It’s a pretty exciting time when it comes to passenger experience announcements at American Airlines. In a separate post, I covered how the Fort Worth-based airline will be bringing back seat back screens on all mainline narrow body planes as of 2028.
That’s only part of the announcement, though, as the airline has also revealed plans to add a lot more premium seats across its entire narrow body fleet, and this is great news.
In this post:
American growing premium seating from 25% to 40%
Unrelated to American’s relative “premium” position in the market, there’s no denying that one general industry trend has been the increase in premium seating demand, whether it’s for first or business class, or even for extra legroom economy.
So along those lines, American has announced that it plans to greatly increase its amount of premium seating across the narrow body fleet, as part of the same project that will see the airline install seat back entertainment.
American plans to significantly increase the number of first class and extra legroom economy seats (marketed as Main Cabin Extra) throughout its fleet. This project will come both by retrofitting existing aircraft, and by taking delivery of new aircraft with an updated configuration.
The airline states that currently around 25% of seats on narrow body aircraft are premium, while when this project is complete, 40% of seats will be premium. That’s a really meaningful change.
How many more premium seats is American installing?
American isn’t revealing the full details just yet of how the layout of various planes will be changing, though the airline is providing some information:
- American’s Boeing 737 MAX 10s will be delivered (as of 2029) with 24 first class seats, and American will also retrofit its Airbus A321neos with 24 first class seats (the project will start in late 2028); currently, you’ll find at most 20 first class seats on any American narrow body plane; this complements American currently retrofitting A319s and A320s to add a row of first class seats
- American will retrofit a majority of its narrow body fleet to meaningfully expand the number of Main Cabin Extra seats, so that there are more opportunities for elite members to assign these, and also for all passengers to purchase them
- American will also refresh the interiors of virtually all narrow body planes, including adding more storage, redesigned seats, and enhanced lighting
This is a change at American I’m excited about
If you ask me, American changing its cabin layouts is an even bigger announcement than the airline installing seat back TVs. One extreme point of frustration I’ve had with American is the lack of Main Cabin Extra seats.
American’s most common type of aircraft is the Boeing 737 (the 737-800s and 737 MAX 8s have identical layouts), and the planes have just 24 Main Cabin Extra seats. 12 of those seats are in exit rows, then there’s the bulkhead row (two of those seats are blocked until 24 hours out), and then there’s one more row of Main Cabin Extra.
It’s just ridiculous how hard it is to score one of those seats, especially if you’re traveling with family, and can’t sit in an exit row. Compare that to the same planes at United (which has 54 Economy Plus seats) and Delta (which has 36 Comfort+ seats). So I’m very much looking forward to that.
Meanwhile when it comes to the increase in the size of the first class cabin, it’s awesome to see the airline going for 24 first class seats on its larger narrow body planes. I think sooner rather than later that will become the norm in the US, as Delta is expected to install a similar number of first class seats on its upcoming Boeing 737 MAX 10s.
Bottom line
American Airlines has announced that it will greatly increase premium seating in its narrow body fleet. Beyond what has already been announced, the airline has committed to installing 24 first class seats on newly delivered Boeing 737 MAX 10s and on existing Airbus A321neos. The catch is that the project will only begin in late 2028, more than two years from now. Furthermore, the airline will greatly increase the number of Main Cabin Extra seats, which is long overdue.
Between this and plans to reintroduce seat back screens, it’s the single biggest passenger experience announcement we’ve seen from American in a very long time. The only issue is that we’ll have to be patient, as it’ll be the early 2030s (best case scenario) before this project is complete.
What do you make of American’s plans to increase premium seating?
I've added back in the [text] that was omitted...
"American has announced that it plans to greatly increase its amount of premium seating [and pricing] across the narrow body fleet."
The key word in the lead sentence is ANNOUNCEMENTS. We won't actually see these seatback screens for years. Plenty of time for the next management to backtrack to the dried-out oasis "strategy", although this seems like the right move.
I doubt it is as much about backtracking in the future as supply chains.
the supply chain is very long for a project of this size for an airline the size of AA. It has taken UA far more than just five years (matching AA's statement of completion in early 2030s) and UA is still not finished. Having UA finish its AVOD installation might put a little less on the supply chain but there is enormous demand for small screen devices.
Makes mileageplus status even more appealing
Now they need to actually provide a premium experience, not just more premium seating. It would also be awesome if they would count mileage redemptions toward status. I'm not expecting them to match what Alaska is doing, but at least match Delta and United in giving status credit on their metal. That change would guarantee our return to being American loyalists again. Until then, I don't forsee ever crediting anything to them -- like zero...
Now they need to actually provide a premium experience, not just more premium seating. It would also be awesome if they would count mileage redemptions toward status. I'm not expecting them to match what Alaska is doing, but at least match Delta and United in giving status credit on their metal. That change would guarantee our return to being American loyalists again. Until then, I don't forsee ever crediting anything to them -- like zero loyalty points for 3 or 4 years running now.
Gene, agreed and in fact more premium seating means a less premium experience by definition because it is less exclusive.
@Gene ---> I haven't credited anything to AA, save the few points I get for charges on their Citi Exec card, which I have for the lounge membership. Everything credits to AS.
Great and long over due news! Hopefully such a visible product change will help customers notice all the smaller improvements.
Can AA reconfigure the Oasis era lavatories?
Will the widebody retrofits still have the same pathetic number of MCE?
i have never noticed extra space with MCE seats.
Excellent news. The B738s and 38Ms have a paltry amount of MCE. Hopefully the additional first class seats mean complimentary upgrades actually clear (though they’ll likely be sold as upgrades instead).
Breaking: AA places new shade of lipstick on their pig.
"Oh, duh-duh-dear!"
As a frequent traveler, I think this is the right direction.
As a frequent traveler, I think this is the right direction.
AA should simply bring back "more room in coach" - this was very customer friendly where every seat had an acceptable legroom. This was a key differentiator for AA at that time which I liked very much (the same was for the extra inch that WN provided in the past).
The MCE extra leg room goes at the cost of a tight legroom at the remaining seat, however it of cause more measurable to monetize.
The more room throughout coach strategy was ultimately a failure because it fails to take into account human psychology. Failure for B6 and others too. People have money and want to "feel premium". No one actually *is* premium because they occupy a seat that has X" of pitch.
People that have a little bit more money than others just want to be separately classified - that applies at the upper end of the spectrum...
The more room throughout coach strategy was ultimately a failure because it fails to take into account human psychology. Failure for B6 and others too. People have money and want to "feel premium". No one actually *is* premium because they occupy a seat that has X" of pitch.
People that have a little bit more money than others just want to be separately classified - that applies at the upper end of the spectrum with billionaires (my yacht is bigger than yours), the middle of the spectrum (I stayed at a Park Hyatt not a JW Marriott!) and the bottom of the spectrum (I wouldn't be caught dead flying on Spirit/Frontier even if the schedule was better and the price was better and I'm 5'2" and legroom doesn't matter to me).
With air travel getting more expensive, some people that used to fly are getting priced out of the market. I find on some flights like to PSP and SNA - First and MCE can be sold out weeks in advance, and the back section of the aircraft is nearly empty. People that can afford the fares and who are FF'ers - expect MCE at a minimum.
Fortunately, for the Palms Springs and Orange County residents, there are many airports in the greater Los Angeles area (in addition to PSP and SNA, of course LAX, but also LGB, ONT, BUR, so there's ample supply/options for them in-particular). Besides, if those 'premium' passengers want such 'nicer' things, wouldn't they prefer to just deal with traffic, go to LAX, and get an actual AA Flagship First/Business seat/lounge (if they're taking those transcon routes)? I...
Fortunately, for the Palms Springs and Orange County residents, there are many airports in the greater Los Angeles area (in addition to PSP and SNA, of course LAX, but also LGB, ONT, BUR, so there's ample supply/options for them in-particular). Besides, if those 'premium' passengers want such 'nicer' things, wouldn't they prefer to just deal with traffic, go to LAX, and get an actual AA Flagship First/Business seat/lounge (if they're taking those transcon routes)? I get that AA occasionally uses a321T for SNA to JFK, but, no Flagship lounge at SNA.
While this sounds promising, I feel AA is hedging here and could easily slow play this if their fortunes do not improve and/or there is an industry slow-down. The lead time for AVOD is completely reasonable, but the MCE retrofit could easily start this month (they've reduced schedules for fall) and completely done by the date they've targeted to BEGIN improvements in late 2028.
Extra legroom economy seating is table stakes for continuing to have a loyalty program that customers want to engage with. That's the reward. Upgrades to domestic first will continue to be monetized (whether at tens of dollars or otherwise) thereby making those upgrades rarer, even with expanding domestic F cabins to 24 seats.
But the ability to select MCE at booking is a real, tangible benefit, and AA has been far behind DL and...
Extra legroom economy seating is table stakes for continuing to have a loyalty program that customers want to engage with. That's the reward. Upgrades to domestic first will continue to be monetized (whether at tens of dollars or otherwise) thereby making those upgrades rarer, even with expanding domestic F cabins to 24 seats.
But the ability to select MCE at booking is a real, tangible benefit, and AA has been far behind DL and UA in this area. As @MeanMeosh noted, the lack of MCE on the 787-9P and XLR was a slap in the face.
This is going to take AA years and years (perhaps even a decade) to correct. I still believe that the AA of 2035 may surprise people. But we need Isom out and Pieper/Garboden formally installed so that AA employees and customers can start buying into the vision that the last ~12 months or so has started to bring.
Ultimately this will go down as one of the biggest f ups in airline history. Much of this could have been avoided. But I am very glad to see the airline industry move away from the ULCC business model. It does nothing but bring problems and will never be profitable. Even Frontier and Allegiant are moving away from a pure ULCC model. There was a reason for bus service.
This is great news. Now let's talk about adding MCE on the 787-9Ps and the A321XLRs. It's really quite deplorable that on AA's two most premium jets, you can't even buy an MCE seat without taking an exit row.
Agree 100% - the lack of MCE on these planes is a complete and abject failure and the prime example of everything that is wrong with AA. If they can't install MCE on their newest planes, they've completely lost the plot.
Let's not leave out the gross miscalculation in network planning. In addition to the decline in experience quality, it's why I left AA.
Have to agree with this strongly. I’m very happy to see AA finally making these positive changes, and it is the right direction for them to move in, but trying to rebuild their network in the most valuable markets will take so much longer than cabin refits.
Even now, signs aren’t great: allowing UA to essentially rebuild a JFK presence at very little cost through partnership with JetBlue while seemingly making no competing attempt to...
Have to agree with this strongly. I’m very happy to see AA finally making these positive changes, and it is the right direction for them to move in, but trying to rebuild their network in the most valuable markets will take so much longer than cabin refits.
Even now, signs aren’t great: allowing UA to essentially rebuild a JFK presence at very little cost through partnership with JetBlue while seemingly making no competing attempt to revisit their own partnership with that airline (or even have another go at acquiring it, or parts of it) still suggests they’ve given up completely on NYC, for example.
This is very good news. Main Cabin Extra has always been a rare AA asset. BA could learn something.
"BA could learn something."
BA is incapable of *caring,* least of all *learning.*
Sort of like a certain commenter on OMAAT.
Does this number include “preferred seats” which are “standard legroom, favorable location”? Because there is nothing premium about them and obviously easy to increase the number of these “premium” seats just by changing the color in the seat map…
these are significant and relatively low cost changes that AA can do; the fact that they reconfigured aircraft just years ago w/ so few MCE seats says they simply were incapable of recognizing what mattered and addressing what the industry was seeing.
that said, AA is moving in the right direction and their cabin refurbs will still cost far less than UA's terminal expansion.
And WN will be the lone standout among the big 4.
There really isn't a Big 4, so much as a Big 3 in the US. WN is a joke after their anti-consumer changes. American (and United) are catching up to Delta and jetBlue with IFE/AVOD on mainline (and complimentary WiFi). *incoming* people to tell you/me that Starlink is better...
in terms of passengers carried and network size, there are indeed 4 big US airlines.
and if extra legroom seats are considered premium, then WN now has a higher percentage of premiums seats on its aircraft as AA does.
I still believe that WN will add a domestic first class cabin - the supply chain for that mod is probably as long as for AVOD for a fleet the size of WN's.
...in terms of passengers carried and network size, there are indeed 4 big US airlines.
and if extra legroom seats are considered premium, then WN now has a higher percentage of premiums seats on its aircraft as AA does.
I still believe that WN will add a domestic first class cabin - the supply chain for that mod is probably as long as for AVOD for a fleet the size of WN's.
even apart from AVOD, the fact that people have been saying for years that AA should have had more MCE seats - and fewer total seats - is indication that AA didn't recognize until very recently how wrong it was in its assumptions about what customers wanted.
"...there are indeed 4 big US airlines."
No, there are three, as 1990 pointed out.
I'll admit, it is a bit semantic, but, those 3 (AA, DL, UA) really are in a category of their own as massive, legacy, global carriers. WN, B6, F9, AS, G4, etc. don't even come close by fleet, passengers, destinations, etc.
Tim, you and stogieguy7 may be taking this quantitatively (by numbers, seats, and domestic volume); whereas, TravelinWilly and I are thinking beyond mere numbers, more wholistically and qualitatively (by business model, international scope, and legacy structure). It's not that anyone is right or wrong, it's that we're interpreting and valuing different things.
Big 4:
UA, DL, AA, WN
That's right, Southwest - which is plenty big. Domestically, I believe it's the largest airline actually. JetBlue (whom 1990 mentions there) isn't even a factor unless you're a New Yorker.
And, 1990 is a New Yorker, who much prefers B6 over WN. While Southwest does fly to a few destinations in Central America, it is by little means a major international carrier. I'd argue, jetBlue does a better job of that with its Caribbean and TATL network, especially with Mint.
What I was trying to say to Tim is... just stop counting after 3; AA, DL, UA really are in their own category (massive, legacy, global US airlines.)
And your regional bias causes you to lose sight of the massive size of Southwest Airlines. Largest domestic network in the USA. JetBlue is only a factor in New York (and maybe FLL) and irrelevant anywhere else. Kinda like an east coast version of Sun Country.
Do you know what the largest airline in Europe is? Ryanair. And it's not even close. They're actually bigger than any of the big 3 groups (IAG, LH Group, AF/KLM). Southwest is similarly overlooked.
Good for AA. They’ve finally pulled their head out of the sand and gotten serious about competing.
Time for a virtual beer with my man Peter. This is much needed huge news
Ha ha - happy to raise a glass of only Goose Island IPA forever - complimentary when flying MCE!
A toast to the Pieper / Garboden era! May they deliver us from Isom by delivering us more MCE.
"American is greatly expanding Main Cabin Extra seating" YESSS!! Peter, it's happening! MCE!!!
MCE! MCE! MCE!
Mice? They already serve those from LHR. Pre-order only.
Zing! Although that mouse should be praised because it led to DO&CO LHR catering for AA.