We flew American Airlines A321neo first class from Los Angeles to start our journey to Hawaii. I've never reviewed American's A321neo before, so this seemed like a good opportunity, especially since American recently restored pre-pandemic service in first class. This was a great experience for a non-premium transcon flight. Everyone in first class was drunk, so it was quite entertaining. I wonder if people travel late at night on a Friday. I like to connect somewhere in the middle of the country when I travel from the East Coast to Hawaii. The last time I traveled to Hawaii, I flew an American 777 from Dallas to Maui. We planned this trip last minute, and most of the routes weren't available in first class or were expensive. $350 per person is what I stumbled upon. The Los Angeles to Tampa flight arrives at 11:00PM. The Los Angeles to Honolulu flight is departing at 8:15AM.
BEN SAYS:
While American's A321neo first class is pretty basic (there aren't even TVs), this flight had friendly service, good catering, and high speed Wi-Fi.
How I booked our American Airlines first class tickets
There were two things that made this route attractive.
Ford has Platinum Pro status, while I have Executive Platinum status with American. The space available is a major caveat, but both of the status tiers include unlimited space available upgrades.
If a flight is long and I don't think an upgrade is a slam dunk, I usually try to find a way to confirm a first class seat by paying cash or using a Business Extra.
When an upgrade clears for me on American, it's usually just on the Tampa to Miami route, and often it's an onboard upgrade, because there were no shows.
You never know, especially when you're trying to upgrade with a companion, so I was pretty confident about the upgrades on this itinerary. The Executive Platinum upgrade window starts 100 hours out, so I was thrilled when I received an email at exactly that time telling me that both of our upgrades cleared for both flights.
I don't remember the last time I received an upgrade like this, so I was pretty excited about that.
We arrived at the airport at 7PM for our flight. We headed to Terminal F after checking in online. At gate F 81, boarding was scheduled to start at 7:59PM. We had about 30 minutes to kill.
Cafe by Mise en Place is the Priority Pass restaurant in the terminal, and I prefer it over the Admirals Club restaurant in the city.
The restaurant is quieter than the Admirals Club, and I'll take a glass of New Zealand sauvignon blanc and some brussels sprout over there.
We headed to the gate at around 7:40PM and then boarded at 8PM. Concierge Key members were invited to board first, along with anyone needing extra time. First class passengers and Executive Platinum members were invited to board.
20 first class seats are spread across five rows in a 2-2 configuration on American Airlines A321neos. These are very similar to the seats that you will find on the American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX fleet.
There isn't much separation between the two cabins because there is a flimsy shield behind the last row of seats.
American's first class legroom is decent. Delta is the king of tight first class configurations, so I would say that legroom was a tad better than you would find on Delta.
American can't compete with Delta when it comes to inflight entertainment. American doesn't have any seatback entertainment. The seatback has a clip so that you can put your own device in there.
The seatback had a literature pocket near the top and a netted pocket at the bottom.
The tray table could be folded over in half. There was a personal entertainment device holder, which you could use to watch a show on your own device.
There was a center tray and a tray between the seats in front that you could put drinks in without having to use the tray table.
The AC power outlet was located underneath the center armrest.
I can't say that American is doing a good job cleaning their planes.
The seat recline button is located underneath the center seat.
Each seat had an individual air nozzle, which is something I appreciate.
Huge overhead bins are a great thing about the A321neo. These are even bigger than the new Boeing bins. If the bins are used correctly, you shouldn't have a problem finding space for all bags.
The front of the cabin had a basic lavatory. It is better than the MAX lavs. All passengers can use the first class lavatory, so American doesn't usually have any premium amenities in lavatories.
There isn't much to say when it comes to amenities. There were no pillows or blankets on this flight. Pre-departure drinks, which haven't otherwise been available, recently returned and are exciting. The flight attendant gave us pre-departure drinks, and we both had water.
There were only 88 passengers on the flight, which meant the flight was only 45% full. The main cabin door closed. The captain told us that we would have a flight time of 4 hours and 56 minutes, and should arrive at the airport ahead of schedule.
The safety demo was performed after we pushed back at 8:30PM. Since American doesn't have TVs on A321neos, there was a pre- recorded audio track and flight attendants were in the aisle to perform the safety demo.
We had a smooth climb out after we were cleared for takeoff. The seatbelt sign was turned off.
American's inflight entertainment is positive. American's A321neos have Viasat, which is the best in the industry. There are no data caps when you purchase a plan.
You can buy a one hour pass for $19 or a full flight pass for $25 on this flight. It seems like pricing is odd. I don't have to pay on a per-flight basis because I have an unlimited monthly plan.
American's A321neos don't have personal televisions, but there is streaming entertainment available through your own device. I can't say that I've ever used this, but it's there.
I got caught up on some shows I had downloaded onto my iPad, but I am not sure who is the worst.
I was looking forward to checking out the full meal service that American Airlines brought back. I was impressed that a proper dinner was served in first class. Did you know that American used to have an 8PM cutoff for dinner service? It was a pleasant surprise to get one on the flight.
30 minutes after takeoff, meal and drink orders were taken. Chicken piccata with cauliflower mash or cacio e pepe pasta with a smoky red sauce and vegetables were the choices.
I ordered a Diet Coke with a drink. I usually don't drink on domestic flights, but it was a late night flight and I was hoping to get a nap, so a drink or three helped. I don't understand why everyone makes fun of me for ordering Diet Coke with vodka. Anyway
The nuts were served in plastic cups, though I guess they weren't loaded, because they were served with warm mixed nuts. I was happy to see the return of mixed nuts, even if the presentation was not up to par.
The food was decent, much to my surprise. The pasta was pretty good, and I had a bit of a kick to it. It was not grossly cheesed, and even had some parmesan on top. The main course was accompanied by a side salad and an entree consisting of zucchini and other veggies with a French dressing-esque sauce.
Ford's chicken was served with a side salad and an entree of shrimp.
There was a choice of sourdough, multi-grain, or french.
There was a choice of ice cream or fruit. The cheese plate had two types of cheese, grapes, and packaged sourdough flatbread.
I feel like I've been offered a turkey sandwich on American for the past year, but this was a better meal.
A flight attendant working in first class was lovely, and the crew working this flight seemed to be pretty junior. She was attentive and friendly. This service is always good on American.
I take early morning flights because I am a morning person. The departure time of this flight is when I am in bed. It is rare for me to take a late night flight on a Friday.
I can't even begin to describe how many drinks people on this flight were having, and I'm shocked they didn't run out of alcohol. Everyone was out of their mind. Many people were drunk, but nobody was doing anything wrong.
In the first half of the flight, the guy seated behind Ford ordered five Scotch doubles. The guy behind me tried to order a drink, but was told they don't have a drink. Two minutes after he was told there was no tequila, he would ask about it again. I don't know how many times the guy dropped his phone on the flight, but it was always clockwork.
There was a guy in front of me who was quizzing flight attendants about random things. I'm talking about badgering, not just asking something once. He stopped the flight attendant on approach to ask why the lights were dim. He didn't just ask once, but repeatedly.
“Excuse me, can you tell me why they just turned off the lights for the first time?”“It just comes down to the flight attendant’s preference.”“Well yeah, but why do they do it?”“It’s just if the flight attendant wants to.”
“But why haven’t the lights been dimmed until now, though? I just don’t understand.”
He was asking the same questions over and over for a full minute. The flight attendant didn't seem to know the correct answer, it was just standard to dim lights for a nighttime landing.
I'm not judging people's alcohol consumption on the flights I usually take. I had a few drinks and slept well for the last three hours of the flight, which almost never happens for me if I don't have a bed.
We arrived at the airport at 10:35PM at gate 46B. It was off to the Hyatt Regency LAX.
This was an excellent American Airlines first class flight. It was nice to see the return of pre-pandemic meal service and pre-departure drinks, and the flight attendant was friendly.
The lack of TVs and lack of amenities make American domestic configurations not great. American has high speed Viasat, which I find to be excellent. I would be very happy if all my American flights were this good.
What was it like to fly American's A321neo first class?
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