I Flew American Airlines’ New 70-Suite Boeing 777—They’re Finally Making A Case For Paying More

I joined the American Airlines media preview flight of their newly refurbished Boeing 777-300ER last Tuesday, in advance of the plane’s first commercial flight. The day began with speeches at the DFW airport, followed by a flight from Dallas to New York JFK. There are 70 business class seats onboard. All of the media were in business class. Some employees were back in premium economy, which honestly for a day flight is the sweet spot on this plane. The new 777-300ER is very much like American’s new-delivery Boeing 787-9Ps. Business class is a suite with doors. It’s a dense product, but excellent and comfortable, and the cabin is very stylish. Premium economy is a fundamental improvement over the previous product. It’s a more comfortable seat It’s a more attractive seat And all the premium economy seats have foot rests (in the older American premium economy, outside of the bulkhead seats, there were only foot bars). I already had a sense for the product, because I’m familiar with the new 787-9s. However, I wanted to join the flight for a few reasons. (And, as mentioned previously, I made a donation to charity to offset the ‘value’ of the trip). 70 business class seats is quite a lot. It’s not the most, Emirates certainly has more on its A380. And the old ‘High J’ British Airways 747-400 had 100 business and first class seats. But I still wanted to see what a sea of business class looked like. And there are some compromises, like tighter galley space and space for midflight snacks, and fewer lavatories. How would that be in practice? But most of all the very fact that American Airlines was doing this – I flew United’s media flight for its inaugural 777-300ER with new Polaris seats nine years ago. They wanted a spectacle of it. American hasn’t tried to show off in the same way – this seemed like it would be the first cohesive attempt at a narrative highlighting their premium efforts that began a year and a half ago. Between Chief Commercial Officer Nat Pieper and Chief Customer Officer Heather Garboden, they offered a story of an airline that’s solving pain points and focusing on the details of the passenger experience. That’s genuinely new for American and that, I think, is what the event was really about more than just seeing a seat I’d effectively already seen (on another aircraft). If there’s one change to my mental model about American it’s that they’re shifting from cost control to revenue maximization. “Premium” is just one part of the strategy. They do need to offer a product that customers are willing to pay more for. They have a significant stage length-adjusted margin gap to Delta and United. But they’re also looking for areas of revenue leakage. Eliminating elite benefits and mileage accrual on basic economy is about getting existing customers to pay more for tickets. They’re merchandising, including upgrades, more aggressively. They’ve simply earned less than competitors on ‘extras’ and they’re looking to change that. In the past they might not have invested in the IT to better monetize products (cost avoidance). That’s changed. They’re also looking for brand partnerships to bring in revenue or reduce costs of new investments. So we’re seeing Lavazza coffee, Bollinger champagne, and specific wine deals in-lounge and in-cabin. Starlink internet and seatback screens will give them options to monetize attention. And at this event we saw a luggage tie-in. July luggage gave each passenger a red 100th anniversary American Airlines bag. American has customers who travel (obviously). They’re a good market to pitch luggage to! And the media and influencers in attendance are a good market to give their bags to. (Again, I made a donation to charity, it’s a sharp-looking bag though I tend to be a little more corporate myself, the bag is super light which some will favor but I worry about stability with little in it.) After speeches we proceeded through a light security screening and out to the aircraft. It’s a good looking plane! I didn’t get a bulkhead (Flagship Preferred) row, but frankly I sort of expected to be assigned to cargo. I haven’t always been the most popular guy at Skyview headquarters. Credit to them for still engaging with me. This is the standard business seat on the aircraft. I was one row back from Flagship Preferred Suite in the main cabin of business. I’ve been told many times by their comms folks that I’m disproportionately unfair to American. I don’t think so. American just had greater potential to be better than it was than any other airline, and couldn’t seem to get out of its own way. Much of what they’ve been doing over the last year and a half are just things I’ve called out for over a long period of time. It was well over a decade ago when I first wrote that they had a revenue not a cost problem, that they’re always going to be a high-cost airline so need to earn a revenue premium to make money and that means investing in product not chasing Frontier Airlines. This plane features a product that’s been in development since long before their pivot to premium, and the density of the aircraft shows that, but I’m still impressed by the attention to detail that’s gone into it. Honestly that’s something I really haven’t figured out – for years product detail seemed to get short shrift at the airline. The products they released on the past year and a half where worked stretched back years really highlight aesthetic and detail (the same goes for their new lounges). I remain unsure how to make sense of that. American decided to do their full international meal service on the short Dallas – New York flight. That’s tough to do, and cabin crew were working hard throughout. I actually got skipped over for my meal! And these were excellent flight attendants, not really familiar with the new galley set up, and getting food out much more quickly than they otherwise would on a normal flight. It was their first pass picking up trays when I managed to get someone’s attention over it. I didn’t even so much want the meal as to photograph it. (That’s also why I ordered two desserts, I had only a couple of bites.) American probably doesn’t get enough credit for their meal service, and that’s not something new with their premium push (outside of things like Pecan Lodge barbecue). I find their meals better than Delta’s and United’s already, to be honest. Despite lack of the full snack bar, I thought they did a decent job laying out midflight snacks though the flight wasn’t long enough to want any of those. Blankets and mattress pads are good. Their amenity kit is much improved, too! The new bag is the first one since the pandemic that’s felt high quality. (American has offered very good Bang & Olufsen headphones for some time as well.) After meals were collected I had a few walks around the plane, talking to folks. The entire aircraft is more attractive than the old one. However you can definitely feel coach. Main Cabin Extra, because of the placement of seats, has less seat width than in its current iteration. Still, I find the seat itself to be comfortable enough. Here’s a bit of a controversial take – I like the sky and clouds wallpaper in the lavatory. I remarked on that last year with the introduction of the 787-9P. I know that not everyone does! I also like the Delft houses wallpaper in KLM lavatories, too. It’s a bit of whimsy, provides for a sense of space, and makes an ohterwise tight bathroom feel more spacious. (I’d much prefer actual spacious, and I do think the reduction of lavs on the aircraft will be noticeable.) The trip was ultimately too quick, I think everyone was disappointed when the captain announced our descent into New York. We deplaned and were bused to American’s terminal 8 (although one bus was apparently headed to LaGuardia). Some folks headed off to other terminals, flying out on airlines like Delta or JetBlue while others went into the city. I proceeded through security where I had a scheduled four and a half hours before my flight home to Austin. I wound up delayed, and also visiting the Chelsea lounge. Thinking back on the flight and the product, business class is excellent. So is premium economy. That’s not just the seats, it’s soft goods too. And we had an excellent crew, which was surely by design. Getting skipped over for my meal at first shows that even the best flight attendants can struggle under the weight of trying to do meal service for 70 (plus those not in business) in the compressed time period of this short domestic trip. Where American has begun to focus, and this day was clearly a part of that, is telling its story. They need to tell that story to their employees as much as to customers, as they motivate their front line to deliver on the product that they’re just starting to invest in. And not every crew is going to be as switched on as this one was. The airline needs to work to miminize that variance, which today is quite substantial. Topics on this page