It is hard to have a luxury meal at 35,000 feet. I have seen it happen, but it takes a lot of work. Even then, your options are limited. American Airlines handles that by making Flagship First Dining available to long-haul first class passengers. It is also available to long-haul business class passengers who pay a premium surcharge. American has all of the details on their website. Earlier this month I had the chance to fly first class from DFW to LHR. That gave me the chance to see this premium dining facility in Terminal D, and I came away impressed.
Please check out the video on Dine Drink Travel YouTube channel to see what the space looks like. Here is the process. First, you check in to the Flagship Lounge. If you qualify for Flagship First Dining, they will hand you a separate invitation. You have to present that invitation to go into the special dining room. The whole lounge is lovely, but the first class dining room is something else altogether.
Once you check in to the dining room, they will offer to keep your luggage. They actually have someone watching the luggage, so this is a reasonable option (even if we elected to keep our things with us). As you walk into the main part of the restaurant, the bar will be immediately to your left. Everything from the bar is included. They had several excellent choices. The star was Johnnie Walker Blue Label. How was that available for free?
What is on the menu for Flagship First Dining?
They execute a small menu very well. I have rolling video footage of menu in the video linked above. Do be careful. They have some excellent wines and some very good whiskeys. You do not want to drink so many of that that you are uncomfortable for your flight.
The meal started with fresh bread with garlic butter. We both had a summer squash salad. For mains, I had the mushroom stew served over grits. My son enjoyed the glazed pork belly. Both choices were phenomenal, as were the desserts. They packed a small menu with a lot of fantastic choices.
The place has a relaxed ambiance. There aren’t a huge number of other diners, and the tables are spaced out well. If your ticket includes access, please check out Flagship First Dining. It was a real highlight of our trip.