I’ve been quite charitable to American Airlines lately because I’ve enjoyed several good flights in recent weeks…but my luck ran out on a pathetic flight from Los Angeles to New York onboard the (poorly) aging Airbus A321T in “Flagship Business.”
A321T Flagship Business Was Hadly Flagship On American Airlines
Pathetic and dismal are strong words, but I am not complaining for the sake of complaining. There are certain things you expect from any flight and particularly a flight marketed as a premium transcontinental flight.
This flight departed at 6:05 am out of Terminal 5, gates American Airlines inherited from US Airways and continues to use for some of its flights. AA even has a lounge in Terminal 5, which is part of the package when you purchase a “Flagship” premium transcontinental ticket.
But the lounge was closed…
I wasn’t about to stand in line for Starbucks Coffee at 5:20 am or walk to Terminal 4 minutes before boarding was set to begin…all I wanted was a cup of coffee, though.
If only that was the only problem…
Onboard, I settled into my seat and the cushion supporting my foot instantly fell off:
Nice. It fell off every time I put my foot on it. It also made me notice the cabin was not very clean:
The lavatory was also a mess.
After takeoff, I tried to put the moving map on the screen but my screen did not work…at least the touchscreen functionality. I asked that my screen be reset and it was, but that did not solve the problem.
On to breakfast.
The menu indicated espresso was available, but when I asked for it the flight attendant said, “Oh, that’s for first class only.”
I said that it was on the business class menu and she responded, “I know and I don’t know why they keep putting that on the menu.”
I just stared back at her and she eventually said she would “check and see if she could find any.” (She did)
Breakfast was a bright spot…the frittata plus salad was a nice combination, though AA has reduced meal service to single-tray service from multiple courses.
After breakfast, I plugged in my laptop and there was no juice from the a/c outlet. I tried plugging three things in and nothing worked, even though the green light was on it. I ended up asking my neighbor if I could use his plug for a bit, which did work.
Eventually, I attempted to recline my seat to rest. At least those buttons worked, though the sticker over the buttons had partially peeled off…
Oh, and the flight attendants did not do another beverage service for the rest of the flight…I had to flag one down before landing and ask for water. Was she afraid I was going to ask for another espresso? Are passengers really supposed to hit the flight attendant call button if they want a drink since no flight attendant was roaming the cabin?
I think the flight attendants forgot about the cookies, because about 15 minutes before landing they finally came out…no beverage offer with them.
It reminded me of this:
The entire flight reminded me of another American Airlines flight on the same aircraft a year ago…AA is not taking care of these aircraft and that is a sad thing for AA’s most premium domestic route.
As a predominantly United flyer, this flight reminded me that the grass is not always greener on the AA side.
Everything’s abysmal at 6 am. I flew SFO => JFK at 6 am in AA FF and my meal service looked even worse than yours tbh
The lunch & dinner services are typically much better, lack of good coffee is less important, etc
Sadly, they are all the same. Yes, even Delta. Pick your poison.
I disagree, I think the service on both Delta and United is way better than what you get on American, although the food on United leaves much to be desired.
But for flight attendants to only offer one beverage service on a nearly 6 hour flight is shameful. For a flight attendant to give passenger grief for ordering an expresso when it’s on the menu is ridiculous. I’m tired for flight attendants making up their own service standards. The expression machine may be located in the first class galley but that doesn’t mean its only for first class and its a shame that Matt had to go to the length he went to just to get a beverage that is on the menu.
Both Delta and United flight attendants offer much better service than what you get on American it isn’t the same by a long shot.
Ive never had a bad Flight Attendant situation on Delta. AA, well, Management seems to keep the pilots and FAs pissed off which trickles down to customer service. Ive come to the conclusion i will fly Spirit before i ever step in a AA birs again. United just cant seem to put all together consistently..
That was pathetic and dismal; disgusting, actually; why limit beverage service on a long flight? we need to stay hydrated; I hope that croissant was nice & hot ; when paying extra for First or Bus., they need to serve course by course; not all jammed on a single tray; how pathetic.
I’ve found the BOS based crews (who tend to be ex=US) are generally still good on AA’s premium transcons– LAX and JFK crews are definitely hit or miss. Ironically, BOS-LAX, with BOS-LHR, are two of the most desired routes for the BOS base, so the crew tends to be fairly senior– but are still generally pretty good.
20-25 years ago, BOS was seen as an important market for AA and AA had some kind of Flagship-light type base there. Got great service out of the AA people at BOS then. But AA did so many cutbacks at BOS that it became DL and JetBlue territory. AA seems to have a history of doing that at its mega and mini hubs — just look at what AA did at JFK even after pouring a lot of money into the massive JFK T8 complex — except where USAirways was the legacy major even before AmericaWest/USAir took over AA.
Of all the airline mergers and acquisitions that I dislike, the AW/US+AA one is the one I dislike the most.
The 321Ts have not aged well, and are pretty well worn inside. They are though being replaced, starting in 2025, with the 321XLR. The T’s are going to be overhauled to standard domestic 321 format.
I fly between JFK and LAX and SFO a lot and mainly use AA. I find the seats comfortable in Business but other than that, the experience is mediocre at best. My back up is Delta, and the flights on the 767-300ER and 757-200 are not much better. Those planes are old, with dated cabins and not great food.
Breakfast options on the AA A321T are not usually good. Lunch and Dinner, much better.
Got flown out in F to LHR and DOH for work last year and the flights were rather poor when comparing it to BA F and QR J the other way to JFK respectively.
It feels like UA and DL are a bit more consistent, but I’m just glad I don’t need to take US carriers for most of my flying patterns.
It looks like the FAs are earning that big contract they just got!
Not sure why, but I’ve had the best luck with AA this year (touch wood). As of when I took my 15 flights this year with them I had no status. Received 2 of the notecards and one time they even brought back champagne from F to J. It’s very very peculiar because I hear a lot of these reviews stating not great service. I guess it just depends.
This is spot on. AA has left their A321T hard & soft product to rot. When AA executes on transcon with every part of the hard product functioning and good service, it’s very good, but there is ALWAYS some issue or another. I couldn’t imagine paying for it anymore given the risk the seat, entertainment, or power plug doesn’t work. And often, multiple items are not working. Your experience is common.
I don’t think the meal service has been reduced to single tray. You can tell because of how large the fruit plate is – it’s intended to be a standalone course. Some FAs decide to do their own single-tray service, which sometimes creates a comically crowded tray.
There isn’t much that is premium about flying domestically in premium cabins anymore. Some such flights obviously have the upside of having a better product to try to sleep or stretch out than in economy class, but the attitude of poor service in the back of the flying bus also means that the front of the flying buses have that much lower of a bar to be called “premium”.
The airline shareholders and management have neither pride in the service nor self-respect as a business when they really don’t care about the cleanliness of the cabin enough to make cleanliness a priority before each and every paying customer has to take a seat among or in the mess for the duration of their flights. Why the airline executives get so richly rewarded makes no sense until you realize that the individual shareholders don’t really care all that much about the long-term sustainability of the business as they want to cash out sooner than later regardless of the consequences on the business in the longer-term. Then everyone wonders how can it be that the airlines keep ending up doing rounds in bankruptcy or getting picked up on the relative cheap.
Maybe the airline execs should be paid mostly in stock that is locked up for 25 years from grant and their salary capped at no more than 20 times the salary of their lowest salaried employee in the same country of residence. That way they are compelled economically to think about tomorrow and the company’s long-term sustainability as a continuing business.
JetBlue Mint is the only way to Transcon.
FYI: US AIR never used gates at terminal 5. They were always based at terminal 1.
Exactly… T5 gates came from Delta when they moved to T3/T2. T5 was still Delta many years after the US Air merger….
They moved from T1 to of T2 & was eventually given back to LAWA soon after its merger with AA.
Not my recollection – my recollection is they were moved to T5 and still operated there temporarily during the merger under the US Airways name.
Yeah, I think during the merger my LAX to home flight was switched to US and they were in a terminal near AA.
Here is the history behind the T5 gates. AA originally received 4 gates from UA in T6 in exchange for some gate space at ORD. Can’t remember the exact year but believe it may have been 2014 (shortly after the AA / US merger).
AA operated those 4 gates in T6 for a period of time. Then around 2017 when DL began the great musical chairs show at LAX, AA was able to move those 4 T6 gates to T5 which was closer to their main operations in T4.
The reason why you may have believed these were former US gates is because AA primarily used the gates in T6/T5 for flights to the former US hubs of PHX/PHL/CLT, etc. Hence you may have seen livery of US flights at these gates more often.
The rationale behind using these gates for flights to former US hubs was because those flights had a higher % of O&D passengers and therefore didn’t need to be close the main ops in T4.
Those early departures are brutal, I live very near my local airport but I prefer to depart around 18:00 with an overnight connection than having to catch anything that leaves before 09:30.
I agree, but in this case I had on onward connection from New York!
@ Matthew — Just sleep and everything is much better. Skip the coffee, food and work, just bring your blue Polaris gel pillow (I know you have one).
I do most of my flying on AA in business and first. In my experience, FAs are wonderful or awful. When I sense awful on the horizon, I use the call button or ask them, when I go to the bathroom, “would you like me to use the call button for refills?” As a hint refills will be expected on long hauls.
I just switched my Executive Platinum status to Delta. They status matched me and its been night and day difference.
I think American Airlines just gave up and does not care about their passengers.
Give me UA anyday
I once flew in F from JFK to LAX with an LA based crew. The F flight attendant was great.. until I ordered a Latte. He literally went crazy, threw me attitude and acted like a totally different FA. Because my latte order seemed to seriously affect his emotional state, I told him it’s ok, I would settle for a black coffee instead. He still brought me the latte, begrudgingly, and later told me that the apparatus they use to foam the milk takes a long time and it upsets the flow of service. Once the latte episode was over he became cheerful again. He even put dry ice in a cup on a tray for show and offered mints to all the passengers in F. Moral of the story is don’t order espresso on the A321t even if it is on the menu in F or J! Lol
Wow.
Yea it was really weird that the latte set him off so suddenly. Earlier in the flight he accidentally dripped some red wine on my white table cloth and sincerely apologized and he even decorated the snack basket area on 1A and 1F with electronic candles.
Sounds like you hit bad luck bingo with regards to your flight, especially the seat.
Just the main course and fruit offered for the main meal? Is offering a yogurt with it as well going to break the catering budget?
Given the future refitting of this model and AA’s general attitude, I’m not surprised they have no intention to fix anything on the 321T. Also, in May just be me, but when I fly J, I don’t want the plane to have F.
So sad what has happened to AA. Wonder why AA never put the 767 (when still in the fleet) on the JFK-LAX? Or put at least one 787 on the run? Widebody to LAX is what I seek, and I get that on UA & DL.
Well, you just convinced me not to buy the upgrade from Business to First for our family’s upcoming SFO-JFK. I was thinking it would be a special experience. I gather it’s most likely to be a special disappointment. Of course, I’m thrilled that the CEO gets paid $34 million (note – NOT “earns”), and happy to contribute my hard earned dollars to that unjust reward.
Ironically enough, Nonstop Dan just put out a YouTube video on his poor experience with AA from JFK-LHR. He had some pretty bad experiences with AA’s onboard experience (or lacktherof). FA’s also disappeared between meals. Makes me wonder if it’s a joint labor effort. Either way, AA is my last choice of the Big 4.
It’s a shame to see the 321T in rough shape but the new 321xlr looks like they will be amazing! They start getting them in December and will replace the 321T’s, which will be converted to standard domestic configuration as the new XLR’s replace them.
Terrible for business class.
I don’t care what kind of new planes that AA plans to use transcontinental if the service is nonexistent to poor. I’ve for years said that AA is in a race to the bottom. Working for AA must be a miserable experience. The nasty/foul attitudes are then taken out on the passengers. It never gets better.
They do have dirtiest and most poorly cleaned bathrooms in the industry. Constantly.