Good morning from the American Airlines Flagship Lounge at London Heathrow.  We spent last night at the Hilton Airport by Terminal 4.  American departs from Terminal 3, so we walked to Terminal 4 and took the Heathrow Connect train to 3.  Easy transfer.

Checked in for our AA first class flight using American’s Flagship Check In counter at Heathrow.  Walked right up, and the whole thing was done in 2 minutes.  We’re traveling with hand luggage only, so no luggage checking drama.  Our first class boarding passes bought us access to Fast Track security at Heathrow.  I’d estimate we were through security in 5 minutes, if that.  And no stupid shoe carnival!  Joyous!

Lots of time to enjoy the Flagship Lounge, which by US airline standards, isn’t half bad.  American recently completed a remodel of the lounge along with the adjacent Admirals Club.  The facility itself is quite nice.  The furniture must’ve been replaced during the remodel because it doesn’t show the usual wear and tear you typically find at a US airline lounge.  Food offerings are not suprisingly weak compared to American’s partner British Airways.  I can’t help but think that AA is going to have to take some steps to improve its international lounges to match BA as their alliance finally solidifies following anti trust immunity approval by the various regulatory bodies.  All that said, the lounge is a very comfortable spot to wait for your flight.

The bottom line, London Heathrow hasn’t been nearly as nightmarish as I’d feared.  And I thought BA’s Terminal 5 was marvelous.  More on that later.

Hello from the BA Terraces Lounge in Glasgow. MrsMJonTravel and I are waiting for our flight to London. Our plan is to drop our bag at the Hilton Heathrow, and then hit the city for a little sightseeing. Tomorrow, we fly home on AA via Miami. Hopefully, the trip back will be smoother than the trip over!

I’ll have thoughts on the BA Concorde Room at Heathrow, a review of our Glasgow hotel (Marks Hotel), and much more for the blog soon.

We are here! I’m posting a quick blurb from a cafe in Rome. We made it here late, but our bags traveled with us and our car service was waiting. Loved our short BA flight and even the crossing on AA to LHR. Hope to post more this weekend from Naples.

Landed in London safe and sound this morning, after an average AA flight.  Not bad, not great, but good enough.  I’ll post a full review of my AA Business Class flight soon, including my thoughts on AA’s Next Generation Business Class seat.  I slept on the crossing, so that’s a good thing, but I can’t help but think that the seat could’ve been slightly better.  Full details coming soon.

For now, MrsMJonTravel and I are enjoying the British Airways Galleries lounge in T5 at LHR.  I’m sure there are better lounges somewhere, but for someone who almost always flies domestic US carriers, BA looks like a lounge hero!

One thing for certain, 3 week trip or not, I don’t think I can check luggage anymore.  Fear of the unknown (as in if our bags were rerouted appropriately) is killing me.  Stay tuned for more.  We will eventually get to Rome, and start our vacation!

You read that headline correctly.  This has been widely blogged about by others, so I won’t get into the details.  This offer first surfaced several weeks ago, then disappeared.  Now it’s back.  Suffice it to say that 100,000 BA miles is very tempting to me, even more so now that the DOT has tentatively approved the immunized alliance between BA and American. I’m on a no new credit diet right now, or I would seriously think about this one.  Hat tip to Gary at View From the Wing.  Go there for more scoop and a link to the application as well.

Thanks to Dan Webb, at Things in the Sky, I learned this afternoon that the Department of Transportation has tentatively blessed the alliance between British Airways and American Airlines.  To put it mildly, this has been a long time coming.  I swear, I think I was working for American in Tulsa, Oklahoma the first time this came up.  And God bless him, Mr. Crandall was still running American.

I think this is a wise move on the DOT’s part, regardless of what Sir Richard (as much as I love the Virgin brand) or anyone else has to say.  Star Alliance and Sky Team need a strong competitor and there was simply no other way they were going to get one if this alliance wasn’t approved.  Now, let’s see what American and BA come up with to show the world that this was worthwhile.  One more way to spend AAdvantage miles!