I was surprised by American Airlines Business class product. Check out this post to find out about: Booking, Lounge, Aircraft, Seat, and Food.
Booking
I started looking for flights about 3 months in advance and turned on google flight tracker. As a result, I was able to land a relatively cheap round trip business class fare on American Airlines codeshared with British Airways. I booked it through American Airlines since British Airways was offering the same itinerary for an additional $125.
Travel Tip: Always check out different airlines sites if the flights are codeshared and try changing the country of origin since that tends to change the total price as well.
Lounge
American Airlines recently unveiled their new flagship business and flagship first class experience on ground and in the air. Flagship business experience is available to passengers flying in business class on select domestic routes and all international routes.
As I was flying out of Chicago, I got invited to the flagship lounge which, in my opinion, with its chef-inspired meals, personalized service, premium wine and cocktail bar, and shower suites is a great addition to American Airlines.
However, as of now, flagship lounge is available only in 4 locations across the US - Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and New York - all of which happen to be hubs of American. American Airlines is in the process of opening 3 more lounges in Dallas, Philadelhpia and London.
Flagship lounge invite
First class passengers are invited for Flagship First sit down fine dining experience which is as exclusive as it can be.
For flights to London, business and first class passengers are also invited to relax and rejuvenate in the arrivals lounge which features spa showers along with breakfast and lunch hot buffet.
Aircraft
American Airlines currently operates 2 versions of Boeing 787-8. I flew on version 2 that has a total of 226 seats across 3 cabins - business, main cabin extra and main cabin.
Boeing 787-8 Information (Image source: American Airlines)
The business class cabin onboard the Dreamliner has a total of 28 aisle access seats in a 1-2-1 layout. The seats alternate between forward and rear facing configurations and are split across two cabins: front large cabin (20 seats) and middle small cabin (8 seats).
There is only a thin curtain separating the middle small business class cabin from main cabin extra which might be a little annoying, however, the small cabin does feel more private.
Business class cabin onboard the Dreamliner. (Image source: Seatguru)
Rear facing seats offer slight more privacy as they have tables on both sides while forward facing seats have armrest on one side and table on the other. The middle seats have a partition in between that can be lowered. However, on all boeing 787-8's owned by American, the partition between seats 1D-1H, 3D-3H, 5D-5H and 7D-7H cannot be lowered by design. The rationale being that in rear facing orientation, the passengers are closer from the upper body and therefore, the privacy dividers are permanently rolled up.
If you are travelling with a companion, the seats to pick from are the even numbered forward facing seats: 2D-2H, 4D-4H or 6D-6H. If you are travelling alone, I would recommend picking one of the rear facing window seats: 2A, 2L, 4A, 4L, 6A, 6L.
Seat
I chose seat 1D - a rear facing seat in the large business class cabin that offered decent privacy.
My seat: 1D
The seat, however, is a bit on the narrow side (21 inches wide) but it still conveniently changes into a fully flat bed with the press of a button. And American airlines is generous enough to offer a nice, long blanket and plush pillow for sound sleep.
Fully flat bed: 180 degrees recline
The seat has plenty of electrical outlets along with USB port all of which are easily accessible. There is also a small storage space above the ports that can hold onto passports, immigration documents and spectacles.
Easily accessible ports along with storage space
American Airlines is one of the few airlines to offer 25 acoustic noise cancelling premium Bose headphones. They also give a Cole Haan amenity kit which is more like a bag but contains all things that you might need - eye mask, earplugs, socks, pen, tissue, toothbrush and a toothpaste. Unfortunately, there were no pyjamas on offer on my flight.
Bose headphones and Cole Haan kit
The in-flight entertainment system is touch screen that responds really well and contains a plethora of TV shows and movies to watch. It even comes with a small touch screen remote/tablet controller and these devices can easily stream two different things at the same time.
I am a huge fan of touch screens that are not sluggish and American airlines seems to have mastered the art of having multiple, smoothly working touch screens - In-flight entertainment screen, In-flight entertainment screen controller and seat controller.
Touch screen seat contols
The Wifi on the flight was reasonably priced starting at just $19. Also, the tray table was huge - one of the largest that I have seen in a business class product.
Tray table
Food
Since this was a night flight, there were two main meal servies - dinner after takeoff from Chicago and breakfast before landing in London. Everyone got the salad and the appetizer and had the option of picking 1 of the 4 entrees and 1 of the 3 desserts. All entrees were paired with award winning wines by award winning chefs.
Food menu
The meal service began once we reached an initial crusing altitude of 35000 feet. It started with the usual hot towel and warm nuts along with a beverage. For the main course, I decided to go with bourbon-glazed salmon followed by traditional ice-cream sundae for dessert. The melon and manchego starter was appetizing as the sweet flavor of melon was well balanced with creamy, tangy flavor of manchego. The salmon entree was cooked perfectly and served with fig and roasted pepper, orzo, sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes.
Melon and Manchego
Salmon
When it was time for desser, I was very disappointed to know that they were out of hot fudge and butterscotch. I was looking forward to the sundae the entire time and felt heartbroken. However, the purser was really nice and offered me raspberry sauce, vanilla ice-cream and pecans so I made my own sundae. I slept like a baby after the dinner service and did not wake up for the pre-arrival breakfast, however, I was told that the omlette was very good.
They also have an express meal service in case you want to maximize work or sleep time. In this, you can pick a salad, an entree and a dessert and get served before anyone else on the plane which is a nice option to have.
The galley area between the two business class cabins is supposed to have a small snack bar which, for some reason, was not setup on my flight.
Overall
It was a great 7 hour flight across the Atlantic and I would love to fly American Airlines Flagship Business again.
Picture taken from flagship lounge in Chicago
Picture taken from flagship lounge in Chicago
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