American Airlines has one of the more dated business class cabins among the major U.S. airlines. Delta has their suites, while United has Polaris seats. Both of which are newer than American’s current offerings. For what it’s worth, American Flagship business seats feel much more comfortable than United’s Polaris seats. I had the pleasure of flying both cabins during my most recent trip. Here’s my full review of American Airlines Flagship Business aboard the Boeing 777-200er.
Booking
I was able to snag a pair of seats using American miles at 84.5k miles plus taxes and fees per ticket for me and my brother. I think this was a solid deal as award flights typically cost upwards of 70k miles per ticket from the West Coast to London. If flying through Los Angeles, I always try to book with American miles to leverage my American Airlines Executive Platinum status which grants access to the Qantas First Class lounge at LAX. This lounge is on the smaller size, but is the best lounge at LAX.
Pre-Departure
I was flying in from San Francisco and had a long layover at LAX. Upon arriving at LAX, we walked from Terminal 4 to the International Terminal. Located in the International Terminal were a plethora of lounges including a One World Lounge, An Emirates Lounge, the Amex Lounge, and the Qantas First Lounge. Using my American Airlines Executive Platinum status, I was able to access the Qantas First Lounge.
This lounge is basically a mini version of the Qantas First Lounge offered in Sydney and comes with a nice dining area with a solid menu. This is my favorite lounge in the U.S. and while relatively small, the lounge hardly ever fills up due to the exclusivity.
Boarding
Boarding began very promptly starting with first class and elites. I was a bit late to the boarding gate as I noticed a new satellite American Airlines lounge in the terminal and decided to explore prior to boarding. I ended up boarding after most of the business class passengers were already seated. Boarding was smooth and I typically find boarding on International Flights to be a crap shoot.
The Cabin
The business cabin seat configuration aboard American’s Boeing 777-200ER alternated between forward facing and backwards facing rows. Unfortunately at the time of booking, I could only select backward facing seats and ended up with seat 5D and 5H. The seats and cabin showed visible signs of wear and tear, but was comfortable for the long journey across the pond. The takeoff was a bit off, but after climbing to altitude, I could not notice that I was flying in a backwards facing seat.
American had new amenity kit design. During this flight we recieved stylist light blue pouches with the standard goodies. I liked the color of the pouch but typically find pouches without a zipper to be pretty useless.
Food
American Airlines catering tends to have a reputation for being notoriously bad. I’ve been on a variety of other Airlines and American tends to be more middle of the pack for me than bottom of the barrel.
The first meal was dinner and I opted for a beef dish. For some reason, I took pictures of everything but the main course. Overall, the food was “not bad”. About an hour before landing in Heathrow, breakfast was served. I opted for the continental/yogurt bowl option, you could also have the traditional scrambled eggs option
Overall Thoughts
For 84.5k American miles, this wasn’t the best deal but was pretty close to standard award rates for flying from the West Coast to Heathrow. I tend to find American seats a bit more comfortable than United’s Polaris seats which get pretty warm, but offer more privacy. Overall, I think this flight was pretty solid with some room for improvement in the catering department.
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