AA953 JFK-EZE

August 10th, 2023

Posts in this series:

Introduction - The Andean Crossing

Review - American Airlines Business Class B777-200 New York Kennedy to Buenos Aires Ezeiza

Review - Anselmo Buenos Aires, Curio Collection by Hilton

Review - Flybondi Economy Class B737-800 Buenos Aires Aeroparque to Mendoza

Review - Auberge du Vin, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel, Tupungato

Review - Mandarin Oriental Santiago

Review - The Ritz-Carlton Santiago

Review - Air Canada Business Class B787-8 Santiago de Chile to Toronto Pearson

Review - Air Canada Express Business Class CRJ-900 Toronto Pearson to Washington Dulles

Check-in:

Earlier in the day, the AA app notified our departure would be delayed by an hour, due to late inbound aircraft. As an AvGeek I obviously had to look up the tail number of our ride, and it was swapped 4 times throughout the day. AA’s B772s have two different seats in business class - Collins Super Diamond and Safran Zodiac. If you notice any rear-facing seats on the seat map, you are unfortunately flying AA’s Zodiac seats. These are commonly referred to as “coffin seats” by frequent travelers, and I shall explain why later on. At first I thought, oh interesting, I guess I get to try this other product since I’d only flown in the Super Diamond seats before. But I lied. I had flown in these seats before, not on B772s but numerous times on the Dreamliner. And my sudden retrieval of recollection reminded me these Zodiac seats AIN’T IT.

Another thing that only a nerd would notice was how poorly the aircraft was utilized on this route, as the plane would arrive in Buenos Aires in the mornings, sit on the ground all day and return to the US in the late evenings. That also explains why our flight was the one getting swapped and delayed, since any other arriving aircraft would be prioritized for European flights with tighter turnarounds.

Our updated departure time was at midnight, so we left for JFK around 9:30pm. Check-in and security were efficient. We had access to the Premium Check-in facility, which I reviewed earlier this year. This allowed us to cut to the front of the TSA line, and we were airside within minutes.

Lounge:

For our itinerary and status, we were eligible to access the Soho Lounge. I reviewed the more exclusive Chelsea Lounge before. You can check it out here.

The Chelsea Lounge and Soho Lounge shared the same entrance, both located on the floor above concourse.

Upon entry, I was reasonably impressed by the aesthetic of the Soho Lounge. The velvet chairs and bronze ceilings gave it a sophisticated brasserie vibe.

I thought the bar was attractive, the space open and the lighting well done. Moving on, there were a few service desks.

The main area of the lounge was the central dining area, which was sectioned off by sofas along the perimeter. I liked this design as it assigned specific purpose for each area. The tables here had self-ordering QR codes, so the wait staff would bring your order directly to your table.

Further towards the back of the lounge was another room with a fireplace, although it was turned off when we showed up at 10pm.

The lighting in the lounge varied depending on the area it was in. For example, the main dining room had the brightest chandelier, but it softened into ambient and indirect lighting in the lounging/relaxing areas.

In addition to the à la carte menu you could order via the QR system, a buffet was also on offer.

I found the buffet to be quite good. The selection was identical to what’s offered in the Greenwich Lounge. The hot dishes were limited, but the quality was satisfactory. The sides were more plentiful, including a salad bar, spreads and dips, desserts and soups etc. The buffet area was kept relatively clean, so it didn’t feel like eating out of a trough. I’d say it was slightly better than the Whole Foods hot bar. I think my expectations for buffet are skewed though given my previous company had sushi chefs and made-to-order wood fire pizzas in the canteen.

The à la carte menu had a range of cocktails, wines/beers and some food items. I forgot to screenshot the menu, but there wasn’t that many options. There were burgers, pastrami Reubens, hotdogs, kale salads and fish and chips. As you can tell, most of these weren’t the healthiest, and they filled every plate up with an ungodly amount of fries…

We ordered some cocktails, a K-Town dog and some fish and chips to share. The system worked well, and the order was delivered promptly. The wait staff were friendly too.

The fish and chips had two pieces of fried fish. Like I mentioned, each plate was loaded with fries. The fish itself was not oily or overly salty. The K-Town dog was a hotdog with kimchi.

It was fun to try a couple things, but I think on future visits I’ll just get some salmon and salad from the buffet. The calories here weren’t worth it.

Luckily the cocktails were quite exceptional, both in terms of presentation and taste. I’d pay upwards of $25 for these if I were at a Manhattan bar. I also liked the drinkware, especially the stemmed ones. They were substantial and elaborate, comparable to those from Baccarat.

There was one dessert item from the menu, which was the make-your-own ice cream sandwich. I chose vanilla ice cream with snickerdoodle cookies. For those of you Washingtonians, let’s just say this was not Captain Cookie.

One cool feature of the lounge was the apron view. There was a British Airways 777 parked at the gate directly beneath us, and I could see straight into the cockpit.

The registration for this 777 was TBH, lol.

While I was overall impressed with this lounge, frustratingly the lounge had a strict closing time. This shouldn’t have any impact unless your flight is delayed. In our case, it was delayed for more than an hour, so we were funneled into the Greenwich Lounge after closing.

Boarding:

Thanks to the delay, the boarding area was rather hectic. We waited for another 30 minutes at the gate before boarding commenced. Spoiler alert: things didn’t get much better once onboard either.

Business class on the B772s were split into two cabins, the main one between door 1 and 2, and a smaller section of 4 rows in front of the premium economy cabin. We sat in row 7, the bulkhead row in the smaller cabin.

I feel like aircraft cleanliness has been a constant agony of my 2023 travel. On normal airlines you are greeted with a pre-departure drink upon boarding. On American Airlines you are greeted with the cookie crumbs from the previous passenger.

Besides the crumbs, the seats were covered in marks and scratches. The seat itself was wobbly, and the partition was broken. While we’re here, let me just get all of the rant out of the way. These seats were horrible. I’m not sure what exactly the rear-facing configuration achieves, but when the person seated in the row behind you moved, your seat would move too. If you’re a light sleeper, be prepared to not sleep much in this seat. The rear-facing configuration also means you’d stare right into the person across the aisle from you. The seat severely lacked storage - there wasn’t even a place to put a bottle of water. Another nuisance was the absence of curtains between row 7 and the galley, so the galley light directly projected into my face the whole flight. I normally wear an eye mask when sleeping on the plane but still wtf? American Airlines spent every last dime on the new labor contract so now it doesn’t have money to shop new curtains anymore?

Awaiting at each seat were the same prosaic Shinola amenity kit that’s hardly anything to satiate over, and the menu.

Rather frustratingly the seats were locked for recline during the whole boarding process, and the IFE system was locked too. Since our flight was delayed, no pre-departure beverage was offered.

In-flight:

Service started fairly quickly once we gained elevation. Apéritif and warmed nuts were served within 30 minutes after takeoff. Funny enough the red wines on offer were from Chile and Argentina, both of which we were visiting on this trip. I had the Los Vascos cab sauv. Although it was a Rothschild, I wasn’t terribly impressed. On a positive note, I was addressed by name throughout the service.

The rest of dinner was brought out on one tray, with the exception of desserts. I ordered the seared red snapper with lemon beurre blanc, white wine risotto, glazed sugar snap peas and pepper medley as my main course. It came with a side salad and a grilled cajun shrimp appetizer with harissa aioli, broccoli slaw and pea shoots.

While the presentation of the snapper was quite agreeable - golden crispy skin and flaky white fish. The texture was unfortunately too tough, and seasoning was absent. I had a few bites, and it felt like a rock was inside my stomach afterwards. Suffice to say it tasted nothing like the turbot I had on United a few months ago, which was tender and flavorful.

My partner had the braised short rib with morel jus, potato gratin, roasted sweet potatoes and asparagus. He said it was decent.

After the tray was cleared I indulged on the special treat that’s almost synonymous with American Airlines - ice cream sundae. I went with a simpler version this time with butterscotch and whipped cream. Additionally, hot fudge, berry compôte and chopped pecans were also available should you fancy.

I think most of the times these sundaes were the only highlight of AA’s catering, except when the ice cream wasn’t properly thawed out, of course.

After dinner it was time to get some shut-eye. I really enjoy flights like this - it’s long enough that you can actually get some rest, and there’s no time difference between the origin and destination. You save time by flying through the night and are ready to go once you land.

One other thing I noticed was that there was no mattress cover in the bedding set on this flight. I seem to recall AA having those previously?

Around 1.5hrs before touchdown, breakfast was served. You could choose between an American breakfast or a fresh fruit bowl. I got the American breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs with chives, Canadian bacon, roasted potatoes and herbed tomato. It was a typical airplane breakfast and was fine.

On Arrival:

I feel like I’ve written so many AA reviews on this blog I have said everything there is to be said. Most of the recent flights have made me realize it is past due for the next generation of products at AA. I think the experience itself will materially improve once they have some new seats. I remember being in these exact same seats in the 2015-2017 era when I had pleasant memories flying from O’Hare to Beijing, Hong Kong to Dallas and Heathrow to LA. Maybe I’ve just gotten jaded over the past decade. AA is supposedly rolling out a new business class with future aircraft deliveries, so we’ll see if a new cabin will spice things up a bit for me.