We know that American Airlines is trying to once again become a bit more premium, and at the beginning of the month, we learned how the airline planned to bring back a popular business class amenity on long haul flights. There’s now an update, as an official start for this has been announced.
In this post:
American improves business class amenities on select flights
American will once again offer pajamas and mattress pads in business class on flights to and from East Asia, the Middle East, India, Australia, and New Zealand. The pajamas are rolling out as of this weekend (July 26-27, 2025), while the mattress pads are returning as of later this summer. The pajamas are from Nest, and come in either size S/M or L/XL.
Eligible flights include those to Auckland (AKL), Brisbane (BNE), Delhi (DEL), Doha (DOH), Seoul Incheon (ICN), Shanghai (PVG), Sydney (SYD), Tokyo Haneda (HND), and Tokyo Narita (NRT). These flights are operated out of Dallas (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), and Philadelphia (PHL).
These amenities will be offered in addition to slippers, dual-sided pillows, and duvets, which are are already offered. As this change is described, “American is constantly collecting customer feedback to reinvigorate the travel experience with changes that align with customer needs.”
The rollout of this comes at the same time that American is introducing its new long haul business class seats. However, this soft product improvement is unrelated to which aircraft a flight is operated by. So you’ll get these amenities regardless of whether your flight features American’s new or old business class seats.
This is a positive change, and it isn’t too surprising
We know that American has been trying to improve in recent months. The airline is greatly lagging Delta and United when it comes to financials, and we’re definitely seeing a bit of a vibe shift at the moment.
American appointed Heather Garboden as Chief Customer Officer, and we’ve seen the airline announce it wants to become more premium and customer focused. We’ve started to see some positive changes, and many of those have simply been reversals of previously dumb policies. Each week, we seemingly see multiple positive changes.
For what it’s worth, American offered pajamas and mattress pads in business class on some long haul flights until the spring of 2024, at which point they were cut. So they will make a comeback a little over a year after they were eliminated.
While I wouldn’t say it’s the norm, a good number of airlines do offer pajamas in business class. For example, United offers pajamas on flights of over 14 hours, and also has the industry’s best business class bedding.
Arguably, American’s new policy on pajamas will actually be more generous, since even the (relatively short) flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles will get pajamas.
Bottom line
American is introducing pajamas and mattress pads on all flights to and from East Asia, the Middle East, India, Australia, and New Zealand. The pajamas are making a comeback as of this weekend, while mattress pads will be returning later this summer. American previously cut these amenities last spring, so it’s nice to see them make a comeback.
It just blows my mind how much time American spends waffling on what kind of an airline it wants to be. But hey, things finally seem to be headed in the right direction.
What do you make of American adding back these amenities on long haul flights?
Nobody chooses their flight because of the pajamas and as someone else said the US carriers are inconsistent when it comes to such perks
Crap Airlines like Air Canada have a mattress pad that's cheese cloth, and no PJs.
I don't understand why people are so wound up over pajamas.
They’re a physical manifestation of a commitment to a quality product.
They need to do this for Europe in the best cabin on a plane.
Looking forward to review by Ben of breathability of fabric, thread count where applicable and other nuances that only he can provide of these upgrades.
Here's the underlying issue with all north American carriers (not just AA): one year they introduce these amenities, then the next year they remove them to 'save costs'. A few years later, those same previously removed amenities get re-introduced. And the cycle goes round and round and round, depending on who's in charge at the moment. United did the same thing with Polaris. How many of the original Polaris features can you still count? Lack...
Here's the underlying issue with all north American carriers (not just AA): one year they introduce these amenities, then the next year they remove them to 'save costs'. A few years later, those same previously removed amenities get re-introduced. And the cycle goes round and round and round, depending on who's in charge at the moment. United did the same thing with Polaris. How many of the original Polaris features can you still count? Lack of consistency and an unwillingness to stick with a stable high quality product thru thick and thin, will always be the Achilles' heel of north American carriers.
I just took a flight with these pajamas.... sorry nothing premium about AA... same old tired business class service with inedible food, cheap liquor, perfunctory flight attendants (of course first thing the captain says is that they are there for my safety - on a 15 hour flight!).. ugh... only thing in their favor was the direct flight (and cheaper cost relative to UA).
Are they cotton?
I couldn't care less about the PJs, but I do wish mattress toppers were offered on transatlantics, as well.
American's rude old sloppy flight attendants are going to hate this,
Happy to see these coming back. But I do wish PJ availability were tied more to flight length than destination. LHR-LAX is 11+ hours, almost exactly the same length as LAX-HND.
Meanwhile Delta is nowhere to be found in this space.
They're always the last to these offerings, but act like they're the best somehow.
So true! Delta thinks they are better than they actually are…
Correctomundo. Delta is first in extracting revenue from customers in the manner of a deer tick sucking blood out of its host
Draw as much blood (money) as possible and leave a little surprise like Lyme disease (a lingering sense of being charged more than one ought)
Thanks for the warning ... I'll be sure to do a full & premium body scan/check on myself after my DL 'fright' !
...lol
Well, to be fair:
You want a pyjama on your flight? Bring one with you. It’s a huge waste for frequent flyers, like it’s going to rubbish after the flight?
@Felix, business class isn't just for frequent flyers... it can be a fun component of a vacation and what's wrong with wanting a little souvenir?
Call me old fashioned, but I do think these things make an (admittedly small) impact on the overall travel experience.
Aww... you're just 'old fashioned' (no offense )
... And I can date myself by also saying it's a 'classic' song by Chet Baker !
you know what's a fun component to any trip? the klm houses. pajamas are dumb and imho, wasteful.
@Redacted
I understand your point, and I agree it's a nice souvenir if you're "every now and then" travelling in BC. If you're a regular guest, which I think applies more than vacation guests (but I have no data at hand to prove this claime), this creates a lot of waste that is avoidable. Hence I like the "on-request" idea, but it needs to be known among the guests.
I kept my lufthansa 1st class PJ as souvenir, but got rid of the LH BC sleep shirts.
I dunno, I always keep them. Fun to compare. Still think Starlux quality is a cut above the rest. I use mine as loungewear a lot.
I dunno, I always keep them. Fun to compare. Still think Starlux quality is a cut above the rest. I use mine as loungewear a lot.
Although the idea of pajamas sounds even practical to me, I just can't get past having to change my clothes in those filthy, stuffy, claustrophobic lavs ( and we're not even talking about the most recent 'space-saving/shrinking' ones ! ... One exception might be the Emirates 380 F Class lav where I could probably spend the whole flight 'luxuriating' in the wide open space... lol ! Alternatively maybe I could just strut onboard already wearing...
Although the idea of pajamas sounds even practical to me, I just can't get past having to change my clothes in those filthy, stuffy, claustrophobic lavs ( and we're not even talking about the most recent 'space-saving/shrinking' ones ! ... One exception might be the Emirates 380 F Class lav where I could probably spend the whole flight 'luxuriating' in the wide open space... lol ! Alternatively maybe I could just strut onboard already wearing the PJ's & bunny slippers !