Long JB

SFO777

AA's catering department loves to flower descriptions on their menus. In most cases, the description is way better than the meal itself.

Looking forward to that one.


... you're a little late on that one.

Indeed, 99% of European flights are on crap hard product.

Older and wiser and not wishing to avoid the wrath of Mrs. SFO777, our return from Athens in May avoids anything to do with another European airport as I opted for Emirates First and the 5th freedom ATH-EWR nonstop.

Perhaps I could have, but the agent in the middle was the only one with a moving line and she was oblivious to the Priority Line. Like it or not, I'm not one to stand around and be silent when there is an obvious problem. In the end it worked, as she started processing Priority pax, none of whom complained about my outburst.

Damn, I knew he looked familiar. Jimenez is a great golfer. Thanks ESFLYER95.

Thanks very much kosy91. There was a method to my madness although in retrospect probably not the best move. I chose BA since we are returning to Greece in May and buying an ATH-LAX-JTR round trip business Class ticket was cheap. Plus, I was able to upgrade the TATL legs from Business to First using my 4 expiring AA SWUs. The morning ex-TLV BA flight misconnected to the early AA LHR-LAX flight, the one of the day with 3 class service.

NYC Flyer

SFO777, thanks so much for this report. The photography and commentary were much enjoyed, and your report sparked some wonderful memories from my last trip (a multi-generational family tour in 2016). We had a lot of vegetarians as well as some youngters, so I look forward to returing soon with the ability to more freely explore the cuisine.

If you (and any FT'er who's enjoyed your report) have not been, please try Zahav the next time you make it to Philly (I make a special trip from NYC at least 1-2 times a year). Chef Michael Solomonov's interpretation of modern Israeli cusine is amazing. He also hosts a documentary In Search of Israeli Cuisine available on Netflix, which is excellent and also explores some of the socio-political issues of the region as they relate to food.

Genius1

Nice report as usual SFO777.

The AC lounge at LAX looks OK design-wise, but does appear quite small and cramped. Poor form not catering the flight, but at least there was an attempt at recovering the service onboard with free Y catering and a compensation form completed - not ideal but better than nothing.

It seemed like a bit of a palaver that you had to exit at IAD to go to FedEx (presumably off-airport?). Couldn’t you just have taken your clothes to TLV with you?

It’s nice that LH tried with an F area in the IAD lounge, but it doesn’t really work, particularly as there is no special catering. I love that LH moved F to the nose on their 748 as opposed to the upper deck as on their 744 fleet. It’s such an elegant cabin (the spotlight on the rose is a particularly nice touch), although I do wonder just how private the seats are.

I’ve always wondered why LH don’t offer an escort or chauffeur drive service from an arriving flight to the FCT in FRA.

I think LH is the only airline to use Door 2L on an A321 for boarding and disembarkation. It’s certainly a nice feature. 3 hours is about my limit for European business class. BA offer their longhaul Club World product for TLV, but the poor shorthaul Club Europe product for destinations such as ATH (as you would experience on your return) and IST.

I like the styling of The Norman, the Scots and King David hotels not so much, although the view from your balcony at the King David is not exactly ‘limited’.

A series of very interesting images from around Israel; I found those from the Golan Heights particularly interesting. I must admit I wouldn’t feel comfortable being that close to the Syrian border.

It’s nice that LY provide an escort at TLV; not something that many airlines do for J pax. The lounge looks decent enough if a little dated. The catering onboard your TLV-ATH sector looks woeful, but the hard product not bad and the amenity kit is a definite plus.

The Sofitel at ATH looks like a pretty basic Sofitel; I think the look on Mrs SFO777’s face says it all! Their properties are normally much nicer.

It’s a shame your ATH-LHR flight was a breakfast service; the catering on rest of the day flights tends to be a little better. I recently reviewed this product here. The pitch is actually 31” on the Airbus aircraft in non-bulkhead or exit rows (not that the extra inch makes a huge amount of difference); you get a little more at 34” on a 767, although that fleet is being retired by the end of this year.

Did you use any of the lounges at LHR T3 before your flight to LAX? Whichever way you look at it, AA’s Flagship First product is a long way from being worthy of the name.

SFO777

Thank you NYC Flyer for your kind comments and for the recommendation of Zahav. ^

Thanks so much Genius1 for taking the time to read and comment. You are being way to kind to the airline from my birth country. Hated them when I lived there and still do today.

Yeah, thought about it but since we had time to kill, we just wanted to get rid of them since we had carry-ons except for the winter clothes bag which we would have had to check and schlepp around for 10 days.

The lack of arrival car service to the FCT/FCL is a major negative, especially at an airport as poorly organized as FRA. BTW, I did experience an excellent Club World flight his past week when I flew CAI-LHR in one of the throne seats on the old BM 321. Excellent service and catering. You may be amused to learn that I’m now BA EC Silver and will have earned Executive Club Gold on my return to CAI next month.

We were a little apprehensive when we first saw the itinerary, but once there had no concerns when we learned the border security setup. That and the fact that, although we hear shooting from a distance, Syrian civil war was not very close to the border that day.

To clarify, the escort service was not LY. It was a private service that we paid for.

We didn’t have a lot of connect time but popped into the CX and AA lounges just to take a look. Unfortunately, we were there a few days before the new QF lounge opened.

Innocent Abroad

Since then an Israeli F-16 was taken down over the Galilee by Syrian missiles, so it's good that you were long gone by then. And speaking of which, Israeli airspace (including TLV) was closed for about half an hour n othat day because some of the missiles made all the way to Tel Aviv

SFO777

Yikes, I didn't realize that was the location. Indeed, glad we were long gone.
Thanks Innocent Abroad.

Loose Cannon

Thanks for the Trip Report and Pictures.

SFO777

Thank you Loose Cannon for taking the time to read.