The new business class seats on American Airlines look great, but the biggest news is not the seat, but the plans to enlarge premium cabins, which represents a welcome shift in strategy for American Airlines. Embracing quality and quantity seems like a winning strategy to me.
New American Airlines “Flagship Suite” Business Class Seat
American Airlines has chosen the Adient Ascent seat for its new business class, which I had the chance to try out earlier this year onboard a Qatar Airways 787-9 from Doha to Copenhagen. It is an excellent seat and comfortable in all positions, with plenty of room to stretch out while sleeping. It has privacy doors as well (though I don’t get nearly as excited about doors as others).
We’ll see those seats onboard newly-delivered 787-9 aircraft starting in 2024 and eventually on the 777-300ER, which will undergo a retrofit.
AA also unveiled new herringbone business class seats, similar to what we see onboard the JetBlue A321neo, for new A321XLR transcontinental fleet. The A321T fleet, currently offering business class and first class, will be retrofitted to remove lie-flat seating and match the rest of the A321 fleet.
As part of the news, American Airlines has confirmed that it is discontinuing three-cabin first class and will join Delta and United in eliminating a higher cabin above business class. It is not clear yet what will happen to Flagship Dining facilities, currently reserved only for first class passengers, but I expect those will stick around.
The Size Of Premium Cabins Are Growing – American Airlines Embraces Quality + Quantity
But the biggest news is not the seat. The biggest news is that premium seating in American’s longhaul fleet will grow more than 45% by 2026.
Recall that just a few years ago, American Airlines was ripping out premium cabin seats (and seatback screens) as it faced an identity crisis. It appears the carrier has wisely decided that its course to success is by differentiating itself from the budget carriers in the USA and offering a premium product that travelers will pay a premium to enjoy.
American’s Boeing 787-9 aircraft will have 51 Flagship Suite seats and 32 premium economy seats, and the airline’s Airbus A321XLR aircraft will feature 20 business class seats and 12 premium economy seats. Just as exciting, the retrofitted 777-300ER aircraft will feature 70 Flagship Suite seats and 44 premium economy seats.
This is potentially good news for those who like to upgrade or use points for travel and great news for all who wish to travel in premium cabins, as this represents a welcome investment in the premium cabin experience.
CONCLUSION
Not only is American Airlines investing in a new business class suite, but the carrier is increasing its premium seating by 45% (including business and premium economy) by 2026 on its longhaul fleet. This represents an exciting premium-driven vision that we have not seen for many seasons at AA.
The seats are already standard but still great to have on board. Now catering has to improve in the same level like TK, QR, NH. A great amenity kit with pyjamas on all long haul flights over 7 hours should be compulsory.
Since the announcement it’s only about the seat there’s little hope about catering or service improvements.
Precisely. This is lipstick on an older, indifferent, out of shape but “here for [our] safety”, ill-fitted-uniform-wearing, union-backed, seniority-over-quality-for-international-flights pig.
As a *A flyer who doesn’t visit the USA with any frequency, I am unlikely to be flying this product, but still pleased to see more premium capacity being added to the transatlantic market. Hopefully we will continue to enjoy strong competition on longhaul fares, even if a bit of digging is required sometimes (e.g. buying tickets that start in LIS or BUD instead of LHR/CDG).
BA and AA have been selling first class fares at business class fares for a long time. I’m not going to lie, BA and AA’s first class products seems like a pretty good business class product than an actual first class product. Hope this means for AA that they are willing to improve their business soft product.
I’m starting to change my mind on doors. Oftentimes I don’t want to be disturbed. Telling the flight staff “No need to check in for drinks or other things, I’m going to be trying to sleep” isn’t always effective, and anything more comes off as downright rude. The “do not disturb” light on Polaris seats is never honored either (I can’t blame them, I imagine some passengers don’t even know it’s on). But a closed door is a clear “do not disturb” signal. For that, I like doors.
You write:
As part of the news, American Airlines has confirmed that it is discontinuing three-cabin first class and will join American and United in eliminating a higher cabin above business class
I assume you mean Delta and United?
If only American would reinstall the good A321 interiors with PTVs. DL and UA now have TVs on their new jets, so AA is the oddball out now. Or at minimum don’t rip them out of the A321s that have those interiors.
You guys are the international experts, I stick to the good old USA and obviously have little interest in other cultures and countries. But I fly 125,000 plus miles a year on AA domestic.
More of a comment but I’m shocked how many people are paying for First Class on domestic flights currently. On the routes I fly I get upgraded 75% of the time and talk to customers all the time who pay for FC. I’m shocked that they are paying 3x or more for a bigger seat and a cheap meal. And most aren’t business customers but people who splurged thinking they it was a premium experience but are afraid to say they were had in my opinion.
That said, AA sees this and doesn’t think the economy is going to decrease enough to stop these people from overpaying. They aren’t investing this money to give the seats away on upgrades.
I guess I should be asking these customers if they charged the flight, and if they actually have any intentions on paying the bill.
ok, let’s not jump to conclusions real soon here, how about that?? Wait until UAL debuts its 3 new Polaris iterations before comparing. Also, let’s wait and see how big United’s big wide body order is going to be. It’s not just for replacing 767’s, but it’s also a net real wide body growth order. So stay turned AA, let’s see what happens.
The seat is only part of the experience. Someone needs to replace all the flight attendants with people who actually understand customer service, not thinking that they ‘own’ the aircraft.
Additionally, business class is now the new economy full of annoying children, and riff raff. An unfortunate result of the world becoming more affluent.