While the American Airlines A321neo lacks the seatback screens you will find on Delta Air Lines or United Airlines, our evening flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles in First Class proved quite comfortable after a long day.
American Airlines A321neo First Class Review (CLT-LAX)
Can I just say that Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a mess? The lounge was packed. The concourse was even more packed. We were coming off a regional jet flight from Nashville to Charlotte and I could not believe how many people were in the terminal at 8:00 pm.
We had a short connection of only 45 minutes, so by the time we stopped at the lounge to use the restroom and got to the gate, boarding was almost complete.
American Airlines 1138
Charlotte (CLT) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Saturday, July 26
Depart: 8:55 PM
Arrive: 10:53 PM
Duration: 4 hr, 58 min
Distance: 2,125 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A321-253NX
Seat: 3D (Business Class)
Onboard, we found our seats and settled in for the five-hour journey to LAX.
Seats
The A321neos have 20 first class seats (five rows in a 2-2 configuration) and are the same “Project Oais” seats as the 737-800, specifically Collins Aerospace MiQ cradle seats. Seat pitch is a fairly tight 36.5 inches, recline is five inches, and seats are 20 inches wide.
Each seat has a universal power outlet in the seat console and an USB-A port on the seatback.
Personal overhead air vents are available.
A small tray large enough for two glasses flips down between seats and the tray table flips up to cradle your phone or tablet.
I do love the mood lighting onboard.
Food + Drink
Dinner began about 30 minutes after takeoff with a tiny hot towel followed by drinks and warm mixed nuts.
AA offers pre-orders in first class on all flights with meal service. You can reserve your meals between 30 days and 24 hours in advance of your flight.
For this flight, I ordered the grilled chicken with Mojo sauce, served with rice, black beans, and plantains. It came with a side green salad and burrata appetizer.
Heidi ordered a seasonal vegetable and grain bowl with lemon parsley dressing, grilled zucchini and yellow squash, charred broccolini radish, pickled red onions, sugar snap peas, gold quinoa, and beluga lentils. It was served with a side of chicekn breast seasoned in herbs de Provence. This was part of AA’s “wellness” menu created and inspired by James Beard (author) and Ellie Krieger (nutritionist).
Her meal was served with hummus on the side and she enjoyed it.
Other choices included penne pasta with plant-based sausage, short ribs with mac & cheese (a dish I have enjoyed in the past), a fruit and cheese plate, and AA’s longstanding “golden roasted chicken,” which seems to be on every AA menu I see.
Dessert included a choice of fruit and cheese (cheddar, white, and grapes) and/or Häagen-Dazs vanilla chocolate chip ice cream, both of which were good. The instant decaf coffee I had with it…far less good.
Wi-Fi + IFE
As usual on AA, Wi-Fi was $29 for a flight pass or $20 for an hour…prices I consider robbery. Thankfully, it was a Saturday evening and I had no need to be online.
Streaming entertainment via the aricraft’s intranet service was available with movies, TV shows, games, and music.
Lavatories
First class passengers can utilize a lavatory located in the front of the cabin. It was fairly dirty by the time I used it haflway through the flight.
Service
Service was satisfactory on this flight. While no over-the-top attentive, flight attendants did make a few rounds during the journey, checking to see if first class passengers needed any beverage refills.
Pre-departure beverages were also offered, which are not always a given on AA.
CONCLUSION
We landed on-time in LA and were soon home and reunited with the kids. It was a quick trip, and while the AA A321neo first class cabin is not all that luxurious, the extra room to spread out and meals onboard were appreciated.
James Beard contributed to the AA wellness program from his tomb?
Let’s recall that the 90-year-old CLT is a very large and exremely busy hub that’s improving, but currently a bit rough around the edges due to ongoing renovation. If you allow extra time and patience, it remains a solid airport with lots of connections and amenities.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
A smooth and fun flight on one of the eighty-four A321neo jetliners (with an average age of 4.6 years) in AA’s current fleet… The tasty meal service is a highlight. The lack of a seatback entertainment system is a serious shortcoming.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
I just have to agree, that the lack of seat back entertainment in 2025 is beyond shortsighted! For me, it makes for the most boring airplanes in the US if not the world!
It’s beyond laughable and shows the ignorance of those that care about the overall experience. And no, I don’t want to watch anything on my phone, tablet or laptop.
Change very few words, and that’s what my friend told me when he tried to fix me up with his widowed mother.
I believe that the phrase “Depart: 8:55 AM” in your article needs a minor correction to “Depart: 8:55 PM”…
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Thanks! Fixed.
Actually you’re both wrong. Departure time is 20:55. -CFA level 1
@Güntürk Üstün
LTP here who avoids CLT like the plague. Matthew is correct, the place is a “hot mess” and that is on a good day. It is a complete cluster (IMO) when they have a meltdown due to weather etc. The B and C concourses are total diasasters….worse than “rough edges”. If there areongoing improvements… I haven’t seen any real ones in the since the pandemic. I’ll take PHL or MIA over CLT…
Yep, total mess at CLT, not nearly enough seats at the gates, Admiral Club is a disaster zone and the delays on the tarmac often cause me to end up running through the airport. But it is the best choice cost or mileage wise for me many times so I deal with it begrudgingly.
Positives are the BBQ place in the food court is decent and Olde Mecklenburg beer available there is good local craft beer, if you actually have the time to enjoy one.
I had to chuckle that no one was in line in the BBQ place but the Chick-fil-A line was a mile long.
The CLT Admirals Club being a disaster zone is correct. We had a long layover there and passed on the “hot food.” The buffet area was a mess and the bartender indicated I could get a drink when she saw money on the bar. Another reason to skip American Airlines. Also, we flew the AA 321neo biz from Phoenix to Maui and don’t have much good to say. It was cramped and no seat back entertainment is unacceptable on a 6-hour flight. Stunning AA sells this as a business class product.
Matt CLT is my home airport, as I live 5 minutes from the air field & 10 minutes from the terminal. I agree that the airport is a mess; however, that is largely the doing of AA. Look into the history of what US Airways did to the city of Pittsburgh. Years ago US Airways begged PIT to build them an awesome, gleaming, spacious X-shaped terminal (knowing it would be expensive as heck) or else they wouldn’t retain a hub there. Well the city gave US airways what it wanted… and then US Airways said it was too expensive so they dehubbed PIT, leaving an enormous, spacious, wonderful airport with no hub at all. Point is, AA has a lower CPE at CLT than it does at any of its hubs and they LOVE that. If we construct a gleaming masterpiece like T2 at ICN, AA would literally wet their pants.
Lol. It’s not First Class. It’s modified business class. Understaffed, under appreciated flight attendants. Minimum crew on every flight. Coach get cardboard pretzels or over priced gas station buy on board snacks. Horrible seats with no comfort or space. Cousin of Spirit. What Robert Isom wanted.
Sad to see a premium airline turn into a bad image of US Air/Spirit. Thanks to Isom.
And still no IFE… I might as well fly WN!
I’ll stick with DL or even UA.