Introduction: Across The Atlantic On The Airbus A321XLR

"So I decided to book it, both because it was the best deal, and because I was intrigued, based on the number of people who said I should avoid it. Fair enough?"

Ben, you should avoid TAAG Angola 😉

Really interested to hear your take on the long haul experience on the A321XLR. I've been apprehensive about this plane for a while because I predict if it's successful then airlines will start using it to beef up schedules on normal routes and it'll become the de facto "saver" level points awards, while the true premium experience on jumbo jets will be at a more expensive award cost.

Shelbourne Dublin isn’t cheap but it’s what I’d recommend for points hotels. The Merrion or the Westbury are good too.

One of the big downers about these flights (and Mint) is that there's no turn-left boarding. Just finished a long, multi-segment trip and it really drove home how nice it is to have 30-ish minutes before take off to get up and use the toilet or grab something out of the overhead bin you forgot and not worry about holding up the entire boarding process. It's a lot more relaxing. I wish they let Business Class board last and just keep the J overhead bins locked until they board.

Totally agree. At the end of the day, wide bodies are more spacious and more comfortable. It really is as simple as that. It's great that they've evolved these comfortable seats onto these narrow bodies, but there are so many downsides to them, from your point to 1-2 bathrooms (with everyone coming up to use them), and you feel turbulence more. Not a fan.

"Then I included flight from Washington (DCA) to Miami (MIA) on the same award as my Iberia flight."

Do you mean "I included the flight"?

If I fly business, I still try to board last for this reason, but I've always wondered if some airlines would make me board first or really really not like that I board so late for the front end of the plane if I'm doing that. Are there airlines where you're more or less not allowed to board last if you're in business?

FFS don’t be such a pedantic wanker

Since I prefer smaller, quieter airports, but also fewer connections, and business class, I'm interested to read about the experiences.

I doubt anyone will forbid you from boarding last. You may arrive at the gate in the last minute for whatever reason.

Stephen King, it should have been.

Did you mean "I included the flight?"

That was my thought too...flying across the Atlantic in the Winter will make for a very bumpy ride.

While they won't forbid you from boarding last, the same problem exists as on domestic narrow-body flights: namely overhead storage space being gobbled up (and not always by business passengers) by the time you board.

Looking forward to reading this, as I have BNA-DUB booked for a few months from now. I also booked it with 39k Amex points transferred to 50k Avios. Pretty great deal for a trans-Atlantic flight and, being based in Nashville, I'm looking forward to crossing the pond directly from BNA for the first time rather than playing games with positioning flights.

While we have also had a BA flight to LHR from BNA for several years now, the taxes and fees on it were always crazy and, until last year, it was BA's old business product. I am, however, planning to also take that flight for the first time on the return from this trip, since it now has Club World Suites on a 777 and I was able to get it for 55k Alaska miles (vs the 100k Avios BA wanted) and with lower fees due to originating in ZRH instead of LHR.

I personally like IB’s configuration, looks pretty good for a narrow body aircraft.

why spend 57K AA miles on the IB flight when it was 34K avios on IB? I just flew it and loved the space from the new layout.