I flew recently from Paris (CDG) to New York, JFK with American Airlines. I am planning to write later about the lounge, and I wrote yesterday about the over-zealous security checks at CDG.

AA uses a 767-300 aircraft on its routes from Paris using their old seats which are angled lie-flat. Seated in 2-2-2 in the Business cabin, there is a bit of shortage of overhead space, as large bags only fit in the side bins – even the new larger ones.

Each seat had a bag with a large pillow and duvet and the amenity kits were in the shoe well between the seats. I was lucky that the adjacent seat stayed empty for the trip to New York as this made it more restful.

It turned out that the inbound plane (from Chicago), had not been loaded with the power chargers for the tablets which AA issues in Business Class. This meant that there was no entertainment available, except the same, large screen available in Coach. (An email to AA elicited a $100 certificate for future travel as compensation.)

Food
The food, I find, is often pretty good on AA. I like that I can book my entree 30 days in advance of my trip via their web site and find it often nicer than on UA.

Starter and Salad:

Main Course (beef):

Dessert:

The food was hot and tasty. The bread was super and the staff were attentive throughout the service, bringing more win and water as needed.

(Other entree options were Rosemary Cumin Chicken, Crab Cakes or Buffalo Mozzarella Torteletti Pasta)

I watched some of the movies I had on the iPad and fell asleep for a while.

About an hour before landing the staff brought around the second meal, with a choice of a four cheese and pesto pizza or a grilled chicken cold plate.

We landed mid-field at gate 41, and had the long walk down, along the connecting corridor and back up to the US Immigration hall. Global Entry machines are on the far right and I was the only one using them. There was no queue at the normal immigration lines. A long queue at the Customs inspectors was by-passed using the special GE exit. About 2 minutes later I was back upstairs looking at the most enormous security line, which stretched from the TSA lines to the front of the terminal. Luckily TSAPre has been recently extended to non-US citizens and I had been selected this time. One other person in line meant 1 minute through TSA, and literally 10 minutes after landing I was in the Flagship Lounge looking at the aircraft I had arrived on.

The FL was fairly quiet and had a small selection of snacks – soup and chilli were the warm offerings.

I had about an hour to wait before my connection. Enough time to use the WiFi, have a drink and prepare myself for another 6 hours to San Francisco International.

AA Amenity Kit: