Kiwi Flyer
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2004
- Posts
- 5,453
Dallas Fort Worth to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (DFW-EZE) Business Class on AA 767
I down some drinks and send messages to let know I will be late in arriving. The new departure time comes and goes and still no sign of boarding. Eventually boarding is called. This is completed fairly quickly with the less than full flight, but even so we are 90 minutes late in departing.
I notice there are a couple of spare seats side by side (bulkhead no less, an advantage as we shall soon see) so I politely ask if I can switch seats to give myself and my seat neighbour more room to spread out. She lets me do so.
I had low expectations of American Airlines´longhaul business class due to their reputation. How would I find the flight? Can they exceed my expectation or will the reputation be deserved (admittedly only a small sample of 1 flight)?
The seat was better than AA´s domestic first seat, but not up to scratch for longhaul in my view. The width and pitch were okay without being generous. The padding is old and worn out, so that it feels hard and difficult to sit or lie in one position for too long. The legrest is useless - not only does it not elevate very far, the foot rest is far too short for all but the shortest passenger. Being in the bulkhead I do something I normally detest, which is to put my feet up on the bulkhead. I´m not proud of doing this as it was the only position which felt remotely comfortable to me. The seat is the worst business class longhaul seat I have ever sat in. :td:
If anything, the in flight entertainment (IFE) was worse. There are no personal tvs, only a mainscreen. On the mainscreen was shown a CBS informercial plus a single movie. That is all. This on a flight of nearly 11 hours. In business class we were handed personal DVD players and a personal library of 24 DVDs. Great you might say - makes up for the lack of PTV and AVOD, right? Wrong. The DVD library consisted of lots of old movies with no releases within the last 6 months, and very few within the last 2 years. C´mon AA every other airline has at least a few current offerings. Then there was the problem with power. Every 5 minutes it would cut out, making viewing impossible (for this is barely long enough to restart the DVD). I tried using the power in both my seat and the spare one next to me. I tried different DVD players. All to no avail. I don´t think I was just unlucky as several other passengers also had power problems with their DVDs.
Now on most airlines such a failure of IFE in business class would result in a profuse apology, maybe a bottle or two of wine to take away AND a voucher as compensation. Well not on AA. The FAs couldnt care less and just shrugged their shoulders. Bad form :td:
The food was mixed. Parts were surprisingly good and of a type and quality that I´d expect on a top class airline. Other parts were a disgrace. The starter and mains that I had were excellent. I was disappointed as a one world top tier elite (one of only a few on the flight) to be told my first choice, the beef, had run out.
The cheese plate was terrible. Only 2 small pieces of cheese, that were hard around the edges through having been cut too long ago, 2 walnut halves and 4 strongly flavoured crackers. I would have been much happier with 4 different cheese cut as it was served to me, plus 2 or 3 water crackers. The port was also disappointing and far too young IMHO.
Breakfast was a choice of cereal (1 type only) or omelette, with fruit salad, yoghurt (fruited only, no option of plain or low fat), and a dry muffin or croissant. Ummm no thanks. I´ve had better breakfasts on short domestic flights.
The service was poor. The FAs would pass by and see plate needing clearing or an empty glass and ignore them, or take a plate and not bother checking if you needed more drink. The only way to get any drink was to use the call button and ask for it :td: The were very slow serving dinner, taking more than 2 1/2 hours, while breakfast was super speedy with all passenger´s trays cleared less than 20 minutes after serving the first person. So why so slow with the dinner?
Also they starting serving breakfast just 1 hour before arrival, I suppose to ensure maximum sleep time. That´s great - too many airlines serving breakfast on overnight longhaul flights far too early, some as much as 3 hours before arrival. Not so good was the fact they spent 40 minutes getting ready for breakfast in the galley and made quite a racket while doing so, waking up almost every passenger.
The amenity kit bag is a little like the old Air New Zealand first one. A reasonable sized bag with one large drawstring pouch the full length and breadth that doesn´t come with anything in it, plus side pouches with the socks, eyeshades, ear plugs, toothbrush and toothpaste plus a couple of creams. With the supplied amenities it isn´t very full and thus can fold over itself (and button up).
So overall I think the standard is very mediocre and lives up to the reputation. There are aspects that show signs of promise but ultimately it fails to impress (at least for those who´ve flown business class in a classier airline).
With the flight being in darkness most of the time, and blinds down for all but the last 15 minutes prior to landing I didn´t get any views of the Gulf of Mexico, the central american ranges, the Andes or Amazon jungle, or pampas of Argentina. I´d like to fly this route or similar in daylight as I expect there is some fascinating scenery.
There was reasonable amount of turbulence the entire flight except for the last 20 minutes. This made a deep sleep difficult as no sooner (it felt) had I dropped off than I´d be worken by a large jolt. We made up some time en route and landed only an hour late. As we pull up to the gate I see the American Airlines flight from Miami has arrived and also Lufthansa but most other gates are empty. So we seem to have beaten the early rush. Indeed in 5 minutes I have made my way from airbridge, through immigration and customs, changed some money and waiting at my agreed rendevous point.
While I waited I watched the other passengers arrive landside. It seems that AA´s Miami flight and the Lufthansa flight both disembarked after our flight for some reason. In addition there are arrivals by Air France, United, Continental, Delta, Alitalia etc. A lot of people and some lengthy queues at immigration and baggage claim. I felt fortunate to get through so quickly.
I down some drinks and send messages to let know I will be late in arriving. The new departure time comes and goes and still no sign of boarding. Eventually boarding is called. This is completed fairly quickly with the less than full flight, but even so we are 90 minutes late in departing.
I notice there are a couple of spare seats side by side (bulkhead no less, an advantage as we shall soon see) so I politely ask if I can switch seats to give myself and my seat neighbour more room to spread out. She lets me do so.
I had low expectations of American Airlines´longhaul business class due to their reputation. How would I find the flight? Can they exceed my expectation or will the reputation be deserved (admittedly only a small sample of 1 flight)?
The seat was better than AA´s domestic first seat, but not up to scratch for longhaul in my view. The width and pitch were okay without being generous. The padding is old and worn out, so that it feels hard and difficult to sit or lie in one position for too long. The legrest is useless - not only does it not elevate very far, the foot rest is far too short for all but the shortest passenger. Being in the bulkhead I do something I normally detest, which is to put my feet up on the bulkhead. I´m not proud of doing this as it was the only position which felt remotely comfortable to me. The seat is the worst business class longhaul seat I have ever sat in. :td:
If anything, the in flight entertainment (IFE) was worse. There are no personal tvs, only a mainscreen. On the mainscreen was shown a CBS informercial plus a single movie. That is all. This on a flight of nearly 11 hours. In business class we were handed personal DVD players and a personal library of 24 DVDs. Great you might say - makes up for the lack of PTV and AVOD, right? Wrong. The DVD library consisted of lots of old movies with no releases within the last 6 months, and very few within the last 2 years. C´mon AA every other airline has at least a few current offerings. Then there was the problem with power. Every 5 minutes it would cut out, making viewing impossible (for this is barely long enough to restart the DVD). I tried using the power in both my seat and the spare one next to me. I tried different DVD players. All to no avail. I don´t think I was just unlucky as several other passengers also had power problems with their DVDs.
Now on most airlines such a failure of IFE in business class would result in a profuse apology, maybe a bottle or two of wine to take away AND a voucher as compensation. Well not on AA. The FAs couldnt care less and just shrugged their shoulders. Bad form :td:
The food was mixed. Parts were surprisingly good and of a type and quality that I´d expect on a top class airline. Other parts were a disgrace. The starter and mains that I had were excellent. I was disappointed as a one world top tier elite (one of only a few on the flight) to be told my first choice, the beef, had run out.
The cheese plate was terrible. Only 2 small pieces of cheese, that were hard around the edges through having been cut too long ago, 2 walnut halves and 4 strongly flavoured crackers. I would have been much happier with 4 different cheese cut as it was served to me, plus 2 or 3 water crackers. The port was also disappointing and far too young IMHO.
Breakfast was a choice of cereal (1 type only) or omelette, with fruit salad, yoghurt (fruited only, no option of plain or low fat), and a dry muffin or croissant. Ummm no thanks. I´ve had better breakfasts on short domestic flights.
The service was poor. The FAs would pass by and see plate needing clearing or an empty glass and ignore them, or take a plate and not bother checking if you needed more drink. The only way to get any drink was to use the call button and ask for it :td: The were very slow serving dinner, taking more than 2 1/2 hours, while breakfast was super speedy with all passenger´s trays cleared less than 20 minutes after serving the first person. So why so slow with the dinner?
Also they starting serving breakfast just 1 hour before arrival, I suppose to ensure maximum sleep time. That´s great - too many airlines serving breakfast on overnight longhaul flights far too early, some as much as 3 hours before arrival. Not so good was the fact they spent 40 minutes getting ready for breakfast in the galley and made quite a racket while doing so, waking up almost every passenger.
The amenity kit bag is a little like the old Air New Zealand first one. A reasonable sized bag with one large drawstring pouch the full length and breadth that doesn´t come with anything in it, plus side pouches with the socks, eyeshades, ear plugs, toothbrush and toothpaste plus a couple of creams. With the supplied amenities it isn´t very full and thus can fold over itself (and button up).
So overall I think the standard is very mediocre and lives up to the reputation. There are aspects that show signs of promise but ultimately it fails to impress (at least for those who´ve flown business class in a classier airline).
With the flight being in darkness most of the time, and blinds down for all but the last 15 minutes prior to landing I didn´t get any views of the Gulf of Mexico, the central american ranges, the Andes or Amazon jungle, or pampas of Argentina. I´d like to fly this route or similar in daylight as I expect there is some fascinating scenery.
There was reasonable amount of turbulence the entire flight except for the last 20 minutes. This made a deep sleep difficult as no sooner (it felt) had I dropped off than I´d be worken by a large jolt. We made up some time en route and landed only an hour late. As we pull up to the gate I see the American Airlines flight from Miami has arrived and also Lufthansa but most other gates are empty. So we seem to have beaten the early rush. Indeed in 5 minutes I have made my way from airbridge, through immigration and customs, changed some money and waiting at my agreed rendevous point.
While I waited I watched the other passengers arrive landside. It seems that AA´s Miami flight and the Lufthansa flight both disembarked after our flight for some reason. In addition there are arrivals by Air France, United, Continental, Delta, Alitalia etc. A lot of people and some lengthy queues at immigration and baggage claim. I felt fortunate to get through so quickly.
Pillows and blanket are hidden in a cubby at the base of the seat in front.
