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beyond all my previous international business class experiences, there was still room for a carrier to deliver the oat outdated, unfriendly, untasty, unentertaining premium travel experience in the market.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On both flights, I was traveling on a 767-300 with probably the most outdated business class seats on the planet.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.