There are 16 recliner seats in first class in a 2-2 configuration. The American Airlines Airbus A321 (321) 187 passenger version is primarily used on US domestic route… While I was in the back chatting up one of the AA A321neo crew members who was instrumental in the certification flights for this new aircraft type, I missed dessert service. As I had the bulkhead seat, I was able to stretch out during the flight comfortably. Although I knew that this was a special crew for the inaugural flights, I still left this flight optimistic that AA flight attendants might be turning a corner. Thanks to my somewhat disappointing economy flight, I boarded this early-morning flight with zero expectations. Many of the credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. No worries, though. Midway through the meal, the flight attendant came by with warm croissants in a basket, and just before landing, first-class passengers were given mints along with a “thank you” for flying AA. That’s a nice size first class cabin — as a point of comparison, American only has 16 first class seats on their A321s. And now you’ll find these same seats on the Boeing 737 MAX, Project Oasis Boeing 737-800, retr… Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater. They have 38 inches of pitch but are not flatbeds. While the flight attendants were chatty and the captain liked to make jokes, the service more than made up for it. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. My review and photo tour of the economy cabin for the inaugural flight can be found here. Again on this flight, I noticed multiple passengers struggling to figure out how to extend the tray table. The American Airlines Airbus A321 (321) 187 passenger version is primarily used on US domestic routes. seat nk beta. These seats are set up with two different shared drink holders: a 6-by-6 inch depressed drink surface and an extendable drink tray measuring 6.5 inches by 5 inches. We booked this ticket as a revenue ticket for $385 one-way and used The Platinum Card® from American Express to take advantage of the 5x bonus on airfare. American Airlines intends to phase out its 757-200s on some Hawaii routes starting in August of this year, replacing them with its 2-cabin A321 layout. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. 2C. I was able to find MileSAAver award availability for sample dates in November for 25,000 miles, and First AAnytime space from 45,000 to a whopping 75,000 miles. See, Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard, Calling all Queen’s Gambit fans: There’s a new hotel room in Lexington, KY, just for you. seat nk beta. The in-flight entertainment system was located in front of me where I could control it straight from my seat using the remote. On the A321 Airbus that we flew, there are 16 seats measuring 21″ wide (vs. 16.3″-17.7″ in Economy) and a seat pitch of 39″ vs. 31″-35″ in Economy. The flight attendants on this inaugural flight provided top-notch service. CARD HIGHLIGHTS: 2X points on all travel and dining, points transferrable to over a dozen travel partners. There’s just one bathroom at the front of the cabin for the up to 20 first-class passengers — and any economy passengers who want to come up to use it. Just before takeoff, the captain came on the intercom with (what he thought) was a funny reminder to keep seatbelts fastened because several passengers apparently hit their heads on a flight a few weeks before. That's $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. But for the new normal, there are some ways that this product is marginally better than the 737 MAX or 737-800. I was greeted at my seat with a blanket wrapped in plastic. Get the best seat possible with our American Airlines A321 seating chart and traveler seat reviews. Be the first to review this seat! Please view our advertising policy page for more information. And the A321neo’s cabin width is wider than the 737’s, giving passengers marginally more space. And since there were no empty tables, I settled for sharing a table with a fellow traveler. AA seems to be working toward a consistent hard product in domestic first class, as it has in premium economy on internationally configured aircraft. Even the pilots helped make this feel like a special flight. airlines. While I’m not above ordering sparkling wine, I needed to hit the ground running upon returning to Miami immediately, so I opted for orange juice. This aircraft features a First Class cabin with 16 recliner-style seats in a 2-2. The plane was fairly new and the seat and legroom were more than enough for my 5’8” frame. Trip Report: American Airlines First Class | Airbus A321 | Miami-Dallas The next leg of this journey will be another flight with American Airlines. For this flight, I was in American Airlines A321 First Class, which was a small cabin of 16 seats in a 2-2 configuration. American’s A321 first class consists of a total of 10 seats, spread across five rows in a 1-1 configuration. The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. That’s an entire half foot wider than the economy bathrooms that measure 28 inches wide. 16 — 36 129 181 To be converted to 190-seat configuration. I would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The dedicated first-class lavatory was well-stocked, though very tight. American Airlines Airbus A321neo ACF aircraft is configured with 20 recliner-style First Class seats, 47 Main Cabin Extra seats featuring additional legroom, and 129 standard Main Cabin seats. The gate agent spent a few minutes rechecking the passports of several passengers who likely had connections in Miami. Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Each of the aisle seats is handicapped-accessible by lowering the aisle armrest. seat nk beta. A RED VENTURES COMPANY. I don’t watch much television on the ground or in the air, but I noticed the passenger beside me struggle to operate the IFE to watch a movie. All classes have seats with some remarks. More overhead bin space is a definite plus. As I had the bulkhead seat, I was … American Airlines configures its Airbus A321 fleet in a three-class layout. The meals were introduced as either a breast of chicken with mushroom sauce or a vegetarian three-bean chili with polenta cake, which the flight attendant said smelled delicious. Once in the air, passengers received warm nuts and their choice of another beverage. American Airlines fleet Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes F B E+ M+ M Total Airbus A319-100: 133 — 8 — — 24 96 128 Largest operator. I’ll still take an old legacy American Airlines domestic first-class product any day over a new 737 MAX, A321neo or retrofitted 737 first-class product. It is great, however, for economy passengers who want to have 40 inches of pitch and to be able to store their bags under the first-class seats in front of them. Knowing it took around an hour to get from the airport last night, I checked out of the hotel at 08:30. Please view our advertising policy page for more information. The significantly wider bathrooms are relieving. This section comes with a big caveat: We typically don’t do full reviews of inaugural flights, especially when we’ve received early boarding to be able to take clean photos of the cabin. As we found, these slimline seats are far too flimsy to stay stationary under that stress. I ended up being pleasantly surprised. Seeking to fly the first A321neo all day, I booked a round-trip itinerary from Los Angeles (LAX) to Phoenix to Orlando and back to Los Angeles as a combination of two one-way tickets (LAX-PHX-MCO and MCO-LAX), for a total of $393. My gate, K19, was located in Terminal 3. Boarding started right on time for this flight. That dream was crushed on my next flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles, which featured a more typical experience from the AA cabin crew, from sour greetings to abandoning service completely after a couple of minutes of light turbulence during the climb. View our latest valuations here. After the lone Concierge Key member pre-boarded, Group 1 boarded promptly at 6:31 am. There weren’t many people lining up before their gates were called, which was a relief. The standard A321 is a 181-seat configuration with recliner First Class seats just like any other domestically configured aircraft, while the A321T is a three-class, 102-seat configuration with lie-flat seats in First and Business. Add a Photo. The fifth row of first-class seats means that the A321neo has one of the best first-to-economy ratios in the domestic fleet. This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. Each seat has a universal power outlet located in the storage well under the middle armrest, but its recessed location made it for me hard to power devices that used larger plugs or plugs that had sharp angles. Not perfect, not great, but good. The First Class cabin of the Airbus A321 is in a 2-2 configuration with 16 recliner seats. I ended up choosing the oatmeal which came with a refreshing fruit platter, and I drank water with it. Unfortunately for me, Gogo wasn’t enabled on this flight. Some stragglers held up the boarding process, but we pushed back and were off after a slight delay. Trip Report: American Airlines First Class | Airbus A321 | Dallas – Chicago After a brief stop in Dallas, it was time to head north. When I booked this flight, the main deciding factor on heading to Dallas was because this flight would be operated by the B777-200 widebody. Flying a American Airlines Airbus A321 soon? That feature came in handy when AA changed its A321neo inaugural schedule. The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. While that was my method of changing flights, passengers without the Business Centurion card aren’t out of luck. The plane had another 165 more seats for economy and economy plus, or what American calls Main Cabin and Main Cabin Extra. First class on American Airlines’ A321neo is configured with the new normal for AA domestic first class. © 2021 THE POINTS GUY, LLC. The armrest was ample enough for my fellow passenger and me not to feel like we were awkwardly bumping elbows. On the Wi-Fi landing page, there’s a link for Gogo subscribers to log in with their Gogo account and access the ViaSat system for free. Everything US citizens need to know about the Bahamas’ simplified entry process, Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. After taking my seat, the lead flight attendant came by and took pre-departure drink orders. Be the first to add a photo! The American Airlines A321S First Class cabin holds 16 passengers across 4 rows of seats. © 2021 THE POINTS GUY, LLC. American bucked its tendency to cut business-class seats on its aircraft with the arrangement of its A321neo. That is done by pulling on the lever on the bottom front of the armrest. The Points Guy will not sell your email. Instead, only a small tablet kickstand extends out of the armrest. AA’s contract of carriage allows for free cancellation or no-fee rerouting for equipment changes. This type of Airbus A321 has 181 seats and is divided into three classes: first class, main cabin extra and economy class. American Airlines mainly fly out of Terminal 4 at LAX which is connected to the Tom Bradley International Terminal by an airside walkway. These are reverse herringbone seats, which is the same business class hard product American has on their 777-300ERs. Amex Travel was able to drop the LAX-PHX leg and rebook me on the new flights from Phoenix to Orlando and then back to Los Angeles via Phoenix. It was thick, which is how I prefer my oatmeal, as opposed to runny. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered. After two months of testing, certification and training, the plane entered service on April 2 with flights from Phoenix to Orlando and back. This will spring the table upward, and you can pull it up and out the rest of the way. Combined with the tighter pitch, it all felt a little cramped when I was trying to work on my laptop. CARD HIGHLIGHTS: 2X points on all travel and dining, points transferrable to over a dozen travel partners. As I was following AA’s first A321neo in its first day of service, I had less than a half hour from arrival in Orlando until the boarding of next flight. Meal orders were taken with a cheery attitude. On Feb. 1, American Airlines took delivery of the first of 100 Airbus A321neo aircraft. The terminal featured several quick-eat stops like McDonalds and Starbucks, but is also home to American’s Flagship Lounge, located in the crosswalk between gates H6 and K6. Vicinity of WC and galley may bother passengers of … Bigger seats and more legroom, of course. [Note: While TPG‘s policy is not to alert the airline that we are reviewing a flight, American Airlines representatives checked and discovered that I was booked on the inaugural flight. About 45 minutes after takeoff, the flight attendant came by to take breakfast orders. Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater. A second source confirms this as well. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This is my favorite of the three different Wi-Fi providers that the airline uses, as you can be connected gate to gate and it’s truly high-speed, with the download speed faster than at many hotels. The tray table extends out from the outside armrests — the aisle armrest for aisle seats and window armrest for window seats. These seats are marked with yellow color. The flight boarded 45 minutes prior to departure, as scheduled, and departed on time. The cabin features large overhead bins for carry-on baggage. Airbus A319 This content can be expanded. On the 737 MAX and Project Oasis 737-800s, there’s no tablet holder built into the seatback on first-class seats. Overview. Though the seat looked a little worn, it was comfy, and I didn’t feel like I was sinking. Airbus A320-200: 45 — 12 — — 18 120 150 Airbus A321-200: 219 — 10: 20 — 36 36 102 Transcontinental service configuration. That’s something that AA changed for its Airbus A321neo. The crew provided good service, but were a little too loud on this early-morning flight. Please view our advertising policy page for more information. This next-generation aircraft features a First Class cabin with 16 recliner-style seats. View our latest valuations here. The seats recline around 4 inches. A detailed AA First Class A321 Review with photos of the seat, food, IFE, bedding, and other amenities. Thanks to that, if I can avoid having actually to pay for internet I will. Is Amtrak’s big Rail Passengers Association point bonus worth the cost? Because I wanted to text friends to meet up after landing in Miami, I opted to pay for internet which cost $10. Read reviews of seat 1F and find a better seat with our American Airlines seating charts. First ; First Temporary changes to food and drink service. American Airlines has launched the first scheduled flights with its A321 neo aircraft. I could choose between oatmeal or eggs Benedict. In addition to the tray-table kickstand, there’s a tablet holder built into the seatback. After the meal tray was collected, I stepped back into the bathroom and then into economy to take a few more measurements. After the flight reached cruising altitude, the flight attendant passed out a packaged savory snack mix in a bag which I thought was quite tacky. The passengers behind us on this flight would grab the back of our seat to help pull themselves up and to stabilize themselves as they climbed over their seatmates. Someone else in my row and I learned the hard way that you shouldn’t pick a seat in the last row of the cabin, as there’s no bulkhead in between first and economy. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel. AA 321Neo config will be 20F 176Y — JonNYC (@xJonNYC) September 26, 2018 Browse All. This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. Shortly after takeoff, I was given a refreshing hot towel which helped wake me up from my early rising. Upon stepping into the terminal, I was happy to discover that there was an Admirals Club located right next to the gate from which I was both arriving and departing. I found the overall product to be just about average. The walk takes around 10 minutes maximum. Usually, this is something I wouldn’t mind, but as it was such an early flight, I would have preferred light chatter or none at all. Main Cabin Extra seats, which provide additional legroom and priority boarding privileges, may be selected for an additional fee. Since then, these seats have been retrofitted onto all of AA’s 777 and 787 aircraft as premium economy seats. Perhaps due to the crowds, I wasn’t able to connect to the lounge’s Wi-Fi network. Using this card, I can get $25 back as statement credits on inflight Wi-Fi purchases on American Airlines-operated flights, every card anniversary year. The American Airlines premier Airbus A321 Transcontinental (32B) seats 102 passengers and is primarily used on routes from New York to the West Coast. Seat 4C, First Class, aisle. Shortly before disembarking, my seatmate turned to me and mentioned how unnecessary the remark was. The Points Guy will not sell your email. And you'll have to BYOD (bring your own device) to watch streaming entertainment. And now you’ll find these same seats on the Boeing 737 MAX, Project Oasis Boeing 737-800, retrofitted Airbus A319 and now AA’s Airbus A321neo. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. I experienced great service in economy on the outbound flight from Phoenix to Orlando, and it was even better in first class. Following this is ‘main cabin extra’ which has standard economy seats with extra legroom. If you have status there is a choice of lounges. Seat Map American Airlines Airbus A321 181pax | SeatMaestro I was greeted with a nearly empty airport, and as I didn’t need to check a bag, I headed through security and straight to the gate. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one looking for a place to pass the time before a flight. The seatback tablet holder allows passengers to continue watching the IFE during meals or while using a laptop. AA first class is a great, but has some rough edges. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The juice was exactly what I needed. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It was served with a nice fresh corn-and-feta-cheese side and a kale salad. Though all other AA A321s have four rows of domestic first-class seats, AA installed five rows on its A321neo. First class on American Airlines’ A321neo is configured with the new normal for AA domestic first class. So, I didn’t get a chance to experience much of the typical ground experience during my layover. ... this is an average first class seat: Add a Tip. This inaugural flight had top-notch service and good food, with fast Wi-Fi and a broad selection of inflight entertainment. You’re welcome to bring snacks and soft drinks to enjoy during your flight. We put the purchase on our go-to for AA flights: TPG‘s Business Centurion Card from American Express, which allows free changes or cancellations on AA flights booked through American Express Travel. As American Airlines doesn’t alert passengers when a flight is boarding via text message or app push notification, I made sure to set an alarm to make sure to get back to the gate in time for boarding. In total, we earned 1,925 Membership Rewards points, worth about $39 according to TPG’s current valuations. The American Airlines A321 domestic first class configuration is nothing much to rave about, but a decently comfortable product it is. It’s not quite as good as having a seatback monitor in front of you, but I was just glad it was there, as the Airbus A321 is another plane type in AA’s fleet that’s undergoing Project Oasis, which will remove all of the personal IFE screens, same as is happening with AA’s Boeing 737-800s. Unfortunately for her, the flight attendant seemed unsure about how it worked as well, and the two spent a few minutes turning the IFE on and off until the movie finally appeared. View seat details . The slightly stale roll was the disappointment of the meal. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. The taste wasn’t as great as the smell, but the main was a solid meal for a domestic first-class product. The day after that event, held in Chicago, I had to get down to Miami to attend the annual National Association of Black Journalists’ conference. However, for those who have a tablet or use their phone or laptop and know how to connect to the inflight entertainment, there were plenty of options. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel. The first-class cabin on American Airlines’ A321neo felt like deja vu all over again. Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. Gogo monthly subscribers don’t need to worry about paying extra.