Florida in First Class: BA A380 and AA Flagship First Dining
Oct 15, 2023, 10:04 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SQ Gold, KQ Platinum, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,351
Florida in First Class: BA A380 and AA Flagship First Dining
Florida in First Class: BA A380 and AA Flagship First Dining
Index to Genius1 Trip Reports
When BA started bringing their A380 fleet back into post-pandemic service at the end of 2021, primarily for service on US routes, a flood of Avios availability was to be expected. In February 2022 I managed to snag two seats to Miami in Club World and two back in First, utilising a soon-to-expire BA American Express 2for1 voucher. Fast forward to September 2022, and it was time to fly.
Ahead in this report:
• LHR-MIA in BA Club World on the A380
• Kimpton EPIC Miami
• InterContinental Miami
• American Airlines Flagship Lounge at MIA, including Flagship First Dining
• MIA-LHR in BA First on the A380
LHR-MIA
With no bags to check in, there was only a very short wait at Heathrow Terminal 5’s First Wing for our document checks to be completed. Security was free-flowing, and we were soon in the Galleries First lounge for some lunch ahead of our 14:15 departure.
I noted that BA were in the process of replacing the newspaper and magazine racks below the main bank of TVs (empty since the pandemic) with an ‘airport farm’ to grow seeds; this was short-lived since most seeds – in true BA style – failed to germinate, resulting in dining tables for two replacing the ‘farm’ shelving a short while later.
At the time of travelling, an à la carte menu (since removed except for drinks) was still available in addition to a buffet, and so we ordered a couple of light-ish dishes (a chicken curry and some kind of vaguely Italian vegetarian dish which my notes fail me on) – both were adequate stop-gap dishes ahead of the flight. The curry is not far off what has been served in the Concorde Room recently.
All BA A380s typically board from T5C given the triple-airbridge equipped stands available at this satellite building. Our gate that afternoon was C65, with Group 1 boarding well policed. Despite three airbridges being available, only two were used – one to the upper deck, and one to Door M2L on the lower deck. First passengers had to queue with other main deck passengers, which wouldn’t have been ideal had we been in that cabin.
6-year-old G-XLEK was our aircraft, configured like all BA A380s with First on the lower deck, World Traveller Plus on the upper deck, and Club World and World Traveller cabins on both decks. This slightly chaotic split-cabin layout is expected to be simplified when the A380 fleet is refurbished with Club Suites (BA’s latest Club World hard product), with a new First product and Club World located on the upper deck and the other two cabins on the lower deck.
Seat 53J was mine over to Miami, a forward-facing aisle seat in the last row of the forward upper deck Club World cabin. This forward cabin has 4 rows configured 2-3-2, ahead of another cabin with the same number of rows. The lower deck cabin is configured in 6 rows of 2-4-2 and is therefore higher density and best avoided.
I have written about this seat in detail several times previously, and whilst it fails on privacy and storage grounds, as a seat and bed it is very comfortable. On the seat was a bedding set from The White Company (mattress pad, duvet and blanket), a large pillow and noise-cancelling headphones. Amenity kits (also from The White Company) were pre-placed in the floor-level storage drawer.
On the upper deck, for Club World passengers there are two very large washrooms either side of the stairs at the front of the forward cabin (although one was out of use), and one regular size washroom on the starboard side of the aircraft in the galley between the two cabins. Each was stocked with The White Company hand wash and moisturiser. On a night flight, the two large washrooms are the ones to change in, as besides additional space, they also feature fixed padded seats.
A pre-departure drink of pre-poured water, concentrated orange juice or champagne was offered from a tray (sans drip mat), followed by menus and a bottle of Harrogate water. Lunch orders (for the main course) were taken prior to pushback. I noticed at this time that my slightly droopy table hadn’t been cleaned properly on the inside, which the crew promptly attended to and apologised for, also providing extra Dettol sanitising wipes (in the absence of a hot towel – which still hasn’t returned to Club cabins). The cabin crew member welcomed us by name at this point, which was thoughtful.
The Captain announced an air traffic control delay due to a system issue, and so I fired up the Thales IFE and started watching Downton Abbey: A New Era, which was very watchable if you’ve followed the series and the first film. Due to the length of the ground delay (which ended up being around two hours), the crew offered further drinks, packaged nuts and Lindt truffle chocolates to help us pass the time.
As things started to look more positive, a flight time of 8h30 was announced from the flight deck and we finally pushed back. Lunch service commenced with a hand-run drinks service (a citrus burst mocktail was my choice), although with all the nuts presumably used up on the ground, these were understandably absent.
This flight was flown in the final month prior to BA restoring the pre-pandemic Club World service, so what follows is – thankfully – no longer representative of what you’ll experience in the same cabin today. A woeful one tray service was all that was offered – on all routes at the time – whilst BA struggled with crew numbers. There was no choice of (much reduced in size) starter or dessert, and only three simplified main course options, all served together on one tray hand-run from the galley, alongside a mini portion of cheese.
You can see what the normal multi-course service of today looks like in some of my more recent inflight catering reviews, the links to which are in the index at the top of this report.
Everything on the tray was only just about edible, none of it was exciting or of business class quality, and the portion sizes were miniscule. Take away the china plating, and this could easily have been a (poor) economy class meal on many airlines. As it was, with the china plating, the tray was only just about worthy of premium economy.
I was so hungry after my main course of braised Welsh lamb shank that I asked the crew if there were any spare main courses available; I was offered one of the World Traveller options (some kind of chicken and mushroom concoction), which wasn’t discernibly different in quality from my Club World main course. Truly damning.
I concluded lunch with a green tea and watched Jurassic World Dominion, which I enjoyed much more than Rotten Tomatoes would have suggested.
In addition to an inoperable washroom, the wifi was also out of action for the duration of the flight. BA’s A380s continue to be plagued with reliability issues following their 20+ month storage during the pandemic.
For those feeling peckish during the flight, the Club Kitchen was available just behind my seat in the galley. The selection, however, was far removed from the days of its original introduction; crisps, popcorn, biscuits, water, concentrated juice and wine was all that was on offer. At one point I asked for a top-up of sparkling water and was told there was some in the Club Kitchen; the look on my face must have been clear as a few moments later my glass was topped up at my seat. The crew on this flight were decidedly variable – some (such as the lady who had apologised for and cleaned the dirty table) were very engaged, and others were very disinterested, with plenty of loud gossiping in the galley between services and during taxiing. A mid-flight request of coffee was, however, delivered unprompted with biscuits.
The light meal served around 90 minutes before landing was laughably terrible, with the packet of crisps screaming of laziness. Both the ham and cheese panini and avocado and ricotta on rye bread were inedible, and the crew were visibly embarrassed at what they were serving. The reduction of options and portion sizes to accommodate a one tray service was just about understandable in the face of reduced crew numbers, but the reduction in quality was not.
As we neared Miami, we were treated to a beautiful sunset and the flash of distant thunderstorms.
As the upper deck airbridge is typically the first to be positioned at the gate, the crew allowed one passenger with a tight connection to come upstairs and sit in a vacant Club World seat for landing, so he could be first off the aircraft. Once we had parked, the crew held back the rear cabins to allow the forward Club World cabin to disembark first. Whist we didn’t know it at the time, this was an advantage as the immigration queue was horrendous – the worst I’ve ever seen at any airport. It took us around 3 hours to get to the front of the queue, mainly it seemed due to multiple South American flights being delayed, perhaps by the same ATC issue that had delayed our departure from Heathrow. This Miami immigration experience was enough to make me route via JFK on a more recent trip.
Once landside, we hopped in an Uber for the 20-minute drive to downtown and our hotel for the next two nights, the Kimpton EPIC.
Kimpton EPIC Miami
The Kimpton EPIC Miami opened in 2008 in a new-build tower block just off the Miami River, right in the middle of downtown. The entrance to the hotel was not immediately obvious during our late-night arrival, and there were no door staff to assist us.
After an erroneous round trip to the doors of the residences, we finally made it into the relatively small but functional lobby, where after a short wait we were welcomed to the hotel and handed a letter detailing our Virtuoso benefits. A stand of chargeable essentials was on show behind the reception desk – not very premium, but practical.
Our simply named ‘Suite’ on the 21st floor was a two-category upgrade from our booked Essential room. Whilst I appreciated the extra space (700 square feet versus 475 square feet), the lack of a water view (which the room one category below our suite would’ve had) was unfortunate. As it was, our room and its small balcony overlooked the air conditioning vents of the adjacent building, with the city just about visible in one direction and the water of the Miami South Channel in the opposite direction – if you craned your neck far enough. Due to the proximity of the adjacent building, the suite was rather dark, an ambience not helped by the mix of dim and harsh lighting depending on your location.
The open-plan suite (which I guess makes it a junior suite) featured a sitting area separated from the bedroom area by an integrated wardrobe and minibar unit with swivel TV above – the latter being something that wouldn’t look out of place in the corner of a Wetherspoons. The minibar was devoid of both tea and coffee facilities, although a kettle was provided on request – without any cups or tea bags.
A dining table for two was positioned somewhat awkwardly in the corner of the bedroom area – this doubled as a desk, with power sockets provided in the floor.
The wardrobe held robes but no slippers (again, provided on request), although there was a yoga mat perhaps as a lifestyle hint in compensation for the lack of caffeine.
The bathroom was spacious, and featured a separate bath and walk-in shower, two sinks and pleasant exhale Spa amenities in small bottles.
Our Virtuoso welcome gift was not in the room on arrival but was delivered to the room the next day after asking at reception; a bottle of prosecco, mineral water and two sickly sweet local bakery items weren’t entirely worth the wait. Aside from the bottle of water provided as part of the welcome gift, all other bottled water in the room was chargeable – as we found out to our cost.
The property has two restaurants; Area 31 on not the 31st floor but the 16th floor, and Rainer Becker’s Japanese fine dining restaurant Zuma off the lobby. Breakfast was a fully à la carte affair at Area 31, with friendly and proactive service complemented by a decent if predictable menu of good quality and large-portioned American options. We had to go down to reception before our first breakfast as the IHG Diamond Elite breakfast vouchers hadn’t been provided proactively at check-in. These vouchers were valid for one main course each and unlimited drinks, and we typically managed to also have included as many sides as we wished – working out better value than the USD60 daily breakfast credit afforded to us under the Virtuoso programme.
Stingily our USD100 resort credit was not valid at Zuma, and so we had dinner one evening at Area 31. Massively overpriced basic but hearty food was just about excused by the once again decent service, together with views from the restaurant’s terrace – even if we did have to shelter inside for dessert during a lightning storm.
As with all Kimptons, complimentary coffee and tea was offered in the lobby each morning (served in cardboard cups), along with basic white and rose wine and a pre-mixed cocktail (served in plastic glasses) for an hour each evening.
The outdoor pool area is adequate, with two separate pools and lots of lounging options both in the sun and the shade. Cabanas are available for an additional charge. Basic pool service was provided (all at additional cost), although the frayed towels and lack of changing rooms didn’t offer the most luxurious of experiences.
The pool area is adjacent to the exhale Spa and fitness centre, with lively local art showcased on the lobby walls.
When it came time to check out, the USD100 Virtuoso resort credit had not been credited proactively – something all too many properties get wrong, which the cynic in me says is very much on purpose.
The Kimpton EPIC Miami might not be epic, but it does the basics reasonably well in modern and functional surroundings. I probably wouldn’t return to this particular property but would happily check out other Kimptons in the future.
Index to Genius1 Trip Reports
When BA started bringing their A380 fleet back into post-pandemic service at the end of 2021, primarily for service on US routes, a flood of Avios availability was to be expected. In February 2022 I managed to snag two seats to Miami in Club World and two back in First, utilising a soon-to-expire BA American Express 2for1 voucher. Fast forward to September 2022, and it was time to fly.
Ahead in this report:
• LHR-MIA in BA Club World on the A380
• Kimpton EPIC Miami
• InterContinental Miami
• American Airlines Flagship Lounge at MIA, including Flagship First Dining
• MIA-LHR in BA First on the A380
LHR-MIA
With no bags to check in, there was only a very short wait at Heathrow Terminal 5’s First Wing for our document checks to be completed. Security was free-flowing, and we were soon in the Galleries First lounge for some lunch ahead of our 14:15 departure.
I noted that BA were in the process of replacing the newspaper and magazine racks below the main bank of TVs (empty since the pandemic) with an ‘airport farm’ to grow seeds; this was short-lived since most seeds – in true BA style – failed to germinate, resulting in dining tables for two replacing the ‘farm’ shelving a short while later.
At the time of travelling, an à la carte menu (since removed except for drinks) was still available in addition to a buffet, and so we ordered a couple of light-ish dishes (a chicken curry and some kind of vaguely Italian vegetarian dish which my notes fail me on) – both were adequate stop-gap dishes ahead of the flight. The curry is not far off what has been served in the Concorde Room recently.
All BA A380s typically board from T5C given the triple-airbridge equipped stands available at this satellite building. Our gate that afternoon was C65, with Group 1 boarding well policed. Despite three airbridges being available, only two were used – one to the upper deck, and one to Door M2L on the lower deck. First passengers had to queue with other main deck passengers, which wouldn’t have been ideal had we been in that cabin.
6-year-old G-XLEK was our aircraft, configured like all BA A380s with First on the lower deck, World Traveller Plus on the upper deck, and Club World and World Traveller cabins on both decks. This slightly chaotic split-cabin layout is expected to be simplified when the A380 fleet is refurbished with Club Suites (BA’s latest Club World hard product), with a new First product and Club World located on the upper deck and the other two cabins on the lower deck.
Seat 53J was mine over to Miami, a forward-facing aisle seat in the last row of the forward upper deck Club World cabin. This forward cabin has 4 rows configured 2-3-2, ahead of another cabin with the same number of rows. The lower deck cabin is configured in 6 rows of 2-4-2 and is therefore higher density and best avoided.
I have written about this seat in detail several times previously, and whilst it fails on privacy and storage grounds, as a seat and bed it is very comfortable. On the seat was a bedding set from The White Company (mattress pad, duvet and blanket), a large pillow and noise-cancelling headphones. Amenity kits (also from The White Company) were pre-placed in the floor-level storage drawer.
On the upper deck, for Club World passengers there are two very large washrooms either side of the stairs at the front of the forward cabin (although one was out of use), and one regular size washroom on the starboard side of the aircraft in the galley between the two cabins. Each was stocked with The White Company hand wash and moisturiser. On a night flight, the two large washrooms are the ones to change in, as besides additional space, they also feature fixed padded seats.
A pre-departure drink of pre-poured water, concentrated orange juice or champagne was offered from a tray (sans drip mat), followed by menus and a bottle of Harrogate water. Lunch orders (for the main course) were taken prior to pushback. I noticed at this time that my slightly droopy table hadn’t been cleaned properly on the inside, which the crew promptly attended to and apologised for, also providing extra Dettol sanitising wipes (in the absence of a hot towel – which still hasn’t returned to Club cabins). The cabin crew member welcomed us by name at this point, which was thoughtful.
The Captain announced an air traffic control delay due to a system issue, and so I fired up the Thales IFE and started watching Downton Abbey: A New Era, which was very watchable if you’ve followed the series and the first film. Due to the length of the ground delay (which ended up being around two hours), the crew offered further drinks, packaged nuts and Lindt truffle chocolates to help us pass the time.
As things started to look more positive, a flight time of 8h30 was announced from the flight deck and we finally pushed back. Lunch service commenced with a hand-run drinks service (a citrus burst mocktail was my choice), although with all the nuts presumably used up on the ground, these were understandably absent.
This flight was flown in the final month prior to BA restoring the pre-pandemic Club World service, so what follows is – thankfully – no longer representative of what you’ll experience in the same cabin today. A woeful one tray service was all that was offered – on all routes at the time – whilst BA struggled with crew numbers. There was no choice of (much reduced in size) starter or dessert, and only three simplified main course options, all served together on one tray hand-run from the galley, alongside a mini portion of cheese.
You can see what the normal multi-course service of today looks like in some of my more recent inflight catering reviews, the links to which are in the index at the top of this report.
Everything on the tray was only just about edible, none of it was exciting or of business class quality, and the portion sizes were miniscule. Take away the china plating, and this could easily have been a (poor) economy class meal on many airlines. As it was, with the china plating, the tray was only just about worthy of premium economy.
I was so hungry after my main course of braised Welsh lamb shank that I asked the crew if there were any spare main courses available; I was offered one of the World Traveller options (some kind of chicken and mushroom concoction), which wasn’t discernibly different in quality from my Club World main course. Truly damning.
I concluded lunch with a green tea and watched Jurassic World Dominion, which I enjoyed much more than Rotten Tomatoes would have suggested.
In addition to an inoperable washroom, the wifi was also out of action for the duration of the flight. BA’s A380s continue to be plagued with reliability issues following their 20+ month storage during the pandemic.
For those feeling peckish during the flight, the Club Kitchen was available just behind my seat in the galley. The selection, however, was far removed from the days of its original introduction; crisps, popcorn, biscuits, water, concentrated juice and wine was all that was on offer. At one point I asked for a top-up of sparkling water and was told there was some in the Club Kitchen; the look on my face must have been clear as a few moments later my glass was topped up at my seat. The crew on this flight were decidedly variable – some (such as the lady who had apologised for and cleaned the dirty table) were very engaged, and others were very disinterested, with plenty of loud gossiping in the galley between services and during taxiing. A mid-flight request of coffee was, however, delivered unprompted with biscuits.
The light meal served around 90 minutes before landing was laughably terrible, with the packet of crisps screaming of laziness. Both the ham and cheese panini and avocado and ricotta on rye bread were inedible, and the crew were visibly embarrassed at what they were serving. The reduction of options and portion sizes to accommodate a one tray service was just about understandable in the face of reduced crew numbers, but the reduction in quality was not.
As we neared Miami, we were treated to a beautiful sunset and the flash of distant thunderstorms.
As the upper deck airbridge is typically the first to be positioned at the gate, the crew allowed one passenger with a tight connection to come upstairs and sit in a vacant Club World seat for landing, so he could be first off the aircraft. Once we had parked, the crew held back the rear cabins to allow the forward Club World cabin to disembark first. Whist we didn’t know it at the time, this was an advantage as the immigration queue was horrendous – the worst I’ve ever seen at any airport. It took us around 3 hours to get to the front of the queue, mainly it seemed due to multiple South American flights being delayed, perhaps by the same ATC issue that had delayed our departure from Heathrow. This Miami immigration experience was enough to make me route via JFK on a more recent trip.
Once landside, we hopped in an Uber for the 20-minute drive to downtown and our hotel for the next two nights, the Kimpton EPIC.
Kimpton EPIC Miami
The Kimpton EPIC Miami opened in 2008 in a new-build tower block just off the Miami River, right in the middle of downtown. The entrance to the hotel was not immediately obvious during our late-night arrival, and there were no door staff to assist us.
After an erroneous round trip to the doors of the residences, we finally made it into the relatively small but functional lobby, where after a short wait we were welcomed to the hotel and handed a letter detailing our Virtuoso benefits. A stand of chargeable essentials was on show behind the reception desk – not very premium, but practical.
Our simply named ‘Suite’ on the 21st floor was a two-category upgrade from our booked Essential room. Whilst I appreciated the extra space (700 square feet versus 475 square feet), the lack of a water view (which the room one category below our suite would’ve had) was unfortunate. As it was, our room and its small balcony overlooked the air conditioning vents of the adjacent building, with the city just about visible in one direction and the water of the Miami South Channel in the opposite direction – if you craned your neck far enough. Due to the proximity of the adjacent building, the suite was rather dark, an ambience not helped by the mix of dim and harsh lighting depending on your location.
The open-plan suite (which I guess makes it a junior suite) featured a sitting area separated from the bedroom area by an integrated wardrobe and minibar unit with swivel TV above – the latter being something that wouldn’t look out of place in the corner of a Wetherspoons. The minibar was devoid of both tea and coffee facilities, although a kettle was provided on request – without any cups or tea bags.
A dining table for two was positioned somewhat awkwardly in the corner of the bedroom area – this doubled as a desk, with power sockets provided in the floor.
The wardrobe held robes but no slippers (again, provided on request), although there was a yoga mat perhaps as a lifestyle hint in compensation for the lack of caffeine.
The bathroom was spacious, and featured a separate bath and walk-in shower, two sinks and pleasant exhale Spa amenities in small bottles.
Our Virtuoso welcome gift was not in the room on arrival but was delivered to the room the next day after asking at reception; a bottle of prosecco, mineral water and two sickly sweet local bakery items weren’t entirely worth the wait. Aside from the bottle of water provided as part of the welcome gift, all other bottled water in the room was chargeable – as we found out to our cost.
The property has two restaurants; Area 31 on not the 31st floor but the 16th floor, and Rainer Becker’s Japanese fine dining restaurant Zuma off the lobby. Breakfast was a fully à la carte affair at Area 31, with friendly and proactive service complemented by a decent if predictable menu of good quality and large-portioned American options. We had to go down to reception before our first breakfast as the IHG Diamond Elite breakfast vouchers hadn’t been provided proactively at check-in. These vouchers were valid for one main course each and unlimited drinks, and we typically managed to also have included as many sides as we wished – working out better value than the USD60 daily breakfast credit afforded to us under the Virtuoso programme.
Stingily our USD100 resort credit was not valid at Zuma, and so we had dinner one evening at Area 31. Massively overpriced basic but hearty food was just about excused by the once again decent service, together with views from the restaurant’s terrace – even if we did have to shelter inside for dessert during a lightning storm.
As with all Kimptons, complimentary coffee and tea was offered in the lobby each morning (served in cardboard cups), along with basic white and rose wine and a pre-mixed cocktail (served in plastic glasses) for an hour each evening.
The outdoor pool area is adequate, with two separate pools and lots of lounging options both in the sun and the shade. Cabanas are available for an additional charge. Basic pool service was provided (all at additional cost), although the frayed towels and lack of changing rooms didn’t offer the most luxurious of experiences.
The pool area is adjacent to the exhale Spa and fitness centre, with lively local art showcased on the lobby walls.
When it came time to check out, the USD100 Virtuoso resort credit had not been credited proactively – something all too many properties get wrong, which the cynic in me says is very much on purpose.
The Kimpton EPIC Miami might not be epic, but it does the basics reasonably well in modern and functional surroundings. I probably wouldn’t return to this particular property but would happily check out other Kimptons in the future.
Last edited by Genius1; Oct 15, 2023 at 3:13 pm
Oct 15, 2023, 10:05 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SQ Gold, KQ Platinum, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,351
InterContinental Miami
Originally designed by Pietro Belluschi to be a casino and built in 1982 around Henry Moore’s travertine marble Spindle sculpture, the InterContinental Miami is located on Chopin Plaza, adjacent to Bayfront Park in the city’s downtown waterfront area. The 34-floor building is an imposing sight at the water’s edge, and benefits from a grand drive-through entrance as a fitting welcome to the dual-height lobby, to the left of which reception is found.
Our check-in experience was somewhat frustrating, as the property didn’t seem to have any record of my IHG Diamond Elite Ambassador status despite my membership number being in the booking. This caused the receptionist to initially try and charge me for an early check-in and room upgrade and refuse a day guest to the Club InterContinental lounge.
The property’s focus on art was evident in the corridors to our room – the chosen pieces really brightened up what would otherwise have been dated spaces.
Our Classic Club Ocean View room on the 30th floor was a one category upgrade from our booked Classic Club Skyline View room and was a perfectly acceptable 405 square feet in size. The room was the definition of a traditional hotel room arrangement, with the TV console located on the left-hand wall opposite the very comfortable bed, and a desk and chaise longue positioned under a rectangular window, which almost looked like a picture frame given its superb view across to Miami Beach and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.
A stocked minibar was located in the hall, complete with Keurig coffee machine (but no kettle). Complimentary bottled water was provided on the desk. Power sockets were located either side of the bed, although as to be expected in an older property, there were no USB sockets.
The interior design was a little dated, harshly lit and somewhat corporate, but still very comfortable – since my stay in September 2022, the property has benefited from a significant refurbishment to many of the rooms and suites. I hope they’ve fixed the rather noisy bedroom doors, which had a tendency to slam shut during our stay.
The narrow bathroom was home to the wardrobe, a single sink and what looked to be the original 1980s walk-in shower and separate bath. Elemis amenities in small bottles made a nice change from the more usual Agraria, L’Occitane or Byredo products found at InterContinental properties. Unfortunately, presumably due to the age of the property, the shower was not very powerful, and the basin’s hot water was slow to warm up. Only one pair of slippers was provided on check-in, although a second pair was quickly delivered on request. There were no robes.
The Club InterContinental lounge on the 29th floor is a simple rectangular space, with a small reception that was sporadically staffed and a mix of dining, high-top, armchair and sofa seating through the space. The emphasis is mostly on dining seating, with only two groups of more comfortable seating – we preferred the TV end of the lounge, where wireless chargers were available to make up for the lack of power sockets elsewhere in the space. The lounge enjoys views over Bayfront Park, although the windows are set too high to see out properly when sitting down.
During breakfast and evening canapé service, a side room opens up to reveal the majority of the lounge’s buffet space. Breakfast options were limited to a basic selection of cereal, yogurt, pastries, cold cuts of meat, cheese, fruit, salad, and a small selection of hot items. There were no à la carte options, and as with other service times, no table service other than the sporadic (and all too infrequent) clearing of empties. I also found it odd that there were no small side plates; I don’t want to eat a pastry from a main course-sized dinner plate! A selection of juices, tea and coffee was available in the main part of the lounge.
We also sampled breakfast one morning in Olé, one of two restaurants to feature at the InterContinental (the other being the Toro Toro steakhouse off the lobby). Located behind the lobby in a windowless and entirely characterless square room, the mediocre buffet and average à la carte options were at least served with a smile.
Afternoon tea in the Club lounge consisted of a small selection of unexciting finger sandwiches, nuts, cookies and leftover muffins from the breakfast service.
The evening canapé service was a little more interesting, with a decent enough self-serve bar set up in the main part of the lounge, and a choice of two cold canapés and three hot canapés in the side room, augmented by cheese, crudités and fruit. The nuts from the afternoon tea service made a re-appearance, as did the leftover and by now distinctly stale sandwiches.
The property’s outdoor pool is of a decent size. Set opposite the Bluewater bar, if you ignore the horrendous artificial grass and overlooked aspect, this is a pleasant enough space in which to swim if not fully relax, although quickly became crowded from lunchtime onwards. The fitness centre can be accessed from the same level as the pool deck, changing rooms and spa.
Throughout our stay I’d been bombarded with tacky marketing texts at regular intervals, reminding me to visit the hotel establishments or avail of certain services – this is completely unnecessary at a supposed upscale hotel. We checked out in the Club lounge, and after explaining the Ambassador guaranteed 16:00 check-out policy to the member of staff, departed with an accurate bill.
I enjoyed our three nights at the InterContinental Miami, even if its Club lounge is nothing to write home about. The view from the room was memorable, and there was something comforting about the property’s 1980s charm, still very much evident despite several refurbishments in the intervening decades.
Before heading home, here are some images of our time in Miami.
Originally designed by Pietro Belluschi to be a casino and built in 1982 around Henry Moore’s travertine marble Spindle sculpture, the InterContinental Miami is located on Chopin Plaza, adjacent to Bayfront Park in the city’s downtown waterfront area. The 34-floor building is an imposing sight at the water’s edge, and benefits from a grand drive-through entrance as a fitting welcome to the dual-height lobby, to the left of which reception is found.
Our check-in experience was somewhat frustrating, as the property didn’t seem to have any record of my IHG Diamond Elite Ambassador status despite my membership number being in the booking. This caused the receptionist to initially try and charge me for an early check-in and room upgrade and refuse a day guest to the Club InterContinental lounge.
The property’s focus on art was evident in the corridors to our room – the chosen pieces really brightened up what would otherwise have been dated spaces.
Our Classic Club Ocean View room on the 30th floor was a one category upgrade from our booked Classic Club Skyline View room and was a perfectly acceptable 405 square feet in size. The room was the definition of a traditional hotel room arrangement, with the TV console located on the left-hand wall opposite the very comfortable bed, and a desk and chaise longue positioned under a rectangular window, which almost looked like a picture frame given its superb view across to Miami Beach and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.
A stocked minibar was located in the hall, complete with Keurig coffee machine (but no kettle). Complimentary bottled water was provided on the desk. Power sockets were located either side of the bed, although as to be expected in an older property, there were no USB sockets.
The interior design was a little dated, harshly lit and somewhat corporate, but still very comfortable – since my stay in September 2022, the property has benefited from a significant refurbishment to many of the rooms and suites. I hope they’ve fixed the rather noisy bedroom doors, which had a tendency to slam shut during our stay.
The narrow bathroom was home to the wardrobe, a single sink and what looked to be the original 1980s walk-in shower and separate bath. Elemis amenities in small bottles made a nice change from the more usual Agraria, L’Occitane or Byredo products found at InterContinental properties. Unfortunately, presumably due to the age of the property, the shower was not very powerful, and the basin’s hot water was slow to warm up. Only one pair of slippers was provided on check-in, although a second pair was quickly delivered on request. There were no robes.
The Club InterContinental lounge on the 29th floor is a simple rectangular space, with a small reception that was sporadically staffed and a mix of dining, high-top, armchair and sofa seating through the space. The emphasis is mostly on dining seating, with only two groups of more comfortable seating – we preferred the TV end of the lounge, where wireless chargers were available to make up for the lack of power sockets elsewhere in the space. The lounge enjoys views over Bayfront Park, although the windows are set too high to see out properly when sitting down.
During breakfast and evening canapé service, a side room opens up to reveal the majority of the lounge’s buffet space. Breakfast options were limited to a basic selection of cereal, yogurt, pastries, cold cuts of meat, cheese, fruit, salad, and a small selection of hot items. There were no à la carte options, and as with other service times, no table service other than the sporadic (and all too infrequent) clearing of empties. I also found it odd that there were no small side plates; I don’t want to eat a pastry from a main course-sized dinner plate! A selection of juices, tea and coffee was available in the main part of the lounge.
We also sampled breakfast one morning in Olé, one of two restaurants to feature at the InterContinental (the other being the Toro Toro steakhouse off the lobby). Located behind the lobby in a windowless and entirely characterless square room, the mediocre buffet and average à la carte options were at least served with a smile.
Afternoon tea in the Club lounge consisted of a small selection of unexciting finger sandwiches, nuts, cookies and leftover muffins from the breakfast service.
The evening canapé service was a little more interesting, with a decent enough self-serve bar set up in the main part of the lounge, and a choice of two cold canapés and three hot canapés in the side room, augmented by cheese, crudités and fruit. The nuts from the afternoon tea service made a re-appearance, as did the leftover and by now distinctly stale sandwiches.
The property’s outdoor pool is of a decent size. Set opposite the Bluewater bar, if you ignore the horrendous artificial grass and overlooked aspect, this is a pleasant enough space in which to swim if not fully relax, although quickly became crowded from lunchtime onwards. The fitness centre can be accessed from the same level as the pool deck, changing rooms and spa.
Throughout our stay I’d been bombarded with tacky marketing texts at regular intervals, reminding me to visit the hotel establishments or avail of certain services – this is completely unnecessary at a supposed upscale hotel. We checked out in the Club lounge, and after explaining the Ambassador guaranteed 16:00 check-out policy to the member of staff, departed with an accurate bill.
I enjoyed our three nights at the InterContinental Miami, even if its Club lounge is nothing to write home about. The view from the room was memorable, and there was something comforting about the property’s 1980s charm, still very much evident despite several refurbishments in the intervening decades.
Before heading home, here are some images of our time in Miami.
Oct 15, 2023, 10:06 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SQ Gold, KQ Platinum, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,351
MIA-LHR
BA use Concourse D at MIA, which is also home to AA. Check-in is located in what was originally (when it opened in 1995) Concourse A, with a single First desk available for BA passengers in Zone 6. To note, AA offer Flagship First check-in at MIA in Zone 3 with an escort to the front of the security line at Checkpoint 2, but this is only for AA-operated services. The BA agent advised us to go to Checkpoint 4 for security as it was allegedly quieter and also closer to the lounge, but there was still quite a queue here, with no priority for premium passengers – as is common at US airports. The whole security experience was somewhat chaotic, despite the small two-lane setup at that particular checkpoint.
20 minutes later, we were airside in the newer part of Concourse D, operational since 2013. AA offer two Admirals Club lounges near Gates D15 and D30, and a Flagship lounge in the D30 lounge complex. We headed to the latter, which shares a reception with the Admirals Club at gate level, before splitting one floor up with the Admirals Club on the left, and the Flagship lounge on the right.
On production of our First boarding passes, we were welcomed by name and escorted from the ground floor reception upstairs, through the Flagship lounge to Flagship First Dining, AA’s waiter-service dining concept for oneworld international first class passengers, together with their own Flagship First and Flagship Business Plus passengers. As well as MIA, AA offer Flagship First Dining at DFW and LAX, although the latter has yet to re-open post-pandemic.
MIA’s Flagship First Dining is an attractive space, with a small lounge and café seating area immediately inside the door, a tended bar to the left with high-top seating and then dining seating in a mix of table and booth formats throughout the rest of the area. There are floor-to-ceiling privacy screens between the separate tables, and all booths have both power and USB sockets handily located underneath the seat base.
Views of the apron (by the bar) and down to the gate concourse (at the far end of the space) can be enjoyed, although the middle part of the dining area is a little dark.
The menu was creative, and easily of high-end restaurant quality in its ambition.
The quality of each dish’s ingredients, flavours and presentation was excellent, and service was highly attentive – even polished, in a way you wouldn’t normally associate with AA. This is leagues above BA’s Concorde Room, the joint AA and BA Chelsea lounge at JFK, and AA’s own International First Class lounge at LHR.
Service started with an amuse-bouche (the details of which my notes fail me on, although I’m certain it was explained by our waiter) accompanied by a glass of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle.
Corn bread was then served, followed by starters of Wagyu beef sliders and Florida snapper ceviche.
Our main courses were the coffee rubbed pork tenderloin and the Korean BBQ grilled skirt steak – both were outstanding.
For dessert, we opted for the mason jar banana cream pie and the Flagship dessert flight, accompanied by an Irish coffee and a caramelised fig old fashioned cocktail. An excellent conclusion to an excellent meal.
We spent almost our entire lounge stay in the Flagship First Dining room, but the main Flagship lounge is a very pleasant place to eat, work or relax. Designed in AA’s corporate but functional style, the lounge is spread out around a central balcony atrium, looking down onto the main concourse. From reception, passengers are greeted with a tended champagne station and an open seating area straight ahead.
Turning left, two nooks are home to a quiet seating area and a TV room, opposite high-top seating.
A work area is next, enjoying apron views, before a drinks station and further lounge seating. This tends to be the busiest part of the lounge for armchair-style seating, but is also the best place for apron views.
Adjacent to the entrance to Flagship First Dining is the main self-service bar with buffet opposite, the latter including a made-to-order station with a rotating selection of dishes. The buffet options shown here are from a later visit to the lounge in November 2022 – all were of decent quality, although as with many buffets the hot options could have been a lot hotter.
Turning right from the lounge’s entrance, you’ll find a smaller buffet and drinks station (again, photos of this are from November 2022), with a large quiet seating area opening out ahead, including a number of semi-private rest areas. The seating layout creates ample space for relative privacy, with almost every seat in easy reach of power.
Washrooms are located near the buffet area, whilst showers can be found near the customer service desk, just inside the entrance. Both feature DS & Durga amenities.
MIA’s two A380-capable gates are located in the 1974 Concourse E satellite and 2007’s Concourse J. BA use the oldest of these, quite some walk from the Flagship lounge – but not nearly as far as Concourse J would be. Group 1 boarding was called just as we arrived at the gate, with only one airbridge in use for the lower deck that evening to Door M2L of G-XLEE, a 9-year-old A380 delivered new to BA in 2014.
The 14-seat First cabin was looking smart that evening with its blue mood lighting, and whilst we weren’t shown to our seats, the crew did provide a warm welcome. Seat 2F was my home for the flight, one of the middle pairs right at the front of the cabin below the staircase to the upper deck. BA’s A380 First seats are a larger variant of the Prime seat originally installed on BA’s 747 and 777 fleet from 2010 onwards. Whilst the seat itself is physically the same as found on those aircraft types, the additional width afforded by the A380’s cabin means there is much more storage space, including a significantly larger personal wardrobe at each seat with space to accommodate a cabin bag.
To the left of my seat was a literature pocket, storage cupboard (home to the IFE remote, power socket and two USB sockets) and seat controls. The dial controls the seat’s recline, with options below for lumbar support and above for lighting.
There is no ability to fold the leg-rest out independently of the recline, although the ottoman (which doubles as the buddy dining seat) can be lowered in stages for a ‘Z’ shaped relaxation position, with the armrests of the seat moving down as the seat reclines.
Each seat has a personal dimmable reading lamp, with two overhead lamps focused on the table and side console. The middle seats have an electronic privacy partition, whilst the window seats have electronic two-phase window blinds (although they aren’t as sleek as those on the 777). The large table deploys from the side of the seat and can be folded in half. There are no personal air vents. Privacy is excellent despite the lack of a door thanks to high seat walls.
The IFE screen deploys from the side of the seat, folding back to enable buddy dining. The system on the A380 fleet is the Thales system first introduced to BA’s 77Ws in 2010 – this is now two generations old, but despite the relatively low quality and small size of the screen, generally holds up well. Unfortunately, that evening’s flight wasn’t one of those occasions, with the system kaput (aside from the map) despite several re-sets by the crew. The Inflight Manager compensated us with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle at the end of the flight, and some Avios arrived in our Executive Club accounts shortly afterwards.
Two washrooms are available for First passengers at the front of the cabin, either side of the staircase to the upper deck. In contrast to those at the front of the upper deck, these are regular size facilities, and in common with the First amenity kits offer Elemis amenities.
Upon boarding, a day blanket and headphones were pre-placed on the ottoman, with a pillow and cushion on the seat. Each seat’s personal wardrobe held a bedding pack (mattress and duvet) and clothes hanger – the bedding was promptly moved by me to the overhead bin (only located over aisle seats) so that I could store my bag in the wardrobe. The crew quickly offered each passenger a choice of drink, Temperley London pyjamas, slippers, an amenity kit (with separate male and female bag designs and contents), menu and a hot towel. The hot towel came on a glass tray, although was far from being hot.
An 8h30 flight time was announced from the flight deck, with dinner orders taken on the ground prior to pushback. Passengers were asked when they would prefer to eat, although with a 21:10 departure time, most opted either to eat as soon as possible (as we did) or to skip the service entirely.
After takeoff, the crew were promptly out in the cabin delivering the dinner service. This commenced with a selection of mostly interesting canapés, accompanied by my choice of Royal Fizz mocktail.
My table was then laid, including the offer of different types of bread, before my chosen starter of colourful Balik salmon was served, shortly followed by the minted pea soup. Both were decent, although the soup was on the salty side.
My partner went for the beef bresaola and the scallop and arancini for her starters, the latter winning the first course competition.
For the main course I opted for the seared halibut. Despite being a tad over-cooked, this was the light meal I wanted at this late hour, and it worked well with the selection of sides served in a bowl – although could’ve done with more of the spinach cream sauce.
The miso roasted tofu was not a winner over on the other side of the cabin.
The white chocolate chip bread pudding was a good way to end dinner, accompanied by a mint tea.
Water bottles were handed out as the dinner service concluded, and my bed was proactively made by the crew whilst I changed into PJs in the washroom. I find BA’s First seats and bedding to be excellent regardless of aircraft, but the A380’s quietness and pressurisation at lower altitude certainly helped me sleep soundly for a decent few hours over the Atlantic. The bedding was proactively cleared away by the crew and my seat tidied when I changed out of my PJs before breakfast.
Breakfast service commenced around 90 minutes out of Heathrow. I went light that morning, with the coconut chia bowl and fresh seasonal fruit accompanied by an energising smoothie and an Americano. My partner enjoyed her buttermilk pancakes.
We landed on time on Runway 27R, with a short wait for a gate to become available at T5C. Once through immigration and landside, we headed for the Galleries Arrivals lounge to freshen up. I often find the reception staff at this lounge have to be prompted for an invitation to the Concorde Breakfast Room, as I have yet to receive one proactively. The Greek yogurt with honey and granola and the California egg were – as is typical for BA lounge catering – forgettable.
For a fuller review of the Galleries Arrivals lounge and its Concorde Breakfast Room, see my report here. This lounge has recently been refreshed – I’ll have a report on it coming soon.
BA have a solid if slightly tired First hard product on the A380, but their soft product remains fresh with consistently good catering a clear step above (non-pandemic) Club World. I’m excited to see what BA will do with First on the ‘whale jet’ when they commence its refurbishment with Club Suite and a new First cabin on the upper deck next year.
Thanks for following along on this journey. As always, your comments and questions are welcomed.
BA use Concourse D at MIA, which is also home to AA. Check-in is located in what was originally (when it opened in 1995) Concourse A, with a single First desk available for BA passengers in Zone 6. To note, AA offer Flagship First check-in at MIA in Zone 3 with an escort to the front of the security line at Checkpoint 2, but this is only for AA-operated services. The BA agent advised us to go to Checkpoint 4 for security as it was allegedly quieter and also closer to the lounge, but there was still quite a queue here, with no priority for premium passengers – as is common at US airports. The whole security experience was somewhat chaotic, despite the small two-lane setup at that particular checkpoint.
20 minutes later, we were airside in the newer part of Concourse D, operational since 2013. AA offer two Admirals Club lounges near Gates D15 and D30, and a Flagship lounge in the D30 lounge complex. We headed to the latter, which shares a reception with the Admirals Club at gate level, before splitting one floor up with the Admirals Club on the left, and the Flagship lounge on the right.
On production of our First boarding passes, we were welcomed by name and escorted from the ground floor reception upstairs, through the Flagship lounge to Flagship First Dining, AA’s waiter-service dining concept for oneworld international first class passengers, together with their own Flagship First and Flagship Business Plus passengers. As well as MIA, AA offer Flagship First Dining at DFW and LAX, although the latter has yet to re-open post-pandemic.
MIA’s Flagship First Dining is an attractive space, with a small lounge and café seating area immediately inside the door, a tended bar to the left with high-top seating and then dining seating in a mix of table and booth formats throughout the rest of the area. There are floor-to-ceiling privacy screens between the separate tables, and all booths have both power and USB sockets handily located underneath the seat base.
Views of the apron (by the bar) and down to the gate concourse (at the far end of the space) can be enjoyed, although the middle part of the dining area is a little dark.
The menu was creative, and easily of high-end restaurant quality in its ambition.
The quality of each dish’s ingredients, flavours and presentation was excellent, and service was highly attentive – even polished, in a way you wouldn’t normally associate with AA. This is leagues above BA’s Concorde Room, the joint AA and BA Chelsea lounge at JFK, and AA’s own International First Class lounge at LHR.
Service started with an amuse-bouche (the details of which my notes fail me on, although I’m certain it was explained by our waiter) accompanied by a glass of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle.
Corn bread was then served, followed by starters of Wagyu beef sliders and Florida snapper ceviche.
Our main courses were the coffee rubbed pork tenderloin and the Korean BBQ grilled skirt steak – both were outstanding.
For dessert, we opted for the mason jar banana cream pie and the Flagship dessert flight, accompanied by an Irish coffee and a caramelised fig old fashioned cocktail. An excellent conclusion to an excellent meal.
We spent almost our entire lounge stay in the Flagship First Dining room, but the main Flagship lounge is a very pleasant place to eat, work or relax. Designed in AA’s corporate but functional style, the lounge is spread out around a central balcony atrium, looking down onto the main concourse. From reception, passengers are greeted with a tended champagne station and an open seating area straight ahead.
Turning left, two nooks are home to a quiet seating area and a TV room, opposite high-top seating.
A work area is next, enjoying apron views, before a drinks station and further lounge seating. This tends to be the busiest part of the lounge for armchair-style seating, but is also the best place for apron views.
Adjacent to the entrance to Flagship First Dining is the main self-service bar with buffet opposite, the latter including a made-to-order station with a rotating selection of dishes. The buffet options shown here are from a later visit to the lounge in November 2022 – all were of decent quality, although as with many buffets the hot options could have been a lot hotter.
Turning right from the lounge’s entrance, you’ll find a smaller buffet and drinks station (again, photos of this are from November 2022), with a large quiet seating area opening out ahead, including a number of semi-private rest areas. The seating layout creates ample space for relative privacy, with almost every seat in easy reach of power.
Washrooms are located near the buffet area, whilst showers can be found near the customer service desk, just inside the entrance. Both feature DS & Durga amenities.
MIA’s two A380-capable gates are located in the 1974 Concourse E satellite and 2007’s Concourse J. BA use the oldest of these, quite some walk from the Flagship lounge – but not nearly as far as Concourse J would be. Group 1 boarding was called just as we arrived at the gate, with only one airbridge in use for the lower deck that evening to Door M2L of G-XLEE, a 9-year-old A380 delivered new to BA in 2014.
The 14-seat First cabin was looking smart that evening with its blue mood lighting, and whilst we weren’t shown to our seats, the crew did provide a warm welcome. Seat 2F was my home for the flight, one of the middle pairs right at the front of the cabin below the staircase to the upper deck. BA’s A380 First seats are a larger variant of the Prime seat originally installed on BA’s 747 and 777 fleet from 2010 onwards. Whilst the seat itself is physically the same as found on those aircraft types, the additional width afforded by the A380’s cabin means there is much more storage space, including a significantly larger personal wardrobe at each seat with space to accommodate a cabin bag.
To the left of my seat was a literature pocket, storage cupboard (home to the IFE remote, power socket and two USB sockets) and seat controls. The dial controls the seat’s recline, with options below for lumbar support and above for lighting.
There is no ability to fold the leg-rest out independently of the recline, although the ottoman (which doubles as the buddy dining seat) can be lowered in stages for a ‘Z’ shaped relaxation position, with the armrests of the seat moving down as the seat reclines.
Each seat has a personal dimmable reading lamp, with two overhead lamps focused on the table and side console. The middle seats have an electronic privacy partition, whilst the window seats have electronic two-phase window blinds (although they aren’t as sleek as those on the 777). The large table deploys from the side of the seat and can be folded in half. There are no personal air vents. Privacy is excellent despite the lack of a door thanks to high seat walls.
The IFE screen deploys from the side of the seat, folding back to enable buddy dining. The system on the A380 fleet is the Thales system first introduced to BA’s 77Ws in 2010 – this is now two generations old, but despite the relatively low quality and small size of the screen, generally holds up well. Unfortunately, that evening’s flight wasn’t one of those occasions, with the system kaput (aside from the map) despite several re-sets by the crew. The Inflight Manager compensated us with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle at the end of the flight, and some Avios arrived in our Executive Club accounts shortly afterwards.
Two washrooms are available for First passengers at the front of the cabin, either side of the staircase to the upper deck. In contrast to those at the front of the upper deck, these are regular size facilities, and in common with the First amenity kits offer Elemis amenities.
Upon boarding, a day blanket and headphones were pre-placed on the ottoman, with a pillow and cushion on the seat. Each seat’s personal wardrobe held a bedding pack (mattress and duvet) and clothes hanger – the bedding was promptly moved by me to the overhead bin (only located over aisle seats) so that I could store my bag in the wardrobe. The crew quickly offered each passenger a choice of drink, Temperley London pyjamas, slippers, an amenity kit (with separate male and female bag designs and contents), menu and a hot towel. The hot towel came on a glass tray, although was far from being hot.
An 8h30 flight time was announced from the flight deck, with dinner orders taken on the ground prior to pushback. Passengers were asked when they would prefer to eat, although with a 21:10 departure time, most opted either to eat as soon as possible (as we did) or to skip the service entirely.
After takeoff, the crew were promptly out in the cabin delivering the dinner service. This commenced with a selection of mostly interesting canapés, accompanied by my choice of Royal Fizz mocktail.
My table was then laid, including the offer of different types of bread, before my chosen starter of colourful Balik salmon was served, shortly followed by the minted pea soup. Both were decent, although the soup was on the salty side.
My partner went for the beef bresaola and the scallop and arancini for her starters, the latter winning the first course competition.
For the main course I opted for the seared halibut. Despite being a tad over-cooked, this was the light meal I wanted at this late hour, and it worked well with the selection of sides served in a bowl – although could’ve done with more of the spinach cream sauce.
The miso roasted tofu was not a winner over on the other side of the cabin.
The white chocolate chip bread pudding was a good way to end dinner, accompanied by a mint tea.
Water bottles were handed out as the dinner service concluded, and my bed was proactively made by the crew whilst I changed into PJs in the washroom. I find BA’s First seats and bedding to be excellent regardless of aircraft, but the A380’s quietness and pressurisation at lower altitude certainly helped me sleep soundly for a decent few hours over the Atlantic. The bedding was proactively cleared away by the crew and my seat tidied when I changed out of my PJs before breakfast.
Breakfast service commenced around 90 minutes out of Heathrow. I went light that morning, with the coconut chia bowl and fresh seasonal fruit accompanied by an energising smoothie and an Americano. My partner enjoyed her buttermilk pancakes.
We landed on time on Runway 27R, with a short wait for a gate to become available at T5C. Once through immigration and landside, we headed for the Galleries Arrivals lounge to freshen up. I often find the reception staff at this lounge have to be prompted for an invitation to the Concorde Breakfast Room, as I have yet to receive one proactively. The Greek yogurt with honey and granola and the California egg were – as is typical for BA lounge catering – forgettable.
For a fuller review of the Galleries Arrivals lounge and its Concorde Breakfast Room, see my report here. This lounge has recently been refreshed – I’ll have a report on it coming soon.
BA have a solid if slightly tired First hard product on the A380, but their soft product remains fresh with consistently good catering a clear step above (non-pandemic) Club World. I’m excited to see what BA will do with First on the ‘whale jet’ when they commence its refurbishment with Club Suite and a new First cabin on the upper deck next year.
Thanks for following along on this journey. As always, your comments and questions are welcomed.
Oct 15, 2023, 4:02 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Programs: Some
Posts: 11,523
Still fascinated (or better speechless) about the bathrooms being so much better in F. Personally I think A380 is not the way to go when flying BA First, found it much worse than the 787.
Oct 16, 2023, 3:06 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2022
Location: Edinburgh, UK
Posts: 88
Thanks for the review, it has brought back some fond memories. We flew to Miami in Club back in May this year, in 53 J and K would you believe. I did appreciate the smaller cabin, extra storage with the bins by the window and the direct aisle access from 53K. Service was good although we were delayed on the ground due to an APU failure. The large lavatories at the front of the cabin are a missed opportunity to do something interesting but then again that isn't the BA offering.
We were 2 hours waiting at immigration and felt hard done by, 3 would have tipped me over the edge. I had considered ex-Dublin routing for future trips but may look into JFK. Trouble for us is we are already connecting from EDI/GLA so it's adding another step into the journey. As an aside, I think the entire MIA airport needs demolished.
We also stayed at the Epic for 4 nights, prior to a cruise. I first stayed at the Epic in 2010 when it was brand new so it was interesting to see how it has evolved. I found the Miami hotel prices to be disproportionate to the quality and service offered, and the reception staff at the Epic quite rude in relation to a particular credit card quirk when checking in. We did appreciate having a balcony which would have been lacking at the InterContinental.
I like Downtown very much but need to find a better hotel for next time (and hopefully the crazy rates settle a bit).
We were 2 hours waiting at immigration and felt hard done by, 3 would have tipped me over the edge. I had considered ex-Dublin routing for future trips but may look into JFK. Trouble for us is we are already connecting from EDI/GLA so it's adding another step into the journey. As an aside, I think the entire MIA airport needs demolished.
We also stayed at the Epic for 4 nights, prior to a cruise. I first stayed at the Epic in 2010 when it was brand new so it was interesting to see how it has evolved. I found the Miami hotel prices to be disproportionate to the quality and service offered, and the reception staff at the Epic quite rude in relation to a particular credit card quirk when checking in. We did appreciate having a balcony which would have been lacking at the InterContinental.
I like Downtown very much but need to find a better hotel for next time (and hopefully the crazy rates settle a bit).
Oct 18, 2023, 1:49 am
#8
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: Meh
Posts: 2,598
Great TR. Having just flown Q Suite on QR there is no chance I would ever use BA CW presently, given quality and price. I like BA F but of course it is pricey.
Hopefully BA improves it's seat offerings across the fleet with club suite being a decent product.
Hopefully BA improves it's seat offerings across the fleet with club suite being a decent product.
Oct 18, 2023, 1:13 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,602
Excellent report Genius1 with the usual outstanding pics. Glad you had very nice experience in AA Flagship First Dining. Your MIA experience looked to be excellent and even a cut about DFW FFD. Sadly, FFD is just about the only thing that AA does well. Hopefully, they won't mess with it in their race to the bottom.
Oct 19, 2023, 6:37 am
#10
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: Meh
Posts: 2,598
Thanks for the review, it has brought back some fond memories. We flew to Miami in Club back in May this year, in 53 J and K would you believe. I did appreciate the smaller cabin, extra storage with the bins by the window and the direct aisle access from 53K. Service was good although we were delayed on the ground due to an APU failure. The large lavatories at the front of the cabin are a missed opportunity to do something interesting but then again that isn't the BA offering.
We were 2 hours waiting at immigration and felt hard done by, 3 would have tipped me over the edge. I had considered ex-Dublin routing for future trips but may look into JFK. Trouble for us is we are already connecting from EDI/GLA so it's adding another step into the journey. As an aside, I think the entire MIA airport needs demolished.
We also stayed at the Epic for 4 nights, prior to a cruise. I first stayed at the Epic in 2010 when it was brand new so it was interesting to see how it has evolved. I found the Miami hotel prices to be disproportionate to the quality and service offered, and the reception staff at the Epic quite rude in relation to a particular credit card quirk when checking in. We did appreciate having a balcony which would have been lacking at the InterContinental.
I like Downtown very much but need to find a better hotel for next time (and hopefully the crazy rates settle a bit).
We were 2 hours waiting at immigration and felt hard done by, 3 would have tipped me over the edge. I had considered ex-Dublin routing for future trips but may look into JFK. Trouble for us is we are already connecting from EDI/GLA so it's adding another step into the journey. As an aside, I think the entire MIA airport needs demolished.
We also stayed at the Epic for 4 nights, prior to a cruise. I first stayed at the Epic in 2010 when it was brand new so it was interesting to see how it has evolved. I found the Miami hotel prices to be disproportionate to the quality and service offered, and the reception staff at the Epic quite rude in relation to a particular credit card quirk when checking in. We did appreciate having a balcony which would have been lacking at the InterContinental.
I like Downtown very much but need to find a better hotel for next time (and hopefully the crazy rates settle a bit).
Oct 20, 2023, 12:59 am
#12
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Stockholm
Programs: Various
Posts: 3,369
I've stayed at the Intercontinental in both Miami and Chicago after Covid and both felt tired. I honestly prefer a newer Holiday Inn Express if it's supposed to be IHG.
Oct 20, 2023, 12:09 pm
#13
Join Date: Dec 2022
Location: Edinburgh, UK
Posts: 88
Perhaps it says more about me but the fact Las Vegas and Dubai etc. can offer large, modern, dare I say opulent (?) rooms for a similar price point is a huge positive in their favour. Space not being an issue, I suppose that's how they can manage it. Some would say tacky but I'd take that over a room that was last renovated in 1975 any day.
Nov 9, 2023, 6:06 pm
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Programs: Some
Posts: 11,523