A snow-laden pit stop at JFK and the American Airlines/British Airways Greenwich Lounge
Polishing Silver
Welcome to New York JFK. It’s cold and about to snow. So what do we do? Head to the lounge… there’s a delay to wait out before I board the snowbird to London.
In this Tier Point-laden adventure
Getting off the A321, went into autopilot mode – and started to make tracks for a lounge. With British Airways moving into JFK Terminal 8, things have changed a little – with more shared facilities.
Even though I’m flying American Airlines on this next segment.
Up the jetbridge
Into the sleeping satellite.
To the main terminal
The airport that never sleeps.
More importantly, there’s no need to exit security and reclear security – it’s a straight gate-to-gate transfer.
Whilst I’m on an American Airlines flight, I appreciate this – When transiting between AA and BA in the past via Terminal 7, (British Airways home(, it was becoming more of a pain with each transfer in the past, adding extra time to reclaim bags, take the train, re-clear security… and so on.
It was a hot mess then with no airside connections. This is a lot easier.
I headed out of the satellite terminal, and under the taxiway, to pop out near the glitzy Boeing 777.
“From New York to the World”, Not Bling my Ride.
Lounges at New York JFK T8 depend on status and ticket. Because of course, it does.
- The Chelsea Lounge (First Class for AA and BA)
- The Greenwich Lounge (Business ClassBusiness Class/First Class/oneworld Sapphire and Emerald
- The Soho Lounge – First Class/Emerald Lounge for Oneworld Airlines.
- American Airlines Admirals Club in the Satellite Concourse
The BA version is here, whilst the AA version is here.
They love to make access guidelines complex for no reason, don’t they?
In all honesty – and mostly by luck – I ended up at the Greenwich Lounge. Whilst I appreciate the different lounges, sometimes having a little guide in the ticket voucher, or even a printed card saying “Which lounge am I entitled to go to” would be helpful – without me resorting to the phone to hunt for the information when I’m travelling.
The Greenwich Lounge
I remember this lounge from previous visits – it seems to have had a light refresh since I was here last – this was the American Airlines lounge in the past. As it’s had a light refresh some of the dining options have changed, but it seems to be the high-quality Admirals Club it was in the past.
And this was one nicer one, as it handled international traffic.
I wandered around the lounge, finding a window to park at.
With that, It was time to explore the food and beverage situation.
This again is an international lounge (or at least a lounge that is more restricted), the offerings were excellent, with a selection of cold and hot items – and in good-sized portions too.
Breads and butter
Cruets
Cold cuts and cheese
Cold items
Seeds make everything better
Rice
Chicken and Salmon
Cookies and Brownies – something that American Airlines always seems to do well.
Soup
There’s no formal pre-flight dining (as there was in the BA Lounge before in Terminal 7), although given that food was refreshed regularly, I don’t see it too much as a loss, as there is proper catering in-suit.
There used to be a tasting room in this lounge – however, this has been axed in favour of a brewery and a bar, whilst adding further seating space.
That’s no bad thing – this lounge being the entry-level one is going to be busy – like it or not, thus having the extra space is welcome – even it was quietening down as the evening went on, given that it caters to most of the oneworld airlines
In this area, there were two bars, as well as a light snack food station.
However, the warning I had on my phone was starting to come true – snow had started falling at JFK.
Whilst not the greatest snow dump on the planet, it was enough to start disrupting operations – with my flight impacted and it posting a 45-minute delay.
I’d better get settled in.
Wonderful. It’s not the end of the world regarding delays, but enough to be a pain, as I did have a connection at Heathrow airport – and a chained flight on top of that.
So, whilst I had time built into the connection, I was not in the mood to play “run across Heathrow as fast as I physically could” when I landed, or even attempting to skip-lag a segment.
Champagne bar
Cruets and bar snacks
Keeping an eye on my snowbird.
Thankfully, the lounge was calling international flights, and eventually, our flight to Heathrow was called with Gate 12 being used to embark the passengers.
I took my leave of the lounge – as I didn’t want to miss this last flight out of JFK to old London town.
Heading downstairs on the elevator, I popped out pretty much opposite the gate, with only a short walk.
Boarding was in full progress by the time I got down, so I slipped into the premium queue, where the queue was being processed.
I used the facial recognition machine to board the aircraft and exit the United States of America. There was no need to scan my boarding pass – it seemed the biometric data was already in the system
With that, it was time to head down the jetway and down to the plane.
It was time for a transatlantic nap
Next:
AA104. New York JFK to London Heathrow – Oooh. Time to de-ice.
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