American Airlines Flagship Suites are launching from London

Back in January 2024 I wrote about 10 new business class seats to look forward to that year. The list included the likes of Cathay’s Aria Suite, which I have since reviewed here and Japan Airlines’ new A350-1000 flagship, which I reviewed here.

Also on the list was American Airlines, which was due to introduce two new business class seats – one on new Boeing 787-9 deliveries and one on the incoming single aisle A321XLR fleet. It is calling them Flagship Suites.

Unfortunately, as with many other airlines, those plans have been delayed by persistent supply chain problems. American Airlines is finally ready to commit to their rollout and London is getting two of the four initial flights to be upgraded.

This makes a lot of sense, with the transatlantic market playing an important role in AA’s network. There’s a reason that BA’s London to New York flights are the only billion-dollar route in the world. London is a key destination and AA can easily tap into joint venture partner BA’s shorthaul network to offer onward connections.

Here are the first four Flagship Suite routes:

• Chicago – London Heathrow (AA98/AA91) launches 5th June
• Philadelphia – London Heathrow (AA728/AA737) launches 6th August
• Philadelphia – Zurich (AA92/AA93) launches 3rd September
• Dallas Fort Worth – Brisbane (AA7/AA8) launches 26th October

Services on the London-Chicago route will ramp up very quickly. Within a month, by 6th July, all three of AA’s daily services will feature the new Flagship Suites.

To help you identify Flagship Suite routes, American Airlines is designating these new Boeing 787s as ’78P’ in its booking engine (apparently ‘P’ stands for Premium).

AA has already taken delivery of two new Boeing 787-9s with Flagship Suites, so the official launch on 5th June looks secure. Later routes to Zurich and Brisbane will depend on further deliveries from Boeing, although American Airlines is clearly confident enough to announce services almost six months in advance.

In total, AA is expecting to receive 30 new Boeing 787-9s which will complement its existing fleet of 59 Boeing 787-8s and Boeing 787-9s with the old seat.

Although the introduction of Flagship Suites marks the beginning of the end of its Flagship First cabins, the new subfleet features much larger business and premium economy cabins than previously. It is part of a wider push to increase its business and premium economy seats by 50% by 2030.

In total, these aircraft feature 244 seats with 51 Flagship Suites and 32 premium economy seats. The remainder will be economy. The business class cabin has increased by 70% over the existing Boeing 787-9 configuration.

The new Flagship Suites feature worthwhile if not life-changing upgrades to the existing cabins and are based on the Adient Ascent seat also flown by Qatar Airways and which I reviewed here. I was impressed when I tried this seat with Qatar Airways and I expect AA’s version to be equally comfortable.

AA has gone for a reverse herringbone layout with a grey woven fabric seat and grey surrounds. Wood-effect doors and a marble-effect tray table add some warmth whilst a red literature pocket adds a pop of colour.

Each seat comes with wireless charging and AC sockets as well as, presumably, USB ports. The TV screen is on the smaller side, at 17″, but should hopefully be 4K.

There will also be a ‘business plus’ front row which AA is calling ‘Flagship Preferred’. It remains to be seen what this includes, beyond the extra space afforded by the bulkhead.

Later this year American Airlines will also refurbish its Boeing 777-300ER fleet, eliminating its Flagship First cabin in the process.