It is the day that American Airways flyers (and buyers) have lengthy been ready for.
The Fort Value-based provider has formally inaugurated its snazzy Boeing 787-9P, the next-generation Dreamliner that is poised to assist American lastly compete extra fiercely within the arms race for premium vacationers.
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This new Dreamliner does not simply boast the signature new airplane scent. It is also received a ton of enhancements on the within, beginning within the pointy finish with the brand new Flagship Suite and Flagship Suite Most well-liked merchandise. These are American’s first-ever totally enclosed business-class suites and its alternative for worldwide top quality, respectively.
Even the premium financial system and financial system cabins acquired some upgrades, too. Higher but, the sheer variety of premium seats on this airplane — 83 — will (theoretically) assist American enhance its yields from long-haul flying and likewise give frequent flyers a greater shot at discovering improve or saver award house.
In any case, this represents a whopping practically 65% enhance in premium capability in comparison with the airline’s present 787-9 configuration.
However whereas the airline already confirmed off the brand new Dreamliner at a media occasion in Dallas, it is now time for vacationers to expertise these merchandise firsthand. I used to be among the many first 200 folks to expertise this new airplane on Thursday’s inaugural flight from Chicago to Los Angeles.
This is what it was like on day one.
American Airways Boeing 787-9P inaugural floor expertise
Pulling as much as Gate K19 at Chicago’s O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD) was the primary second that I sensed that one thing was completely different about this in any other case routine home flight to Los Angeles.
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Lining the gate space had been some pink, white and blue balloons, in addition to some signage concerning the new 787-9P and its distinctive options and configuration.
However much more noticeable than the celebratory posters had been all of the aviation geeks and American Airways fanatics who particularly booked this inaugural flight again when it went on sale earlier this 12 months.
This group of visibly excited passengers lined the home windows to catch their first glimpse of N845MD, the factory-fresh 787-9 Dreamliner that’d be ferrying us to L.A. They then all stood up effectively earlier than boarding was referred to as to be among the many first to step on board the jet.
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As for me, I am used to this kind of fanfare for inaugural flights, and so far as it goes for U.S. airways, American’s celebration undoubtedly felt among the many most muted. There was no cake, no speech from an government, no giveaways on the gate. (Distinction that with what Delta Air Traces and United Airways do earlier than their inaugural flights, and you may rapidly see the distinction.)
Nonetheless, my fellow passengers introduced the vibes and hype, and that is all of the caffeine I wanted at 8:30 a.m. to get me enthusiastic about boarding this flight.
American Airways Flagship Suite Most well-liked impressions
Earlier than lengthy, it was my flip to step on board the Dreamliner.
Lining the entryway is the illuminated American emblem etched into slatted black paneling, a luxe contact that rapidly units the temper for boarding the airline’s most premium jet but. This was my first time seeing the emblem illuminated (mechanical points prevented me from seeing it turned on final week), and I am much more impressed with the entry galley than I used to be earlier than.
At this level, I turned left to go into the ahead business-class cabin — a last-minute shock that I wasn’t really ready for.
After I first booked this flight, lots of the business-class window seats had been already taken. (American had been promoting this flight for some time earlier than saying the inaugural schedule, so these passengers who had already booked this flight seemingly chosen lots of the window seats earlier than I even booked.)
As a window seat flyer, I made a decision to guide myself a pod within the rear mini-cabin, however I saved a really shut eye on the seat map to see if one thing higher opened up.
Properly, due to some luck and my persistence, I seen {that a} seat within the ahead business-class cabin opened only a few hours earlier than departure. And never simply any seat, however one of many Flagship Suite Most well-liked pods.
At this level, I felt like I hit the jackpot — I might be one of many first eight passengers to strive American’s new “business-class-plus” seat that is designed to interchange worldwide top quality.
Higher but, I would not have to pay something additional for this privilege as a result of American hasn’t added any surcharges (but) for the Most well-liked seat. (As such, I might advocate locking in a business-class seat within the bulkhead row now if you happen to’re booked to fly on the 787-9P.)
As soon as I settled into the custom-made model of the Adient Ascent seat, it turned clear that that is undoubtedly American’s most superior and premium business-class seat but — and arguably even nicer than the now-dated Flagship First product.
For one, the quantity of non-public house is just unequalled for American. Due to the place of the bulkhead, the seat presents a large fake marble-lined desk beneath the TV display screen, in addition to a bigger aspect desk and footwell.
Whereas I usually desire to maintain my belongings in enclosed storage compartments, the seat presents ample house to stow journey necessities.
There are some partitioned storage compartments on the aspect of the seat, which turned out to be an amazing place to stow my laptop computer, water bottle and footwear.
There are additionally two enclosed storage areas: a small closet subsequent to the silver sconce, with a tilting mirror and a headphone hook, in addition to a smaller drawer, which is the place I saved my pockets and AirPods through the flight.
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All in all, American says that the Flagship Suite Most well-liked presents 19% extra mattress house and a whopping 42% extra residing house than the common business-class pods.
The 22-inch-wide seat itself was supremely comfy. It wasn’t too delicate or too agency, and each the cabin and seat finishes felt extremely premium, particularly relative to among the drab and outdated cabins that you simply discover flying on older American jets.
I cherished the pop of pink lining the storage areas, the fake wood-lined suite doorways and the distinction in shade scheme between the darker Flagship Suite Most well-liked and the lighter Flagship Suites.
Even the fake marble cocktail tray and the tan-colored leather-based headrest, each accented by an etched emblem, felt like design decisions you’d extra doubtless discover on Qatar Airways than American Airways.
The actual query, nevertheless, is how these luxe touches will age over time. In any case, I already seen some chipping alongside the perimeters of the seat and on the bulkhead partitions, and this was solely the primary passenger flight on this airplane.
As soon as seated, I attempted to shut the suite door, however sadly, it is (quickly) locked within the open place. At the least American owned as much as this effectively upfront.
On the media demonstration final week, the airline confirmed that it was nonetheless working with the Federal Aviation Administration to safe the mandatory permissions to supply sliding doorways. And about 12 hours earlier than the flight, I acquired an e-mail from buyer care with an apology that the sliding door is not presently practical, together with 5,000 bonus miles (or $50 in journey credit score for non-AAdvantage members) as compensation.
I am undecided if American will proceed providing 5,000 bonus miles to every of the 51 business-class passengers on upcoming 787-9P flights as a result of that legal responsibility would possibly get fairly dear for the provider — 255,000 AAdvantage miles per flight is equal to $3,825 in compensation, per TPG’s June 2025 valuations.
Even with out the suite door closed, I discovered the 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration provided loads of privateness for this solo traveler. As a result of I did not face the aisle, I wasn’t disturbed by what my neighbors had been doing, even once I reclined into mattress mode.
And though I used to be in a middle seat, I closed the privateness divider between the 2 seats and mentioned goodbye to my neighbor, aviation journalist Chris Sloan, for a lot of the flight.
As we taxied out for departure, I began enjoying round with different facets of the brand new seat.
The seat controls are easy and intuitive — there are two customizable settings for the legrest and seat recline, in addition to three presets for mattress mode, recline mode and upright mode.
I additionally cherished that the aisle armrest could possibly be raised or lowered to a number of completely different heights. Oftentimes, airways make you select between elevating the armrest all the way in which or decreasing it right down to seat stage with none graduations between the completely different heights.
The one damaging concerning the aisle armrest is that it does not characteristic a built-in water bottle holder such as you’d discover on different airways.
The subsequent large improve is all of the tech that American put in on this Twenty first-century jet.
It begins with a 17-inch 4K TV for every business-class passenger. Whereas some pundits have famous that American might’ve gone with a bigger TV display screen, I discovered the display screen loads massive for having fun with some motion pictures and TV reveals. That mentioned, I do want American had put in a tilt and swivel perform for the TVs, because the fastened angle of the display screen makes it subsequent to inconceivable to look at whereas in mattress mode.
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The screens, made by Thales, are loaded with a customized next-generation person interface that feels much more trendy than something American has provided up to now. From the 3D flight map and accessibility mode to new options like watch celebration mode that allows you to and a seatmate watch the identical content material collectively, I am bummed I solely had 3 1/2 hours to get pleasure from these touchscreens.
One other bummer is that American solely presents low cost earbuds on home flights operated by wide-body jets. (The excellent news is that every of those new 787-9Ps is just doing one home round-trip earlier than flying on long-haul routes — an FAA requirement for the registration course of of those new jets.)
At the least these new 787-9Ps are the primary to characteristic Bluetooth connectivity, which allowed me to pair my AirPods Professional to the display screen in simply seconds.
Along with the TV, there is a 4 1/2-inch touchscreen distant that is also used to regulate the display screen and show restricted content material, like a miniaturized model of the flight map.
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Subsequent to the distant are the charging ports, the place you will discover a common AC outlet, a 60-watt USB-C port and a USB-A port.
Whereas all of those ports labored, the design of the AC outlet signifies that you will not be capable to cost cumbersome units, resembling energy banks — an enormous bummer for me as I blew via my battery pack with all of the content material I used to be capturing.
One other bummer is the design of the Qi wi-fi charging pad. Whereas it is theoretically positioned for straightforward entry through the flight, the airline did not account for smartphones bigger than the iPhone 16 Professional Max (who is aware of what bigger units Apple and Samsung are designing for the approaching years), nor did it present sufficient house for the digital camera array on the again of bigger telephones. That meant I wasn’t capable of wirelessly cost my cellphone on this jet.
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The ultimate tech improve you will discover on these planes is high-speed Viasat Wi-Fi. Whereas the $29 flight move was actually overpriced for a home flight (no less than Wi-Fi might be free for all AAdvantage members subsequent 12 months), the 34 Mbps obtain and a couple of Mbps add speeds had been fairly spectacular.
After departure, it was time to recline the seat into mattress mode. (I had woken up tremendous early to hit the gymnasium earlier than a protracted day of journey.) I had no drawback getting comfy on this 74-inch-long totally flat mattress, and I cherished the open footwell design, which made it very easy to unfold out with out feeling confined.
After all, no bedding or amenity kits had been provided as a result of this wasn’t a Flagship-marketed flight, but when it was, these seated in Flagship Suite Most well-liked seats would benefit from the works — duvets, pajamas, mattress pads, a number of pillows, slippers and extra.
The one sort of amenity package ready at my seat was one which’ll actually change into a collectible for aviation fanatics on the flight. The white paper bag contained a welcome letter, together with an inaugural flight tag, some American stickers, pink and blue jellybeans, and a sugar cookie with the American emblem.
Earlier than lengthy, the crew sprang into motion with the meal service — a standard home first-class breakfast providing.
Selections had been both a chilly contemporary fruit plate with yogurt or an omelette. I went with the previous, which was refreshing (however not filling sufficient), and it was served alongside a alternative of a heat croissant or biscuit.
Through the meal, the pleasant and excited flight attendants got here via the aisle with beverage carts. No different meals or drinks had been provided on this flight, however clearly that may be completely different on a real Flagship-marketed long-haul flight.
For these feeling peckish, there is a small walk-up snack bar close to the midcabin galley that may be stocked between meal providers on long-haul flights.
Between napping and networking with some business mates, I had a couple of minutes to make use of the tray desk to make amends for some work. The tray itself is sort of massive — it measures 19 1/2 inches broad and 14 inches lengthy — and it may be moved ahead and backward for extra consolation.
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The ultimate seat characteristic that I examined was chaise lounge mode, which lets you sit such as you’re on a seashore chair when the seat is reclined. American has a second seat belt in case it will get turbulent when you’re in chaise lounge mode, however I do not assume it issues as a result of I did not discover this place to be comfy in any respect.
There are three toilets for the 51 business-class passengers. All of them characteristic the usual Dreamliner finishes with a novel cloudscape wallpaper that I have not seen earlier than on one other airline. I are likely to assume this appears extra cheesy than premium, however presumably American can simply take away it if my opinion seems to be how most passengers really feel.
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Earlier than lengthy, it was time to land in Los Angeles. We landed on Runway 7R and had a brief taxi to Gate 41.
A number of of my fellow passengers had been turning round and flying again to Chicago, however I had one other connecting flight to catch.
Backside line
As I walked to my subsequent flight, I mirrored on American’s Flagship Suite Most well-liked expertise.
The seat itself is spectacular, not simply relative to American’s present mishmash of premium merchandise, but in addition compared to among the different high seats on worldwide airways. The quantity of non-public house you get is unequalled for American enterprise class, and as soon as the sliding doorways are working, the extent of privateness might be unprecedented for the airline and its premium passengers.
Different bells and whistles you get pleasure from in Flagship Suite Most well-liked embrace further storage areas, bigger tray tables and extra luxurious facilities.
It’s going to be attention-grabbing to see how a lot American finally prices for this expertise on long-haul flights, however for now, there is not any query that is American’s greatest business-class product — and in some methods is even higher than the Flagship First pods that it is designed to interchange.
I, for one, cannot wait to strive it on a long-haul flight quickly.
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