Oh, American Airlines…you have such potential, but you have to get the little things right. My latest “Flagship” business class light on the A321T from New York to Los Angeles is another case study of AA not even trying…
Another Pathetic Flight In American Airlines A321T “Flagship” Business Class: These Planes Are Literally Falling Apart Inside
After several weeks of work in Pennsylvania, I flew home from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles via New York on American Airlines, which meant a lie-flat seat in business class on the Airbus A321T from JFK to LAX. I am always thankful for a lie-flat seat on a transcontinental flight and as I embrace free agency in 2025 (rather than pure loyalty to United Airlines), I’m going to be flying on more carriers this year.
I booked rather close to departure and assigned myself seat 6D, a bulkhead aisle seat in business class, because there were no window seats left. An added advantage of the bulkhead is a bit more space for your feet. I rose at 5:00 am to get to PIT and spent three hours working in the Admirals Club there then another four hours in the Greenwich Lounge in JFK.
My objective was to relax on the flight: to watch a movie, which I had not done in many months.
Onboard, I found my seat cushion broken…
And my power port did not work…
Some of you may be thinking, haven’t I read this before? Yes, you have…because last August I flew on the same aircraft type in the opposite direction and had the same two issues. On my last A321T flight from LA to Boston my power port also did not work.
But this flight was even worse…the screens also did not work.
I asked a flight attendant if she could reset my system and she said, “Oh, didn’t they tell you?”
Tell me what?
“These screens have been written up: they don’t work any longer. You can use your phone…”
You can try to reset the system yourself by holding down the power button, but it did not work…
AA Should Be Ashamed Of Itself For Failing To Maintain A321T
Not one, not two, but three flights in a row with a broken power port? Three flights in a row with a loose cushion? And a screen that does not work on a six-hour “Flagship” flight.
There is no excuse. I know AA is retiring these aircraft soon and therefore has little incentive to pour a lot of time and money into maintenance. But this is still ridiculous…a business class passenger should (at the very least!) expect the seat, screen, and power outlet to function.
If AA ever wants to earn a revenue premium (and goodness knows it certainly needs to with its high-cost structure), it must get the little things right.
I did not request compensation for the previous two flights, but I really should, right? At least for this one? I’ve never asked AA for compensation in my life…what does it generally offer for stuff like this? Really, the FA should have proactively offered me and my seatmate something…
And AA does have potential…the meal on the flight was actually very good (nice appetizer, salad, and halibut and a beautiful ice cream sundae). The service was generally good. We arrived at LAX 45 minutes early and this time (unlike last time) we did not have to wait an hour for a gate…
So it’s not like AA does everything wrong…
CONCLUSION
American Airlines will never be great if it cannot do small things like maintain its aircraft. This is my third transcontinental flight in a row without power…there is no excuse.
Between JFK-LAX, AA is now often the cheapest in J (and also when you compare with UA out of EWR). There are some times, AA J is only a bit more than Premium Select on DL. It’s likeAA has just given up.
Is that a serious question. How do you expect an airline to change if you don’t complain and point out that you don’t have to fly AA? They already got your money. Not saying anything to the airline means that everything is going great for them. I *always* take the time to fill out surveys and complain when a product isn’t what they sold me.
Absolutely agree. If it is a material issue – and working power ports so you can get more work done on a long flight is an important one- I will complain. They won’t fix it if people don’t complain. And you don’t get what you paid for. Getting some miles or a TC just takes some of the ill feeling off.
The A321XLR cannot come soon enough. I fly AA as my primary airline and sad to see stories like this emerge. Seems like they stopped investing in maintaining the seats/features on this aircraft due to their coming reconfiguration, which I think is a bad idea given how important the transcon routes are. You should definitely ask for compensation. Usually you’ll get 5-15k points based on the issue type and my own past experience. You should get what you paid for in other words. Glad to see the meal was a hit at least.
That definitely sucks. It should be better. But honestly, isn’t that just life in the USA today? Nothing works.
I stayed at a Hyatt House last week. Ice machine broken. Peloton broken. Washer/dryer broken. Elevator out of service. Is there a single moving sidewalk at MIA that works? Wi-Fi didn’t work on my flight last night. In fact Wi-Fi seems to be down everywhere. The soda machine at Taco Bell at lunch today didn’t work.
Everything’s broken (or awaiting maintenance). People seem to accept it here because it isn’t like this in Europe, or Canada, or Asia. To me it’s almost more of a surprise if everything works as it’s supposed to.
You’re speaking anecdotally because I can’t remember the last time I came across something that was broken. On the other hand, the average American service worker? Don’t get me started.
The last time I complained to AA about a service issue, I asked for and received $250 in funny money. Given that it’s happened 3 times now, I’d try for that, or maybe 20-25k miles if you prefer those.
We arrived at LAX 45 minutes and this time (unlike this time) we did not have to wait an hour for a gate…
Did you arrive LAX 45 minutes early or late? You dont mention.
To clarify – AA is not retiring A321T, only the seats where they will be refurbished to domestic Oasis config.
I’m on this route somewhat often — do you know the registration number of this aircraft (so that it can be avoided)?
I think AA might be a little busy focusing on other things at the moment. Perhaps hold some critiques or criticism for a later date, you know … in the interest of Humanity and empathy. I mean really?
Sorry Carrie I don’t agree with you on that one. It’s not like the thousand of employees on American are focused on the crash. Plane still have to fly customers still have to be served
Until American Airlines divorces itself from the hangers on from America West Management it will remain sub standard in many aspects IMHO
I agree with Matt. However, in 2005, nothing like this was offered, just a seat that reclines a little more than economy class. Even international business class on Singapore Airlines was not lie flat but was to lie an an angle with your head higher than your feet (angled flat)
I flew AA from LHR to LAX about a year ago and couldn’t believe how awful the seat and entire experience was. Things didn’t work, felt dirty, they ran out of food (and what they did have tasted awful), etc.
Preorder.
Your comments are very timely. Just flew AA flights 8 and 7, BNE-DFW and DFW-BNE in business both ways. This is a relatively new and very long route for AA. The FAs on the outbound flight were old and snarly, yelling in the aisle to passengers “nothing can be in your footwell!” rather than talking to passengers individually. Pre-departure drinks were served in plastic, and the service was rushed. They were out of menu choices by the time they reached row 7. You had to ask for everything, rather than them being proactive with service.
On return, flight 7 was cancelled after we boarded due to a mechanical and crew time-out. We were offered a room at the dodgy 2 star Super 8 Motel Bedford at 11 pm. The flight departed next day 19 hours late. The crew on the return flight was much the same. I asked if they had pajamas for the 16 1/2 hour flight and the FA said “we don’t do that”. Service and food was marginal, champagne was unfrozen after 5 hours, The crew seemed to hate their job.
Finally arrived BNE at 1:30 am. Airport was only open for us to clear Customs. Had to wait until 5 am to get bus to domestic terminal. NO proactive compensation was offered other than the motel room. Considering that my ticket was over $10K, I expected a bit more. If AA is trying to attract Australian customers, they need to up their game.
Preorder your meal, predeparture in plastic is not the fas decision. They are understaffed . So, they work with what they have .
Interesting comments. I do wonder what exactly you were expecting, under the circumstances. Seems like it was all ‘par for the course’.
Par for the course? I guess Australian flyers expect a bit more.
If customers don’t encourage AA to provide a better product than we will continue to get poor value. If Emirates, Qatar, Eithad and Singapore can do it, AA can as well.
Had a flight from PHL to BCN and return in January, in Premium Economy. While almost everything was good, the food was horrible. Both flights featured something they called chicken and both meals had some type of curry sauce on the chicken. The snack meal before landing in PHL was a mix of some unknown ingredients, one looked like a cup of mashed potatoes, but had no flavor. The only redeeming part of that meal was the fruit! Not sure I want to fly American again.
Omg kiddo. Guess you should’ve slept in and worked on the plane. Reminds me of coworkers who come in 30 min early but then take their full 30 min lunch! Could just work thru lunch and not have to spend 30 min off the clock.
Considering the obvious deficiencies, was the plane at least cleaned?
This is really poor. You should absolutely ask for compensation.
Agreed!
And it is not that much better in Flagship First – I had to on my last few trips send in a complain – because the seats did not fully work or having a really unmotivated FA (which normally is the purser on the flight).
AA flight attendants can no longer offer you any compensation because American took away iSolve, the onboard mileage compensation program.
Seems a bit entitled to me! Complain. Complain. Complain.
Oh really? I shouldn’t expect such basic things like the electrical outlet and screen to work when I fly in any class of service (let alone business class…)?
Remember that the trans-con A321s (A321T) are supposed to be replaced by the A321XLR with the J/W/Y configuration.
Airbus was supposed to start delivering the XLR in 2023, but Iberia got its first XLR in 2024, entering service in November.
As AA gets its XLRs, the old A321Ts will leave transcon service and get the standard A321 F/Y configuration.
Customers need to be relentless in sharing concerns with American Airlines. A company that had the audacity to eliminate their Customer Relations department and all the employees needs to understand that customers notice, that customers do indeed care about their experience and about the way their feedback is handled.
I was in J from LAX to JFK today and a few minutes before boarding, the gate agent asked me if I wanted to move to flagship first since J was oversold. He warned me that the screen wasn’t working, though. Since it was a redeye flight I didn’t mind, but thought it is pretty sad that they have planes flying around with an inoperable sticker on the screen. The entire seat next to me was also inoperable. Overall, service and food was excellent. One fun fact- the FA working F was the same one who went all crazy on me when I ordered an espresso on board last year. I remembered to only order black coffee this time :-). He was great today and it is pretty apparent that he loves all other parts of his job besides brewing on-board espresso. He even did his dry ice mint presentation again!
Maintenance and condition of AA aircraft is an issue. Not questioning the safety of the aircraft. It is the little things that don’t work. Why can’t they fix the onboard issues when that aircraft is sitting overnight. AA needs to care about the condition of the cabin. When competing against United and Delta, AA needs to care. Unfortunately, when I board an AA aircraft, I do not assume my power port or video screen will be operational. Let’s do better. If the worlds largest airline cares about customer service, they need to to demonstrate that desire to service passengers
What was registration number for the plane? I’m flying in the same seat on Friday JFK-SFO.