A simple comparison of BA First vs AA First

[jj]

This is absolutely not a full review, but, due to the BA/AA transatlantic joint venture, many of us will sometimes have to choose between a BA or an AA flight on a particular route to the USA. Due to a flight cancellation, I recently flew AA outbound LHR-DFW and BA inbound (my first experience of AA First), so I thought that a few rambling thoughts might be helpful.

Ground experience:
Many ground facilities are shared between AA and BA. However, those provided by AA are disgracefully inferior, and BA should be ashamed of its partner. AA has no equivalent of T5’s First Wing and, in particular, AA’s lounges are exceptionally poor. Even as a F passenger in DFW, my alcohol choice was restricted to house wine or one mass-produced lager. Food was a tiny build-your-own-mezze bar, brownies or fruit; anything else attracted an additional charge. Seating was utilitarian with no comfortable sofas. Despite being a major hub for AA, DFW has no other Oneworld lounges, and the contrast with BA’s glorious Concorde Room in LHR T5 or the splendid Cathay lounge in T3 is stark. HfP already has excellent reviews of those lounges so I won’t go into further detail, but, in short, you will be made to feel very special as a First customer in LHR. You will feel very ordinary in DFW.

Conclusion: big win for BA (although many facilities are shared)

Boarding:
On entering the plane in F, the BA crew has never failed to greet me by name and show me to my seat; this trip was no exception. On AA, I wasn’t shown to my seat or welcomed by name. I have no difficulty finding my seat on an aircraft so this isn’t a huge issue but, again, BA manage to create a sense of occasion that was completely lacking with AA.

Conclusion: big win for BA

Seat and cabin:
The AA seat was big and comfortable but a little crude from an aesthetics persepctive. The BA seat (787) was also big and comfortable, but was also very stylish. The AA cabin was very open, which gave a great sense of space but afforded no privacy; this was certainly no the place to work on a sensitive corporate document or display poor taste with entertainment system choices. I preferred the privacy, but others may prefer an open environment – it’s a matter of personal choice. The BA loo was a disappointment, though, being much smaller than AA’s, and I required considerable acrobatic talent to change into my pyjamas without my clothing inadvertently mopping up the suspicious puddles of fluid on the floor.

Conclusion: small win for BA

Crew:
Consistently friendly and courteous, the BA crew greeted me by name throughout and treated me like an intelligent fellow member of the human race. They regularly walked through the cabin looking for anyone who needed help, provided my meal at the time of my choosing and met my every need. As usual, the flight manager introduced herself personally, and all staff working in First dropped by for a chat. I listened with interest as they told me about their careers, aspirations and fears, and they gave me valuable travel advice on a range of destinations. In return, they were interested in me and wanted feedback on BA’s service. Some of the crew were seasoned old hands while others were barely out of school, but all were charming and great company on a long and potentially boring flight. Maybe I have been lucky, but I have never had a poor BA crew: I have always found that they hit the sweet spot between dull professionalism and boorish mateyness, and this flight was no exception. The BA crew made my day.

In contrast, I was invisible to the AA crew who spent most of the flight reading books in the galley. Never once addressed by name, service was provided only when requested. Abrupt to the point of surliness, small-talk was definitely not an option. I would have been better served by a robot.

Conclusion: massive, massive, massive win for BA

Food and wine:
The BA food was very pleasant and beautifully presented. It met mid-range restuarant standards, and I could eat when I liked. However, AA gave me no choice of dining time, so I was served food when I wasn’t hungry and survived the rest of the flight on a few packets of crisps that I needed to fetch from the galley myself. AA’s food was exceptionally poorly presented (I really should have taken photographs) with food splodged onto plates with no finesse, creating the impression that the crew resented having to serve food to stuck-up First passengers. AA’s food wasn’t to my taste but that’s probably a cultural thing: salty, sweet and industrially flavourful, I struggled to eat it – but, to be fair, I could probably say the same thing about 90% of land-based American restaurants. Only BA offered canapes, and, sadly, neither aircraft could accommodate buddy dining.

Conclusion: big win for BA unless you prefer to eat American food out of a dog bowl

Entertainment and other stuff:
I didn’t turn on the entertainment system on either flight as I had a couple of good books with me that I much prefer. AA insisted that the blinds were pulled down for the entire flight so that others could watch their movies in the dark, a huge downside for someone like me who loves to watch the continents unfold on a long haul flight. So don’t bother with a window seat on AA; it’s useless frippery. BA’s cabin lighting was much better for reading in the gloom: it was easy to shine a light reading on my page with BA, but I had to hold my book at various strange angles to catch the light on AA. Maybe Americans prefer movies to books.

Conclusion: win for BA

Overall thoughts:
BA made me feel special; AA didn’t. And being made to feel special – or, more importantly, having one’s spouse made to feel special – is exactly why many of us scratch together the pennies to fly in F. So I am unlikely ever to pony up the cash for an AA First flight, but I will continue to do so for BA.

• This topic was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .

[astra19]

Very interesting review, thanks. In spite of what you read on these forums and others I’ve always thought BA’s in-air service is one of its biggest benefits and most consistent points. Sometimes when I see AA flights for the same price as BA I’ve wondered whether I should give it a go but I don’t think I’ll bother. First on BA really is a premium experience even if the staff is a big part of that.

[Lady London]

Thanks for your review @astra19 very enlightening.
Were you on the 77W aircraft?

“…Display poor taste with entertainment choices…”
Whatever can you mean 🙂 ?

[jj]

I was on a 787 with BA a 777 with AA. I slightly prefer BA’s 777 to the 787 in F, but the difference isn’t huge.

Talking to the BA crew, I was particularly impressed by the obvious love they have for their job and for the passengers. I asked one which cabin she preferred to work in, and she said that she was torn between First and Economy – she loves First because she has time to talk to passengers and deliver great service, but she also loves economy because so many of the passengers there have saved all year to go on a big holiday and she has the chance to make their big trip really special. If I heard someone give that answer so convincingly in a job interview, I’d hire them immediately.

[meta]

Just as a reminder, if you choose AA when flight is cancelled then you also lose UK261 rights on the inbound.

[masaccio]

DFW is terrible. It’s only advantage I think is that it’s a hub and has some late flights to LHR so it’s handy for an after work departure back to the UK Friday evening. Sort of a US equivalent of indirecting through HKG.

[dougzz99]

DFW is a bit odd as rather than an AA hub, it’s AA’s home. Yet I believe it lacks a Flagship First checkin. It does have a Flagship lounge and FF dining, but like LAX it’s presently shut, with I think only MIA and JFK being open. AA crew can definitely seem detached and surly in any cabin. You often read that the prime long haul routes like London are won on length of service, so best routes get most untouchable and unmanageable long term secure staff, not ideal. I don’t doubt your experience, but based on balance of reviews I think most would say there’s little to choose between the two services, and in DFW you got a losing location and a bad experience.

[jj]

@dougzz99 I had inbound and outbound internal connecting flights with AA but didn’t comment directly on these in my original post. The AA lounges were uniformly miserable wherever I went. And all of the AA crew were detached and surly, and I have never encountered anything like this on BA in any cabin, short haul or long haul.

I don’t think that ‘untouchable and unmanageable long term secure staff’ can be blamed: some of my BA crew had been with the airline for decades but oozed freshness and professionalism. I don’t thing that age and length of service are particularly well correlated with a strong customer service ethic.

[Peter K]

I’ve only been on 3 AA flights, 2 transatlantic and one internal (all in economy, before discovering HfP), and the staff were overwhelmingly poor.

My wife and I both agreed that we wouldn’t want to fly with them ever again.

[PGW]

I don’t think either F offering can be described as a leader in its field but, while very far from perfect, I find the BA cabin overall to be superior to that on AA. Ultimately AA is a domestic airline with with some international routes a few of which offer 8 seats in F whereas BA is broadly the opposite so needs a better F product to seek to be competitive with its long haul rivals. I’ve long thought that AA should follow the example of most of the US carriers and drop the F option especially as the very good J product on the 77W is barely distinguishable from it.

I have status and points/miles in both FF programmes and the 1 area I would take AA F over BA is on eastbound redemptions where the fees on BA are up around £550 whereas on AA they are under £5.

• This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .

[PGW]

posted in error

• This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .