Another American Airlines 787-9 Dreamliner review? Yes…after my earlier flight went mechanical, I was rebooked on the late-night 78P flight from Chicago to London in business class, once again on a brand new aircraft with Flagship Suites.
American Airlines 78P Business Class Chicago – London Review
After AA46 was delayed 21 hours due to a mechanical issue, American Airlines rebooked me on a flight departing two hours later…thankfully, AA has several flights per day to London.
This flight ended up being delayed an hour too, not due to any mechanical issue, but due to a crew scheduling issue. It’s not that Delta and United never have flight delays, but it happens far too often when I fly on American…
AA 98
Chicago (ORD) – London (LHR)
Wednesday, August 13
Depart: 10:35 PM
Arrive: 12:15 PM+1
Duration: 07hr, 40min
Distance: 3,953 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Seat: 9L (Business Class – Flagship Suite)
I was sitting in the Flagship Lounge getting some work done and ended up being the very last to board.
Seat
American’s new Flagship Suite Business Class is arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration, with a total of 51 seats spread across two cabins. The seat itself is based on the Adient Ascent platform, with styling by Teague, and represents a significant step forward for American. Each suite converts into a fully flat bed or a chaise lounge and features a sliding privacy door, giving passengers a greater sense of personal space and privacy compared to the current generation product (which also isn’t bad).
The seat measures 21 inches wide and includes a 17-inch 4K touchscreen display. Power options are comprehensive, with universal AC, USB-A, and USB-C outlets at every seat, as well as Bluetooth connectivity for pairing your own headphones. Wireless charging pads are also built into the console, though mine did not function, which seems to be a chronic problem with these wireless chargers. Seats and lighting could also be controlled by touchpad.
The seat also has a storage cabinet with a mirror, reading light, cabin light (sconce), and overhead light. The doors have now been certified and can be closed after takeoff. There’s also a handy little shelf that flips down below the literature rack that is large enough for mixed nuts and a beverage–a very thoughtful touch.
Overhead, personal air vents are thankfully available.
You can read more details and see more pictures of the seat in my review of this same aircraft and seat from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Bedding included a duvet and pillow…more than sufficient for the overnight flight, though I missed the mattress pad that United offers (and the soft added blanket that the Flagship Suite Preferred offers).
Interestingly, the pillow was Finnair-branded…
I slept for about four hours.
Food + Drink
It was nearing midnight and I was ready to go to bed, but I ate for the sake of this review. Here’s the menu for my flight:
Among the choices, I chose the “All Day Roast” and that proved to be a very good choice.
ALL DAY ROAST
roasted beef served with roasted potatoes, peas, turnips, and carrots with apple cider demi sauce
First, a warm towel followed by drinks and canapes, which included both warmed mixed nuts and a stuffed pepper with feta cheese and olives…both very good and I love that AA has pistachios and pecans in its nut mix.
The slow-roasted pot roast was delicious (very tender) and served with an appetizer (an “eggplant caponata” served with grilled artichokes and feta cheese) and a green salad.
I always love the ice cream sundae, though the ice cream was rock hard…it should have been perfect had it been allowed to melt for 20-30 minutes. A cheese plate and raspberry cheesecake were also available.
Midflight snacks were available (self-serve) in the galley (water bottles, chips, cookies, apples).
Chicago – London is far too short, in my mind, for a second meal, but a choice of fruit plate or mushroom-leek fritata were served prior to landing, either with Chibani Greek yogurt and breakfast bread. More on my breakfsat interaction below…
IFE + Wi-Fi
The seatback screen is 17.5 inches and the library large assortment of movies, TV shows, music, and games, plus a moving flight map. Internet cost $16 for a two-hour pass or $25 for a flight pass. Headphones are from Bang & Olufsen.
The highlight of the flight was flying over London as we approached Heathrow. It was a beautiful day and I loved the bird’s eye view of one of my favorite cities in the world:
Amenity Kits + Slippers
Amenity kit content included an eyeshade, dental kit, earplugs, lip balm, and body lotion in a Brandon Blackwood black case.
Slippers were also offered and there was even a handy storage for them in the suite:
Lavatories
The 78P has one lavatory in the front of the aricraft and two between the two business class cabins.
Service
The service was mostly good – it was midnight by the time we departed and flight attendants were great about quickly serving dinner. Within an hour, dinner was done and that’s exactly what I want a flight like this.
However, flight attendants made clear (via PA announcements) that if your suite door was shut, they would not serve you…it would be taken as a sign not to disturb you. This announcement was made on my prior flights as well.
Ok, fair enough.
But much to my dismay, as I was trying to sleep 90 minutes before we arrived in London, I was awakened by a flight attendant yelling at me.
“Do you want breakfast?!”
First, my door was closed. Second, I had made clear when ordering dinner that I did not want to be woken up for breakfast (the FA asked).
So I don’t know what that was about, but I wasn’t happy about losing what might have been an extra hour of sleep.
CONCLUSION
We arrived late into London and I hurried to the transfer desk to check on my onward connection on British Airways to Basel.
Now I’ve flown the new Flagship Suite on a longhaul flight and quite like it. I think it represents a thoughtful progression for American Airlines and is a competitive product. Food was also good, even with the hard ice cream. AA is doing a lot of things right: what it needs to do next is make Wi-Fi free.
Ok, I never fly AA so had to do some research on the difference between Flagship Suite vs Flagship Suite Preferred. Why would they offer upgraded bedding for seats called Preferred? I get that you pay extra for the larger space but if the food and beverages are the same I find it ridiculous and extra complicated for FAs to manage different bedding items. BTW, you keep talking about UAs bedding but you should check the new Delta bedding from Missoni. I had it on Delta One flights to and from Europe this past summer and I have to say they are fantastic including a mattress pad that can also turn into a lower back pillow.
Regarding the FA waking you up for breakfast even when you told them not to, that is unfortunately the lack of quality you get from US airlines. They are not customer service driven but robotic and prefer to standardize their services which is easier than offering a bespoke offer to address each passenger needs. BTW, that 4oz yogurt has 9 grams of sugar so a hard pass for me on any breakfast served on planes.
I didn’t eat it either. Just took a picture.
This does look like a great product and even an aspirational one. I’m still loyal to a specific airline/alliance (Delta in my case) and wish that AA had better domestic hard product whether it be in First or Economy. Specifically I think there should be seatback screens most of the time. AA has a big chasm between their regular domestic mainline flights and their international ones.
Good review, but what is the pitch and width of that seat; the width is so important for comfort, space,
and sleeping; United’s bus. class is only 20″ wide, and thats just too narrow.
Forgot to mention; why didn’t they provide a mattress pad; it was a flt. of 7 hrs, 40 mins., and
did you have to ask for pajamas ? For the high cost of the ticket, pajamas wouldn’t cost them that much.
That flight time does lend itself to the breakfast service versus a midnight roast, so while I cut the FA a tiny bit of slack there, certainly more training is required. Meanwhile a great product and can’t wait until they retrofit the 777s. Forever (slowly) forward!
Good service from AA – but typically arriving a day or two behind schedule
Great pics of London!
When you fly UA’s new Polaris seat, your trip report would make a fun comparison to this one.
Anyone else wish Matt would start an OF?
Nice pics of London. That approach is second to none, especially early morning before the city has awoken.
Interesting they’re serving the roast meal this early. It’s still 70+ degrees in London on a daily basis.
Flying back to London (and Paris) is always refreshing… Let’s see when it will be possible to travel from London to Basel on a direct Eurostar HST unit.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün