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Flagship dining MIA
Once we arrived at the airport, we first had to return the car and then walk to check-in. As expected, there was not much going on at the First counter and we were done quite quickly. We were sent to security checkpoint 3. I was irritated at first because there was no priority lane there, but it was relatively empty. After the usual annoying check, I understood why they had sent us here. We were right next to the AA Flagship Lounge.
This time the experience was different from the last visit. The agent greeted us with underem F-ticket very friendly and we were asked if we wanted to take advantage of the first class dining. We said yes and the agent escorted us to the dining room inside the flagship lounge. This had nothing to do with the ghastly Admirals lounge that shares the first floor reception area. As you know from other F-lounges, the dining room is basically a restaurant. The decor is pretty. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7c96259e4b.jpg The menu is sufficiently large with some interesting dishes. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a25b4883fd.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...eee62a75e9.jpg First, an amuse bouche and a rather fancy bread. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b9c3f83a7c.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...05c9e80ced.jpg Snapper Ceviche https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5f18db0569.jpg I'm not a big fan of sweet potatoes, but the dish was coherent and the fish was good. On hot days definitely a good refreshment to start. For our second appetizer, we chose Coconut Shrimp. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e579a2f004.jpg For our main course, we both went with the Lobster Linguine. The dish was okay. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4bdcabea25.jpg Now there was the dessert menu. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b5af50cc90.jpg That didn't totally appeal to me, I took the Flan. It was good. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...bb277bb117.jpg GF took the tiramisu. The waiter said it was their healthiest dessert on the menu. I thought it was a joke at first. What we had missed was that it was made with vegan mascarpone. Unfortunately, that didn't taste good at all and I got in trouble for persuading GF to try the tiramisu instead of the flan like me.... https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...294de9434c.jpg You can't expect a star meal here, but it's certainly a good thing before you take off. I personally found the food in the Concorde Room a bit better on this trip. But that came later. A view of the general lounge. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b56e6353b8.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b669acb2a6.jpg Here there was also compared to the grotty Admirals lounge a buffet with real food that I have not photographed, however, because we were in a hurry. It was but from the first glance nothing outstanding. But I assume anyway that all real First passengers will use the Flagship dining and the buffet is for the status customers. |
MIA - LHR
The flight departed from a gate that took an eternity to walk to. On site was then pure chaos. As is well known, many people go into an A 380 and they were all standing around. It took an eternity until boarding finally started. An annoying process.
On board, the First is very large, the seats worse than in the 787. It is an older product. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...21b0aca385.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e727d7bcbc.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...402c78ff59.jpg The menu itself was not objectionable. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...28aeec9819.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...194bd0f2e8.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e41aa66966.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3a0d2ee851.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...551e2c0fc4.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4781fe595b.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cf60195e32.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...01683b8ab2.jpg The food at BA is of very variable quality. Unfortunately, I have experienced in the past that the outbound flight was good, the return flight less so. Unfortunately, this continued. What was served here had nothing to do with First Class. I do not even want to know what was served in business. In BA Economy, you expect to be served inedible food, which is still very familiar to me from the beginning of my long-haul flights. Open it, look at it, throw it away. But back to our food. It wasn't quite that bad, but that doesn't mean much. The canapes were, as far as eatable for us, still just acceptable. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6fa647a6e7.jpg Scallop and arancini https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b30483976f.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2eb867aad5.jpg Hui, that was a meal when you want something heavy in the stomach. To top it all off, it was oversalted, which no one needs. Pan fried halibut https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f1aa77d959.jpg Again, the salt pot had fallen in, the fish dry, the vegetables barely edible. For dessert we had White chocolate chip bread pudding. Unfortunately, the camera seemed to have known the quality of what was photographed, the photo is totally blurred. Therefore, unfortunately, there is none. As a description it fits best: Totally oversweetened, sticky mass, which reliably closes any stomach. What else can you say about the flight? A lot of turbulence. The crew wasn't quite my cup of tea either. I think one example is quite apt. The A 380 has quite a large area in front of the ridge, which was empty during the flight. When I wanted to go to the washroom (again, a tiny thing), I had to wait. Since everyone was asleep in the cabin, I waited behind the curtain in front of the door in the empty vestibule. Immediately a stewardess came in said iun such a sweet, purred voice, "Could you wait for me in front of the curtain?" Are we in kindergarten? There was also breakfast. Delicious chia pudding. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e98015de86.jpg OK, I'm kidding, it didn't taste very good. Delicious Pancakes? https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f91b987fd9.jpg Unfortunately, neither. Rather so dough things in a sweet sauce with a caricature of strawberries. Now to the positive: We arrived in London on time and I was also able to watch a movie. To sleep was rather difficult, but you can do that later. |
Heathrow was a pure horror this time. Of course, we arrived in the satellite, so first ride the train. Then came the security check, one of the stupidest things ever. It all took forever and when it was our turn it beeped at a bag. The employee responsible for the follow-up control had probably been punitively transferred here, you could sole his shoes as he walked. After an eternity, he then put his hands in our bag. It was the amenity kit from the plane, OK, you could have guessed. By the way, we had 2, one of them had not bothered. So the dangerous gels were repacked and it went on.
Honestly: Alone this ätzende change with one of the worst security checks in the world is a reason to book direct flights in the future. Would have cost a few euros more, would have been on the trip also still no matter. But now we went to the Concorde Room, this haven of total luxury. We sat down in the restaurant area and ordered breakfast. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4441df6af2.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d6cba5780e.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1e623990f1.jpg Definitely better than the crap on board, but you certainly don't have to go there especially for that. |
LHR - DUS
The best comes at the end? Not really, if you fly British Airways. That's where the fake business comes in. The flight was totally booked, to please us it went from the satellite.
The flight was actually a typical economy flight with a free middle seat (at least) and slightly better food. The food wasn't that big of a deal, we've had better. Asian and regular vegetarian. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7bf0ef0dd4.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1abaa5bbc2.jpg |
That´s it!
So that was the trip. It was nice to be in the USA again. Frankly, Miami impressed me the least of all the places I've been to so far. I won't be drawn back there so quickly.
I am also glad to have seen a little of the Caribbean. I always had the prejudice that it was very expensive and the quality was not comparable to Asia. Unfortunately, this has been confirmed. For what I paid, it could have been a little more. Overall, however, it was nice and I'm glad to have gotten to know new things again. |
I think this wins the FT award for the miserable sounding trip ever :)
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Originally Posted by CarNut
(Post 35386393)
I think this wins the FT award for the miserable sounding trip ever :)
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Not a horror show certainly, but for a long trip there seemed to be a lot of situations where expectations were missed that should not have been. Price to performance ratio was too high.
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Originally Posted by offerendum
(Post 35364825)
It is also limited a joke on my part. When I research American cities, the prices blow me away. I wanted to visit the 3-star restaurants in California the other day. When I look at the prices, $1000 for 2 people without wine seems rather on the low end of the range to me. If you consider that even the hotels like to start in the range of 2000 $, so I would put for 14 days certainly without flights easily $ 40,000 on the table. That is not normal! Sure, that is then top level, but there I have in each case certainly not the presidential suite. In places like the Post Ranch Inn probably the cheapest room and that is definitely not great. I found it already overpaid with $ 600.
Aman NYC is just crazy, with $ 3000 for an entry room. Switzerland is then still quite far at the top in Europe, especially for restaurants. It is synonymous with exorbitant prices. But yes, reasonable compared to Miami. When I think of Miami I look forward to Italy in October, there I get tasting menus in Michelin stared restaurants for under 100 €. That's perfectly fine and regularly they cook much better. It's very rare to find crap like the Amuse Bouche at the Surf Club. Regarding the Aman, prices have already come way down. I almost booked last month before my travel changed and rooms were ~$1,700 |
Originally Posted by xooz
(Post 35388167)
Not a horror show certainly, but for a long trip there seemed to be a lot of situations where expectations were missed that should not have been. Price to performance ratio was too high.
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Originally Posted by uclabruin82
(Post 35388993)
Not to get too far OT on your thread, but I am currently in St Tropez and the prices are on par with restaurants in Los Angeles / Miami for sure. Maybe people spend more here on bottles of Champagne, but a lovely entree, main course and desert here would be about the same as what we pay for in Los Angeles, with generally better service.
Regarding the Aman, prices have already come way down. I almost booked last month before my travel changed and rooms were ~$1,700 |
Originally Posted by offerendum
(Post 35106394)
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Originally Posted by cornwall4000
(Post 35393179)
Clear enough, but spelled incorrectly.
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Originally Posted by offerendum
(Post 35115519)
The St. Regis has 2 pools. The first is mainly populated by families and is located right next to the restaurant terrace.
Something strange what. that already during breakfast individual chairs were "reserved". I knew something like that (but not from my own experience) only from all inclusive hotels of the cheap kind. Any hotel charging anywhere near these kinds of impossible rates needs to also have a deck large enough to accommodate loungers for the exact number of rooms booked at capacity, 2 per BR. They need to either have those chairs out already, crack o dawn every morning, or be able to adjust the amount easily as per bookings. Either that, or simply don't have a pool to begin with. Anything in between either starts as a circus, or has a hi likelihood of becoming one quickly. Guests setting alarms for 6:45am to throw a t-shirt/sunscreen/towel down on a chair to 'reserve' it, then returning to bed and sleeping til noon. And that kind of circus will always be down to the hotel. Hoping for the best in human nature (while taking 4K a night from them) is not a strategy. As a related - though far less infuriating - note, while both StR pools look decent enough, that family pool doesn't seem large enough. Two or three 'families' bathing and "Marco Polo" games won't last more than a few milliseconds. |
Originally Posted by Fabo.sk
(Post 35127459)
Ah, I was gonna say, no machine guns? But there it is, like clockwork.
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