REVIEW – American Airlines Flagship Lounge, Chicago – ORD T3
January 9, 2018
TRIP REPORT – The Star Alliance Viking
January 13, 2018
British Airways (BA)
- Class: Business and First
- Access:
- OneWorld First and Business Class ticket holders
- OneWorld Sapphire and Emerald status holders taking any OneWorld flight
Intro
A number of BA’s outstations have seen new lounges recently and unlike the home lounges at LHR, a lot of people have been singing their praises. After seeing the impressive refurbishment of the AA Flagship Lounge in Chicago I was interested to see how BA measured up.
Whilst re-routing through BOS, in order to avoid snowstorms in JFK, was not exactly ideal – I was glad to have the opportunity to try BA’s newest lounge…
The Lounge
This lounge makes a great first impression with its metal tiled wall and sleek, illuminated podiums. Immediately behind these podiums is an unguarded luggage room with some open shelves on which to leave your bags. Given the lack of security, most people seemed to be taking their hand-luggage with them into the lounge (us included).
The lounge is unmistakably BA, with its folded paper lampshades and unstylish armchairs. The seating area on the left filled up quite quickly whilst the cafeteria tables were largely left empty (the lamp shades in here are the same that Qantas uses in a lot of its lounges, which made me a little nostalgic of previous trips down under). Neither of these sections was great for power though, we ended up sitting just past the TV, near the computers, in order to get close to a plug socket.
Whilst the lack of power and drab decor were not great, I was very impressed with the food selection, as well as the service. BA’s lounges in Heathrow are catastrophically bad, with plates piling high, spillages left uncleaned and scuffs and stains all over the furniture.
Conversely, the staff here were really on top of things, all the more impressive when you consider that we were due to board a flight that was 3 hours delayed, with passengers for the next flight already crowding into the lounge before we left.
The place is kept spotlessly clean and the food is constantly replenished.
There was a separate area cordoned off for First Class Dining (ticketed First Class passengers only) but it looked like they were just being served the same food as was available on the buffet. Ordinarily this would mean that the First Class passengers were getting screwed over but honestly, the food at this buffet was anything but ordinary…
A selection of fresh vegetables and crisps with dips, as well as a soup option.
A variety of different sandwiches and wraps.
Big bonus points for the wasabi peas! There was only prosecco though, no champagne.
The freshly made fruit waters were both delicious. The small selection of sodas seemed a bit anticlimactic though, after the machines in the AA Flagship lounge that make every soda ever.
I can’t say enough good things about all of the various healthy salads. Butternut squash, pomegranate and maple vinaigrette. Korean cucumber salad. Freekeh with sweet potato. Shrimp with Hawaiian slaw. All of them superb and something I’d happily order as a side in a restaurant.
The hot food selection was very impressive too, far better in terms of flavour, quality of ingredients and presentation than what you get at the First Class lounge in Heathrow.
Freshly made jiaozi? Yes please!
Desserts, which I didn’t try. One thing I love about BA is that they never shy away from a good blue cheese. I also like how here they pre-cut them into chunks of varying sizes, rather than leaving people to their own devices. If a large cheese is just left on a buffet with a knife next to it, you can bet that several people will have gotten their filthy mitts all over it…
I filled a plate with a healthy dinner and then noticed that I didn’t have a drink to go with it. I had heard that this lounge had a fully staffed bar and was hoping I’d be able to get a decent cocktail to go with my meal.
This seating area is near the bar, has the best views and is also the closest to the gate.
The setting for the bar is awesome. There is a clean stretch of the brightly lit airport beneath you showcasing a close up view of BA’s jets. Then a pair of intertwining freeways emanate from beneath you, stretching to a horizon littered with skyscrapers.
BA Boston Lounge – Bar
I ordered an espresso martini and hoped for something to match the view, something on a par with the wondrous creations at the Qantas Lounge in Hong Kong or Tony’s exemplary libations at the Cathay Business Class Lounge in Heathrow.
Unfortunately what I ended up with was around half a litre of extra sweet Baileys. I managed to stop the barmaid before she started pouring Hershey’s syrup into this monstrosity (seriously) but after taking one sip I realised that this drink was irredeemable regardless. Still, the food was absolutely wonderful.
Good food – terrible cocktails
This is the only lounge on the BA network that permits direct boarding onto the plane. I have to admit, it’s pretty cool being able to skip the normal gate area entirely and head straight on board. Unfortunately we were on a 777 so had to head down a lot of stairs first, before merging into the regular boarding line. On an A380, boarding upstairs, the effect would be a lot more impressive.
Conclusion
As far as BA lounges go, this one is pretty good. The lounge is clean, the service is great and the variety of high quality food is truly excellent. I loved the setting of the bar but the cocktails could definitely use some work. Similarly, boarding from the lounge is a nice idea but the execution fell a little flat, the lustre left as soon as we filtered into a line of Economy passengers downstairs.
Whilst this is one of the best BA lounges I’ve ever set foot in and nothing was massively wrong with it, I wasn’t wowed. When it comes to lounge refurbishment programmes, AA is still very much the dominant partner in this transatlantic joint venture.
- Part 1:
- Qantas : First and Business Class Lounge – London Heathrow T3
- Part 2:
- British Airways : Updated Club World Service – London to New York JFK (B747 Upper Deck)
- Part 3:
- The James Chicago : Loft Suite
- Part 4:
- American Airlines Flagship Lounge, Chicago – ORD T3
- Part 5:
- The British Airways Boston Lounge – BOS Terminal E
