New American Airlines Business Class Cabins: What To Expect
Intro
In the third quarter of 2024, American Airlines is set to take delivery of a brand new 787-9 with brand new Business Class seats. The initial flight will be from Dallas to Brisbane with this new product; this makes sense for several reasons, including the incentives being offered on this route.
With upcoming renovations to the A321XLR and the 787-9, I thought it would be interesting to review the seats to come to service.
Widebody Seat
Due to American Airlines having a variation of widebodies in their fleet, it's important to understand that this product will come to the whole fleet, eventually. With the Dallas-Brisbane being the first route, we can assume that future AA 787-9 will feature this "suite" product going forward. However, the catch is the 787-8 and the 777's. American Airlines has published that they are going to remove First Class in place of the Business Class plus seats, much like Virgin Atlantic, Air France etc.
Okay, but this product will only be featured on the 787-9 to be delivered in the future as well as 777-300's? Sort of... My thought is this is a trial run; instead of investing millions+ dollars into revamping all of their ancient planes, they will first experiment on these 787-9's, followed by the 777-300. I wouldn't be surprised to see AA drag out the 777-300, as Business travel seems to be booming.
The seats look incredible (at least a big step up) and feature all-aisle access with a closing door. This might beat Delta One suites, but only time will tell.
Okay, so what about the new 787-8's and old 777-200's? Well, for now, there are no plans to reconfigure these aircraft with the new product, although I suppose this will be done in the future.
With this great hard product, I hope AA can provide a consistently good soft product as well.
A321XLR
You know those transcon hops which price out like crazy for First Class, and have a 2-2 configuration in business class? Well, there is a brand new fleet of A321XLRs that are supposed to take over in a brand new 1-1 configuration shortly. The old A321T's are falling apart, so the hard product will resemble a significant upgrade!
With private suites and fully flat beds, this might become the best way to cross the USA.
However, there is always a but involved. My favorite aspect of American Airlines First Class is using the Chelsea Lounge in New York, it's an incredible lounge. My guess is they will sell a bundle with upgraded amenities for those in row 1, much like Jetblue, or a separate bundle where any passenger can pay extra.
Final Thoughts
American Airlines has a new business class coming to the market, and oh my is it a big step up. With the inaugural flight set to take place in the third quarter of 2024, we aren't too far off from having closing suites on American Airlines!! With new A321XLRs coming soon as well, AA could be in for a competitive hard product. I already love the staff (more on that soon).
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