Tier Point Run to Tucson in Oct 2024: Day 5 – Los Angeles LAX to New York JFK

I just missed a shuttle bus to T4, but the queue for the next one wasn’t too bad. Luckily, another bus heading to T4 was right behind it.

I finally got back to T4, and I still had a few mins before boarding at Gate 45 was due to commence.

The gate was very close to the shuttle bus deboarding area, so in the end it was an easy connection.

It doesn’t feel easy two hours before, when you are thinking through the list of things you are dependent upon, all happening in good time.

Into my favourite seat and the cabin crew member assigned to First Class was a burly woman who wasn’t taking any shit from anyone.

We pushed back a few mins ahead of schedule but the captain advised that we were being forced to take a southerly route to New York JFK, rather than the normal northerly route.

The northerly route allows the aircraft to pick up strong tail winds. Consequently, the flight was going to take longer than usual.

Once in the air, there was a hot towel offered. When it was collected, the burly cabin crew member was one that refused to collect the towel with the tongs she had in her hand.

She waited for me to place it on her tray. That probably says everything about her customer-facing skills.

The drinks service started fairly promptly thereafter. I had another tea, although I’m not sure why. It just reminded me that Americans just can’t make a decent cup of tea!

The meal service always takes longer than i want you want it to. I always reach a point when i question whether its worth waiting for the next course, rather than going to sleep instead.

I waited patiently for the meal. In the end, I wasn’t convinced it was worth waiting for.

The soup was beautiful. The salad was OK, but I have never understood serving strawberries with balsamic – I know they are supposed to compliment each other, but it doesn’t do anything for me.

The salmon starter was too much like salmon. Wafer-thin salmon I quite like, but this was a thick fillet.

For main course, the lamb cutlets had potential, but there was too much bone and gristle to fight through for it to leave a positive feeling with me about it.

As a desert, the gooey butter cake suggested it was going to be soft inside – it wasn’t. But the rhubarb syrup and the vanilla ice cream were nice enough.

Overall, not a great meal service, and to be honest, I get too many meal services like that from AA nowadays. Left feeling slightly disillusioned.

As soon as I finished eating, I got the seat flat and I was away with the fairies for about 4 hours. I was pretty pleased with myself! I woke with about 45 mins to touch down.

We arrived at Gate 32 of JFK T8. As with most AA flights, we offloaded smartly, and I was soon on my way to Gate 14 for my flight back to Heathrow.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Tucson in Oct 2024