Looking down from terminal D lounge at DFW, the new American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER easily stuck out. The angular tail and grey-ish paint contrasted sharply with the sea of dueling eagle tails and semi-glinting bare metal under a setting Dallas sun. Surprisingly it wound up looking not half bad in person. Even more surprisingly, the new livery made the polished aluminum planes around it —a livery that many view as nothing short of timeless—suddenly look old and dated.
Unfortunately this is how much of the flying public has felt about AA for quite some time, both outside and inside the plane. Having developed a less-than-spectacular reputation for a dated on-board product, mediocre service both in front and back, and oft-petulant flight crews, the airline has struggled to keep pace. A series of highly publicized incidents over the past several years (think unhinging seat-rows) haven’t helped either, keeping the AA PR team consistently on the back foot. And they’ve stood on the sidelines as the other domestic carriers trundled off into managed bankruptcies and merger marriages only to come out stronger (though not necessarily better) at the end of it all.
Realizing it was nearing time to slowly fade into the history books or fight back, American began publicly unveiling plans for a glorious return to the top in 2012. AA first stunned observers by placing gigantic airplane orders (up to nearly 900 – basically replacing most of its fleet). Then they doubled down by further sharing plans to pimp out many of them like they were Virgin Atlantic or something. We received glimpses of CGI A321 trans-con cabins with lie-flat in premium, and pictures of the long-in-coming Boeing 777-300 with an impressive new interior. They created and unveiled a new corporate identity that at least accomplished looking different. Finally they agreed to marry long-time suitor US Airways, who had been waiting patiently at the proverbial punch bowl for some time.
Which brings us, sort of, back to the lounge window and the big Boeing below it. This airplane, the new flagship of the AA fleet, is the first major iteration of the renewal plan. It represents everything AA is aiming to become: new, fresh, and exciting. The aircraft has been debuting itself for the past two months on select routes out of Dallas DFW and New York JFK. American invited us, on the airline’s dime, to take a few flights in business class to experience the new American on our own (DFW-LHR-JFK).
The Flight
PHOTOS: AA Ameni-tease; The Product
Stepping on board, we thought we accidentally boarded the wrong plane. Normally greeted by a utilitarian service galley, we were pleasantly surprised when instead we boarded right through a spacious mood-lit entryway that arched clear across the plane. We thought we might’ve boarded Air New Zealand, but nope, it was American.
Committing to this aircraft and wherever it was going, we turned the corner down the aisle taking our first appraisal of the business class cabin. American arguably put more time and effort into making a totally kickass business class than they did anywhere else on the airplane, including the signature Flagship suites. So you can imagine our disappointment when, at first glance, the seat spaces looked small. This only helped to bolster our second impression: crowded.
We settled into our seat—9A outbound, 11J inbound—with fifty-two of our best business buddies and thankfully noted that our first impressions had been quite deceptive. Spacious and wide (44 in.), the seat turned out to be anything but small. Room to stretch out was plentiful, and the whole ensemble was comfortable. It also boasted quite a bit of in-seat storage, something many premium products lack. (Seriously, it was a huge amount of space: on our return flight, and with a little bit of work, we emptied most of a stuffed backpack into it.) The seat is also very private. The suite-like feel instantaneously melts away the concern about the cabin being crowded: even if it is, you wouldn’t know it once seated. The 1-2-1 configuration—which both eliminates the infamous straddle of shame and really emphasizes the amount of space you actually have—also helps.
Of course the big selling point of the new seat is the lie-flat capability. We took full advantage of this feature on our overnight into London and enjoyed it quite a bit, putting down five hours of on-again, off-again sleep. We suspect that we would’ve slept a whole lot better if a handful of over-aisle TV screens didn’t keep brightly displaying various flight stats through the night (very annoying). Besides the lie-flat setting the seat can also be configured in just about any arrangement you like—a nice touch. Some of the other features we enjoyed included the modest work space, vanity mirror in one of the storage cubbies (we’re so vain, we definitely thought it was about us), the ability of the seat to slide toward and away from the work space (we didn’t have to move anything to get up), universal power outlet, and the large screen for audio/video on demand (AVOD).
Speaking of the AVOD, while we hardly used it at all on our outbound, overnight flight, we spent hours playing around with it during our afternoon return flight. The system functions both via touch screen and by a tethered remote tucked into the seat. High-level choices were easy enough to discern, while actually navigating through it could be a challenge at times, especially with the remote. In any case, AA has a very well-stocked library of movies and music. This writer saw a few recent blockbusters that he was just too cheap to see in the theaters (Lincoln and Skyfall). Besides entertainment, other high-level categories included the usual suspects: ‘listen’, ‘my flight’, and ‘shopping’ while adding one we hadn’t yet seen: ‘my device’ which allows you to connect anything from video cameras to smart devices to the big screen provided you have the appropriate cables (we didn’t). All told, the system holds dozens upon dozens of movies and hundred of tracks to listen to in addition to games, TV, news from the net; the list goes on.
Meanwhile, the food left little to be desired. The standard warm mixed nuts and preflight and post-departure mixed drinks made for a welcoming start. Appetizers included curried shrimp and salmon. For the entrée we sampled the beef for dinner on our flight from Dallas to London, and pasta for lunch while headed to New York. The dessert cart gradually sauntered its way up the aisle awhile later. We passed up the tantalizing cheese plate for the classic hot fudge sundae on both flights, and we have zero regrets about it: ’twas excellent each time. A later pre-arrival meal service—breakfast on our redeye and a light meal on our afternoon return—proved to be equally satisfying. By the time each flight was over we felt ready to burst.
If that’s not enough, there’s a self-service bar; a feature unique to AA among US-based airlines. Business and Flagship passengers can munch on petite fours, mini-tarts, club sandwich slices, and parfaits, all while sipping on a mixed drink. Reeking of awesomeness and class, it may be our favorite feature on the whole plane, and maybe even of any plane in the US.
Elsewhere on the plane, experiences were varied. Folks in the very back of the main cabin looked tight: 220 people squeezed into a 3-4-3 setup with 31 inches of pitch? Not much room there. But while it is definitively cozy, at least every seat has a generously sized AVOD screen and universal/USB power outlets—a big step up from the rest of the fleet.
Main cabin extra, the first time we’ve seen the elusive AA econ+ option, looked noticeably better. The cabin was visibly less squished: 3-3-3 abreast, with 36 inches of pitch. Otherwise the seat and service were identical to the main cabin. We didn’t get to visit the eight Flagship Suites all the way up front, but based on pictures from AA it looks pretty sweet: we guess we’ll just have to trust them on that.
We also checked out the restrooms on board. The cans in the main cabin were pretty standard: no surprises here. Our own business class WC, however, wound up being quite classy: soft blue mood lighting, faux wood panel flooring, motion sensor faucets, and premium products made it a destination in itself.
The WiFi, still a novelty on trans-oceanic flights like both of ours, booted up shortly after takeoff and did remarkably well on both flights despite occasional cut-outs and slow periods. It loaded most pages fairly smoothly, though it didn’t like handling picture uploads. American is one of the first to use the Ku-Band satellite WiFi, provided by Panasonic Avionics. The service was free on our flights, but the cost will go up once the trial period ends ($19/flight).
But product is only half the battle: it’s the service and cabin crew that take the experience to the next level. A number of service features, like dining on demand or the option to sleep until the last minute before a quick breakfast, are nice options that can maximize the experience you want or need to have. Up front in Flagship additional measures such as privacy lights and a full turndown service add even more.
On the cabin crew themselves, well, they were visibly stressed on each flight. This is to be expected to a degree; it is a new, much larger plane and crews need time to adjust. We understand. What we understand slightly less, however, is why certain cabin crew members told us we could not take pictures on board due to terrorism concerns. Upon being contacted after the flight, AA reps in Dallas insist this is not a policy of the airline (good!) but it still made for an unpleasant, unnecessary interaction. Otherwise it was little things that are hard to call out specifically but just didn’t feel quite right. It wasn’t that we received bad service (we definitely didn’t), it just didn’t impress us, is all.
Post-Flight Analysis
EVEN MORE PHOTOS: Because We Have More and We Can
The plane is gorgeous and the product is wonderful. At least as far as the premium cabins go, there’s really no debate: this easily puts American at the top of the US domestic carriers. It also positions the airline to compete meaningfully with international competitors and OneWorld partners British and Cathay. Arguably more important, AA has repeatedly indicated that the 773s and coming Airbus A321s won’t be one-off, isolated experiences of awesomeness: they intend to roll out a comparable level of product on much of the fleet. If this comes to pass, American’s on-board premium product will be a force to reckon with.
The main cabin, however, may not fare quite as well. The 3-4-3 setup is a big crunch, and tighter than other domestic competitors. The nice new AVOD is sweet and a huge plus for regular AA fliers, but other carriers have also begun refreshing their econ cabins with similar products while simultaneously resisting the temptation to pack more passengers in. The main cabin extra offering looks super-roomy compared to the main cabin, but likely breaks even with competitors overall.
While the airplane itself left us very impressed, our experience with the flight crews gave us reason to pause. While chatting with crews during both flights, the vote was unanimously negative on the plane and AA’s long-term plans. While most of the talk focused on not being able to provide the level of service they took pride in on smaller planes (the much larger 773 adds only one crew member, they say), a surprising chunk of the talk was decidedly vitriolic in tone. This is especially concerning because AA has suffered through some particularly sour labor relations over the years, at times placing the passenger in the middle as a bargaining chip.
Though the chats certainly revealed that the staff/management dynamic remains a work in progress, ultimately we didn’t feel service on board suffered to any noticeable degree as a result. The crews did manage to keep the sausage-making behind the scenes, so far as we could tell. Otherwise, as we noted, the crews were visibly stressed, which consequently kept them from being at the top of their game. Perhaps a little more time spent refreshing on customer interactions would help keep folks up to par. We hope that these concerns and issues become mere bumps in the road en route to a better future for all parties involved.
Of course the real wild card is whether the new leadership coming in from Tempe will keep the gig going. It could just be talk, but incoming CEO Doug Parker has already hinted that the new branding AA spent years of time and tons of money on may wind up being short-lived. Other aspects may follow suit and find themselves kicked to the curb: we hope not.
Bottom line? Overall the experience was quite good but fell short of being great. If line staff can rally behind company brass (and vice-versa), and if the new incoming brass decides to continue to build on the work their predecessors began, American may well have some of its best days ahead.
