AIRCRAFT: 77W / 777-300ER
ROUTE: HKG – LAX
SEAT: 8D and 8G (Business)
COST: CASH + SYSTEMWIDE UPGRADE (SWU)
We’d found reasonable fares to get from Hong Kong back to San Francisco, so this seemed like the perfect way to use my last two SWU’s (systemwide upgrades), which Executive Platinums get four of when they qualify/re-qualify. The SWU’s themselves have become increasingly harder to use over the years, and finding confirmable space at booking is almost non-existent. Nevertheless, our upgrades cleared a couple of weeks out, however I didn’t receive a notification from American. The way I found out is Chase – where I booked the flights – notified me to say that my fare class had changed. Minor details considering Hong Kong to LAX is about 13 hours.
Check-in
We arrived into Hong Kong on a separate VietJet flight from Phu Quoc around 3:00 in the afternoon. The American flight didn’t leave until nearly 8pm, so although it can be risky booking separate flights on an international itinerary, I felt comfortable with the 5 hour window. The downside is that because our itineraries were separate, we needed to get our bags and clear immigration.
We then headed back to the departures hall, where there was an American check-in desk but no agents. We were told by another couple who had just done this flight several weeks prior, that they wouldn’t open check-in until 3 hours out. Since I was Executive Platinum at the time, I was able to wait in the Flagship check-in line. At about 3.5 hours before departure, an agent arrived and checked our bags.
The Lounge (The Pier)
We made it through immigration and security in about 10 minutes. Once through, we beelined for The Pier – Cathay Pacific’s first class lounge – which I had access to thanks to my Executive Platinum status (oneworld Emerald). We’ve been to Hong Kong’s airport many times, and normally we’d lounge hop, but given that we only had about 2-2.5 hours to play with, we decided to stay put. We were able to take much needed showers, followed by a complimentary foot massage at the spa! Tip: put your name on the spa list the second you arrive, as the queue can be long.
Cathay has been in financial troubles for the last couple of years, and the political unrest in Hong Kong has only exacerbated the problems. The airline has begun to cut some services, including first class from many Asian routes. We also noticed that the champagne options in lounge had changed from Vueve Clicquot to Perrier-Jouet, a small, but noticeable downgrade.
After showering and foot massages, we dined in the sit-down dining room. As we always do, we ordered signature dan dan noodles, followed by our server’s recommendation to get the pork ribs. Both were excellent. We left the lounge with 45 minutes before our flight.
The flight
We arrived at our gate where boarding had already begun. We entered the plane through the middle door, where we were greeted by smiling flight attendants.
American’s cabin is a 1-2-1 configuration, with them middle seats in a reverse-herringbone setup, making them great for those traveling together. Overall, these are my favorite business class seats that American offers, which makes sense since the 77W is their flagship aircraft.
At our seats was Casper bedding, Bang and Olufsen headphones, and an amenity kit and slippers. I had my own pair of Bose headphones with me, but decided to give the new B&O headphones a try and they were excellent, and definitely an improvement over the Bose headphones offered for the last few years, though either would probably be considered industry leading since most airlines skimp here. Now if only American didn’t collect them 45-60 minutes prior to the end of the flight…
Hong Kong is one of the few routes where American offers pajamas, which are also by Casper and come in two sizes: S/M and L/XL. The route also features a mattress pad, which you won’t find on most European routes in business. American First Class (international) on the 77W will always provide PJ’s and mattress pads, regardless of route.
As for the bedding, I really do find the combination of Casper’s bedding with the seat to be almost unrivaled for business class. I consistently get 7+ hours of sleep on American flights, something I can’t even say with other airlines. To be fair, I’ve flown long haul American more than any other airline.
Shortly after stowing our bags, a flight attendant came around offering water, orange juice, or champagne (which was actually prosecco) in plastic cups. She seemed annoyed about something, although she did take the plastic wrappers from the bedding and threw them away. As of last week, American stopped wrapping bedding in plastic (yay for less plastic!), however prior, I always found it frustrating that FA’s almost never proactively clear the garbage from seats, even though every single person in business has it.
The amenity kits were well stocked with a brand I haven’t heard of, but can certainly get behind the name for a 13 hour flight with recycled air: Allies of Skin.
Menus were also at our seats:
The same flight attendant came by to confirm my order, which was “you ordered the seafood, right? Still want it?”. There was no greeting or addressing me by name, but just a quick interaction so he could move on. I find this so frustrating with many US flight attendants because it literally takes no additional effort. In this case, he was holding the manifest, which has my name on it!
We pushed back a few minutes prior to our scheduled 7:55pm departure and were airborne by 8:03.
Within about 20 minutes, flight attendants began rolling the drink cart through the cabin. I changed into my pajama’s as soon as the seatbelt sign was off.
I ordered a glass of champagne, but it turned out to be terrible. The next time the flight attendant walked by, I asked if I could switch to a Woodford Reserve, which he was happy to do. One thing to note if you’re a bourbon drinker, for whatever reason (*cough* cheap *cough*) American only caters a handful of Woodford’s for the entire plane, which seats close to 300 people. Order early and ask for a second one because they’ll likely be out after the initial beverage service.
About 30 minutes later, the meal service started. First up was a salad with a sweet potato, carrot, couscous, and feta appetizer. The appetizer was fresh, however it didn’t taste like much of anything and I couldn’t really differentiate between the sweet potato and carrot. The Chinese salad dressing was very good and went well with the chosen greens.
Next up was the main, prawns with polenta and a provencal sauce. The prawns were cooked perfectly, however the meal was kind of bland with a forgettable sauce. That said, it was a pretty good meal by AA standards, so I’ll call it a win.
Leigh ordered the cauliflower “crab” cake and it was excellent to the point of this would be something I would order in a restaurant.
For dessert, I had the cheese plate.
After my meal, I continued to watch movies. American’s entertainment options are robust, however they play about 90 seconds of ads before every selection, which gets old really quickly. Between the dishonest in-flight credit card pitches and the ads, American: stop soliciting your customers!
I decided to connect to the wifi to get caught up on some work. Prices for the entire flight are reasonable, however the speeds were spotty and do not allow streaming like AA’s domestic high speed wifi.
After desert service, the lights were turned down. At this point, proactive drink refills mostly stopped, so if you needed water or something, your best bet was to visit the galley, which has a self-service snack bar setup.
After getting about 7 hours of sleep, I woke up to the flight attendants getting the cabin ready for breakfast service. At this point, we were almost the San Francisco area, heading down the coast to LAX.
I’d pre-ordered the American breakfast and the omelette turned out to be one of the best egg dishes I’ve every been served on a flight. The omelette perfectly cooked; still light and fluffy. Prior to service, I quickly made my way to the lavatory to change back into my clothes before the eventual logjam ensued.
About 30 minutes from arrival, the crew began getting the cabin ready for arrival. We touched down a few minutes early, however the captain let us know we’d be parking in a remote stand. If you’ve never had to do this at LAX, keep that lucky rabbit’s foot with you, because it’s a massive pain in the ass. Passengers are forced to deplane by ramp, only to be loaded into a bus and be driven to Tom Bradly International Terminal to clear immigration and gather bags.
Once at baggage claim, we wait a good 40 minutes for our bags, watching every single non-priority tag bag come out ahead of ours. Bags are an area where American does not do well and I consistently notice that most works simply must ignore the orange priority tags.
Overall thoughts
For most of the last decade, American has been the leader in international business class hard product in the US (Delta and United have now caught up), and they’re the only US airline still offering international first class. The seats, lounges, wifi, and bedding all make for a “hard to screw up” combination. Our flight from Hong Kong was no different: we got plenty of rest, which is really the whole point of business class. The food and the service are always the x-factors when it comes to US airlines, and you really just don’t know what you’re in for until you’re in it.
Our crew was mostly friendly, but they certainly didn’t go out of their way for anything or even address me by name. I’ve had crews on both the low end and the high-end of the spectrum; this crew was about average, so no complaints from my end (it’s all about expectations!). I would (and probably will) fly American Flagship Business again, especially on the 77W. That said, if I’m given the option of flying say Cathay Pacific, then I’m going to fly Cathay 10/10 times because I can expect excellent service, whereas American is a dice roll.
Make no mistake, there are some incredible American flight attendants out there, I just believe that American should do more to invest in the soft product, which could make them a global leader in business class. Of course you’ll need to disregard what management is doing to their domestic experience.
Have you flown American Flagship Business? If so, what was your experience?
