On the move part 2: AA Flagship Lounge JFK

This post is part of a series of detailed posts about the transportation portions of our trip -- like a "trip report" you may read on other travel blogs.  These posts may come out-of-sequence with other posts about our activities at our destinations.

Our trip to LHR began at the AA Flagship checkin area at JFK. We were flying 3-class first (so first class not business class) and AA has a dedicated checkin area.  We were checked in without incident using our sponsored e-VIP upgrades from a friend.  It always feels just a little weird to be checking baggage. We normally travel with only carry in bags, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've checked bags in absence of sporting equipment, moving boxes, or camping equipment.

Checking luggage for the first of twenty times on our trip around the world. 

After checkin was security. We used the priority line but I don't think it gave us much of a time advantage this time around. There was one TSA officer roaming around the checkpoint who had such an infectious good attitude that I would think he could have been an official TSA happy-officer-at-large if I didn't know better. And New Yorkers are not known for being friendly either.

Both our iPad and our new 13" laptop made it through security while still in our backpacks.

Once through security we headed to the AA Flagship Lounge, which is inside the Admirals Club. The lounge features great views of the Tarmac, ample seating, acceptable food and mediocre coffee. Often airline lounges have decent fully-automatic espresso machines, but the Nestlé machine in the flagship lounge produced espresso more akin to instant than freshly-brewed.

View of the Tarmac from the Flagship lounge

Some final editing of the new Facebook picture --us together behind the just married  sign on the boat. 

The highlight of the food in the lounge was grapefruit. When in lounges I always try to focus on things that I don't have at home, and pre-cut grapefruit is definitely not something I have at home. 

Before long it was time to head to the gate for boarding. On the way out of the lounge I remembered to ask the lounge attendant how late lounge is open to see if we could use it before our midnight flight from JFK to Lima in September. The answer was 11:30 pm so we will indeed be able to use it.