Evaluate of American Airways’ Flagship Suite Most popular on the inaugural flight

It is the day that American Airways flyers (and traders) have lengthy been ready for.

The Fort Price-based provider has formally inaugurated its snazzy Boeing 787-9P, the next-generation Dreamliner that is poised to assist American lastly compete extra fiercely within the arms race for premium vacationers.

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This new Dreamliner does not simply boast the signature new aircraft odor. It is also bought a ton of enhancements on the within, beginning within the pointy finish with the brand new Flagship Suite and Flagship Suite Most popular merchandise. These are American’s first-ever totally enclosed business-class suites and its alternative for worldwide top notch, respectively.

Even the premium economic system and economic system cabins obtained some upgrades, too. Higher but, the sheer variety of premium seats on this aircraft — 83 — will (theoretically) assist American enhance its yields from long-haul flying and in addition give frequent flyers a greater shot at discovering improve or saver award house.

In any case, this represents a whopping practically 65% improve in premium capability in comparison with the airline’s current 787-9 configuration.

However whereas the airline already confirmed off the brand new Dreamliner at a media occasion in Dallas, it is now time for vacationers to expertise these merchandise firsthand. I used to be among the many first 200 folks to expertise this new aircraft on Thursday’s inaugural flight from Chicago to Los Angeles.

This is what it was like on day one.

American Airways Boeing 787-9P inaugural floor expertise

Pulling as much as Gate K19 at Chicago’s O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD) was the primary second that I sensed that one thing was totally different about this in any other case routine home flight to Los Angeles.

Lining the gate space had been some purple, white and blue balloons, in addition to some signage concerning the new 787-9P and its distinctive options and configuration.

However much more noticeable than the celebratory posters had been all of the aviation geeks and American Airways lovers who particularly booked this inaugural flight again when it went on sale earlier this yr.

This group of visibly excited passengers lined the home windows to catch their first glimpse of N845MD, the factory-fresh 787-9 Dreamliner that’d be ferrying us to L.A. They then all stood up nicely earlier than boarding was known as to be among the many first to step on board the jet.

As for me, I am used to this kind of fanfare for inaugural flights, and so far as it goes for U.S. airways, American’s celebration undoubtedly felt among the many most muted. There was no cake, no speech from an govt, no giveaways on the gate. (Distinction that with what Delta Air Traces and United Airways do earlier than their inaugural flights, and you will shortly see the distinction.)

However, my fellow passengers introduced the vibes and hype, and that is all of the caffeine I wanted at 8:30 a.m. to get me enthusiastic about boarding this flight.

American Airways Flagship Suite Most popular impressions

Earlier than lengthy, it was my flip to step on board the Dreamliner.

Lining the entryway is the illuminated American brand etched into slatted black paneling, a luxe contact that shortly units the temper for boarding the airline’s most premium jet but. This was my first time seeing the emblem illuminated (mechanical points prevented me from seeing it turned on final week), and I am much more impressed with the entry galley than I used to be earlier than.

At this level, I turned left to move into the ahead business-class cabin — a last-minute shock that I wasn’t really ready for.

After I first booked this flight, lots of the business-class window seats had been already taken. (American had been promoting this flight for some time earlier than saying the inaugural schedule, so these passengers who had already booked this flight seemingly chosen lots of the window seats earlier than I even booked.)

As a window seat flyer, I made a decision to ebook myself a pod within the rear mini-cabin, however I saved a really shut eye on the seat map to see if one thing higher opened up.

Nicely, due to some luck and my persistence, I seen {that a} seat within the ahead business-class cabin opened only a few hours earlier than departure. And never simply any seat, however one of many Flagship Suite Most popular pods.

At this level, I felt like I hit the jackpot — I would be one of many first eight passengers to strive American’s new “business-class-plus” seat that is designed to interchange worldwide top notch.

Higher but, I would not have to pay something additional for this privilege as a result of American hasn’t added any surcharges (but) for the Most popular seat. (As such, I would suggest locking in a business-class seat within the bulkhead row now when you’re booked to fly on the 787-9P.)

As soon as I settled into the personalized model of the Adient Ascent seat, it grew to become clear that that is undoubtedly American’s most superior and premium business-class seat but — and arguably even nicer than the now-dated Flagship First product.

For one, the quantity of private house is just unmatched for American. Due to the place of the bulkhead, the seat gives an enormous fake marble-lined desk beneath the TV display screen, in addition to a bigger aspect desk and footwell.

Whereas I usually choose to maintain my belongings in enclosed storage compartments, the seat gives ample house to stow journey necessities.

There are some partitioned storage compartments on the aspect of the seat, which turned out to be an ideal place to stow my laptop computer, water bottle and footwear.

There are additionally two enclosed storage areas: a small closet subsequent to the silver sconce, with a tilting mirror and a headphone hook, in addition to a smaller drawer, which is the place I saved my pockets and AirPods throughout the flight.

All in all, American says that the Flagship Suite Most popular gives 19% extra mattress house and a whopping 42% extra dwelling house than the common business-class pods.

The 22-inch-wide seat itself was supremely snug. It wasn’t too delicate or too agency, and each the cabin and seat finishes felt extremely premium, particularly relative to among the drab and outdated cabins that you just discover flying on older American jets.

I cherished the pop of purple lining the storage areas, the fake wood-lined suite doorways and the distinction in coloration scheme between the darker Flagship Suite Most popular and the lighter Flagship Suites.

Even the fake marble cocktail tray and the tan-colored leather-based headrest, each accented by an etched brand, felt like design selections you’d extra possible discover on Qatar Airways than American Airways.

The actual query, nevertheless, is how these luxe touches will age over time. In any case, I already seen some chipping alongside the edges of the seat and on the bulkhead partitions, and this was solely the primary passenger flight on this aircraft.

As soon as seated, I attempted to shut the suite door, however sadly, it is (briefly) locked within the open place. A minimum of American owned as much as this nicely prematurely.

On the media demonstration final week, the airline confirmed that it was nonetheless working with the Federal Aviation Administration to safe the required permissions to supply sliding doorways. And about 12 hours earlier than the flight, I obtained an e mail from buyer care with an apology that the sliding door is not at the moment purposeful, together with 5,000 bonus miles (or $50 in journey credit score for non-AAdvantage members) as compensation.

I am unsure if American will proceed providing 5,000 bonus miles to every of the 51 business-class passengers on upcoming 787-9P flights as a result of that legal responsibility would possibly get fairly expensive for the provider — 255,000 AAdvantage miles per flight is equal to $3,825 in compensation, per TPG’s June 2025 valuations.

Even with out the suite door closed, I discovered the 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration provided loads of privateness for this solo traveler. As a result of I did not face the aisle, I wasn’t disturbed by what my neighbors had been doing, even once I reclined into mattress mode.

And despite the fact that I used to be in a middle seat, I closed the privateness divider between the 2 seats and stated goodbye to my neighbor, aviation journalist Chris Sloan, for a lot of the flight.

As we taxied out for departure, I began enjoying round with different features of the brand new seat.

The seat controls are easy and intuitive — there are two customizable settings for the legrest and seat recline, in addition to three presets for mattress mode, recline mode and upright mode.

I additionally cherished that the aisle armrest may very well be raised or lowered to a number of totally different heights. Oftentimes, airways make you select between elevating the armrest all the way in which or reducing it right down to seat degree with none graduations between the totally different heights.

The one damaging concerning the aisle armrest is that it does not characteristic a built-in water bottle holder such as you’d discover on different airways.

The following large improve is all of the tech that American put in on this Twenty first-century jet.

It begins with a 17-inch 4K TV for every business-class passenger. Whereas some pundits have famous that American may’ve gone with a bigger TV display screen, I discovered the display screen a lot giant for having fun with some films and TV exhibits. That stated, I do want American had put in a tilt and swivel perform for the TVs, because the fastened angle of the display screen makes it subsequent to unimaginable to observe whereas in mattress mode.

The screens, made by Thales, are loaded with a customized next-generation consumer interface that feels way more trendy than something American has provided up to now. From the 3D flight map and accessibility mode to new options like watch celebration mode that allows you to and a seatmate watch the identical content material collectively, I am bummed I solely had 3 1/2 hours to take pleasure in these touchscreens.

One other bummer is that American solely gives low-cost earbuds on home flights operated by wide-body jets. (The excellent news is that every of those new 787-9Ps is just doing one home round-trip earlier than flying on long-haul routes — an FAA requirement for the registration course of of those new jets.)

A minimum of these new 787-9Ps are the primary to characteristic Bluetooth connectivity, which allowed me to pair my AirPods Professional to the display screen in simply seconds.

Along with the TV, there is a 4 1/2-inch touchscreen distant that is also used to regulate the display screen and show restricted content material, like a miniaturized model of the flight map.

Subsequent to the distant are the charging ports, the place you may discover a common AC outlet, a 60-watt USB-C port and a USB-A port.

Whereas all of those ports labored, the design of the AC outlet implies that you will not have the ability to cost cumbersome gadgets, reminiscent of energy banks — a giant bummer for me as I blew by my battery pack with all of the content material I used to be capturing.

One other bummer is the design of the Qi wi-fi charging pad. Whereas it is theoretically positioned for straightforward entry throughout the flight, the airline did not account for smartphones bigger than the iPhone 16 Professional Max (who is aware of what bigger gadgets Apple and Samsung are designing for the approaching years), nor did it present sufficient house for the digicam array on the again of bigger telephones. That meant I wasn’t capable of wirelessly cost my cellphone on this jet.

The ultimate tech improve you may discover on these planes is high-speed Viasat Wi-Fi. Whereas the $29 flight move was definitely overpriced for a home flight (a minimum of Wi-Fi can be free for all AAdvantage members subsequent yr), the 34 Mbps obtain and a pair of Mbps add speeds had been fairly spectacular.

After departure, it was time to recline the seat into mattress mode. (I had woken up tremendous early to hit the health club earlier than an extended day of journey.) I had no drawback getting snug on this 74-inch-long totally flat mattress, and I cherished the open footwell design, which made it very easy to unfold out with out feeling confined.

After all, no bedding or amenity kits had been provided as a result of this wasn’t a Flagship-marketed flight, but when it was, these seated in Flagship Suite Most popular seats would benefit from the works — duvets, pajamas, mattress pads, a number of pillows, slippers and extra.

The one kind of amenity equipment ready at my seat was one which’ll definitely grow to be a collectible for aviation lovers on the flight. The white paper bag contained a welcome letter, together with an inaugural flight tag, some American stickers, purple and blue jellybeans, and a sugar cookie with the American brand.

Earlier than lengthy, the crew sprang into motion with the meal service — a conventional home first-class breakfast providing.

Selections had been both a chilly recent fruit plate with yogurt or an omelette. I went with the previous, which was refreshing (however not filling sufficient), and it was served alongside a selection of a heat croissant or biscuit.

Through the meal, the pleasant and excited flight attendants got here by the aisle with beverage carts. No different meals or drinks had been provided on this flight, however clearly that may be totally different on a real Flagship-marketed long-haul flight.

For these feeling peckish, there is a small walk-up snack bar close to the midcabin galley that may be stocked between meal companies on long-haul flights.

Between napping and networking with some business mates, I had a couple of minutes to make use of the tray desk to compensate for some work. The tray itself is sort of giant — it measures 19 1/2 inches extensive and 14 inches lengthy — and it may be moved ahead and backward for extra consolation.

The ultimate seat characteristic that I examined was chaise lounge mode, which lets you sit such as you’re on a seaside chair when the seat is reclined. American has a second seat belt in case it will get turbulent whilst you’re in chaise lounge mode, however I do not assume it issues as a result of I did not discover this place to be snug in any respect.

There are three bathrooms for the 51 business-class passengers. All of them characteristic the usual Dreamliner finishes with a novel cloudscape wallpaper that I have not seen earlier than on one other airline. I are inclined to assume this seems to be extra cheesy than premium, however presumably American can simply take away it if my opinion seems to be how most passengers really feel.

Earlier than lengthy, it was time to land in Los Angeles. We landed on Runway 7R and had a brief taxi to Gate 41.

A number of of my fellow passengers had been turning round and flying again to Chicago, however I had one other connecting flight to catch.

Backside line

As I walked to my subsequent flight, I mirrored on American’s Flagship Suite Most popular expertise.

The seat itself is spectacular, not simply relative to American’s current mishmash of premium merchandise, but additionally compared to among the different high seats on worldwide airways. The quantity of private house you get is unmatched for American enterprise class, and as soon as the sliding doorways are working, the extent of privateness can be unprecedented for the airline and its premium passengers.

Different bells and whistles you take pleasure in in Flagship Suite Most popular embrace further storage areas, bigger tray tables and extra luxurious facilities.

It’s going to be attention-grabbing to see how a lot American ultimately prices for this expertise on long-haul flights, however for now, there is no query that is American’s greatest business-class product — and in some methods is even higher than the Flagship First pods that it is designed to interchange.

I, for one, cannot wait to strive it on a long-haul flight quickly.

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