A very rare trip for the Queen and I on an airplane... without the kids.
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AA 1362 - ORDJFK
Got to experience the naked scanners for the first time -- they were in place at both the checkpoints we walked by. The Executive Platinum/Intl F checkpoint (two lanes) only had about three people in line other than HRH and I, so we sailed thru. Slightly longer wait at the "Priority Access" lane for Gold/Platinum/Int'l J had about 50 people for four lanes.
Since we were going international, we were able to use the Flagship Lounge instead going up to the Admirals Club. Hadn't been there for a morning flight. Food options were waffles (strange...), breads, yogurt and fruit.
About 1030, they brought out sandwiches, veggies and soup (tasty chicken & sausage gumbo). The lounge is at K19, and has a back-door to K16/18 which is where our flight was departing, so we literally walked out the back door, and 20 steps later were on the jetbridge.
Quick taxi, airborne about five minutes after pushback. Took off on 32L, and flew up & over the east side of Arlington Heights before heading east.
Nice flight across the lake, very easy to pick out Warren Dunes and other spots along the Lake Michigan shore.
Meal service was the same domestic entrees I'd seen in the past two months -- salmon salad or a cheese enchilada.
Checked into the Admirals Club on Concourse C, but it was overrun by families and had no seating, so we shot thru the tunnel over to the headhouse/Concourse D, and visted the Flagship Lounge. I didn't take a close look at the D club, but it looked to be a little more spacious than the C club, and had a little more character just looking down the entry hallway.
Flagship Lounge had seating for about 80 with only about 25 people made it much more relaxing than the Admirals Club -- of all the perks I get with Executive Platinum, this and the dedicated check-in locations are most important to me... The comp Upgrades are nice, but the airport experience is where I appreciate status the most.
About an hour prior, The Queen decided she wanted to do a little shopping, so we wandered around the offerings by Gate 10. Oakley, LaCoste, and a few other brand name retailers, plus a fairly well outfitted food court.
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AA198 - JFKMXP B763 2DG
Taxi'd out the long way -- passing over the Van Wyck, past T1 thru T4, and then out on 4R. Sitting in the center, it was hard to say what route we took, and the lack of Airshow didn't help.
Oddly, I don't recall having ever flown AA's new J product... When I took my round-the-world two years ago, I'd been upgraded to F on a 777, and the only other time I'd flown was in Y to CDG (sitting in the bulkhead, looking into J...).
Seat was the same as CX and IB -- the infamous accordion wedgie non-flat seat. To IB's credit, they've extended the seat pitch in their J cabin to facilitate fully flat. Not so on AA.
I found the layout to be entirely too cramped and almost claustraphobic. There was no way to bring out the tray table without inconveniencing your seatmate (they popped out of the center console), and the fabled snappable work tray was a falacy -- the tray which folded out of the bulkhead was so worn it was hanging about an inch lower than the main tray, and the way the lock worked, it couldn't engage.
IFE was a removable unit which needed to be plugged into the only available 12V powerport. They have an internal battery which is good for a couple hours, but from a usability standpoint, I don't like it. The selection of movies wasn't bad, but having to keep it plugged in stopped me from using the power to charge up my laptop or phone.
I also am growing tired of AA being the lone holdout with the 12V powerport... it was usable 10 years ago, but even my newest Jeep has a 110v outlet in it. I won't invest $100 in a 12V laptop adapter just for flying on AA, so I use a plain old car inverter, which had trouble staying engaged in the outlet on the bulkhead (no problems on the MD80, however...).
Meal options of beef, chicken Tandoori, fish, and a sausage lasagne. I chose the Tandoori as an express meal, and HRH had the beef as a standard presentation. I felt bad for finishing my meal so quickly, as she didn't like the beef, and my tray had been removed by the time her entree arrived. Since we'd eaten on the flight from ORD and snacked in the lounge, she wasn't that hungry to request another meal...
Breakfast was the ubiquitous melon, yogurt & cereal with choice of bagel or croissant. Flight attendant gave The Queen a choice -- mine was pre-plated... HRH also got juice, I didn't. One thing AA was good at for years was consistency in service. Not to be nit picky, but that wasn't evident on this flight.
Since I'd done the express meal, I settled in to watch "Valentine's Day" and then slept the remainder of the night until 0600 local. The Queen watched "Edge of Darkness" and "When In Rome" but had trouble sleeping due to a headache.
Arrival into MXP was from the south, with a very quick taxi. Being in the first row, we were also the first off the aircraft. We'd arrived just after Cathay Pacific and Qatar, so I expected a bit of a queue at immigration, but still sailed thru in just a few minutes. Bags were quick on the belt as well, and we were in the rental car on the way to Venice within 30 minutes of parking.
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Won't go into a lot of details about Italy. HRH loved it, I was indifferent.
The area north of Lacco to Bellagio was stunning. Venice and Verona were interesting but too crowded. I have no desire to ever see Torino or Genova again.
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AA199 - MXPJFK B763 5DG
Upgrades for the flight were outstanding as of the day before departure, so we were planning for the worst -- 9 hours in coach on AA, in which there was no IFE, and seats without a powerport.
Having driven up to MXP the night before, we were able to sleep in a bit. Dropped off the car at 0700, even though we had a 1030 departure. Check-in didn't open until 0730, so we were the first in queue for Priority Access line, while there were already about 20 other people queueud for the main cabin.
Pleasantly surprised to find the upgrades processed overnight, and we had adjoining seats in the center again.
Spent a few minutes exploring the shops and getting a few last minute gifts for the kids, and then headed up to the BA lounge. It's quite similar to the Terraces setup that used to be in T3 at LHR. An abundance of bite sized sandwiches and fruit juices out for breakfast, and no shortage of soft drinks, beer, wine and liquor... Wifi was not free (it hasn't been free in other BA lounges I've visited), but they had four PC's with web access available so I was able to check my Gmail and a few other sites while HRH took another stab at shopping....
Gate positioning was a bit ironic --- our AA flight was sandwiched between an Iran Air departure for Tehran, and an El Al departure for TLV. The position of the aircraft didn't lend themselves for a photo of the two or even three tails together, but it would have been an interesting shot.
One advantage of AA's docked IFE - I was able to watch the first third of "Old Dogs" before we'd even left the gate. Also watched "The Lovely Bones" and "Book of Eli" -- all very good movies. Tempting fate, I started a fourth movie -- "When In Rome" -- but didn't have time to finish before they took away the docked IFE (a distinct downside) about 30 minutes before landing.
HRH and I both ordered the chicken with mushroom sauce & rice. Appetiser of salmon & shrimp, salad with oil, and a dessert of ice cream with caramel & hot fudge mixed together...
Afternoon meal choice before landing of cheese & spinach pizza or a turkey and cheese sandwich, both served with a side salad. Both of us chose the pizza, which was OK but maybe a little too doughy.
Got about 90 minutes of sleep, until one of the guys across the aisle from me spilled his wine on his seat mate. FA's were cleaning up the mess but opened up the windows for light, which woke me up.
Arrival into JFK was on one of the west parallels, and then halfway around the airport to dock at gate 12 (right next to the FIS). Good part about parking at a close-in gate is the short walk. We had nobody in the passport control queue when we arrived, as both the ZRH and CDG flights had arrived about 20 to 30 minutes earlier, and it was still too early for Caribbean arrivals. Downside about arriving close in is it will still take just as long for the bags to be unloaded. Bags started arriving on the belt 30 minutes from landing, and as usual, mine was one of the first 30-40 out (all having orange premium tags).
We'd purchased some olive oil at MXP, which meant some repacking before continuing on. Did the best I could to roll up some jeans and other dense objects around the bottle, and then rechecked the bags.
Clearing security, we were pulled aside for contraband at the x-rays.
The offending object? A snow globe for my neice, also purchased in Milan and not posing any dangers there.... Despite there being less than 3 oz. of actual liquid in the object (the concept of the other objects inside the globe displacing water was lost on the TSA supervisor), I had to return to the ticket counter to check the snow globe... Maybe TSA has had warnings of flight crews being bedazzled by the floating and swirling glitter....
Fortunately, the gift shop had included styrofoam packing and a box, so I was able to check it with some degree of confidence that it would arrive in some semblence of a single piece.
Clearing security again, we headed up to the Flagship Lounge, where we enjoyed some sushimi and dim sum while listening to a combination of a man arguing with his girlfriend on the phone for 30 minutes (no joke), and CNN crowing about their new underwater "Gulf-cam" which was broadcasting live footage from underwater. Unfortunately, it was still showing sea life -- sharks swam by a couple of times, and they only go where there's food. The fact that it didn't look like "Finding Nemo" had them being quite alarmist about the effect of the oil spill and dispersents. Make no mistake -- there's a catastrophic effect from both, but the extent that the network was going to turn their underwater camera into proof of the devastation was a bit comical..
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AA1733 JFKORD MD80 3EF
A normal domestic flight, aside from a 55 minute taxi-out, mainly due to flow control. Spent the hold parked across from Hangar 12 (the newer of the two old TWA hangars), which was a bit sad. All the old TWA and Pan Am hangars are rust streaked, and vacant from what I can tell. As of a couple years ago, the older of the TWA hangers was housing debris from WTC, including subway cars and first responder vehicles, but I'm not sure how much of that is still around, nor am I certain what will become of it. Putting it on display seems a little disrespectful, but at the same time, we need reminders of what happened only nine years ago.
Storms enroute were quite evident from the turbulence we encountered along the way. Flight attendants stayed in their seats for the first 30 minutes of the flight, but they still did a full meal service. Choice of cheese tortolini or a steak filet. I opted for the pasta, while The Queen slept thru until the chocolate-chocolate-chip cookies were delivered...
Landed from the west on 9R at ORD, and what should have been a quick taxi got messed up with a stroll down to the far end of 9R because our gate was occupied...
Snow globes arrived intact, as did the litre of olive oil that had been packed into my duffel bag.
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Summary....
Ground experience (TSA excepted) -- Excellent. Lounges in all airports met or exceeded my expectations.
Flight experience -- Good. The seat and IFE on the 763 make me appreciate Iberia, but the food was excellent. Service from the FA's on the MXPJFK leg was exceptional.
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