I call myself a savvy traveler, flying around 450k miles per year on LH, 100k miles on BA/CX and around 50k miles on EK. I have traveled there world, flown anything from a Fairchild Metro III on a 10 min flight to long-haul International First Class on LH, LX, BA, CX, EK, QR (when it still existed) and Business Class on over a dozen carriers.

I know that in today's aviation world, it is not easy for airlines to be profitable due to high fuel costs, competition and so on. Still, traveling in Business Class usually meant that you pay higher fares and receive premium services in return, from nice seats (and sometimes even suite-like cocoons like onboard EK) to nice food, from premium airport experiences to great onboard entertainment.

Over the past 15 years of international travel, I thought I had seen it all. I was wrong.

I recently travel onboard AA in their transatlantic Business Class cabin, and from the airport experience to the onboard experience, from seats to meals, from staff to entertainment, I had to learn that calling AA's Business Class product a "Premium Travel Experience" about equals calling my tub at home a "Relaxing holiday beach experience".

AA proved to me that, beyond all my previous international business class experiences, there was still room for a carrier to deliver the oat outdated, unfriendly, untasty, unentertaining premium travel experience in the market.

To put it short: AA was noting short of being a disgrace when it comes to premium travel. On both flights. At all airports.
And I did not use miles, or upgrade vouchers, but paid for the flights, out of my own pocket (not my company's one), and at a hefty price tag of 3k$ upwards.

On both flights, I was traveling on a 767-300 with probably the most outdated business class seats on the planet. The planes both came almost apart, with the cushions being partly ripped open, almost non-functioning seat controls, lavatory doors not closing properly unless heavily pushed at, water dripping from the A/C panel above me and so on.

Instead of an entertainment system, I was given a tablet computer. It shut down several times inflight due to the power connectors not working properly, which was probably not so much of a problem, since the tablets were only given to passengers 45 mins after take.off and collected 1h prior to landing. What a joke.

The food was equally disappointing, with little taste, little creativity, but huge amounts of ugly sauce and fatty sides. My vegetarian meal on the return flight never showed up, either.

But Premium Travel for me is not only defined by the offerings on board, but also on the ground. Airport check-in for the return flight happened in Chicago and it was worse then trying to check out at a supermarket cashier on a Saturday morning.

Instead of being served at the Business Class counters, I was told to use the kiosk, so I can print my own luggage tags. OK, fine, it it works. It didn't. When asking the attendant again, I was told to go see somebody else, as she could not help me print luggage tags. I was standing there with two suitcase, one boarding pass and no luggage tag, only to be asked after another 10 minutes by someone else why I still occupy the area. Wow, what a passionate service. After another 10 minutes, I finally had the luggage tags printed by a third agent and my bags were ready to go.

After passing through security (not AA's fault. always a miserable experience at 70% of the airports worldwide), I made my way to the Admirals Club. I think I have used the word "joke" far too often yet, but I have to use it again. WHAT A JOKE!

Upon entering, I received a voucher for a premium drink or a bottle of water. What the hell?
When trying to get some food, I was presented with a menu - and a price list. All food items are for sale only. Really?

The furniture? Outdated. The lounge? Full with people yelling in their phones, or talking to each other like they are on stage and need to make sure the entire audience understands them. The showers? I think I pass...

All in all, this was the absolute low-end of any of my business class travel in the past 15 years.
I know form experience that expectations when traveling with US carriers have to be limited when it comes to Premium Travel, what I did bot know was how much limitation one needs to bring aboard.

These were the only 2 AA J Class flights in my life, and I am sure I will never ever pay another EUR / $ / GBP to travel with them again, unless they are domestically the only nonstop option between point A and point B.

Their website claims "Welcome to the new AA". If that was the new AA, I don't even want to know what the old AA mist have been.

Perhaps this post belongs in Trip Reports?

Ouch, the fact you paid for those flights only makes the experience worse. They will be retiring some of those 763s and refurbishing the rest along the lines of what they've advertised for the 77W fleet and the 772ERs.

I can't offer an explanation as to the food. Hopefully that will be overhauled as well but that sounded disgusting.

The bizarre aspect of your trip was the check-in service. I don't understand why they don't have a dedicated business and/or first class check in zone at ORD. To send a J class passenger over to a kiosk (and a non-working one either) is just dumb.

I tend to fly Euro carriers to Europe and Asian carriers to Asia. If anyone asks why, the poor product is a main culprit. This trip sort of captures it all in one stroke.

Quoting a318 (Reply 1): Perhaps this post belongs in Trip Reports?

Yes.

But while it's still here a few observations:

1) The J product on the 763 / 772 is outdated, but the good news is that it's being replaced with an (apparently from the pictures) awesome new seat.

2) Food in F and J on AA has always been great in my many experiences, however I have never had the "vegetarian" option, so perhaps those meals are not so good.

3) The AA lounges I have been in have been "good" - and "as good or better" than some of their USA competitor lounges, but you may have a point in comparing them to the international airlines.

ORD has a dedicated First Class lounge check in with its own security cant miss it. No airline will please everyone but US airlines will never be up ME3 standards either.

Very sorry to hear about your experience with AA. But generally, American carriers still have a long way to go to beef up their product offering. That's why they conceptually outsource a great deal of international flying to their partners - BA, VS, etc.

Quoting N62NA (Reply 3):

Who cares if they are in the process of updating the seat...it sucked when he paid for it so little consolation that it "will be awesome" at some point in the future

Somehow I'm not surprised

Try flying AA again in a year or so, when the new J product is rolled out on the 777 and 763 fleet. Let's remember that AA had been in Chapter 11 for more than 2 years, and it was fighting against carriers who had been in Chapter 11 (UA, DL, and NW) while trying to avoid Chapter 11.

By the same token, Americans tend to pick carriers, even for international J and F, because of employer agreements. Personally, my wife hates United, but her current and prior employer had contracts with UA for employees based in Chicago.

That said, I don't mind going to a kiosk, even though I'm lifetime AAdvantage Gold and upgrade to domestic first a lot. If I go to the domestic first counter, I'm always stuck behind someone who has a lot of questions or has to make changes to a travel schedule, and so on.

If given the choice between self check-out or checking out with a cashier at a store of any kind (grocery, home improvement, etc.) I tend to go to self check-out, so I don't get stuck behind the customer who fumbles for the checkbook or questions how a price rang up.

Quoting LufthansaHON (Thread starter): "Welcome to the new AA".

But was the plane painted in the new SCREAMING REDNECK livery?

  

Quoting airportugal310 (Reply 6): Who cares if they are in the process of updating the seat...it sucked when he paid for it so little consolation that it "will be awesome" at some point in the future Somehow I'm not surprised

My post was in no way intended to "console" him or anyone else, but rather to provide information, so the entire premise of your response to me is invalid.

Quoting LufthansaHON (Thread starter): And I did not use miles

That shouldn't matter anyway. Airline miles are not free, even if you transfer them in from a credit card (and the airline still gets paid in that case). Everyone should be treated the same in the same cabin class, no matter how they got there.

Quoting LufthansaHON (Thread starter): On both flights, I was traveling on a 767-300 with probably the most outdated business class seats on the planet.

To be fair, a lot of your experience with the cabin itself is due to AA completely revamping their interiors. You were unlucky enough to travel on them at about the worst possible time, shortly before this happens.

I agree that this is not an excuse, but it is an explanation. If this were, say, Japan, I can guarantee the cabin would still have been kept in a better condition than it sounds like you experienced... but there's not much you can do about a cabin that's "outdated" just before it's replaced. That's why it's being replaced.

If you're curious, this is AA's new 767-300 business class cabin: http://thepointsguy.com/2014/03/amer...business-class-and-it-looks-great/

They'll still be issuing tablets and I think that's a bad idea for some of the exact reasons you mentioned (also because I bring my own tablet but *also* use the IFE, and it's pretty unwieldy to have two tablets at your seat... which is exactly what I'm trying to avoid by bringing a tablet rather than a laptop). But the new seats look good, at least, and it's too bad you didn't get to experience them.

Quoting LufthansaHON (Thread starter): Instead of being served at the Business Class counters, I was told to use the kiosk, so I can print my own luggage tags.

There's no way to excuse *or* explain your treatment at check-in, though. No business class passenger should be treated that way.

[Edited 2014-05-14 09:27:51]

I'd write a letter to AA and see if they don't offer you some FF miles or other compensation.

Quoting LufthansaHON (Thread starter): When trying to get some food, I was presented with a menu - and a price list. All food items are for sale only. Really?

This is normal for any airline lounge in the U.S. just the way it is.

Quoting LufthansaHON (Thread starter): Upon entering, I received a voucher for a premium drink or a bottle of water. What the hell?

The Lounged is open bar for most drinks. You can have all the beer and jack and cokes you want.

Quoting LufthansaHON (Thread starter): I was traveling on a 767-300

That right there is your biggest issue. Would never advise someone to spend $3k on a ticket for an AA 763.

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 11): I'd write a letter to AA and see if they don't offer you some FF miles or other compensation.

Agreed. They are usually very responsive to that and usually will give you something.

Overall. You can't compare AA to some of the carriers you mentioned you have flown with before. Maybe in 2 years we will be able to. I recently flew CX and JAL. In first and business, they were fantastic. Also flew AA business on a 772. It was no where near the same level of service but it was still enjoyable and it was a domestic flight. Overall they get the job done fine for me and I prefer to try to use their miles on international flights with other oneworld airlines.

Quoting flymia (Reply 12): This is normal for any airline lounge in the U.S. just the way it is.

You may have more experience than I do around the country, but I've never paid for food at the BA lounge at JFK or the Alaska lounge at PDX. So it's definitely not true for "any" airline lounge in the US. It may be true for some. He did say "all" food items were for sale, which definitely doesn't sound right. I can't imagine a premium lounge that doesn't even have free snacks, though the BA lounge has free hot food and sandwiches as well. (The Alaska lounge does not.)

Quoting spacecadet (Reply 13): You may have more experience than I do around the country, but I've never paid for food at the BA lounge at JFK or the Alaska lounge at PDX.

It's true for the lounges for the big four airlines, who all offer small snacks for free but charge for actual meals. Completely standard in the United States. I suspect that BA's lounge follows its own policy based on the more premium Euro carrier standard.

Unfortunately, the 767-300 has a terrible business class model which is at the end of it's life, and being updated as we speak. Not that that'll help your experience, but this was the worst time to fly and AA 763.

Your treatment at check-in was inexcusable - I would echo the others in recommending you to complain to AA because they are very likely to offer some sort of compensation.

Quoting skiaplg (Reply 14): Your treatment at check-in was inexcusable - I would echo the others in recommending you to complain to AA because they are very likely to offer some sort of compensation.

I have also noticed a decline in personal service for AA premium cabin passengers at check in. Passengers using the kiosks for self check obviously saves AA money. They market it as a convenience for you (and please if I am on a business trip traveling in Y , with no checked bags, I breeze in and I use the kiosk for self check.) But, when we are on a leisure trip and traveling in F/J I love to use the F/J dedicated check in line. Call me old school, but part of paying for premium cabin service is just walking up and letting an agent do everything for you at check in. I have recently stood in an AA F/J check at a few AA stations and the agents seem bothered you are there waiting. In fairness, sometimes the check in is wonderful with lots of attention and thank you's for flying AA. Roll of the dice.

[Edited 2014-05-17 06:52:21]