Trip 2, Day 3: Flight 5 May 21st 20.45 JFK-LAX

Day 3 JFK-LAX 20.45

Airbus A321T

Business Class

Tier Points:  140

You snooze, you lose. I booked this particular fight a week later than trip 1 and as a result was ticketed into business class and not first on this 3 class 321T. That meant 140 tier points instead of 210. I asked to upgrade at check in as I need the TP’s but was told on check in that it’s a full fight.

I have a 6 hour layover and as I’m a oneworld emerald (because I’m now BA gold) I was granted access to the AA flagship lounge at JFK, its nice, quiet and had a decent selection of food and drink (grilled chicken and spinach salad, cheese board etc)

I check some emails and get some work done and have a chat to a man from Brazil who is a captain for LAN on his way home to Rio. He’s a very nice chap and explains to me how the 777’s and 787’s don’t need winglets because the wing shape is so efficient.

I also do some reading and note that the first production Trent XWB has left the Rolls Royce factory and is headed to Toulouse for the first production A350.

We board on time, I actually prefer the business cabin on these A321T’s, especially if I was travelling with a partner. The chap next to me works in finance and I heading home to LA for his son’s birthday. A light snack (cheesboard and grapes) is served and we have a competition for who can work the longest before falling asleep. At this point its 22 hours since I woke up in London, although I did get a 2 hour nap over the Atlanic. He’s clearly had a long day as he falls asleep with his hand jammed on the down button of the laptop leaving it scrolling through the mother of all PDF’s.

I climb over his seat without waking him for a natural break then get the seat into bed mode and get a couple of hours sleep myself.

The cabin temperature has been all over the place and I overhear a regular flyer saying that the A321 was not designed with a 3 class configuration and there are only 2 air con systems, one for First and one for Economy which results in the Business cabin often being far too hot. I’m unsure if there’s any truth in this or if it’s was a load of hot air (you may laugh).

We get off around midnight, and I get the shuttle over to the Westin. I’ll be up again in 5 hours.