The premium experience will get a twist from American Airlines.
On Tuesday, the Fort Worth-based carrier unveiled brand-new business-class and premium economy cabins that will debut in 2024 on newly delivered Boeing and Airbus aircraft.
The airline will retrofit two of its most premium planes with new products, but it will be at the expense of first class on planes that already have business class.
Read on for more information about the announcement.
The introduction of a brand-new business class product is the headline news. Private suites will be installed in the forward cabin on the 787-9s.
Direct aisle access will be available for each passenger in the Flagship Suites. A lounge seating option and expanded personal space will be included in the seats. There will be a divider between the center seats.
The seat is based on the standard reverse herringbone design. The seats face away from the aisle for extra privacy.
It's a long time coming for Americans. It has been rumored for a long time that the airline would install private suites in business class on its new planes.
Back in April, it was reported that American would be putting all-new seats on its newest planes. The "787-9P" will feature 141 standard economy seats and 18 extra-legroom coach seats.
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American's existing 787-9s feature 30 biz Pods and 21 Premium Economy Recliners, so the new jets will skew more premium. We don't know if American will retrofit its existing planes with the new product.
The narrow-body fleet is getting an upgrade as well.
The all-new business-class product for the carrier will be featured on the new single-aisle jet that the carrier will debut in 2020.
It will have 20 Flagship Suites in a 1-2 configuration, similar to the Mint business-classpods on the A321neo.
The seats will have sliding privacy doors and HD TVs. The seats will face toward the aisle in a herringbone configuration.
Premium economy recliners will be included in these A321XLRs.
American plans to deploy these jets on trans-Atlantic flights that may not have enough demand for larger wide-body jets, and it is likely that these planes will also be deployed on premium transcontinental flights.
The most noticeable changes will be in business class, but American is also introducing a new premium economy recliner.
The seats will be popular with travelers who want to upgrade the travel experience without spending a lot of money. The seats do not seem to have a foot rest.
Delta's new domestic first-class recliners look a lot like these seats.
These seats will be installed on the 787-9 Dreamliner and the A321XLR.
This will be the first time that an American plane will feature premium economy. It makes sense for the carrier to add this popular cabin because of the deployment plan.
The Flagship First cabin is being retired along with the new cabins.
The airline will retrofit its existing fleet of jets that have exclusive seats in the late 20th century.
The A321T is one of the most premium aircraft in the U.S. and has only been used on premium transcontinental routes from New York and Boston to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Half of the economy seats in this subfleet are in an extra-legroom configuration.
In the future, American will align the 16 A321Ts with the rest of the A321 fleet, but it will still offer lie-flat seats on its premium transcontinental routes.
There are eight Flagship First Pods, 52 Flagship Business lie-flats, 28 premium economy recliners, and 216 economy seats on the airline's 20 Boeing 757.
There will be 70 business-class suites and 44 Premium Economy seats after the retrofit.
It was not immediately clear what American would do with its Flagship First dining facilities, which currently offer the airline's most premium flyers a restaurant style pre-departure dining experience.
The airline began experimenting with the idea of keeping the outposts open and selling access at a higher price.
The big storyline is that American is investing in the premium experience, but the airline will still suffer from product inconsistencies.
The carrier hasn't announced plans to update its remaining widebodies despite the delivery of new seats.
The existing 787-9 and -987-9s, along with the 777-200s, will feature a different product. The airline will still fly the Safran Concept D zig-zag style business class seats that alternate between forward and rear facing.
It's possible that the airline could retrofit more of its planes, but only if they decide to do so.
The clock is running until American puts its newest seats into use.
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