Premier lounges, AA and BA

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AA has its Flagship Lounge at JFK, LAX, Chicago, and Heathrow.  Its there for the AA elite (Executive Platinum) and people traveling Business/First, on all international flights.  Basically, the lounge for those who give AA a lot of money - their "Flagship" product. 
And boy, is it a letdown.
Well, to be absolutely fair, its not bad by domestic standards, but frankly, that is really, really not saying all that much.  You get some peace and quiet (good), all the bubbly that you want to drink (which, given the quality of the bubbly, is not all that much), and a bunch-a food.
Oh man, that food.  Rubber chicken, hockey puck beef, leather salmon, in short, exactly what you expect to get at pretty much any wedding.  The smart thing to do is to just buy a sandwich on the way to the airport and eat it.

British Airways, however, is quite the different beast.  They've got lounges all around the world, and they've got cool lounges in their bigger hubs.  And boy, do they ever get it right.  Take the one at Terminal 5 in Heathrow - its big, its quiet, its got Bollinger Rose by the caseload, its got real real food, its got happy smiley BA people, its got Bollinger Rose by the caseload, its got a menu you can order from if you don't feel like eating stuff off the (excellent) steam table, its got Bollinger Rose by the caseload, its got a spa, its got showers, its got massages, its got Bollinger Rose by the caseload, its got… well… you get the point.  AA Flagship lounge it is not.

Come to think of it, its almost worth it to fly through Heathrow 'cos of the amenities.  Which, in the end, is the exact opposite of virtually all travel experiences in the US.
Go figure....


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