As I recently wrote about, American is in the process of taking delivery of brand new Boeing 787s. Not only does this allow the Fort Worth-based carrier to add capacity, but these are also American’s new “premium” Dreamliners, featuring all-new cabins, including new business class suites with doors, and “business class plus” seats (in lieu of first class).
I was really excited about these planes, and hoped they’d really elevate the inflight experience. While I’m sure these jets will prove to be better than the old ones, I’m a little disappointed, based on our first peek.
In this post:
The first pictures of American’s new 787 interiors
@xJonNYC (who else?!) just flagged the first pictures of American’s new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner cabins, courtesy of @_connerpruitt. As a reminder, these planes have just 244 seats, including 51 business class seats, 32 premium economy seats, and 161 economy seats.
There are new seats across cabins, and also new cabin finishes, for a bit more modern of a look. Take a look at the pictures below…
As a reminder, below are a few renderings that were shared in the past.
Am I the only one who was expecting a bit more?
Folks, I really want to be like “great job, American,” since American is the carrier I fly more than any other, and that’ll continue to be the case, as long as I live in Miami. But gosh, even based on these few pictures, I can’t help but be disappointed. C’mon, this is supposed to be a brand new era for the carrier’s long haul premium cabins, which will be used for many years to come.
For example, take a look at the front row Flagship Suite Preferred seats. Could the airline not spring for some bigger monitors? Those look downright small for standard business class seats, let alone the more spacious seats in the first row. They’re also so clunky. Talk about a far cry from the cutting edge monitors we see on so many airlines nowadays.
I thought the business class seat design looked pretty elegant in the renderings, but the real pictures make them look sterile and sort of cheap, no? There’s just a lot of different colors going on there, and I don’t think they work well together.
Also, could someone help me understand how you’re supposed to use the premium economy leg rests? Like, that’s actually how they work? If you’re over four feet tall, it seems like those won’t be of much use.
By all means disagree with me, and it’s possible my tastes are just a bit off. I was hoping these interiors would be a show-stopper, and instead I just feel like they’re kind of uninspiring.
Bottom line
American just took delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 with new interiors, which will be the carrier’s new design concept going forward. I thought the renderings looked great, while the real thing looks a bit less impressive, in my opinion. The entertainment monitors look cheap, I’m not sure the colors work that well, and I don’t understand the premium economy leg rests.
What do you make of our first look at American’s new 787s?
Frankly, I couldn’t care less about the size of the TV screens. The last time I watched a movie when flying business was more than 20 years ago, when they still had recliner seats. Now, I either sleep, eat or work.
You’re not a designer .
You don’t know the constraints nor design direction.
Stop gaslighting .
The gold Photoshop awards go to AA. They Photoshopped the hell out of the pictures the presented because the final product looks so unappealing. Someone was having fun and probably high on some mind-altering substances to create those pics. The final product is far from it!
Class, what class?
Those monitors look fine for 2010.
Looking at this again, this looks really terrible compared to the current 789 J. On today's product, I have two windows I can look out of, from the pictures, it appears there is only one that will be visible. These seats will be TIGHT. Also, seems like there is barely any room on the console by the window. The current product has plenty of room from met to have a couple of glasses plus my...
Looking at this again, this looks really terrible compared to the current 789 J. On today's product, I have two windows I can look out of, from the pictures, it appears there is only one that will be visible. These seats will be TIGHT. Also, seems like there is barely any room on the console by the window. The current product has plenty of room from met to have a couple of glasses plus my ipad. This, not so much. This is really an inferior product. Sure, they'll have more seats on these planes, but this is going to be really bad.
Those Premium Economy seats do look a lot "nicer".
Those biz class monitors are a joke, though.
Those screens on the first row appear to be the same as business, which is probably around 17-18 inches which would make it comparable to the front row of Air France new 777 business class. But compared to products sold as separate "business plus" like Virgin Atlantic which has 27 inch screens and Riyadh Air new Business Front Row which has 32 inch screens, American could've at least install 24 inch screens to make use...
Those screens on the first row appear to be the same as business, which is probably around 17-18 inches which would make it comparable to the front row of Air France new 777 business class. But compared to products sold as separate "business plus" like Virgin Atlantic which has 27 inch screens and Riyadh Air new Business Front Row which has 32 inch screens, American could've at least install 24 inch screens to make use of the real estate afforded to them at the front row.
(On the promotional pictures, it is likely that the lighting is cinematic and studio like which is probably why it looks better than it is. But the Aria suites still look good even in real life so no excuses.)
Monitors waste of power and space, just have wifi. Can't wait to see size of bathrooms.
The bulkhead tv is a joke!
1980s monitors and poo brown accent headrests. How do the people who make and/or green light these decisions have jobs in this field…
I am very happy that NOT flying AAwful Airlines are a viable choice for me as a retired person flying out of Tampa and having a variety of carriers to choose from. I have a long and firm dislike of American. It's just a crappy airline. The new 787's showcase the lack of original thought that permeates HQ in Texas. I feel sorry for Ben and other folks who are in AA hub cities. Such...
I am very happy that NOT flying AAwful Airlines are a viable choice for me as a retired person flying out of Tampa and having a variety of carriers to choose from. I have a long and firm dislike of American. It's just a crappy airline. The new 787's showcase the lack of original thought that permeates HQ in Texas. I feel sorry for Ben and other folks who are in AA hub cities. Such a shame. And I am old enough to to remember when AA was actually an OK airline...just OK
Unless it's ULH, premium only counts in soft product.
There's a reason all my advertising peeps in NYC fly VS Upper Class to London. It isn't for the herringbone seats.
Those monitors are tiny and ancient looking. Seems like they found some inventory of super old PCs and monitors from the 90s. These don't compare well to the Qatar giant screens.
Again, the AA hardware is not great but at least it's decent. The problem is the soft products that need a major reboot and redesign.
This is where American fails (brace yourself). Dallas is full of Anglo-Saxon soccer moms and dads who are lacking in aesthetics that could even begin to wink at beauty and glamour. Sorry, but it's true. Dallas, as a third-tier city, does not have the kind of ENERGY that can lead to what UA (Chicago) and DL (Atlanta, ughh) can do. Chicago is a world-class city, and Atlanta is full of very creative, hip, and cool...
This is where American fails (brace yourself). Dallas is full of Anglo-Saxon soccer moms and dads who are lacking in aesthetics that could even begin to wink at beauty and glamour. Sorry, but it's true. Dallas, as a third-tier city, does not have the kind of ENERGY that can lead to what UA (Chicago) and DL (Atlanta, ughh) can do. Chicago is a world-class city, and Atlanta is full of very creative, hip, and cool people! It's a black city, and black people have driven ALL cool cultural trends across the USA forever. Picketball btw as an example, is not hip or cool.
The Dallas crowd thought Cole Haan was hip and cool. Yes, if you're over 70!. This is one of the many BIG problems with the people who work at AA HQ. They are not worldly. Traveling around the world and being worldly are two completely different things...and I have met these people in the past, and my god are some of them clueless. A shame, because many nice and good people work for AA - but the airline is lacking in taste. Its a Dallas thing.
Btw - I spend time in Dallas, so I'm speaking from experience and general to close-up observation.
AA is also cheap.
DL is smart in the area of spend and they will pay. I still dislike the energy of DL...but they try.
"Dallas is full of Anglo-Saxon soccer moms and dads"
You claim to spend time in Dallas; have you been to Plano, Irving, Frisco, Garland recently? It's heavily South Asian. Even in Flower Mound the high schools are now bursting with Indian kids. The anglo soccer moms and old money are in increasingly smaller enclaves like HP.
These people all work in tech and they all fly internationally annually. Many of them are used to...
"Dallas is full of Anglo-Saxon soccer moms and dads"
You claim to spend time in Dallas; have you been to Plano, Irving, Frisco, Garland recently? It's heavily South Asian. Even in Flower Mound the high schools are now bursting with Indian kids. The anglo soccer moms and old money are in increasingly smaller enclaves like HP.
These people all work in tech and they all fly internationally annually. Many of them are used to airlines like BA and AI to get to India. I don't think AA markets their premium cabins to a DFW O&D market.
But yes, AA is poorly run. It's by design. It's a hedge fund that decided to fly planes as an investment model.
Dallas is a big city, but there's a reason why people who want a better travel experience avoid it. Even poor Chicago and MIA have better Flagship Lounges.
The seat pitch in Premium Economy looks like 30”. Just as well off in MCE.
These photos look inferior to the current 77W premium seating, and this debuted more than ten years ago!
Who is making all these awful decisions? Watch AA try to gaslight us again by saying travelers prefer smaller screens, just like they said we prefer streaming from our own devices, rather than having seat back monitors. I’m embarrassed for them.
This can't be true, is this a first of the line mistake kind of issue? no way they rool out that horrible screens on a flagship suite. I'm quite disappointed, this was supposed to become the best business class seat in the US, such a let down, I can't believe the renderings were far from reality! Please someone find out what happened.
@Jonnyc “who else?!” Nice one Ben.
In case you are still wondering why Doug Parker left American. What were you expecting ? Q Suites ? In order to invest in a new game changer product ; that would have come along with a $700 surcharge added to the use of Systemwide Upgrades and a mileage upgrade devaluation along with a $700 co pay as well.
Sorry AA, it may be a new airframe but there are at least two things against it ….
No: 1. It’s a new Boeing so I a’int going.
No: 2. The whole concept is only equivalent to what the rest of the industry adopted years ago.
I can see absolutely no reason for me to change my regular pond-hopper BA for AA.
The 2025 World Rankings will give an indication if AA is still on a race to the bottom.
Why does it seem that some people believe they have to be critical simply for the sake of being critical?
Oh I dunno... perhaps they are being critical because the reality deserves the criticism?
Agree don't know why they can put some slimmer bigger screens. Cabin has too much blacks and dark colors.
is the business+ PTV actually SMALLER than the the ones from row 2 onwards?
I'm with the first couple posters that were proposing these are temporary. Still a disaster, but I guess that's the best case scenario.
The worst case (and I wouldn't put it past AA) is that they are permanently going to be smaller because of some design flaw with the suite not allowing for the PTVs the rest of the biz class rows get.
LOL, maybe AA was coached by LH Allegris team.
So much for going for greAAt! This looks like Zipair from Japan to me - low cost carrier with business class. Clearly AA hates entertainment screens - ideally they want to follow Zipair with no screens. A sad day for AA. Looks like they have just given up and don't care anymore.
Seriously what is the matter at AA, it's time to hire a new CEO, I bet Ben Smith from Air France could clean this mess up.
P.S, these are being deployed ORD-LHR and PHL-LHR as the first routes, so there goes the idea that Flagship First Dining might come with selecting the ‘premium’ business class seats and I’m sure they’ll all be closed down ASAP now.
Where available, FFD will be a paid add-on.
American is the brand definition of mediocrity. The new interiors look better than the current set up, but there will be plenty of wear and tear and neglect soon enough.
Yep, expect mediocrity and you will never be disappointed
AA have only one successful selling point …. the word ‘American’.
That is as far as American citizens are concerned, as they are the only ones fooled by the airlines mediocrity.
Descending customers look elsewhere.
I had a nightmare about this last night. I was flying in bulkhead main economy to Tokyo on the new aircraft. The FAs were rude. They served and cleared my meal before I had the chance to eat. Then I went in the galley 3 times for my drink order i never recieved . After complaining to the purser I threw a smoothie into the business class cabin and a flight attendant told a first...
I had a nightmare about this last night. I was flying in bulkhead main economy to Tokyo on the new aircraft. The FAs were rude. They served and cleared my meal before I had the chance to eat. Then I went in the galley 3 times for my drink order i never recieved . After complaining to the purser I threw a smoothie into the business class cabin and a flight attendant told a first class passenger the suite had been damaged and a replacement would cost between 100k to 1 million. Then I claimed it was because I had a Jewish sounding name then all the passengers and crew had a sigh of relief. Then I woke up. Lol
Smoothies in Y? Must have been a dream, LOL.
Thank you. Dreams never make sense.
As much as we complain about and choose not to stay at Marriott, there will always be another consumer who will replace us. And, its management will continue to make the decisions it makes because the revenue needle doesn't move. My sense is that it's the same with AA. There will always be another consumer who will replace us and its management will continue to make the decision it makes because the revenue needle doesn't move.
Your absolutely spot on, how the hell can anyone other than a child use the leg rests in PE, I still can’t believe these are actually going to be deployed and the white shell casings won’t last long and will show wear and tear in short order, what a complete disappointment if these are true pictures.
Boring as batshit. Totes on brand for American.
Wow…. Those pictures are just… sad. Ben it’s definitely not just you. That monitor sticks out like a sore thumb. I just can’t see how they can sell that as a “premium” product and show someone pictures and expect someone not to laugh given it’s a brand new product. This is definitely privileged first world problems, but you are selling this product to privileged people and they are gonna expect a little more given the cost of these seats.
AAbsolutely AAwful
Like their current cabins - its just a sea of grey.
Three words to sum it up: Bland // Anodyne // Insipid. They are perfectly onbrand, lol.
Ben you’re right… it’s dull as ditch water !
Those monitors are not at all matching the renders. Either the renders are a mistake or someone photoshopped MS13 video screens into this preview.
I don't think so Antwerp. Look at the Airlines Quest Youtube video showing the new cabins and those same 2008-era screens are shown in the Row 1 throne seats.
Those monitors seem like the ones they took out of their pre-Oasis planes. Recycled monitors.
You think that this new 787 is a clusterf***?
You haven’t seen anything yet. lol.
Just wait until they introduce the refurbished
777-300. With only 11 on the working cabin crew. That service decision was already made by HDQ.
I don’t know why anybody is surprised. This is AA we’re talking about not JAL.
I thought April 1st was fools day, seems May 1st for AA! Seriously this must be a mock up or AI generated joke. Those monitors can’t be real in J.
AA, are you seriously calling this premium? Send it back and fix it.
Those monitors…hahaha…WTF. Maybe a bit of nostalgia, that they pulled the old CRT monitors from 747’s.
These are some low quality pictures of what looks like a high quality hard product - can’t judge a book by its cover
Team Tempe Oasis'd Adient Ascent. Job well done - $0.01 * 61 * 20 saved!
Did they get the kiddie monitors for flagship???
Ultra-giga-premium, which is better than ultra-mega-premium, which is better than ultra-premium, which is better than premium-plus. It's hard to decide.
The business suites literally look like a child’s toy version of a business class seat…
Looks like Finnair's A350 business class back in 2015.
Regarding the monitors in Flagship Preferred … notice how the back wall upon which the monitor is mounted is slightly curved. This probably makes it difficult to install the larger monitors in the regular Flagship Business seat, so they had to opt for a smaller monitor to fit on the curved wall absent additional modifications.
What's the seat pitch for premium economy here? If it's 38" I wouldn't be worried about your legs/feet not fitting under the seat Infront with the legrest up.
If it's only 36" then it will definitely be an issue like Qantas 787 premium economy
Lmao at those screens. Was jetblue giving away their E190 tvs?
too soon :D
To activate the TV so we can watch a program, did I$0m decide to install credit card magnetic swipe readers or do we call over a flight attendant?
Yes, the colors and lack of incorporated branding looks very dull. Poorly designed.
On the other hand, when in the seat I only care about the comfort/design. Yes, service as well.
Does still look better than UA/DL.
We’ll see!
You think those look better than Delta / UA seats??
The seats themselves look vaguely comparable from a comfort perspective. The TV's however are a joke in comparison. UA/DL TV setups look MUCH nicer and more modern.
These TV's literally look 20 years old.
as someone in interior design, I must say these are awful. the colors dont match, and the finishes and design already look dated. The screen is also 2x too small. Good luck American
I'm in shock, in tears almost.
It's a massively delayed hard product.
If this was released like pre-pandemic or even a few years ago, I think people would say job well done.
As it stands, it's just a nicer seat than what they used to have but not cutting edge or industry leading in any way
Have to love how they f'ed up Oasis due to not doing mock-ups, and it looks like they did it again. Those PE leg rests are the telling sign
TVs/monitors are cheap these days. What were they thinking using something worse than the normal J seat for an extra cost suite?
You expect to much of an American carrier, particularly American. It also may very much be a new era and an elevation for them, but again consider the starting point.
We know soft product will never compete with Asian carriers. And I’m not going to assume service will be consistently great.
As for hard product, the renderings were a little more elegant and refined looking than actual and nothing quite amazing, but hey improvement is improvement.
It's American being American. That's the kind of company they've been for a very long time. They think you should be thankful the business class isn't just the barely 38" pitch narrowbody offering.
Sadly, this is so AA and has been the case for so long now. You have hope that they’re going to actually do something that really impresses… and end up in disappointment.
Looks like AA got a great deal on some 14" CRTs.
The business class fabrics look super low quality. The spacing is very tight, too, which is what happens when you try to squeeze too many lie flats 4 across in the relatively narrow 787 cabin. And the pitch in PE and Y looks absolutely awful.
That monitor size just jumps out at me. When the standard today is Q Suites or JAL with 21-24" 4K monitors, it looks like this would be more appropriate on the back of a premium economy seat than in business.
Proximanova would be proud of you.
"visualise yourself flying Qsuites or Air France or JAL or something of that kind! ;)"
Having flown Hawaiian's Ascent first class seats, I guess the seat itself will be pretty good but that tiny monitor is an utter joke.
Lmfao these look awful. I give up on seeing American carriers ever be known for quality within my lifetime
I actually think the premium economy and economy cabins look really good, I like the use of blue and brown.
The business cabin is…. fine. Color scheme is the same as the new Delta One which I also think looks pretty sterile. Maybe it’ll look better with bedding and pillows and mood lighting. I like the bulkhead design a lot though.
I mean, par for the course for American, no?
The Zodaic seat looked great in renderings and Concept (“D” haha) but turned out to be a disaster in execution.
AA continues to be a disappointment in everything they do
SO much gray and brown. Doesn't look crisp or visually pop like in the promotional images.
Yeah the black carpet and seat fabric in business is drab
Their current finishes are nicer.
I thought the monitors were a complete joke. That small.... Really? Also the business class with the seat down looks more of the mock-up photo. That monitor looks bigger than the bulkhead business class ones. Or am I wrong? @ben
@ Brandon Rabbitt — It doesn’t appear to be a mockup because you can see the engine in the background, and the color of the lighting outside matches that of the premium economy seat.
Those monitors in the front row Flagship Suite Preferred must be temporary or something?? They honestly look even smaller than the Premium Economy screens lol. And they for sure look different from the other business suite shown in the photo (with the flat bed).
It almost looks like the flagship preferred monitors are temporary and need to be swapped out, but knowing American those are probably permanent and you'll actually have a worse IFE experience than normal business class...
Yeah so thick and 1998 vintage looking
It's American. Lmao. Bathrooms are probably still tiny too. Interior looks like older Iberia planes.
Shockingly exactly as rendered LOL
https://youtu.be/qfjdEdPwefY?feature=shared&t=142