American has been trying to refresh their longhaul fleet over the past few years. This process started back in early 2013, when they took delivery of their first 777-300ER with reverse herringbone seats in business class.
Continue reading: All American Widebody Aircraft Will Offer Lie Flat Business Class Seats By October
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
@keitherson United's had all lie-flat business class seats for years... (if you count the legacy 777 2-4-2 seats "business class")
@keitherson
Not the flat beds, Delta's big draw was that they were the first US carrier to have direct aisle access on all of their long haul business cabins. I believe they're actually still the only ones since AA is still operating these 2-2 757's on thin TATL routes.
@AS And even then, DL still has some TATL routes without direct aisle access. The 75Ws normally used for JFK-LAX transcons are also used from JFK-ARN, and BOS-DUB and JFK-LIS (all of which are summer seasonal routes).
Technically, I believe that CO was the first carrier with all lay-flat seating in 2011/2012. UA, in part thanks to the fact that CO came with lie-flats, completed all lie-flat in mid-2013. DL's widebodies became all-flatbed in early 2014, and the 757 got flatbeds from then until mid-2015. AA is still catching up, and although they're mostly done with the retrofitting, will be 3 years behind DL and 4 years behind UA (they still need a handful of 76Ws retrofitted and the 757s have yet to be finished).
They must have paid for each new seat based on the savings from catering cuts. 16 lobster rolls per flight saving $10 a pop over real food is $160. Do that on a few hundred flights and boom new lie flat seat paid for.
American's seat upgrade while welcome does not overcome the incredibly rude and slovenly flight attendants on the overseas flights (which are 95% of my 250,000 miles p.a. travel).
While I am executive platinum emerald (due to my flights on BA and Qatar being dumped into my AA Advantage account) I will never ever fly an American international flight again. I am often offered code share flights (that have American when I am on the BA web site on the London to New York leg for less money than BA yet I opt for BA. I am now switching all my flight miles to BA Executive. Last, BA has First Class which I can purchase for a reasonable price. So, American (I have over 2 million miles over the years) has lost my business.
By the way, I am executive platinum for life on Air France and have absolutely no problem and in fact rather enjoy Delta which is airline with a totally different corporate culture.
Now from a guy who is on the road 180 days a year, let me tell you how I really feel!!!
There are only 4 757 that have not been converted, so I think they've gone pretty quickly given the number of planes and the summer season.
@ Clam Shack
The 767 cabin is too narrow for reverse herringbone seats, unless placed in an uneconomical 3 across config