In the last post, I flew from London to New York. I had one final flight before I’d be back home to San Francisco: JFK-SFO. I had just flown this same flight in Flagship First Class a month prior, and I was interested to see how it would compare. My previous JFK-SFO flight was very late at night, so I had an interesting and very young crew. I also slept through half of it, but I fully expected to sleep through half the flight again anyway given how tired I was after my trip.
After clearing customs in the US, I sat outside in the sun for a few minutes before going back through security. It’s pretty annoying having to clear security in Warsaw, then London, and then New York, but here we are.
Check-in
I entered through the First Class check-in area, but I had already re-checked my bags, and since they don’t provide a security escort, I pretty much just walked straight through to security. I heard one AA agent explaining to another about the ‘weirdness’ that BA Gold members are sent through this door but AA Gold members are sent to the regular priority area. Alright.
I had visited the Chelsea lounge on my previous Flagship First flight from New York to San Francisco, and I was pretty unimpressed by it, so I decided to check out the Greenwich (Business Class/Oneworld Sapphire) Lounge and Soho (Oneworld Emerald) Lounge before my flight. First up is the Greenwich lounge!
Greenwich Lounge
The Greenwich Lounge exists in the old Flagship Lounge space that I have visited a couple times previously, including during the pandemic, when it was open only as an Admirals Club.
While the names of the lounges might not be informative, the entrance is pretty clearly marked on who can enter the lounge: Flagship Business on AA and Club World on BA, as well as non-AA/Alaska Oneworld Sapphire members. AA/Alaska Oneworld Sapphire members can only use the lounge when flying long-haul international.
The immediate interior looks largely the same as when it was still a Flagship Lounge:
This lounge has the same buffet area as before:
All the food looked just as good as before (and it was good before!), so I was happy to see that nothing had changed in this area.
The area that used to be reserved for Flagship First Dining is now “The Tasting Room”, which is a fun taproom concept:
There was no one at the bar when I visited, so I was, unfortunately, not able to try the flight of beer, but I’m sure I’ll have a chance on another trip! It was time to explore the Soho lounge!
Soho Lounge
The Soho Lounge and the Chelsea Lounge share the same entrance because both lounges are, in theory, “First Class lounges”. The Soho Lounge is open to customers flying in First Class on BA or Flagship First on AA as well as non-AA/Alaska Oneworld Emerald members. AA/Alaska Oneworld Emerald members can only use the lounge when flying long-haul international. For completeness, the Chelsea Lounge is only open to customers flying in First Class on BA or Flagship First on AA as well as BA Gold Guest List and AA Concierge Key customers. This is the same lounge concept that British Airways has in London, with its Galleries Business, Galleries First, and Concorde Room options. While writing this post, I realized I didn’t have a good review of the Galleries First Lounge, even though I’ve visited it many times. I will correct that on my next trip through Heathrow’s Terminal 5.
What this means in practice is that the Soho Lounge is the Oneworld Emerald lounge, so it’s relatively large and busy. The main part of the lounge is one large open plan area:
Along the right side is an extensive buffet, with elevated offerings compared to the Greenwich Lounge:
However, it’s worth noting that, although the food is a bit better quality, it is still a buffet. I selected some small bits to make a cheese plate:
I’d argue that this lounge is somewhat less interesting than the Greenwich lounge, simply because it’s smaller and there are fewer “zones” to take advantage of.
After finishing my cheese plate, I decided to visit the Chelsea Lounge for completeness and to take a shower before my flight to San Francisco.
Michael's travel blog 