2024 begins! Flagship First JFK-SFO

Welcome to my first 2024 flight of the blog!  This flight happened only one day after my last flight of 2023, since it was time for me to head back to California because I had to go to work on Jan 2.

I had originally booked the 9 pm flight using points, but as is basically always the case with Transcontinental Flagship First Class, there were seats available on the 4 pm flight.  I was able to get put on standby for the earlier flight online, but even though there were five (5) out of ten (10) seats available, I couldn’t get a confirmed change.  For those who have kept track of my travels starting in New York over the years, you’ll know that I really struggle to get to JFK correctly.  This time was no exception, but honestly, at this point, the problems I am now having are not my fault. 

I started my journey off in White Plains NY, and I checked with my friend TJ to know exactly what train to get just to be sure.  I got the express service to the recently renovated Grand Central Station, which was indeed really nice!

From here, I got a train over to the JFK air train stop in Jamaica, NY.  From there was where the problems started.  Because of protests, the air train wasn’t running all the way to the terminals, so we had to be put on connecting buses once on the airport property.  I checked Google Maps and the traffic in the airport wasn’t bad so that didn’t seem like a bad idea to me.  I was very wrong.  It took nearly an hour to go what Google Maps claimed should’ve been 10 minutes.  I finally got to Flagship First check-in about 55 minutes before my flight.  Check-in closes 45 minutes before departure, so it wasn’t a problem.  At the desk, I explained the situation and was informed that my baggage would be checked onto the later flight since I was only flying standby.  I pushed back on this given that half the cabin was empty and that I was literally the top person on the standby list.  She listened to and understood my assessment and conferred with her supervisor who was able to check my bag onto the earlier flight.  She then told me to get moving through security because the flight would be boarding soon.

I cleared security quickly and even had time to stop by the Chelsea Lounge for a glass of champagne to recover from the ordeal of getting to the airport.  During my brief visit to the Chelsea Lounge, an attendant immediately came over to offer me a meal with my champagne, which is actually way better service in the 10 minutes that I was in that lounge than I had ever experienced previously there, so I’ll make it a point to check out the lounge there again sometime to give it another chance.  Once boarding started, I headed to the plane and was confirmed off the standby list into seat 5A.  It’s worth noting that seats 3F and 5F were also empty and at least one other person cleared off the standby list into Flagship First (I believe she was in 2A).  And then the American app confirmed that my bag had made it onto the flight, which was great.

After settling into seat 5A, it occurred to me that it might be fun to see if I can try out every seat in the cabin before it retires.  So, we will call it a mild stretch goal to try to select a different seat every time.

I wasn’t even the last to board as seat 4A was initially unoccupied when I boarded.

Seeing a 1-1 configuration on a narrow-body continues to just look so sleek.

The standard menu and headphones were waiting at my seat:

As well as an amenity kit and a water bottle. 

Interestingly, this wasn’t the standard amenity kit that you get.  I think it’s actually the one they give you in business class.  That being said, I’ve learned recently that American puts basically the same things in all the kits, so it doesn’t really matter.

I had pre-ordered a meal for my later flight, but since I had swapped flights, the meal request didn’t transfer. 

I perused the daytime menu:

And then I noticed that there was no wine list:

I asked the flight attendant what wines were onboard, and he (very reasonably) flipped my menu over to show me the list, and was very surprised it wasn’t there.  I’m not surprised AA didn’t tell their flight attendants that they were ditching wine lists.

No problem though.  I was still very happy to be there:

Since it was January, the sun set very early, and I got to watch it from the sky:

Also given that it was winter time, my hands were a bit cracked, so I decided to open the amenity kit for once!  And the hand cream was literally empty and broke when I tried to squeeze it…

So Radio Bombay is not exactly a brand I’m impressed by at this point… No matter.  Since 5F was empty, I just went and took the kit from that seat and then got some lotion.

According to the timestamps on the pictures, the inflight service began just under 30 minutes after takeoff. As is standard, the meal service in Flagship First began with a welcome drink (champagne for me), mixed nuts, and olives.

Probably my favorite thing to do on a plane is to watch a movie with dinner, so I indulged in that on this flight (as usual).  Interestingly, the IFE was fine at first but later in the flight it broke.  I was tired and decided to sleep, so I didn’t bother trying to deal with it getting fixed.  Especially because soon after I woke up, they collected the headsets anyway.

Since I had had so many problems just getting to the airport, I hadn’t had time to eat in the lounge, so I was actually hungry for the meal for once, haha.  About 5 minutes after the table was set, the tray with the salad and appetizer was delivered.  The spinach salad was simple and was what you’d expect given the description on the menu.  I’m not a fan of spinach salads, but many people are.  I ordered the poached shrimp as my appetizer.  I guess poached means it was cooked at a lower temperature than boiling, but ok.  It just tasted like shrimp cocktail on some cooked, cold vegetables, which is basically all it was.  I enjoyed it.

Next up came the soup, which is always my favorite course.  And it’s the main differentiator of the service from Flagship Business on this route.

And then finally, I was served the halibut.  It was fine.  The fish was cooked properly but was a bit bland.  The sauce and side dishes were appropriate for the dish but didn’t really add much to it in terms of flavor or anything.

Finally, of course, I ended the meal service with an ice cream sundae, which was the highlight of the meal as always.

And then shortly before landing, we were served cookies.

In summary, I enjoyed this flight a lot once I was actually on the plane.  None of the problems I had on the ground were the result of American Airlines, and actually, every person I interacted with was very helpful.  New York isn’t really a place known for having the friendliest people, but efficient and professional is a perfectly acceptable vibe for me.  And my brief stop in the Chelsea lounge was actually really good, so I’ll give it a 4/5 for right now.  I really liked seat 5A.  I was so far back that it felt really private, and as we know, I do love this seat (5/5).  The service on this flight was good but unmemorable (4/5).  The food was decent but a bit bland and unremarkable, except for the sundae (4/5).  The IFE was fine, given the small issue I’d had with it (3/5). 

I booked the 9 pm flight with 55,500 AAdvantage miles, which is worth around $720.  That’s a bit more than I’d usually like to pay for this flight, but given that it was New Years, it wasn’t a bad deal overall.  Since it was an award flight, I didn’t earn any miles or tier/loyalty points for this trip, so I put my AAdvantage number (Platinum status) on the booking because there weren’t any Oneworld Emerald perks that I was eligible for.