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JFK American Flagship Lounge

JFK American Flagship Lounge
June 2017

After dinner Monday night at the LAX QF First Class Lounge, I slept pretty much all the way from LAX to JFK and arrived at the FL just after 5:30am. I had 3 hours before my JFK-YUL Eagle flight so I decided to check out the Flagship First Dining room and have breakfast before showering.

The hostess counter is right inside the front door. And don't even try to get in without an invitation card from one of the front check-in AAngels.

Very attractive but small bar, lounge area and dining room.

 

 

Very nice Breakfast menu with lots of nice looking options.

Excellent and attentive service with an offer of still or sparking bottled water.

I started with the Seasonal Fruit Kebabs with a nice honey and ginger lime sauce

And then the Eggs Benedict.

Which looked and tasted great!

What a great first impression, but at 5:30am the place was dead and I was to the only customer.  Let's see how they do at a more normal traffic time when I'm back tomorrow afternoon.  With another couple of hours before my JFK-YUL flight, I headed out to The Flagship Lounge.

And a much improved shower from the old facilities.

Then over to the midfield concourse...

And the usual Eagle Gate 31 for my flight to Montreal.

New York JFK to Montréal YUL
AA 3543
ER4
9:00a-10:35a
June 6, 2017
Exit Row 12A
 

AA's ER4 is a single class regional jet with 1-2 seating.   Exit row 12 has loads of leg room and is quite comfy for the short 55 minutes flight.

Ah yes, a lovely rainy day in my old home town.

The next day was much nicer and I headed back to YUL just before noon.

As usual, the YUL transborder US terminal is pretty empty after the early morning wave of deaprtures.

And yet another annoying airport where you have to walk thru the duty free store to get to the gates.

Lunch was the always delicious Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich. 

Montréal YUL to New York JFK
AA 3810
ER4
1:15p-2:55p
June 7, 2017
Exit Row 12A
 

My regular ER4 extra leg room seat 12A.

Less than an hour later, final approach to JFK.

And the long trek from Gate 31 back to the main terminal and the Flagship Lounge.

Major traffic jam at main check-in but after a few minutes wait, a most pleasant AAngel moved me to an earlier flight and I gave me my "permission slip" for First Dining. 

What a mob scene in the main part of the Flagship First Class Lounge. Yikes.

But beyond in Flagship First Dining, a lovely oasis of calm. Pretty funny watching hostess Adama deny wave after wave of non-international/transcon First passengers. Talk about a tough job.  

First order of business was a drink. Nothing amazing on the wine list although there were some nice offerings but way, way better than the pathetic inflight F wine list. The Specialty Cocktail list looked interesting.

Up first was the Gin Basil Lemonade. Delicious. 

The All Day Dining Menu. Wow, lots of interesting looking options.

Service this afternoon was simply wonderful and perfectly paced, from my server Scott and Javier. As soon as I sat down, I was offered my choice of still or sparkling water.

The single window seats are great for plane-spotting.

For my starter, I chose the Basil infused compressed watermelon, with whipped feta and smoked onion crumble. It was fabulous.

I went with the Olive oil poached loch duart salmon with cauliflower risotto, wild mushroom ragout and spring broth.

Wow.

And with the broth. OMG, this was spectacular. And the Livia Felluga Pinot Grigio was a lovely accompaniment.

Also tried the Paring Rosé of Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills but I preferred the Livia Felluga.

Next, I moved over the bar where I could re-charge my iPhone. Also, where bartender Karen convinced me to try the Spiced Tequila.  

And the dessert menu...

My caramelized apple tart tatin was amazing.

What a great meal and experience.  AA has hit a home run with the Flagship First Dining.   Which is good news, since their on board product hasn't improved. 

April 2017

We left the hotel just before 4pm and it still took nearly 75 minutes in rush hour traffic to get to Terminal 8 and American.   Since I was using Business Extra upgrade certificate, we stopped at the new Flagship First Class Check-in area where a check-in dragon had a list of all First Class passengers that day.  After finding our names, we were permited to pass.    

A little spartan compared to some other airlines, but certainly a pleasant oasis especially since as we were the only passengers while we were there.

Battle ax like agent checked us without any smile although her colleague was much more pleasant when she walked over.

The grey door at the far end leads directly into the PreCheck queue which was a nice design and set up feature.

The International First Class Lounge is still a work in progress as the plan is to have a sit down dining room for international and transcon First passengers.  AAgent estimated another month which is New York speak for "we don't have any idea".  I'd been inside the new IFCL once before and my impressions this time are no different.  New space, new design, new furniture... but what was the point of renovating?   I think that the old First Class Lounge was nicer.  

And then there was the food and beverage counter.  Meh.  Not very much and very inspiring.  OK, I get that is may be temporary since there is supposed to be a dining room coming.  But still, the was pretty weak.

Apparently, the Admirals Club snack mixes are beneath the First Class Lounge so I wandered over to the new Admirals Club to get something for Mrs. SFO777.

The new AC is simply depressing and about 1/3 the size of the old one.  

January 2017

After security, I headed for the AA Admirals Club, flashed my Cathay Pacific boarding pass and I was given the green light to go to the new Flagship Lounge.   Nice and new, but what's the point?   It's no more attractive than the old lounge and seemingly less functional.  Like where are the business center work spaces?  I didn't see them.  Supposedly, a new dining room in under construction in the old Flagship Lounge space.   Meh... 

With a pathetic selection of food offerings is what is hopefully a temporary station.

Showers are nice, new and an improvement, although the ventilation is just as bad.

One of the casualties of the ongoing construction is that someone messed up the Wifi and there was none.... as in no internet.   I decided to move to the satellite Admirals Club as my JFK-YUL flight departed from Gate 32 anyway.

Admirals Club near Gate 39.

At T-30, I headed down the concourse where my flight was just about ready to board.

New York JFK-Montréal
American Eagle 4343
ERJ-145
9:00a-10:30a
January 12, 2017
Seat 12A 

 

Poor man's First Class is exit row single seat 12A.

With loads of leg room.

Yap, yap, yap.

This guy was hilarious, trying in vain to stuff his carryon into the tiny overhead bins.  A couple minutes of pushing, pullind and squeezing and he gave up and dropped back at gate check.

Only a half on shade on this plane as the rest of it apparently disappeared into the wall.

Fun landing today as the captain had advised that visibilty was "pretty bad".  Yeah, that's always comforting to hear.   Crew did a great job as this is the first of ground I saw less than 30 seconds from touchdown.

While the gate check bags were being retrieved, I chatted with the crew who said that we just made it as the ceiling was minimum 200'.   Anything less and we'd be heading for BTV. 

Looks like we were the only international flight landing at this time.

The NEXUS kiosks which use an iris scan to verify identity, issue a receipt and lets NEXUS holders enter Canada without speaking to any customs/immigration officer.

Yikes, lots of unclaimed bags. 

The main garage across from the terminal with all the rental car counters and vehicles.