I had a lovely crew and delicious dinner on my American Airlines A321T flight in business class from Los Angeles to Boston, but the cabins are simply falling apart on these soon-to-be-retrofited planes and AA is not even trying any longer…
American Airlines A321T Business Class: A Familiar Problem
2024 ended with an unexpected last-minute business trip to New England, a brief one-day trip. On the way out, I flew American Airlines from LAX to BOS on a redeye, an ideal schedule that gave me all day to work in LA and then a slightly longer overnight flight that I could sleep on.
I had a last-minute gate change at LAX (much like this family) and even showed up to my gate late…there were only 12 minutes left until departure…but thankfully I got on. The cabin was half-empty the day before, but filled up with upgrades and non-revs. To “protect revenue,” AA does not offer complimentary elite upgrades from business class to first class on premium transcon flights, so even though the first class cabin was empty, I stayed in business class and it filled up with non-revs (I’m not complaining, just noting that it makes sense why AA is getting rid of first class aka “employee class” on this aircraft and on the 777-300ERs).
Like my last flight, my foot cushion was broken.
Like my last flight, my power port did not work.
Two flights in a row…
The “wi-fi was also broken” (thanks AA).
But it wasn’t a horrible flight. Kelly, who worked the business class cabin, was very gracious, calling passengers by surname and was also very attentive.
I had skipped dinner earlier so I could eat onboard (in order to offer a full review of the flight) and ordered a “black and blue” short rib with bleu cheese on top. It was a very nice meal with carrot and parsnip fries, a nice artichoke caprese appetizer, and a green salad.
Then an ice cream sundae to finish…I just could not help myself:
The bedding is decent in business class and I was able to sleep for the next 3.5 hours: I greatly appreciate that AA does not wake everyone up to prepare for landing at the top of descent, like United does…that extra 15 minutes of sleep made a huge difference.
So as we enter 2025, expect more of the same on AA: improving food, hit or miss service (great service on this flight), but an A321T that is falling apart and no effort to fix it.
I will offer a full review of this flight as soon as I complete the last few flight reviews from my trip around the world.
AA’s wifi has been so much worse lately, and I don’t really understand why. Back in 2018 it was great. It seems to only work half of the time now, and is unusable on RJs.
With the exception of the amenities not working, a move in the right direction for AA – the meal also looks well plated! And dare I say, with the exception of the green salad, the food quality looks good as well.
Maybe AA will really ‘go for great’ in 2025!
I always wonder why US legacy airline CEO’s can’t just simply take a trip on SQ or the likes to see how it should be done.
This is sad, they could have had a real something in the A321T that none of the other US carriers have but they choose to fumble it instead
Matthew Klint if writing is your profession why don’t you think enough of it to proofread and spell check????
Again, why do they put stuff like Blue Cheese on a quality (ok semi quality) piece of meat? If someone doesn’t eat BC, the meal is ruined. Add in artichokes that a majority of the public never eats and the meal is inedible for many. I absolutely hate this about meals when flying. Yea I’m white trash that flies FC often, but give me the burger or a basic meal without fancy add ons and I’m good. And I believe the majority of airline travelers feel the same way. This isn’t Tavern on the Green.
Agreed.
I could agree more. totally ruined that meal.
“Kelly, who worked my side of the cabin”
Don’t they work both sides of the cabin on narrow-bodies?
“calling passengers my surname”
Best typo yet. Everyone is from the Klint family on this flight!
Flew this route 2 years ago in the summer in F, one of my worst flights ever. I could sense no differentiation from J other than the seat, which was nothing special. Similar portion of food as Matthew had, but absolutely abysmal quality. No hot breakfast offered, 2 scones were just dropped off at my seat. FA couldn’t care to do more than the minimum. Maybe I’ll give them another shot, but definitely not for the 2700USD one way I paid for my flight!
I think the food in first and business class is mostly the same, just an extra appetizer offered in first.
AA does upgrade from Biz to FC on Transcon flights for elites, it’s just set aside as op-up and not standard.
So F will go with seats open if Economy is not full and Biz is not oversold, but if there are standbys they will do rolling upgrades for everyone, and Biz gets upgraded to FC by status.
I’m Plat Pro and did not get an upgrade. Was mot even on list. Is it done at gate?
As I mentioned it’s op-up not an upgrade. So if lower cabins were not full then there was no need to push you up to First to make room
The service looks a lot better than Delta on this route. Delta’s 757s on the route are even rattier looking. Sad how far these “premium transcon” routes have fallen.
I believe DL has put A321neos on this route that do not even have lie-flat beds.
They were still using the 757s and marketing it as DeltaOne as of a couple months ago. I’ve taken it several times this year, and it was a disappointment every time.
to be fair to AA, the new business class on the 321 XLR is basically the same as first class on the 321T
It’s first by a different name. Big question will be how to they handle premium economy. On HI flights, O gets the same food as Y, whereas DL (finally) and UA serve the J meals
When are the delivery dates for the a321 XLRs ? Let me grab some popcorn.
The A321Ts are being replaced with 321XLRs, which will feature AA’s new cabin products nose to tail. The 321Ts indeed appear beaten up inside, in a lot of places, but to a point. Some of what you say is pure exaggeration. Have flown these birds dozens of times on JFK-SFO and JFK-LAX and back. Usually, the crews are very pleasant and American does offer a much better food product in Business and First than anything plated on United or Delta. The bedding and seats are also quite comfy. The 321T is a nice ride.
Overall though, what you report illustrates well American’s image problem and where, if they could only zero in on it more, they could turn that perception around.
The transcontinental market (premium) is competitive but there is no clear and distinct winner, across the big 3 US airlines. Delta flies a mix of old 767-300ERs (with some 767-400ERs thrown in), and a lot of 757s, where the seats are a problem. United operates a mix of 777s, 787s, and 757s, where the main issue is the terrible food. JetBlue’s MINT product is unique and in some ways, excels, but the punctuality rate is problematic.
This is a pretty validating post to read because I experienced the same things. I took four flights on AA in first class over Oct and Nov (r/t JFK-LAX and r/t JFK-SFO) and was shocked at how uniformly broken and/or dilapidated the entire hard product was on each flight.
-The padding of the seats are essentially worn through at this point and every time it felt like I was sitting on a wooden board. Eventually I was actually able to make a pretty comfy cushion by folding up the blanket into a square and sitting on it for the duration of the flights lol
-The plastic and wood laminate are chipped and scratched badly
-Power outlets worn out, plug kept falling out throughout the flight
-Some seats weren’t able to recline
-The latch that secures the tv was broken so wasn’t possible to stow the screen away and it would swing back and forth during take off and landing
However I was impressed by the food and service each time. Had terrific fish, lamb, and beef meals, and really lovely flight attendants.
I just did this flight in late December. One of the things I’m going to miss when they get the new planes is the much more civilized boarding and de- boarding. There’s just so few seats in coach. It’s so much more civilized than say a United 757 on the same route.