American operates a daily daytime flight from New York JFK to London Heathrow. The flight departs at 10:15am, and arrives at 10:10pm, same day. I’ve talked a lot about these daytime flights, including why I thin they’re the best option to Europe.
Since I’m an American Executive Platinum member, I accessed the American Flagship lounge prior to boarding, which you can see a previous review of here.
My flight was operated by a 777-200 aircraft, which features Business Class, Main Cabin Extra and Main Cabin. The upgrades on this flight are very easy to get – so if you’ve got miles to burn and want an upgrade, the daytime flights are so much easier to upgrade on than the evening redeye flights.
As I boarded the plane, I went right to my seat 3D. The cabin is laid out in a 1x2x1 map, with every seat having all aisle access. Each seat featured a menu, bottle of water and amenity kit already at the seat. Very frustrating, but the Bose headphones were passed out after take-off and not placed at each seat upon boarding.
My seat faced out into the aisle, which I actually like because it provides good privacy when sleeping.
Upon boarding, I was offered a choice of pre-departure beverage of either sparkling wine, water or orange juice.
After take-off, the meal service began with beverages and warm nuts, followed by the appetizer, a nice blend of quinoa and herbs with a wasabi mayonnaise. The salad was terrible – the flight attendant told me dressing was already on it, but I couldn’t detect even the slightest amount of dressing on it. It was like eating “pure” lettuce, which had little taste.
My main course was rather good – a bean pot pie with sour cream. I’d highly recommend ordering this if you see it offered. It’s a vegetarian meal, but had a nice crust filled with lots of beans and cheese.
Following dinner was the dessert course. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I usually go for the ice cream. However, the flight attendant brought around a tray of delicious looking very tarts, andI opted for that instead. It was terrifically tasty!
About an hour and a half prior to landing, an arrival meal was served – this time, a choice between a chicken caesar salad and lobster mac and cheese. I opted for the latter. It wasn’t bad, though there wasn’t a ton of lobster.
My Take
I really love the daytime flight options to London – they depart at a reasonable hour and arrive prior to getting a full night of sleep. The 777-200 has private seats in Business Class (my recommendation is to get one of the reverse facing seats), and since the flight is equipped with wifi, business travelers won’t have to miss a day of work to fly. It’s convenient and my go-to option for traveling to London.
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
Wow, it looks you had a great time. I love the meals especially the desert.
I always bring my own Bose Headphones since they pick theirs up an hour before landing. It is annoying but I guess they think people will run off with them even though they have the three prong thing so they can only be used with that type of connection.
Took A/A Business clasfrom Miami to Barcelona last month old plan every time my arm touched the arm rest the video changed
One time Cabin attendant walking down the isle put a hand on my arm rest and the video went and woke me
Better CK which plane A/A is flying because BC was not worth it