American Airlines new Business Class

[actor61]

As requested, I'm posting my thoughts on my trip in American Airlines' new Business Class on their long haul 777's. It was terrific. The new seats are luxuriously comfortable, very private and comparable to the better European carriers. The window seats are singles and the middle seats are doubles; all have aisle access. There is a side table, a small cupboard containing the noise canceling headsets, a floor level storage space for shoes and load and loads of leg room. The seat goes into a flat bed and you are provided with a sort of comforter, and a thick pillow by airline standards. The food is decent, beautifully served, and the mature flight attendants couldn't have been more courteous or attentive. I flew from Los Angeles to London a few days before Christmas and was delighted with the whole experience. I had a window seat and felt pampered and coddled. The t.v. screens are large and operate by touch or remote. There was an enormous choice of movies, music, games and television, and I watched "The Heat"; it's a pretty dreadful movie but it passed the time. American is part of the One World network and I traveled back to L.A. on the British Airways A380, which was also a phenomenal experience. The plane is massive and wonderfully comfortable in Club World (Business Class). I had a window seat on the upper deck and almost wished the 10 hour journey wouldn't end. I'm not crazy about BA's configuration in Business because if you're in a window seat, you fly backwards, and on take off and landing, you're staring into the face of the person on the aisle seat as he/she faces forwards. But once in the air, you can raise the privacy screen and form a private compartment. I had the last seat before the galley and so did not have to crawl over the aisle passenger's feet when getting in and out. Otherwise, you have to step over feet in order to get to the aisle. It's a minor inconvenience but I found the American configuration much better. The food and service on BA were excellent, although AA's food service is more attractive. BA gives you salt and pepper in little paper packets; AA gives you individual salt and pepper shakers. The little details are always what make the best impression. Both airlines give you linen napkins, tablecloths and silverware. AA serves ice cream sundaes for dessert, which is a lovely touch. On BA, we were served an English high tea before landing, complete with scones, clotted cream and stawberry jam. I got a great deal by flying AA to London and British back to L.A., paying nearly $1,200 less than if I'd flown with the same carrier on both trips. It's worth shopping the various One World airline web sites as there are very good deals to be had in Business if you're willing to book early.

 

Yahoo listed the 10 best Business Class airport lounges a few weeks ago, and AA's in Los Angeles was on it. As lounges go, it's attractive and comfortable but it does not have the amenites of European lounges. Drinks are free, but food is limited to crackers, nuts, little nuggets of cheese, veggies and dip in packets. The BA lounge in Terminal 5 at Heathrow is superb for food and comfort. I had a 6 hour layover there from a connecting flight, and had both breakfast and lunch in the South lounge. The buffet was huge with hot and cold choices, wonderfully fresh breads, fresh fruit, cereal, eggs, sausages, yoghurt, coffee tea, hot milk, porridge, etc. At lunch, there were hot soups, curries, pasta dishes, and cold salads, various meats, cheese plates, fruit and a huge selection of wine, bottled waters, and every kind of liquor, as well as fresh juices. In that respect, BA put AA to shame in the lounge department but they were neck and neck in the inflight comfort and service department.

[Tighty]

What took AA so long to finally catch up with other international airlines.

[EZEtoGRU]

What took AA so long to finally catch up with other international airlines.

Depends what you mean. AA's new business class seat is now regarded as the best of long-haul US carriers. Much much better than anything on UA. And somewhat better than DL. AA only has the new seats on their 777-300 aircraft but will gradually roll it out on the older 777-200 aircraft through the course of this year. The new AA business class seat is probably better than almost anything available on most European carriers....including BA/LH/AF/KL. On board service may be a different thing, but if your main goal is to sleep, it's hard to beat the new AA seat.

 

Thanks to the OP for the trip report. I really enjoyed it.

[adriano46]

I experienced something close to the seating you describe on the new AA seats on a USAir flight recently -- but it was in the Airbus and the new seats, with so much storage space and a hassock where you can rest your feet without banging into the seat in front of you was terrific especially when the you recline the seat for flat sleeping -- fir the first time I was able to really sleep because of the comfort. I think these configurations of 1-2-1 seating in Business are the way most airlines will go in the future, although they do limit the number of business class passengers (the Airbus had seats for 20 - 5 rows). Of course USAir is now AA.

[imrthr]

 

snip snip

 

Yahoo listed the 10 best Business Class airport lounges a few weeks ago, and AA's in Los Angeles was on it. As lounges go, it's attractive and comfortable but it does not have the amenites of European lounges. Drinks are free, but food is limited to crackers, nuts, little nuggets of cheese, veggies and dip in packets.

-

 

If an American Airlines passenger is a frequent flier and holds the elite status of Executive Platinum, such passengers flying in business can use the first class lounge at LAX. This lounge serves (without cost) hot breakfast for early flights and warm and hot lunches/dinners for afternoon and evening flights. The first class lounge at LAX is rarely crowded and is also excellent for service.

-

[jimboivyo]

As requested, I'm posting my thoughts on my trip in American Airlines' new Business Class on their long haul 777's. It was terrific. The new seats are luxuriously comfortable, very private and comparable to the better European carriers. The window seats are singles and the middle seats are doubles; all have aisle access. There is a side table, a small cupboard containing the noise canceling headsets, a floor level storage space for shoes and load and loads of leg room. The seat goes into a flat bed and you are provided with a sort of comforter, and a thick pillow by airline standards. The food is decent, beautifully served, and the mature flight attendants couldn't have been more courteous or attentive. I flew from Los Angeles to London a few days before Christmas and was delighted with the whole experience. I had a window seat and felt pampered and coddled. The t.v. screens are large and operate by touch or remote. There was an enormous choice of movies, music, games and television, and I watched "The Heat"; it's a pretty dreadful movie but it passed the time. American is part of the One World network and I traveled back to L.A. on the British Airways A380, which was also a phenomenal experience. The plane is massive and wonderfully comfortable in Club World (Business Class). I had a window seat on the upper deck and almost wished the 10 hour journey wouldn't end. I'm not crazy about BA's configuration in Business because if you're in a window seat, you fly backwards, and on take off and landing, you're staring into the face of the person on the aisle seat as he/she faces forwards. But once in the air, you can raise the privacy screen and form a private compartment. I had the last seat before the galley and so did not have to crawl over the aisle passenger's feet when getting in and out. Otherwise, you have to step over feet in order to get to the aisle. It's a minor inconvenience but I found the American configuration much better. The food and service on BA were excellent, although AA's food service is more attractive. BA gives you salt and pepper in little paper packets; AA gives you individual salt and pepper shakers. The little details are always what make the best impression. Both airlines give you linen napkins, tablecloths and silverware. AA serves ice cream sundaes for dessert, which is a lovely touch. On BA, we were served an English high tea before landing, complete with scones, clotted cream and stawberry jam. I got a great deal by flying AA to London and British back to L.A., paying nearly $1,200 less than if I'd flown with the same carrier on both trips. It's worth shopping the various One World airline web sites as there are very good deals to be had in Business if you're willing to book early.

 

Yahoo listed the 10 best Business Class airport lounges a few weeks ago, and AA's in Los Angeles was on it. As lounges go, it's attractive and comfortable but it does not have the amenites of European lounges. Drinks are free, but food is limited to crackers, nuts, little nuggets of cheese, veggies and dip in packets. The BA lounge in Terminal 5 at Heathrow is superb for food and comfort. I had a 6 hour layover there from a connecting flight, and had both breakfast and lunch in the South lounge. The buffet was huge with hot and cold choices, wonderfully fresh breads, fresh fruit, cereal, eggs, sausages, yoghurt, coffee tea, hot milk, porridge, etc. At lunch, there were hot soups, curries, pasta dishes, and cold salads, various meats, cheese plates, fruit and a huge selection of wine, bottled waters, and every kind of liquor, as well as fresh juices. In that respect, BA put AA to shame in the lounge department but they were neck and neck in the inflight comfort and service department.

 

 

American also runs a solid FC product on their new 77Ws (777-300ER). Just flew from dfw to lhr and it was a comfortable seat

 

http://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/boeing-777-300ER.jsp

[jimboivyo]

If an American Airlines passenger is a frequent flier and holds the elite status of Executive Platinum, such passengers flying in business can use the first class lounge at LAX. This lounge serves (without cost) hot breakfast for early flights and warm and hot lunches/dinners for afternoon and evening flights. The first class lounge at LAX is rarely crowded and is also excellent for service.

-

 

it's american's flagship lounge. there are several of them in the system

 

http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInformation/airportAmenities/AAFlagshipLounges.jsp

[daviddd49]

The new Business Class Seating can be found only on the 777-300ERs (on AA's website, they show up as 77W rather than 777). I'm an Executive Platinum with AA and have flown in these new planes 3 times now, twice managing to get the upgrade to business. It was EXCELLENT. The seats are truly lie flat and are comfortable as beds, even for a guy of extra proportions, like me. For a 10 hour flight to London from Dallas, it was superb.

 

Even the experience in the "Main Cabin Extra" compartment of Coach was superior to that of the older 777s. The seats were not quite so close together (meaning you've got more elbow and shoulder space) and they're the new pivot-recline seats, where your butt slides forward as your seat "reclines" back," (meaning you don't impact the people behind you nearly so much). I also find the recline to be a better feel (even though it's not any more in terms of degree of angle).

 

One advantage of the new 777s is that there are MORE Business Class seats, so theoretically it should be easier to obtain the upgrade; eventually, that will be the case but, right now, they're so popular for bookings that it's more difficult to get the eVIP upgrade (i.e., a "System-Wide Upgrade") even if one is Executive Platinum with 135,000 miles a year (actual butt-in-seat miles) under one's belt. That will settle down as they add more 777-300ERs to the fleet. I wish they would retrofit some of the old 777s with at least some of the new seating, but that would severely reduce the number of Business Class seats in the smaller Business Class cabin.

[+ Axiom2001]

...found this thread to be most interesting. ...had my first business class experience last October when I flew from JFK to Berlin via Frankfurt and from Barcelona to Frankfurt to JFK on Luf. From LAX to JFK, I flew United business. Since this was my first time flying business, and since I'm almost 6'3, I've definitely concluded that when I am flying internationally, I have to fly via business.

 

Thanks for this report; it has rekindled my interest in AA again. I've been a frequent flyer traveler with them in the past but as a coach flyer. It's abysmal flying cost on AA when one is flying to South America [buenos Aires/Rio de janeiro, etc...].