American Flagship First Dining

After dinner Monday night at the LAX QF First Class Lounge, I slept pretty much all the way from LAX to JFK and arrived at the FL just after 5:30am. I had 3 hours before my JFK-YUL Eagle flight so I decided to check out the Flagship First Dining room and have breakfast before showering.

The hostess counter is right inside the front door. And don't even try to get in without an invitation card from one of the front check-in AAngels.

Very attractive but small bar, lounge area and dining room.

Very nice Breakfast menu with lots of nice looking options.

Excellent and attentive service with an offer of still or sparking bottled water.

I started with the Seasonal Fruit Kebabs with a nice honey and ginger lime sauce

And then the Eggs Benedict.

Which looked and tasted great!

What a great first impression, but at 5:30am the place was dead and I was to the only customer.  Let's see how they do at a more normal traffic time when I'm back tomorrow afternoon.  With another couple of hours before my JFK-YUL flight, I headed out to The Flagship Lounge.

And a much improved shower from the old facilities.

Then over to the midfield concourse...

And the usual Eagle Gate 31 for my flight to Montreal.

AA's ER4 is a single class regional jet with 1-2 seating.   Exit row 12 has loads of leg room and is quite comfy for the short 55 minutes flight.

Ah yes, a lovely rainy day in my old home town.

The next day was much nicer and I headed back to YUL just before noon.

As usual, the YUL transborder US terminal is pretty empty after the early morning wave of deaprtures.

And yet another annoying airport where you have to walk thru the duty free store to get to the gates.

Lunch was the always delicious Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich. 

My regular ER4 extra leg room seat 12A.

Less than an hour later, final approach to JFK.

And the long trek from Gate 31 back to the main terminal and the Flagship Lounge.

Major traffic jam at main check-in but after a few minutes wait, a most pleasant AAngel moved me to an earlier flight and I gave me my "permission slip" for First Dining. 

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What a mob scene in the main part of the Flagship First Class Lounge. Yikes.

But beyond in Flagship First Dining, a lovely oasis of calm. Pretty funny watching hostess Adama deny wave after wave of non-international/transcon First passengers. Talk about a tough job.  

First order of business was a drink. Nothing amazing on the wine list although there were some nice offerings but way, way better than the pathetic inflight F wine list. The Specialty Cocktail list looked interesting.

Up first was the Gin Basil Lemonade. Delicious. 

The All Day Dining Menu. Wow, lots of interesting looking options.

Service this afternoon was simply wonderful and perfectly paced, from my server Scott and Javier. As soon as I sat down, I was offered my choice of still or sparkling water.

The single window seats are great for plane-spotting.

For my starter, I chose the Basil infused compressed watermelon, with whipped feta and smoked onion crumble. It was fabulous.

I went with the Olive oil poached loch duart salmon with cauliflower risotto, wild mushroom ragout and spring broth.

Wow.

And with the broth. OMG, this was spectacular. And the Livia Felluga Pinot Grigio was a lovely accompaniment.

Also tried the Paring Rosé of Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills but I preferred the Livia Felluga.

Next, I moved over the bar where I could re-charge my iPhone. Also, where bartender Karen convinced me to try the Spiced Tequila.  

And the dessert menu...

My caramelized apple tart tatin was amazing.

What a great meal and experience.  AA has hit a home run with the Flagship First Dining.   Which is good news, since their on board product hasn't improved.