First class has officially gone the way of the dodo for all airlines based in the Americas. In the last decade, airlines like TAM and United saw the writing on the wall and killed off their international first class cabins, American has now confirmed that they will be ditching first class as well.
American currently offers first class seating internationally on their flagship Boeing 777-300ER and domestically on the A321T.
Starting in 2024, American will receive 787-9s and A321XLRs with new business class flagship suites. Those suites will feature closing doors, which travelers either love for privacy, or hate for making a relatively small space feel too claustrophobic. The airline will also remove their current business and first class seats on 777-300ER and retrofit it with the new business class flagship suites. The 16 aircraft A321T subfleet will be retrofitted to match the rest of the A321 fleet, while the A321XLRs will operate premium routes like transcontinental flights from Boston and New York, with business class flagship suites.
American’s 787-9 currently features 30 business class seats and 21 premium economy seats. The new configuration will be much more premium heavy, with 51 business class flagship suites and 32 premium economy seats.
787-9 with business class flagship suites:
787-9 business class flagship suite:
787-9 business class flagship suite:
787-9 premium economy:
American’s 777-300ER currently flies with 8 first class seats, 52 business class seats, and 28 premium economy seats. The new configuration will feature a whopping 70 business class flagship suites and 44 premium economy seats.
The A321XLR will be delivered with 20 business class flagship suites and 12 premium economy seats.
A321XLR business class flagship suites cabin:
A321XLR premium economy cabin:
While first class may be gone, it sure seems like business class has replaced that cabin and premium economy has replaced the business class cabin. Maybe it was all a ploy to get companies to pay for the top cabin on the plane?
For now, you can still fly international first class on airlines like ANA, Air France, BA, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, JAL, Korean, Lufthansa, Qantas, Qatar, Singapore, and Swiss. But we’ll see how much longer they can hold out.
With American and Delta now offering business class suites with doors, the pressure will be on United to upgrade their Polaris business class cabin to match.
What do you think of American’s new business class seats?
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15 Comments On "American Confirms New Flagship Suites In Business Class, Will Kill Off First Class"
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HAAte AAmerican AAirlines
is there a significant downgrade to the hard product going from the first class seats to business flagship suites?
one wonders if there would be more award availability if the business class cabins expand so much
Other than marginally better food/drink, the first class seats and personal space were slightly larger + you could spin your chair effectively sit at a desk. Other than that it was all hype and exclusivity… meh
BA still offers international fitst class cabins
That’s what the post says.
Oh, I missed it.
See it now.
From what I’ve heard first class on the A321T is very successful, interesting that they are ditching it
Clearly not that successful.
or could be product streamlining, i recall hearing somewhere that business sales leader said she cant get enough F seats on the route. don’t remember where i read it
You don’t streamline products that are very successful.
There’s no kuntz in selling out, but if business is more profitable than first you ditch first and add more business.
I’m a peasant that’s in coach, so difference to All the poor simple people. But would be nice to get more legroom in all classes
AA tried “More Room Throughout Coach” in the early aughts:
https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/04/business/american-air-to-put-more-room-in-coach.html
It failed:
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/business/american-air-is-adding-seats-and-cutting-legroom-in-coach.html
Does this mean that complimentary status upgrades on the transcon flights from economy class will only get you to premium economy and not business/lie flat seat as it is now?
The brilliance behind using a door like device acting as the main element of the privacy partition is that you can open it when felling claustrophobic.
The only domestic AA planes I like are the coast to coast A321T, and they will be reducing the number of lie-flat seats from 30 (currently 20 Biz, 10 First) to 20. Its a big loss for these.