Review: American Airlines A319 First Class

"The schedule that worked best for us was an American Airlines flight departing in the morning from Tampa to Toronto", I guess it was from Miami to Toronto.

There is no First Class on transborder flights to Canada on AA. They sell it as Business Class.

Nice review. Thank you.

Your photo "View after takeoff from Miami" shows a certain golf club that has been in the news recently (did you photograph it intentionally). If someone's plans for the club go through there will be major impact on MIA --- which might have to be closed.

Why do they keep calling this first class? Its business class elswere, on regional narrow body.
At least flat bed and proper meals before they call it first class.

Is it just me? At 6'1" (185 cm) height I don't find the bulkhead rows on these planes to be comfortable. I feel that while there is no one in front of me, the bulkhead restricts my ability to stretch out. I actually prefer row 2 on these planes, even though the seat in front is closer, there is room for my feet under the seat and I do not feel as restricted.

BTW. Your description of immigration sounds like an improved verion of the US immigration.
I flew QR J class to LAX in May. First to the kiosks, then 1.5hr in line for the agent (EU passport with no need for visa).
The lady behind me smiled and said last time it took her much longer...

What did your boarding passes indicate ? On an international flight this is business class , not first class.

That immigration is normal for the US - but at least it's probably 2hrs less in line than any US gateway!

@Mark, I've entered the US around 12 times now, and my record is 3hrs at ATL, mainly because they "reorganised" the queue and I ended up behind an extra 100+ people. I did have a sub-30 minutes entry once (before I got my green card) and that was at JFK terminal 4 just after a 2:00pm arrival.

@ mark hit and miss I think. Last time I was at LAX arrived with multiple other people trans Pacific flights - 40 minutes from immigration , baggage claim , customs to arrivals

They have so many immigration counters in the Bradley terminal i Believe over 80 , however not all manned. Government not airport fault However plenty of self service machine

Loving these domestic/NA first class reviews! I mostly fly domestic and appreciate them.

@icarus
Yes the main problem was staffing. Only about half the counters were manned.

And while it takes 2 hrs in the immigration hall, the mobile signals are blocked, so no way of contacting family or friends waiting.

The PDB "issue" is hilarious - the bloggers / FT armchair critics have convinced themselves that PDBs are rarity on AA. In fact the majority of AA flights manage to serve them just fine.

It's a bias - nobody posts about service delivered as expected.

@Lucky - thanks as always for the reviews, they're the best part of this blog. Tiny point, but because I know you like to clean these things up, you're missing an "international" -- "technically this was an INTERNATIONAL flight."

Django

I’ve stopped flying business class on AA on short flights because they only serve drinks and snack bags of chips, etc., on flights of fewer than two hours. It’s not worth the extra cash for a bigger seat. Perhaps Doug Parker could spring for a cheese plate?

Dear Lucky.

I enjoy all flight reviews you do. Please do Trans Con, International and Intra Europe flight reviews!!

My record at US immigration was nearly 5 hours at ATL while arriving from CDG on 25th of December 2009 (a few hours after Northwest flight 253 missed terrorist attack). Needless to say that I missed my connection to PTY...

That said nearly every time I had to pass US immigration I had to wait at least an hour (except in GUM)...

No wait at all if you enter the US through TX, NM, AZ or CA. In fact, no checks at all. Plus, free health care too. What a country!

Anyway of knowing in advance if a A319 has seat back TV or not?

Listen, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you need an editor to read your posts. I love these reviews. Please keep them up!

Not much point flogging a US credit card to a plane full of predominantly Canadians who can’t apply for it.

Those seats look just like 737-800 seats. Did both outboard armrests swivel up like the 737’s ?

Last time I arrived at LAX it only took me 15 minutes to clear customs. Granted no other flights and I was first off the plane.

Its a shame American is removing those perfectly fine seats for those crappy new ones. Why why why!!! Maybe they will remove lie flat and install angle flat in their widebodies now.

I was on a 321 from PHX-SFO last week. Purchased First. No entertainment and NO power ports. In First! Inexcuseable. Couldn't plug in to use my device as it was end of the day. Jeez. They just lost a customer...I know, who cares.

For your EU readers, we love your flight reviews!! Please keep on them regardless of how short the flights are.

Unfortunately we are not interested in USA redit card reviews because we cannot apply to them and EU credit card market is boring and simple.

This is funny (well, for me.....). We were in that same Admirals Club lounge from about 10am on Tuesday as we were in transit to LHR from Costa Rica. A shame we weren't there earlier. I thought it was a really decent lounge, esp with the guacamole bar they set up at lunchtime and they were kind enough to let in more than just me plus one. And great service throughout.

I find the legroom is to sparse in the bulkhead seats you had. And shorter than you.

I've flown on this plane and the 321B dozens of times and always loved it. Their entertainment is truly top notch. Not only dozens of movies, but more like Hundreds of movies and more music then you could ever listen to - with genuinely good mixes. When I used to fly the old 737s, I always turned into channel 5 I believe it was which was "American Jukebox". The mix is so eclectic that I'd buy it if I could find it. I've always praised their entertainment. So sad that they are on a mission to completely destroy it.

These planes are great with very comfortable seats. Nice that you had great service. If only AA could be like this all of the time. They 'had' a good product at one time. Now it is so hit or miss which is unfortunate.

Lucky, in a nutshell, how would you compare your experience between Delta and American domestic first class? If you had to make this trip weekly, which of the two would you choose? Thank you in advance!

Great review. Anybody near a Nexus enrollment center should do that. If you think lines are bad at YYZ, try the Peace Bridge in Buffalo on a weekend.

Looks like a pretty good flight. I would agree that breakfast served on domestic flights is not my favorite either, and the choices don't change very often ... cereal/oatmeal, or eggs.

Nice review -interesting to see the American A319 having flown myself on Air Canada's A319 and Bangkok Airways' A319; does American offer any alcohol on their morning flights? Somehow these shorter flights on smaller flights tend to bring out an airlines's attention to detail
I like the nice shot of the image of two immaculate coffee cups with nice American logo and stir sticks

The Canadian CBP system sounds very much like those you encounter at JFK when you don't have global entry. Kind of crappy when you imagine countries that are similarly strict and safe, ie, Singapore could get the same stuff done with just 1 person and in minutes.

It always amuses me when you complain about the amount of time spent in immigration. You haven't lived until you've flown into the US as a non-resident. Two hours is a short wait. Meanwhile bags are just piled up on the floor waiting for anyone to take their pick.

That said, SFO was amazing last year. 30mins AND (an absolute first) the immigration officer smiled and chatted instead of asking me (accusingly) why I dared come back into the country again!!

Wow, geeks in the comments but they’re right ... they caught typo for “Tampa”, it was Miami to Toronto of AA and yes, American markets transborder flights as Business Class, not First Class.

Ben this was business class, not first, correct?

Also, count yourself lucky because immigration lines & wait in the US for non-citizens is a draaaag. u have both european and american passports, global entry, pre check, clear, etc etc so you my friend, are very very lucky.

Oh, poor thing, you "worked" during the flight.

Writing blog posts and photographing food is work? /eyeroll

@Forty2 - yes it is work. Someone has to write and edit content so you can drink your beer and complain about it.

Hey Lucky,

Since you are in YYZ, I’m just curious if you would follow up on the recent case where two Cathay Pacific planes arriving in YYZ were found to have their oxygen bottles discharged.

I love yout trip report 🙂
One question regarding catering on board Was the two breakfast options hot or cold ? And what about roll- bread ? Hot or cold ?
Thank you

This must be the soonest review Lucky has posted after a trip..

@lucky

Thought you might find this interesting

https://simpleflying.com/smartwings-boeing-737-800-engine-shutdown/

Never select row 1 on a business class seat like this. Much more legroom on seats that has space below a front seat. The wall in front of row 1 limit the legroom.
Only on fully flat seats is row 1 as good as the rest.

Neil... Commercial traffic is not impacted by Trump visits, only General Aviation without access to TSA is banned.

"The oatmeal was bland" it's oatmeal lol that's why it always comes with sweet things like brown sugar and raisins to mix in.

The 319 will not be reconfigured. They us the LAA 319 on internatonak and de LUS 319 on domestic. The 321 will be reconfigured unfortunately.

Once the new seats are installed, the A319 will be the Fokker 100 revisited. Row 2 or get the exit row in Main Cabin.

Great review and well done American, but can we please call it what it is, Premium Economy, this is so far removed from first class, it’s time the US carriers joined the rest of the world.

I’m rarely travelling to the USA, and therefore rarely on US airlines. However, whenever I do, I count myself lucky as compared to the European business class (and this even when travelling in Eco+/MCE etc). The hard product is so much superior to the abysmal EU-business concept. And this even in “less nice” planes ...

How far back do the first class seats recline? They do not look like they go back very far and traveling with someone with a bad back, this is a problem. Thoughts?

It looks like, this guy is flying the first time in his lifetime in a Business Class. NO! AA does have a very bad reputation in their business and First class services. I do fly with AA all the time and I do have an executive business account with them. AA might be a little better than Delta, United, and any other US airlines. All US airlines first and business class services are notoriously bad compare to all other major international airlines, such as Emirates, Qatar Airlines, British Airways, and so on.
This guy wrote a stupid review, and it is not a review at all, it is a solicitation. How much did AA paid you for this? Probably they gave you the free breakfast!! You should not writing this rubbish!