The first segment of this trip had me flying from Miami to Dallas, prior to continuing the following morning from Dallas to Hong Kong.
Continue reading: Review: American Airlines 757 Business Class
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Doesn't American Airlines feel embarrassed to serve these meals to their first class customers? Honestly, the food doesn't have to be Turkish Airlines level but what you were served looks plain gross and the amount is very little.
Is it just me, or do the seats look weird with the TV’s missing? I realize the personal device holder is attached, but clearly you can tell a TV is supposed to go there. Looks silly IMO.
That food looked exactly like what I got back in late 70s in some hole in Moscow. Waiter said, if you are hungry, you eat it, if u aren't you won't.
Those empty TV holes are trashy. Seriously? New installations? Amazing that the world largest airline Showcasing this. Reminds me the last years of PanAm when no one have a flying F anymore, things were just started missing from seats
After your blog about them suing Delta, I did laugh a little every time I read "flagship".
you keep complaining about AA (and rightly so!) but keep flying with them...how come?
It's just embarrassing for airline like AA (one that's a flagship airline for the US) to have a product like this without personal TVs on a "premium configured aircraft"
For those of us who are familiar with AA's stream your own device, might not be a big deal but for someone who isn't familiar with it and they step foot onto the plane, the initial impression is what a cheapass airline in the US. Sadly that's the state of the airline and they continue to brand themselves as premium. laughable
It's a shame they have such a monopoly at MIA, I know several people who are beholden to this terrible airline because they are the only airline that offers direct flights all over the country. Thankfully I live in a delta hub so I don't have to subject myself to that garbage airline...
I suspect that Ben flies AA because despite all of its flaws, it has a pretty good award redemption program -not like the obnoxious Delta, or even worse, a high-way robber BA...
When I looked at the first picture I thought that you had been allowed on the plane to preview the product before it was finished. I recently had to fly first class on AA to PHL. I would prefer economy comfort on DL/B6 for the most part.
Notice the empty gates at DFW. They have them, they just don't use them that time of night. It would mean paying people to be there to serve customers.
I had a flight yesterday at from Boston to SFO .Excellent service . Good food and on time arrival . Unlike deltas trashy planes and relentless gate changes and nasty ground staff .
I flew this international 757 between JFK and Dublin 2 years ago on my own (may that route RIP!). I had just connected from LAX on the A321T business, and I really didn't notice that much of a difference in the seat dimensions, they're pretty much spot on the same! I prefer the 757 cabin windows though, so much bigger!
The only issue came when it was time for me to get ready for sleep, I needed to get out to brush my teeth. The entertainment devices that they distribute and place into the holder of the seat in front of you obviously has an audio jack for the famous "Bose Headsets" to plug into. So I stood up from my seat, and as I went to climb across my seatmate I realized there was basically a limbo wire of sorts in my way, and the most awkward bodily contortion maneuver ensued. My seatmate made absolutely no effort to let me past, or momentarily unplug his headset or anything. Can you actually visualize my torture, legs akimbo stretched with one foot in the aisle and the other by my seat hovering over my reclined seatmate, while trying to untangle my neck from his headset wire!!! Why could American not have cheaped out and just installed the normal IFE screens, and spared me the embarrassment, as well as many other people I'm sure! Haha!!
I flew this plane weekly DFW-BOS rt and it makes absolutely no sense to not offer tvs AND use a wifi that doesn't have a subscription. Not to mention those old planes are plagued with MX.
Yes, the lie flat is nice but I was glad to not have to make that decision anymore when they took it off my route.
On my Delta flight, the caterers forgot to load linens and towels on the plane. The flight attendant in first came by and apologized to each seat for the oversight.
Oh yeah and since I switched to Delta last year, I've always been offered a pre-departure drink and only had one maintenance delay.
@Henry Z tell us all about what airlines offer on intra Europe flights. Oh that’s right an economy class seat with an empty middle seat.
American offers one of the best domestic first products in the world.
An angle lie flat seat on a domestic first flight isn’t half bad.
Those missing TV’s make the seats look like a low cost carrier. Such a trashy look.
Exhibit A for the defense (Delta) in the “Flagship” case should be your pics of the tv screen cases without TVs. No airline should be allowed to call themselves a flagship looking that trashy and incomplete. Simply unacceptable- It makes AA appear to be going out of business.
"Hello, I'd like to report a robbery. Someone stole all the TVs off of the plane -- just ripped them right out!"
How is American not renting out that empty TV space? Paste some GEICO ads in there. American is leaving ad revenue on the table, shareholders should be made aware.
Remember: Delta has personal TV’s on their A220, a plane that is basically a large regional jet.
That gigantic hole where the tv should be simply says that they are too cheap to provide a screen and you should bring your own and finagle it in there. Granted most of the time I actually will watch my own iPad, but this product just looks embarrassing. It wouldn't have cost that much to initially install it and get years worth of use and more importantly something at least resembling a premium product. Whether the screens are watched or not, this just looks bad. It's a gigantic hole right in front of you. This really is an embarrassing product.
Echoing others, those seats without IFE look so cheap, almost looks like the plane isn't finished. I didn't even know they had those in their fleet. It blows my mind that they would decide to install lie flat seats with no IFE, it makes zero sense. I wonder if there's a single other airline that does that.
I’m not trying to be “that guy”, but it says this flight was on Friday December 6th and then you mention it being the Sunday after Art Basel. I don’t think that’s what you meant to write:)
Thanks for the great review!
Hi Ben (or everyone),
Is there a particular seat in this cabin you would pick over others? I’m flying this Mia-Lim in a month and I just want to make sure I chose wisely (I’m in 2A I think). I love the blog!!! Thank you!
I feel so
Sorry for you 🙁 working on an evening flight that doesn’t last that long, what an entrepreneur you are!
The chili is a terrible domestic dish that has seen more than one rotation now.
It's made worse, however, by AA's aversion to BOWLS. Chili should be served in a BOWL, not the same rectangular dish used for all other domestic main courses. Ever since the merger, when old AA dishware was swapped out for all the square stuff, all bowls went away. So lots of stuff that should be served in bowls--like entree salads at lunch--are now served in the stupid rectangles, which make them look even worse than they are.
I wonder what percentage of food that you eat throughout the year comes from airline/lounge meals? I also wonder what percentage of that is GMO foods? (scratch that, we know the answer to the latter).
I hope you do colonics at least 4x a year and not just juice cleanses. All that metal, plastic and nontech in the food is going to catch up with you dude.
@Jesse
Did you say “excuse me I need to get out” before doing your gymnastic move? If so, the guy is an a-hole. But I am also one who won’t make much effort when my seatmate doesn’t have the courtesy to ask or excuse him/herself. I always do when I’m crossing over someone.
I am personally a fan of the chili. Although earlier this year, it was called a 3 bean chili with polenta. I guess they are now saying vegetarian. But that seat. Yikes. This is why I left AA for delta. Cabins are better, the FAs while some lack service, for the most part are better than AAs FAs. I just wish delta gave me a cookie like AA does.
A slight correction but when AA had the Recaro angled lie flat seats on the 757s they didn't have permanent PTVs. There were also removable screens that were taken out for domestic sectors. I believe it stems to the fact the licensing rights for entertainment.
@ Fraser -- Are you sure about that? I just looked back at my American 757 review from 2010 (OMG can't believe how long I've been blogging), and I have a picture there of a 757 seat with a built-in TV.
Here's the review:
https://onemileatatime.com/asia-on-a-whim-tpa-mia-jfk-on-american-with-a-visit-to-the-mia-flagship-lounge/
And here's the picture, specifically:
ROFLMAO. If I paid cash for a flight and found the TV screens missing like that, I would totally ask the FA in disbelief.
@Ben/Lucky - I took maybe a dozen domestic 757 flights from around 2014-2017 with the Recaro seats and don't recall the units being in place on any of them. I guess if your aircraft had a quick turnaround off an international flight they might not have had a chance to remove them or something like that.
The least they could do is re~purpose those seat back hoes with mesh , containing curret newspapers and magazines.
So damn cheap not having TV's. All while raking in billions on profits. I'm glad I don't fly them often.
This review only makes one thing sure... AA will never get a dime from me. The seats looks like they need a quarter coin to operate, with displays pulled out.
That's business or "first" class? Ugh.
The 757 and 767 are going away that's why AA is not upgrading any entertainment system nor high speed Wi-Fi for that aircraft.
I wish airlines like American would put some more thought into the meals served in their domestic F class cabins. There doesn't have to be complex choices, but there are plenty of one-plate options that could be good served at altitude. This chili looks pitiful and how sloppy of a presentation.
