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You are here: Home / Trips / SFO TP Run / Summer Tier Points – AA2652 JFK to San Francisco International (Transcontinental Business Class)

Summer Tier Points – AA2652 JFK to San Francisco International (Transcontinental Business Class)

10/10/2018 by Kevincm

 AA2652 New York JFK to San Francisco International (Transcontinental Business Class) – Summer Tier Points

San Francisco Trip Report Header

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

AA6245  New York JFK to San Francisco International

a woman in a green shirt pulling luggage
Leg 3 of… I’ve lost count already.

I was welcomed aboard the plane, and turned past the first class seats to my home in the 2nd to last row of business class.

Settling in again, I noticed the seats – which again is the B/E Diamond seat as seen on the Dublin to JFK segment. The major difference with seat is that a full Thales Avant IFE System had been integrated straight into the product as opposed to the Samsung Galaxy IFE fudge use on the 757s.

a group of people on an airplane

Boarding in progress

a seat with a bag on it
The B/E Diamond Seat.

a close up of a power outlet
Outlets. In a place where one has to be a contortionist.

a black rectangular object with a white label
Yep. Row 9 out of 10…

a close up of a seat
The control panel for the seat – a lot better shape than was on the 757….

a close up of a panel
Overhead panel. And yes – there are air nozzles. 

a screen on a plane
IFE screen – a Thales AVANT system.

a screen on a seat
Legroom

One thing I did note was how far back business goes in this plane. I’m sure we’re all aware of how much First and Business Class consume. So I was rather surprised to find myself on the wing as opposed to the front of the plane.

an airplane wing in front of a building
I’m used to seeing this view in Economy Class.. not business…

It really shows how much space is given over to the premium cabins on this route, on a narrow body plane.

A pre-departure drink came around along with headphones. And this being a premium service there was only one drink to have,..

a glass of liquid on a table
Bubbles!

Menus were also handed out.

a hand holding a menu

With a configuration as new as this – I had to get to grips with where the emergency exits are. Gone are the cavernous rows of economy seats. I was confused as heck.

a blue and white brochure

an airplane instruction booklet
Ah. Got it.

With the plane boarding quickly, the cabin was buttoned up for departure. And we all know what that means – it’s time for that safety video.

a screen on a seat

Even though there was a wait on the ground whilst SFO control decided if they wanted us or not, eventually, we were allowed to push back for the slow taxi around JFK – and we got pretty much the full grand tour that day.

an airplane wing at night
Off we go… at last!

an airplane wing at night
Well, the sunset is pretty at least. Would had preferred to see it in the sky…

a view from inside of an airplane
Cabin during departure. 

airplanes on the runway at night
Terminal 8

Of course, with the grand tour, there were a lot of planes hiding in the evening dusk.

a plane on the runway at night
Royal Jordan Boeing 787

a plane at night with a building in the background
Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER

a plane at an airport at night
Aeroflot Boeing 777-300ER

a plane at night with the moon in the background

an airplane on the runway at night
Air France Airbus A380.

an airplane at night
Air Italy Airbus A330.

a plane on the runway at night
More Delta Widgets

an airplane at night
Etihad Airbus A380

The long taxi continued as we proceeded to the runway.

a plane at night with bright lights
British Airways Boeing 747 heading back to London

a jet plane on a runway at night
JetBlue A321 heading off

a plane on the runway at night
Delta A320 heading off

Eventually AA2652 lined up for the runway, and powered down it for a quick take off. The captain was not in a mood to hang around it seems after waiting for clearance to depart.

 

an airplane wing in the sky

an airplane wing in the sky

an aerial view of a city at night

an airplane wing in the sky
Climbing out.

With the plane climbing to 10,000ft I decided to see what Wi-Fi connectivity there was on-plane. And interestingly to me, it wasn’t the Gogo wireless I was expecting – rather it was the Viasat solution.

a screenshot of a phone
Oh Hello…

This intrigued me to say least. I ponied up the $16 to use the service, and like most nerds, hit the speed tester.

a screenshot of a phone

Not too shabby in the least. With the Ka based service ready for anything I threw at it (be it Instagram posts, Tweets, Video playback, it seemed a reliable solution to use.

Meanwhile, the Thales Avant IFE system was its usual self. It’s pretty crisp and easy to use, and in business class, comes with a handset to control and select items with.

a hand holding a phone and a screen
IFE at takeoff

a hand holding a cell phone

a hand holding a phone with a screen showing a couple of people on it
Controlling the Big Bang Theory.

a pair of headphones on a black surface
And with Bose Headphones. These won’t be around too long as American Airlines switch to Bang & Olufsen headphones

First service followed… and what is it? Oh, We should all know by now.

a bowl of nuts and a glass of water
Hot nuts!

The dinner service followed, firstly with the starter tray.

a plate of food on a tray
The tray.

AA2652
Duck Starter.

AA2652
Salad with strawberries. This is a thing it seems.

The main course followed of the rubbed chicken.

a plate of food on a tray

Not a bad meal at all. Some rather fresh flavours… although I’m not sure with what’s going on with the cheese mash thing. But passable none the less.

After the meal, I was pretty tired. So I did the only thing I could really do – apart from watch The Big Bang Theory on a loop – which was put the seat in to the bed position and doze off for a few hours.

And I pretty much was out cold for around 3 hours. Guess that lack of sleep was catching up with me rather fast to put it bluntly.

I woke up as the plane neared San Francisco International – well pretty much when the headphones were due for collection and the sparkling water service  began. Just a testament to how comfortable those B/E Diamond Seats are when trying to get some sleep in the air (its one that I don’t fail to grab some Zzz’s on ever).

a man standing on the ceiling of an airplane
Wake up – its time to land.

With the plane smoothly flying across North America, the plane looped out of the bay, before looping to make an approach on San Francisco International.

a map of the united states with planes flying
Like British Rail.. .we’re getting there.

With the landing preparations complete, the cabin was put into darkness for landing.

a dark room with a blue light
In darkness to bind them…

a light on the wing of an airplane

a view of a city from an airplane
Coming in over the bay.

With ease, AA6252 landed safely at San Francisco International Airport.

With the welcome speech over, our plane continued to taxi straight to the gate, coming to a rest at the Terminal 2.

an airplane at night with lights in the background
Cathy Pacific Airbus A350-900. 

airplanes at an airport at night
United Airlines planes resting.

airplanes at an airport at night
Coming into the American Airlines terminal.

a plane with a couple of workers
This way please…

With the bongs going off, the mass scramble for the exit begun, I gathered my two bags and thanked the crew.. and headed off into SFO.

a group of people sitting in an airplane
Time to go!

I thanked the crew and wearily headed off the plane. The first part of the flying adventure was over for now.

Overall: The hard product is the real winner here  on AA2652 – with the B/E Diamond seat being a star to sleep on. The crew was friendly and welcoming, and the food was more than passable. A shame that flow control came into play to mess up the timings – which delayed me by a good 2 hours 30 plus.

Whilst I’m not an advocate of EU261 everywhere – there seems to be room for service recovery here for the delays… even if the weather plays a part.

Next: The Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport.


Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.

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