DFW Centurion Lounge

September 2017

From the Hyatt Regency, it was a short 5 minute walk thru the parking garage to Terminal 3.

Although my departure gate was C4, I headed to the D Terminal for breakfast at the Amex Centurion Lounge.

Yum, yum.

Then up to the Skylink train back to C.

DFW-HNL
AA 123
767-300
9:10a-12:35p
September 28, 2017

I arrived at T-55 and boarding had already started.

Fortunately no equipment swap today and we had a newly reconfigured 763 and with Wifi! My seat 2L, the bulkhead with extra footwell space.

A peek into the Main Cabin Extra cabin. If one had to fly Economy on this bird, these would be the seats to snag.

No exactly a thorough cleaning job overnight.

Today's menu, or the crapshoot known as AA catering.

And more rain this morning.

No built in IFE because AA is too cheap and making $10 Billion a year is not enought, but tablets were distributed.

Showtime, AA style.

Apparently, AA's catering cost cutting has now reached the dishwasher.

The Sriracha Crab Dip was disgusting and inedible, and I like sriracha. The baguette slices were hard and I'm guessing at least 2 days old. Pretty sure that I could have used the entire baguette as a hammer.

Likewise the Baby Lollo Rossa and Blue Cheese salad. Gross and inedible.

On the other hand, the Grilled Sea Bass was quite good. Perfectly moist although a little more salsa would have been nice.

For dessert, the traditional ice cream sundae with chocolate sauce and mac nuts was very nice.

One of the drawback of being on the right side near the front is light from the galley. God forbid any of the flight crew would think to use the curtains.

The seat is full lie flat and I slept for a couple of hours.

About 2 hours out, the snack options were Fruit and Cheese plate or Tomato Basil Cream Cheese dip. Flatbread, carrot and olive was nice but the dip didn't have much taste and was too heavy.

On descent to HNL, the usual lovely Hawaiian scenery.

OK, the cabin may be renovate but apparently remove some of the old equipment cost too much.

January 2016

Montréal-Denver

Saturday, January 16, 2015

I arrived back at the airport just before midnight on Friday and returned my rental to the Avis lot. Man is this garage cold and dirty in the winter. -12C /10F tonight and a wind chill that made it a lot colder,

Just follow the signs to the US departures wing and the Marriott.

How convenient is this hotel? With Global Entry, I made it from my room to our gate in under 15 minutes.

YUL-DFW
AA 1045
737-800
7:44a-11:15a
January 16, 2016
Breakfast

Choice of "Vegetable Omelet" or "French Toast". When I asked FA whether is was real omelet or the dreaded strata, she fessed up and confirmed that it was the strata. So, I opted for dessert this morning. Choice of croissant or a thin 6" diameter biscuit that looked like it had been run over by a catering truck. Maybe, that's the Canadian way.

Crew was a little distracted mid-flight as they seemed more interested in chit-chatting than clearing trays.

We arrived at the D Terminal, although at the far end at D40. With 75 minutes to connect, I decided to walk to D15 and have a bite in The Centurion Lounge. Good move as the new menu is outstanding.

The Molasses Tabasco Smoked Pork Loin was simply fabulous... with Dijon Mustard Aoili and Pear Chutney. Wow. The Pulled Chicken Enchilada was also great.

At T-40, I headed for the SkyLink and Terminal C. Yet another gate change this morning and AA has finally decided on C15.

DFW-DEN
AA 1184
MD-80 most comfy AA F seats.
12:45p-1:45p
January 16, 2016
Refreshments

The old MD-80 (aka Mad Dogs) are my favorite domestic airplane. The most comfortable F seats in the fleet. Like an old shoe. Will be a sad day when these are finally retired.

Outstanding, indeed amazing service by FA Jesse who worked the F cabin. Wow. Loves his job and it showed. Open bar PDB (even for Steelers fans), drink orders for in flight before departure. Fast and efficient service from start to finish. Multiple refills. He never rested the entire flight. Outstanding. Choice of cheese or antipasto plates with lots more olives. Swear that AA owns an olive farm or got a great deal.

2016 EXP Cost and Mileage Log:

This trip:

Fare: $212

EQMs: 2,156

RDMs: 4,312

YTD 2016:

Fare: $1,526

EQMs: 34,671

RDMs: 95,388 ($0.160 per mile)

December 2015

Mrs. SFO and I are off today to New Zealand for Christmas with our SoCal travel buddies. And we're back on Qantas for our first time in three years, tonight flying DFW-SYD and the longest commercial flight in the world 8,577 miles.

• American First Class DEN-DFW
• The Centurion Lounge at DFW
• The Qantas Business and First Class Lounge at DFW
• The American Flagship Dining Room
• Qantas A380 First Class Suites DFW-SYD and the world's longest commercial flight
• Qantas First Class Lounge at SYD
• Qantas Business Class SYD-ZQN
• Azur Lodge - Queenstown
• Queenstown
• Private Helicopter Tour of Milford Sound
• Lord of the Rings Tour
• Air New Zealand Queenstown-Christchurch-Napier
• The Farm at Cape Kidnappers - Hawke's Bay
• Napier and Hawke's Bay
• Wine Country Touring
• Air New Zealand Napier-Auckland
• The Sofitel Auckland
• Auckland
• Air New Zealand Business Class Lounge
• Singapore A380 First Class Suites Auckland-Singapore
• The Fullerton Singapore
• New Years in Singapore
• Singapore Airlines The Private Room at Changi
• Singapore A380 First Class Suites SIN-NRT-LAX
• American First Class LAX-DEN.

And we're off..

For the first time in a long time, Mrs. SFO decided that she wanted to check a bag. Ugh. So we stop at the AA counter and presented the AAgent with our three separate and unlinked tickets. Fifteen minutes later, we think we have her bag checked all the way to ZQN.

First stop is the DEN Admirals Club aka "The Crap Lounge" as Mrs. SFO affectionately calls it. A half an hour later at T-30 before the delayed departure time, we headed down to they gate, where naturally our plane hadn't even arrived. As usual, AA departure times on delayed flights are meaningless.

American 372
Denver DEN-Dallas DFW
MD-80
12:39p-3:40p (sked)
1:35p-4:20p (actual)
December 23, 2015
First Class
Departed 16/16
Seats 6EF

Weather issues in DFW had caused the late inbound so we wound up running about 40 minutes before. No worries since we had a 4.5 hour connection.
I love the old AA Mad Dogs which features the last of the comfortable domestic airplane seats, before airline suits decided to deemphasize comfort in the generation seats. Even Mrs. SFO spontaneously raved about the seat comfort… "Why can't they have seats this comfortable in new planes?" An excellent question indeed.

On board, the usual AA service. Even though we had boarded and sat for another 20 minutes for bags to be loaded, no pre departure beverage offerings of any kind. In the air, drinks and nuts (including almonds at last).