Everytime I visit the American Airlines flagship lounge at LAX, there's always something that is…read morenot right. This time, it was more. The Los Angeles temperature was 104° outside, and in this so called high end lounge, it was hot. Really? The excuse: we are in the process of replacing our air conditioners. Then I heard frequent travelers state and complain, that they have been trying to fix the air all summer. Go figure. Shameful. On top of that, you have to sacrifice 15K Aadvantage miles or $150, even though you are booked First Class domestic or out of the country (business too), unless you are going very far, or to the moon.
The food this time was no surprise, unappetizing and very disappointing. It is always hit or miss here, albeit, on an unimpressive level. Terriyaki ginger beef was hard and dry. Thai roasted salmon looked good, till you took a bite. Also tough. How can you fail with salmon? I was really scared to even try the pale looking chicken Tanjine. Enticing descriptions. No delivery. Believe it or not, the best selection was the smoked paprika roasted potatoes. Nice. The crudites were good on the vegetable part (how can you go wrong). The accompanying hummus (probably bottled, was what it was). No freshness, no oomph. This lounge has a live station, 6-8 pm. This time it was Penne Pasta. And assembled on demand, at the station, with your preferred additives (all vegetarian) and desired condiments. This is what most of us, if we are here, at the right time, look forward to.
They had 3 sauces. Alfredo, Pesto and an Arrabbiata. I started with the Alfredo, few penne shells (nice and large), mushrooms, peas, spinach, garlic, chili flakes, fresh grated Parmesan. For the second try, I went with more peas, lesser mushrooms, spinach, some tomato, of course garlic, just two pieces of penne and then the Arrabbiata sauce and Parmesan. Not a favorite of red sauces, but this was spicy and welcome. I took a pause, to digest, relax. On purpose, I left the Pesto tasting for the last. Only double peas, mushrooms, red chili, parmesan, two penne cylinders and pesto. All 3 concoctions were good, well assembled. The best so far, for this visit. Still, the American Airlines Flagship lounge, is highly deficient, in the food department. If they can fix this, and the air con, that even employees are complaining about, they can compete, with the major international airlines of the world. Yes, American Airlines flies all over the world. But their lounges, like this one at LAX are major failures still. Like they have always been.