June EuroTrip Part 5: New York to San Francisco. Flagship First Transcontinental to finish!

After having a great time at my friends’ wedding and attending a British Airways event in NYC, it was time to head back to California.  I didn’t have any specific plans on when I needed to head back, so I was able to remain flexible until a good flight popped up.  And the flight that popped up was an American Airlines Flagship First Class ticket from JFK to SFO.  While I’m extremely excited every time I get to fly Flagship First, from a making content for this blog perspective, it’s become a bit silly honestly, given that I have a post about it about every 2 months at this point. 

That being said, this was the 9^th time that I flew Flagship First transcontinentally, so I feel like I’m now an authority on this product and have a sufficient spread of experiences to do a real rating.  Maybe I’ll put my analyst skills to good use and do an in-depth analysis of the product later this year.  Because, spoiler, my first flight of 2025 was Flagship First (just like in 2024 actually!)

The Flagship First experience at JFK begins with a dedicated check-in area, where you can sit down while they check you in for your flight and tag your bags. 

Walking through this area leads you to the precheck line, but you don’t get line skipping privileges like at LAX.  You know it occurs to me that it’d be interesting to compare the various A321T routes and rank them to see which is best based on the flights I’ve taken.  However, I haven’t taken JFK-LAX or JFK-SNA yet but I have done LAX-JFK.

Once you clear security, you can clearly tell you’re in the American Airlines terminal because you’re greeted by the American logos over the years.

Just past the logos, you see the big AA/BA sign pointing you toward specific lounges.

The Greenwich lounge is to the left in the old Flagship Lounge space.  The Soho and Chelsea lounges are to the right.  My Flagship First ticket gave me access to any of the three.

I headed straight for the dining room for dinner. As far as I’m aware, the menu has not changed since the Chelsea lounge opened. It’s a good menu, but some variety would seem to be in order.

I selected a corner seat that was setup for one person.

And I started with some Moët Ice Imperial Champagne

I then ordered the beetroot hummus plate. Everything tasted great, but the single piece of lettuce and single carrot was funny but did make for a nice presentation.

Next, I ordered the chicken milanese, which could easily be mistaken for a salad the way it was presented.

Finally, I had the peach crumble for dessert.

I had made it to the airport pretty early, so I had had plenty of time in the lounge. I decided, therefore, to board the plane early.

In my quest to sit in all 10 seats on this aircraft type, I selected seat 5A. Which I actually was an unexpectedly big fan of.

This flight had the “upgraded” amenity kit and slippers.

I was very happy to be flying my favorite domestic aircraft.

Since I had booked this flight so late, I hadn’t preordered a meal.

The meal service began with mixed nuts and olives as is standard.

I ordered the goat cheese croquettes, which were simply amazing. I like goat cheese, but I didn’t expect to love these as much as I did. It was served with a spinach salad, which was standard. I’m not a fan of spinach, but the salad was as expected.

Next up came the “spicy” tortilla soup. There was nothing spicy about it, but I’m also a big fan of tortilla soup!

Third came the sea bass, which was cooked nicely and served with a very nice glaze. I think this sea bass was better than average because I had the meal service when it was supposed to be served instead of waiting, haha.

And then finally I had a sundae, which was excellent as always.

I really enjoyed the meal service, even though it was only marginally different from previous flights. I think this time I just managed to find the correct combination off the menu for my tastes.

In summary, this final flight of the trip was excellent.  The extensive lounge options meant the ground experience was excellent, despite the delayed flight (5/5).  The seat was perfect for an evening flight after a long trip (5/5).  The meal service was great; I was particularly impressed with the fish (5/5). Service on this flight was as good as the meal (5/5). The IFE was standard, but I still think Flagship First should offer some type of free WiFi (4/5). That gives this flight an overall score of 24/25, which is impressive on its own but even more impressive when you consider that this is an American Airlines flight!

This ticket was booked separately from the rest of this trip. I booked it using 46 500 AAdvantage miles, which is around $700 worth of points, which is a decent deal. The flexibility offered by having a points booking made it well worth it.