretty attractive (e.g. South Africa, as you already know).

offerendum

OK, Premium Lounge looked really bad, Etihad Appartment is of course nice.

SFO777

Thanks CHOPCHOP767. My "favorite premium cabin" comment was related to the A380 hard product. I love the space and layout of the suite. IME, the soft product is generally very good although wines are now well below those of QR and EK. However, it's the rest of the EY experience, especially the lounge and ground experience that lowers EY's overall rank. And with their financial woes and continuing nickel and dime cost cutting, I suspect that they will continue to slide in my ranking. I still rank them # 5 overall, but most of that lofty ranking is the hard product. IMO, the overall best in the world is still Air France on the 77W. You have to try the La Première experience.

Thanks so much rosenfole. I didn't know about the storied history of Sophie Blanchard.

Thank you very much extramileage. We used EK miles for the CAN-DXB leg. It was indeed a little pricey at 97,000 EK miles and $450 or so in fees. But I had around 30K in orphaned EK miles and transferred the balance from Amex.

Thanks offerendum. JFK can be a dump in places.

offerendum

Unfortunately I know

cmd320

Really enjoying your ME3 F tour SFO777! Very disappointing to see the EY has downgraded the F champagne. Make cuts in Y sure, and maybe J if necessary, but this really steps the soft product well below EK and QR. Really too bad since the A380 hard product is so amazing.

SFO777

American Flagship Lounge at JFK


From Terminal 4, it was easy to get to the inter-terminal Sky Train.















And a few minutes later, I was at Terminal 8.





At the far right of the Terminal is Flagship First check-in, where the check-in dragon has a list of all eligible First Class passengers that day. Body language says she was not going to make in past him.



Some pics from an earlier visit. A little spartan compared to some other airlines, but certainly a pleasant oasis especially again I was the only passenger. I was fortunate to have a great agent that input my KTN data and reprinted my Etihad-issued boarding pass so I now had the magic TSA PRECHECK on it.





The grey door at the far end leads directly into the PreCheck queue which was a nice design and set up feature.





The grey door at the far end leads directly into the PreCheck queue which was a nice design and set up feature. PreCheck security took about 5 minutes and I headed for the Flagship Lounge.





Not many in line today and I was in the lounge in short order.



And the usual afternoon mob scene...



Some pics of the lounge from a prior more quiet time.













































First order of business was a shower. And the new Flagship showers are plentiful and a nice improvement over the old ones.













Still a mob scene after my shower as I headed to Flagship First Dining, a lovely oasis of calm. Some pics from an earlier visit.



The hostess counter is right inside the front door. And don't even try to get in without an invitation card from one of the front check-in AAngels.



Very attractive but small bar, lounge area and dining room.

















And back to today, I requested a booth to try a different vantage point.













Like last time, I started with the delicious Gin Basil Lemonade.



OK, I'm guessing that the tape is temporary.





For today's starter, I had the Arancini, with smoked mozzarella and roasted tomato sauce.



OMG, this was sensational.





For my main, I had the salmon which I really enjoyed last time. It took forever to come out depsite few other patrons this afternoon. And despite the "chef recommends medium rare", it came out pretty well done. Still good, but not great like before.



Fortunately, my flight was delayed today. The always amusing AA lies about departure time. The inbound arrives at 6:50p and we're going to depart at 7:20p. LOL. Not a prayer.



So I moved over to visit with Karen at the bar and started with her fabulous Spiced Tequila.











And dessert. To die for.



At this point it was 7pm and time to head over to the midfield concourse for the last leg.


For more pics and an HD version of this report, please visit SFO777.com where I've posted the final installment.

• American Flagship First Class JFK-LAX

Will post to FT as soon as possible.

SFO777

Thanks very much cmd320. Totally agree. Unfortunately, I don't see EY doing anything but continuing to slip with the never ending cost cutting.

ironmanjt

Wow - finally catching up and what a great report! Looks like even your United experience was better than average and acceptable!

I've repeatedly had very subpar experiences with all the ME3 in first, especially on QR on a dreadful flight from SYD-DOH where the crew spoke extremely limited english and the other 7 seats in the cabin were filled with what appears to be opups and "friends of the airline" who made the 80F cabin their own personal party zone. But...if there's one person's opinion I trust it's yours so I'm going to have to give it another go!

AndrewE

Hi SFO777,
Another great report. I had a chance to try the "Apartment" last September (EY103, 4A). Eventhough it was an AA award, I still got a ride from my hotel in Abu Dhabi and another @JFK. I see the champagne selection has changed. Here's what it was.


I also rate the hard product very highly, however, I found the bed to be a bit hard - maybe a better duvet is required, like the tempur pedic ones JAL uses. A better ground experience is really needed, (something more seamless) but once the new midfield terminal (and I assume with a new FC lounge) is available, this could improve.

AndrewE

http://www.executivestyle.com.au/cap...s-in-uae-15kz2

rosensfole

Thanks AndrewE - interesting piece.

Genius1

An enjoyable read SFO777, thanks as always.

Aside from TBIT, LAX is generally a poor experience. The older terminals just weren’t built for the number of passengers travelling through the facilities these days, and there’s very little space to expand. The best solution would be demolish and rebuild, but that’s hard in a capacity constrained environment.

I have to laugh when reading the DL literature which states ‘all of us have good planes’. Aside from the fact they’re aircraft and not ‘planes’, I’m note sure the person being quoted has travelled QR and had the opportunity to compare it to a US-based carrier. Whilst there are issues that need to be addressed with the ME3, it’s certainly hard to fault their onboard service.

I wondered initially why you stopped off at the Amex lounge in SFO T3 as it doesn’t look anything amazing, but then I realised that UA haven’t opened their Polaris lounge at SFO yet and you had to suffer the bland Club.

It amazes me that UA took delivery of their 787-9s without the Polaris hard product fitted. The existing B/E Aerospace Diamond product is the same as that on AA’s transcontinental A321s in J. I find that seat quite constrained and not very private, although window seats are slightly more spacious.

I thought UA had improved their soft product with the Polaris launch, but with the exception of the bedding products, it all looks fairly ordinary. Chocolates with the PDB is an odd touch, and why is the PDB still in a plastic glass? The blue table cloth and general setup looks pretty dated, and the food is definitely a ‘meh’ from the photos.

The Star Alliance lounge at CDG looks quite claustrophobic because of the low ceiling, small areas and lack of natural light. It seems the QR lounge shares the same low space, but they have made use of the space better; it’s quite an elegant space - I like the dining area in particular, and the semi-private seating along the windows.

I’m slightly surprised that QR don’t escort F pax to the gate (and EY for that matter). I love the understated elegance of the QR cabins; so much nicer than EK, although EY’s cabins are also pretty understated. It looks like QR have some common food options between J and F, as I recognise one of the main courses from a J flight last year; perhaps the presentation is different, though.

I think your description of the Al Safwa lounge is spot on; just like the Al Mourjan lounge, the space is almost too large to feel comfortable.

The Premium lounge at CAN looks like it was once a Plaza Premium lounge judging by the interior design, although the branding appears to have been removed from the entrance.

I’ve said it before, but the EK cabin designs in F and J are too blingy for my taste, although the shower on the A380 is a good feature that I’m keen to try.

I love the design of the EY Apartment. For me, the Residence is unnecessary when the ‘basic’ F product is so good. I suppose the Residence caters more for the private jet market.

I think AA made a mistake opening up the Flagship lounge to J pax, but particularly oneworld Sapphires. I noted some of your images are from a previous trip where the buffet hadn’t been finished. It has to be said however that AA have done pretty well with the Flagship First Dining.

An impressive trip without a hotel stay!

Bretteee

How does Cathay rank in F? Not as good as Emirates / Ethihad I presume.