American Airlines/Alaska Airlines AA241/AS29 DUS-ORD-SEA

I know that AA isn't comparable with european standarts, but could you be competitiv in the future with an old 767-300 without 

VoD (Video on Demand), without personal screens, old and nasty seats and a crew with no charm at all? Not to say, the service was 

the worst i can remember and the flight attendents were attractive like Gollum

OK, I don't want to be unfair or unrespectful rather I like it that they don't get moved behind a desk or get fired, if they are older than fourty or

 looking not got enough. But it could't be AA's goal to scare passangers close to death, when they got woken up by by one of this charming ladies ;)

The only plus I have for this flight, is the breathtaking view over Greenland (could have happend with any other Airline) and the Chicago-Style-Pizza they served. Never got a pizza served on a plane before and to tell you the truth, it was delicious.

AA is serving ORD together on a Codeshare with AirBerlin, started earlier this year.

Sure I picked up AA because I've never flown with them and I'm trying to go for the AA Platinum Challange, to get Lounge Access during my 5 month trip. Plus, I thought, I they have much going for, beeing competitiv with Lufthansa (Star Alliance)... wrong! Airplane, pilots and pizza, nothing more. I don't understand this kind of business. To be honest, the plane was nearly packed, but everybody around me was thinking the same, they all thought about flying another Airline next time. Nearlly 20 years ago I had a flight AMS-MIA with Martinair on the same type of aircraft. The diffrents? Smoking was allowed, the service was better (my father was also on both flights) and I was playing the new Megaman X on my Gameboy, the whole flight. ;)

Upgrading to Business Class, good that I saved my miles! Even the very old Business Class on AirTahiti (they updated it this year) had more space and charm. The 777 seems to be the only way to fly AA if you set value on european standard and too be honest, this is also not the best way to fly this days ;)

Compared with other 3-Star Airlines I flew I would give AA 2-Stars! I flew with SATA on a very old Airbus A310, but the crew was very obliging, had a smile on there face and it feeld more like they where happy about having me on board. Otherwise SATA is ranked wrong.

Back to AA, I'm very happy that the only flight operated by AA is from SXM - MIA and the rest is bocked with United Airlines, JetBlue and British Airways (AA Codeshare). I Hope the the AA Platinum Challange will work out for me and tan I will try to avoid AA if possible.

One connection flight from ORD - SEA was also booked as an AA flight, luckily operated by Alaska Airlines. They showed us after all that there is another way to do it. Smile all over the face, asking everyone again and again, if they have any needs. Nice Airline, nice airplane (737-900ER), enough legspace (thanks to recaro ;)) WiFi on Board and good service. Everytime again!

Lisbon

Arrived in LIS at 8:10am, we first tried to catch our exit row seats for the connection flight at the transfer desk, because online check-in for the SATA flight did not work. At the desk, the first evil tidings. We have to pay extra for your sporting equipment outside at the ticket counter or it will be guaranteed that it will not be ransferd to PDL, although this was booked as a TAP flight, just operated by SATA and we already "payed" for it (trouble at the TAP counter in ZRH and we got this for free ;)) After some back and force, we had to pay 91€!!! for our extra baggage. This hurt's. Next time no diving weights!
After finally doing all the paperwok, we took the metro to Lisbon Center on our way to Belém

The famous Café Pastéis de Belém

Ordered some Pastel de Nata, Bolas de Berlim (portuguese version of our "Berliner") and a choclate Éclair (could't wait)

Éclair: As it has to be, cold crispy choclate on the outside and creamy on the inside, perfect
Pastel de Nata: The custard covers the whole surface of the tart. The tart it self was very flaky with a warm and creamy inside (don't know what it was). Cinnamon and powdered sugar are provided for sprinkling at the table. With Cinnamon it was a killer, really delicious.
Bolas de Berlim: A flop! The pastry was as expected, but the creamy stuffing looks better than it was. Enough eating for today, still some hours left to enjoy Lisbon by 34°C

What i most liked during walking through the streets of Lisbon, are the nice coloured glaced tiles at the frontage of many houses.

At the early evening we hit back to the Airport and took our delayed flight to Ponta Delgada. Actually expecting a A320-200, but because of some overbooking on the flight back next morning, the changed the aircraft to an A310-300. As you can see, a lot of leg space ;) Nice flight, meal, service and crew. What you want more? Way better than the TAP flight in the morning. Slim seats and a disgusting sandwich.

As I wrote before, "first evil tidings", here comes the second one. As I expected that our extra baggage will be missing or my fins, which were in there, were broken, we both were surprised when Greg's bag did not show up. Delayed flight, more paperwork and also have to find our accommodation by nite ... yeah!
Time for some sleep



 

Pastel de Nata

Pastel de Nata