Mimosa surprise! How good was American Airlines 757 First Class LAX-MIA in 2012?

From what I recall, I had no idea what a Mimosa actually was until this flight. Well, that’s how I like to remember it anyway. On this trip, I arrived at 1am on an American flight from Miami, spent a few hours in the terminal and flew straight back again. The outbound flight with the rude passengers is here, if you’d like to read it.

There were quite a few people waiting about in the terminal overnight. The seats were all taken, so I sat on a window sill. A couple of people had snagged wheelchairs, some people just milled around – it was interesting to see. The desks were all deserted of course!

Eventually people started to appear, so I wandered down to First Class check in. Just before 4am I noticed an agent at the desk so I went up and checked in for my flight. I advised her that I was connecting to British Airways in Miami for a flight to London Heathrow and then another connection to Dublin and if she could check my bag through. She was able to do that, but was only able to issue a boarding pass for the LAX-MIA and the MIA-LHR. That was no problem as I checked in for the LHR-DUB on my phone a bit later on. I commented that I still had so many flights to do and she said it was best not to think about it and it would fly by!

Waiting For Security and The Admirals Club

I was advised to wait at a nearby roped off escalator, as the TSA had not opened yet. They were supposed to open at 4:15am, however by about 4:25am nothing had happened. One staff member was talking to another staff member saying they had been opening at 4:30am lately. Spot on 4:30am, I was first up to premium security, and first through the whole thing, having remembered to take out my laptop. Once in the terminal, I found a seat outside the Admirals Club as I knew it wasn’t opening until 5am.

Various people tried to enter the lounge in the half an hour before it opened, and at 5am exactly the doors opened and there were quite a few people waiting to get in. I had my boarding pass scanned and took the lift up to the club. It was very cold inside, and very dark as it was dark outside. However, it was very spacious! I only stayed long enough to sit and take photos, have a bit of a walk around, as well as grabbing a glass of water. While I sat there, I noticed various people who came in, got bits and pieces, sat down, consumed them and left immediately. Must have been the 6am departures! I really think the club should open to match the TSA opening time really.

Let’s Go To The Plane

On my way out, I asked if the flight had a delay as the screens had been showing 6:17am since I landed in Miami. She checked and said it was a crew delay, probably due to hours, as it had been scheduled like that since the night before.

AA1035 – Los Angeles to Miami (LAX-MIA)
9 October 2012
Boeing 757-223 – N694AN
Seat: First Class 2A
Departure: 06:00 (Actual: 06:45) Arrival: 13:55 (Actual: 14:35)
Duration: 4 hours 55 minutes
Cruising Altitude: 39,000 feet

I went to the boarding gate, the same one I had arrived at only 4 hours or so earlier. First Class was called to board and I stowed my bag and seated myself in 2A. Our pushback was delayed as several other aircraft were in the way. The flight crew announced this and even said, “See the aircraft out to the right? We can’t go until it does…” and so on. I took an orange juice as my initial drink.

The cabin crew on this flight were again particular about the fact that electronic devices had to be put into flight mode and then turned completely off. There were also long and explicit announcements about not congregating around the front lavatory, and that if it was not free, to go back to your seat and wait for it to be free. This was emphatically expressed, which hadn’t been done on the previous flights. We had the safety demonstration and off we went into the runway. I was in a happy mood as I had no-one sitting next to me! There were about 5 or so seats free in First.

A Menu And A Beautiful Dawn

A menu was handed out! This was surprising, as I hadn’t been given one before – though I guess this was a transcontinental meal flight and the other was a snack flight.

Soon enough we took off into the dawn sky! Drinks service started next.

Coffee Instead Of A Mimosa?!

When asked what I would like, I countered with, “What do you have?” – and she suggested coffee so I took one. American coffee is slightly vile, I have to say. Love the mug though!

When I was almost finished, I was asked if I wanted a refill, said no, and had it refilled anyway. I hazard a guess that the cabin noise coupled with my accent made her think I had said yes – not that I was complaining!

Time For A Delicious Brunch!

For Brunch, I chose the Breakfast Skillet, which was Scrambled eggs with cream cheese and chives enhanced by a creamy goat cheese sauce, served with grilled asparagus and O’Brien potatoes, with a seasonal fruit appetizer. The alternative was Cereal and Fruit with Yoghurt, served with a banana and fresh seasonal berries. The menu also mentioned “breakfast breads”.

The bread basket came through and I was offered a bread roll or a biscuit! The biscuit! My very first biscuit ever was on American Airlines, and I only selected it as I didn’t know what it was and was curious. These are delicious, delicious, delicious! I told my crew member all of that and got lots of smiles in return! Of course, I managed to eat everything. Everything except the biscuit? No, this was biscuit number two!

Now For The Surprise Mimosa!

The flight attendant had remembered I had asked her “What do you have?” so on one of her many runs through, she said, “Would you like me to make you a Mimosa?” – I said yes, and she said to let her know. Of course, later on, I got said Mimosa. Yum!

This flight was very food focused and once again, a very attentive and efficient cabin crew who anticipated needs, asked if we wanted refills, took trays promptly and were generally awesome. Later on in the flight, there was a cheese service. The napkin reminds me – American used to have a napkin ring around their napkins and a much better quality table cloth. I miss those!

American Airlines Is Trying To Make Me Fat!

We were fed again towards landing – cookies and milk! I took the sugar cookie and was offered to take the chocolate chip one as well if I liked, but I took just one. The cabin crew member remarked to me that I was very smiley and friendly and thanked me for being like that.

I don’t see why people don’t always smile and be happy, it makes the crew job so much easier – a please and a thank you get you a long way too! It was very easy to be nice to the crews on all of these flights as they were all very nice to me. We landed a bit late, but that was to be expected with the departure delays.

Let’s Finish With A Shower

As I was connecting to a British Airways flight, I went to the Admirals Club at Gate 30 in Miami. When I showed them the boarding pass for my next sector, I was told that as I was connecting from First Class to an international sector that yes, I did have lounge access yet again. Having been flying for ages, I decided to avail of the showers in the Miami lounge before my Transatlantic sector. I asked at the desk, then had to wait a few minutes while they called someone to unlock a shower and let me in. Here is the shower room.

After my shower, I and sat and relaxed, then went down to the E concourse for my flight with British Airways. This was delayed, so I went back to the lounge where the attendant remembered me and let me back in. I chilled out with a Coke and the amazingly fast Admirals Club wireless internet, before going back down to my gate.

Overall Thoughts

So what did I think of the entire experience?

The breakfast service on LAX-MIA was nothing short of splendid! It had a superb taste and the goats cheese over the scrambled eggs was inspired – it brought a standard dish well above what I had expected. The biscuit of course was nothing short of stunning as it always is. Breakfast is the meal a lot of airlines screw up, and American certainly didn’t! Having a surprise Mimosa offered was also excellent.

American Airlines is in bankruptcy protection – however, I do believe the airline has a bright future ahead of it. It definitely deserves to be part of the oneworld alliance, as I felt all of the flights oozed a certain quality that the alliance aspires to.

I hope you’ve made it this far, and hope you enjoyed the report as much as I enjoyed reacquainting myself with American Airlines. Feel free to ask me anything you like, or to comment on what I’ve written. Cheers!

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And that’s how I reported on things back in 2012. Even now I sometimes still have a Mimosa when flying, thanks to this one. Do you remember this kind of service on American Airlines? Is it the same today or have things change? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Oscar Elvir Vasquez on Jetphotos.net via Wikimedia Commons.