Back in the Secure Area, Flagship Lounge and AAdmirals Club – Summer Tier Points
In this… epic.
- When will I learn to jump on a fare?
- Wednesday Afternoon.. off to the airport
- EI273 Birmingham to Dublin Airport
- Into Dublin for some Donuts. And Pokemon
- The Travelodge in Swords, Dublin Airport
- Pre-Clearance fun at Dublin airport, 51st and Green Lounge
- AA291 Dublin to New York JFK – Business Class
- A Manhattan Char Siu Adventure
- Back in the Secure Area, Flagship Lounge and AAdmirals Club
- AA2652 New York JFK to San Francisco International – Transcontinental Business Class
- The Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport
- Do the BART into San Francisco, The Intercontinental Mark Hopkins, San Francisco
- Sausalito: Which ferry to take?
- Halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge
- Fooding around San Francisco
- The Crowne Plaza, San Francisco Airport
- Early start at San Francisco airport
- AA164 San Francisco International to New York JFK – Transcontinental Business Class
- The joy of terminal swaps, BA Pre-departure dining
- BA174 New York JFK to London Heathrow – Club World (Business Class)
- An Early Morning Change at Heathrow
- BA828 London Heathrow T5 to Dublin Airport – Club Europe
- Doughnuts and coffee shops – Exploring Dublin
- Once more with feeling at Dublin Airport
- FR666 Dublin Airport to Birmingham Airport
- 600 TP: Done
Once at Jamaica train station, I followed the signs back to the AirTrain, and swiped yet another $5 to use the beloved rubber tracked train thing.
Meh. At least they have automated gates here as opposed to swipe turnstiles.
Move it people.
At least from this angle, you can get some rather good photos as you go around the JFK Complex.
Alitalia and Austrian Airlines
Delta Widgets everywhere
Long 767-400ER is long.
One of these planes is not the others, one of these kinda belongs…
A long way from home.. and a white tail too…
Still a sight-stopper – Singapore Airlines Airbus A380.
The classic TWA terminal – soon to be a hotel. Well, it’s to be an improvement to some of the hotels in the JFK area.
To fly, to poke a tail out.
To interlope, to serve.
With the train reaching Terminal 8, I got off and made my way into the hell-pit that seems to be the badly designed access way to planes called Terminal 8. Naturally, the escalators were out of order. So it was time for an adventure around the back-end of Terminal 8 train station.
Down we go!
Down down, deeper than down.
With a boarding pass in hand, I headed to the premium security queue. A short wait, and I was in the tender loving bosom of the TSA and their lovely machines.
Oh who am I kidding?
Thankfully, my bags didn’t get pulled over, so once I rebuilt everything (as well as the speed they go – they can challenge Icebergs for melting times), I got on my way into the next lounge stop of the trip – the American Airlines Flagship Lounge.
Terminal 8
American Airlines Flagship Lounge.
With a smile, I was welcomed to the lounge complex. With a beep, I was directed to the Flagship lounge.
No guesses which camera I used here.
Entranceway.
The lounge has been extensively remodelled since I was here last in 2015, and it’s a lot more busy. And I mean lots.
Busy busy
To the point, that finding somewhere to sit was a challenge in itself.
As for the lounge, there’s a lot of fresh food options, a private dining area, free-flow bubbles and working Wi-Fi.
And USB power outlets… and wireless charging too!.
These things in life help when you’ve walked around Manhattan
The food options were thankfully extensive for those who wanted to fill up before flying – and it’s really impressive to see American Airlines have upped their lounge game so well to exceed Europen lounges (and starting to touch Asian levels of service)
Souper.
Food options
Freestyle coke machine and alcohol.
As I was pretty full from earlier, I stuck to the bubbles and water to keep myself hydrated, and to catch up with the world.
It’s hydration of sorts (I also drunk a fair bit of water too)
And a view of the tarmac.
I’m going to be honest – American Airlines has upped its Flagship lounge game – heavily in my opinion (compared to the old one), but there is a problem with that – and it’s the sheer volume of people in the lounge. Whilst it’s seems there’s plans afoot to upgrade the lounge (at the cost of the Admirals Club space in the main T8, leaving the T8 Satellite lounge as the only AA Admirals club.
That has its ups and downs.
With time edging onward, I decided to head to the gate – in case of shenanigans and such.
Translation: Move it to the gate!
Bling my Boeing 777?
Oh. “From New York to the World”.
I headed out of the lounge and out to the Terminal 8 Satellite
When was the last time you looked up?
Heading back up…
Interestingly – not adverting New York’s sewer system.
Pretty much as I popped up on the T8 satellite, the departure for AA2652 had been put back half an hour.
Uh oh.
Talking to the gate agent, the flight was actually “on decision”. Never a good sign when you’ve got a plane-load of passengers wanting to go cross-country.
Rather than occupy the gate agents time, I decided to head to the Admirals Club to wait out the delay.
AA Admirals Club, T8 Satellite.
Lounge entrance.
I was welcomed to the club, and headed inwards. If the Flagship lounge is shiny and bright… this lounge is the opposite.
But sometimes, that’s good thing – especially when you can find a seat near a window without trying.
Let’s have an explore.
Cyber Cafe? How twee.
The quiet area. Shhhh.
Traditional seating
But it;’s a lot easier to find seats.
The catering selection was a bit more… basic… that the Flagship lounge, but still usable.
Soups
Cruets
Cookies and Brownies
Snacks.
I grabbed some water and settled in for the wait. And boy… it was a long one, with the flight eventually delayed 2 and half hours. It seems that one of the arriving runways at San Francisco had been shut – so they were down to one runway.
Meanwhile, I did what any avgeek with a camera does – started snapping pictures of planes.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER at rest
Qantas Boeing 747-400 – a week before they were withdrawn on the route.
Angry 737 remains angry about something.
Finnair Airbus A33-300 taxing away.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER going onto gate.
American Eagle E-135 bossing around the airport like it owns the place.
Well – it fills in the quiet minutes doesn’t it?
With the departure time no longer moving back, I headed to the gate, where boarding was just about to commence.
1) Meh. 2) a Flight to LGA???
Heading down to the gate, preparations were in full swing. We were late to say the least.
This being a premium flight, there were a lot of elites in line waiting for Group 1 to clear.
Eventually the call to board began, with Group 1 moving apace. With Group 2 called, I headed aboard the plane. My boarding pass was scanned, and I was cleared to board.
Next: AA2652 New York JFK to San Francisco International
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