Spring trip to the East Coast (round 2A: Miami to JFK) in pseudo-Flagship Business Class

After a delightful week in Miami having spring break and watching the Miami Open, it was unfortunately time to leave.  But on the plus side, I was on the way to Boston to see a pair of friends!  Normally, one would take a direct flight from Miami to Boston, which is also what the check in agent expected.  But I had other plans, as I often do.  I flew instead from Miami to New York to Boston. 

Hands-down my favorite perk of Oneworld Emerald Status (conferred by BA Gold Status) is being able to use Flagship First check in on any American flight.  The only downside is that it’s only offered in Chicago, LA, Miami, and New York.  The ‘bouncer’ let me in immediately upon confirming my BA Gold/Oneworld Emerald status, and the check-in agent checked me in swiftly.  The best part of the Flagship First Check-in experience is that I was taken directly to the front of the security line that was immediately beside the check-in area.  The only downside was that it wasn’t the TSA pre-check line, but that wasn’t a big deal because skipping that big line saved a ton of time. 

I headed immediately to the Flagship lounge to grab some breakfast before my mid-morning flight.

The food in the lounge was decent for a light breakfast. I got some yogurt, fruit, and cold cuts, which amounted to a simple continental breakfast. It’s more on par with what I would’ve expected in an Admiral’s club than in the Flagship Lounge, but the mimosa was on-point.

My airplane was hiding behind the terminal building a bit, so it was hard to get a good picture.  American’s 777-200’s Flagship Business class seat is the same brand as BA’s new Club Suite, but it lacks a door.

The in-flight entertainment offering was typical for American’s long-haul fleet and was very good.  It had a lot of solid choices for both movies and TV shows.  It definitely beat BA’s IFE offering.  The seat had in-flight power and WiFi was available for purchase.

I managed to snag seat 1A, which actually wasn’t very difficult because when I booked this flight, 0 seats were taken… The seat has a lot of storage compartments and lots of space.  The only part of the seat that I’m not a big fan of is the seatbelt with an airbag in it because it’s so bulky.  My assumption is that the airbag means that the seat doesn’t require a three-point seatbelt for landing, like the United Polaris seat does. 

Shortly after takeoff, the meal service began.  American offers a meal on flights over 900 miles (roughly >2.5 hours).  The meal started with a warm towel, some warm nuts, and a glass of sparkling wine.

I was delighted to see that glasses were back in the forward cabin.

The food was relatively similar to what was on offer in the lounge: cold cuts of meat and cheese.  The broccoli dish is not one that I actively like; I’m not a fan of cold broccoli.  The lemon tart, however, was excellent, as was the mozzarella. 

I got a few good views on both the way out and the way in.

In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed this domestic flight, which was noticeably atypical.  I enjoyed the Miami Flagship lounge, but the New York one was definitely a step up.  The efficiency of the Flagship First check-in in Miami was amazing (5/5).  The 777-200 business class seat was excellent for a two-hour flight (5/5).  The food was pretty typical for what one gets on a domestic flight in the US (3/5).  If I hadn’t have had lounge access, it would’ve been a pretty light ‘brunch’.  The service was solid as well; no complaints there (4/5).  The in-flight entertainment was solid, especially for a domestic flight (5/5).  I had a great flight and always thoroughly enjoy internationally equipped aircraft flying domestically (22/25 overall).

From a points perspective, I earned BA Avios based on the distances flown (2 730 and 1 250, respectively) and 40 tier points for each leg.  I bought the ticket using my Chase Sapphire Preferred card through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal, which earned me 5x Chase UR points/$ for a total of 2 108 points.  The total points are worth around $83.36, for a return of around 19.8%.