After a wonderful, but all-too-brief one night stay in Boston, it was time for us to make our way onwards to New York JFK, and what better way than sampling American Airlines domestic First Class on this short hop.
Initially, I had compared across all the main economy options but the convoluted nature of the US airline industry’s myriad unbundled economy options and fare packages ultimately meant that for the cost of economy plus seat assignment plus baggage on a flight at a time we wanted to go, vs. the incremental step-up cost to ‘First’ (realistically business class) along with the Aerclub tier credits we’d both get made it an easy pick. Not, of course, that I generally ever have any issues justifying premium travel.
At Boston’s Logan Airport, we opted to print our own bags before dropping them at the manned baggage drop counter. We were asked was JFK our final destination, before having our documents checked, and being quickly sent on our way.
There was definitely a sign for business / first class security lane, though it seemed to lead to nowhere (or rather, a roped-off lane that seemed to merge back into the already-empty regular line further up), and so we gave it a pass in favour of just using regular security.
Unfortunately, and this seems to be common across the US, domestic flights in business, sorry ‘First’, American Airlines doesn’t offer lounge access for those travelling in domestic first, unless you’re an existing status member (American, or their Oneworld partners) or potentially a credit card holder, or buy a lounge pass. We’d no intention of doing the latter, and so instead we burned our time roaming the corridors of Boston’s Terminal B.
Our flight initially posted a pretty unwelcome delay, before abruptly being reinstated at its original time – we ultimately landed 12 minutes early in the end. The delay, as we were told during boarding, was due to the inbound aircraft being late, and then another one already in Boston being sourced so that we could continue on our way, on-time.
With boarding underway, we were quickly on-board our American Airlines Embraer 175 for our flight, AA4503. We had snagged the first row, seats 1D and 1F, which came with what can only be described as an abundance of legroom (also seen here, Vannesha showing off her red boots).
The seats meanwhile, were a welcome reprieve from the European approach to business class, which is the same seats as economy with a blocked middle. The American Airlines domestic first seat offering was decidedly more plush; proper recliner-style armchairs, two on one side of the aisle, one on the other (compared to 2/2 in economy).
Admittedly the seats had a look of retro about them, but they were more than sufficiently comfortable for our short flight down to New York.
While boarding continued, our cabin crew member made light work of coming around the cabin offering everyone a pre-departure beverage of choice. This actually caught me off-guard, given pretty much every other airline globally offering a set selection of pre-departure beverages; orange juice, water or Champagne.
Needless – and bravely – to say, I opted for ‘white wine’, of a type and vintage I can’t possibly tell anyone. All I can say is that it tasted initially very nasty, but improved over successive rapid swigging.
Before long, our very enthusiastic captain gave us a pre-flight welcome on board A4503, detailing the journey ahead to ‘New York, New York’, and letting us know we’d be underway shortly – which we certainly were.
After a quick departure from Boston, the in-flight service commenced – which was none other, to my delight notwithstanding the strange taste, than more wine. On such a short flight, only a packaged snack is offered, along with more drinks.
I decided, given the cost of the flight, to see to what level of generosity this extended and I’m both pleased and concerned to report that I managed to fit in a total of 3 plastic cups of mystery wine before pre-landing cup collection.
Beyond that, there was no real service to speak of.
Before long, we were on the ground in the gargantuan JFK Terminal 8, and ready for our far less luxurious AirTrain ride to Jamaica, and onwards into town ahead of our barely enjoyable stay at The Lexington.
So how do I rate American Airlines domestic First Class experience? The lack of a lounge, for me, is a real sore point and detracted massively from an otherwise pretty stellar experience considering the duration of the flight. I understand this is both partly crowd control, and a means to incentisive credit card sign-ups, but for those of us from outside the US it feels pretty tight.
On-board meanwhile, I can’t fault the experience; plenty of legroom, a comfy seat for the length of flight, and pretty good service considering.
For those of us from Ireland, the ability to now earn AerClub tier credits on American Airlines flights also makes the upgrade cost something to really consider – I certainly would again in future.
