Comments

1. AA is just continuing to reinforce the fact that they are the “budget” version of a full-service US air carrier. A cheapened experience for the majority of their customers.

   All the while while not being particularly competitive on price.

2. Unfortunately this trend of maximizing space in an efficient way on widebodies is just the direction we are seeing all airlines go in. I know that Ben Smith at AF/KLM is obsessed with space efficiency. If you look at the LOPA of AF’s newest 77W layout, it’s pretty tight as well and also pretty low on total number of lavs. 4 lavs for 60 J; and 5 lavs for 248 PE and Y.

3. 10 wide is definitely a reason to not fly an American Airlines 777 in coach.

4. What happens if one or two of the lavatories go off line (closed) due to a malfunction?

5. Wow! 70 business class seats on a 773. Meanwhile, Emirates a380s have 76. That’s tight. Will be interesting to witness once it’s live. Hope they actually get it done instead of waiting years and years.

6. @ Gary — Great, this will be just like the disastrous layout BA has adopted. Doesn’t sound very appealing.

7. It is much needed. I hope it’s not just more lipstick on a pig.

8. Just when you thought economy on the 777 couldn’t get any worse.

9. “10 wide is definitely a reason to not fly an American Airlines 777 in coach.” Yes, but no carrier flying to places I fly to (within US, to Europe or Oceania) fly the 9 abreast Y. It’s not a unique to AA issue.

10. JonNYC is INCORRECT that TSA regulations require people use the lavatories in their ticketed class of service on international flights returning to the USA. That rule was eliminated and is NOT American Airline’s policy. Him stating that on Bluesky and View From the Wing repeating it in this post (he’s turned off the ability for people to comment on his Bluesky posts, btw) and crews making up their own rules make the job of FA much more difficult than it needs to be. Jon posts proprietary images from an American Airlines company manual. I seriously doubt American Airlines gave permission to do that.

11. @Jeff – the rules of several countries do require it and this is an international long haul aircraft

12. AA B77W LHR-LAX with 10 seats across is the last time I crossed an ocean in Y. I swore never again after that miserable flight. Oh, and it was the last time I flew AA intercontinental too.

13. Queue the comments about the A350-1000 being more fuel efficient in 2027 vs AA/UA’s current fleet of 77W’s.

14. JohnNYC…who gave you permission to make a page from an internal manual public? If you are an employee, I would be careful with social media policies. if you are not employed by the airline , I suggest you remind your source of said policies.

15. @Gary, was this blue taped out in some open space, maybe Vasu’s old office, or, actually mocked up scale?

16. Nobody listen to @Michael e sawyer! Keep sharing cool stuff anyway. Keep speculating on things, too. Live a little!

17. Okay.. What ever you say dude….

18. Michael e sawyer is Tim Dunn’s 5th handle.

19. How does it stack up to United’s 77W configuration? Looks about the same to me when I view their website

20. Michael e sawyer is right even if he doesn’t spell jon’s name correctly.

    jon also clearly cannot count lavs even from the diagram he uploaded.

    and AA is taking out extra galley space that should have never been there in the first place.

    The big deal about AA’s new premium configuration 787s and 77Ws is the increase in the number of premium seats at a time when AA struggles to get the revenue premiums that DL and UA get. AA is bound to have more business class award seats available and offer better discounting.

    as with many things, what is good for customers is not necessarily what is good for companies and vice versa

21. The enshittification of American flying is continuing.

    Bring regulation back!

22. @Tim Dunn — If this leads to more business class availability and affordability for leisure travelers, then I suppose that’s a win for us, even if it doesn’t help the airlines’ bottom line as much. Then again, it’s all about strategic placement of these aircraft. In the coming years, where will there be the demand for this (US to Europe, Latin America? Japan?)

23. “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” —Theodore Roosevelt

24. 1990,
    AA hasn’t made money flying the Atlantic or Pacific for years. 77W reconfigurations and new 787s aren’t going to change that.

    airline demand is likely to take a big hit after the summer if not before. AA has been operating w/ its nose just above water for years.

25. Just another reason to fly 32″ seat pitch EK economy transatlantic.

    Any passenger taller than five foot three need not book AA.

    If you love Ryanair 27″seat pitch, then you’ll love AA.

26. @Tim Dunn — I’m with you, sir. In fact, I’ve strategically used up most of my miles, credits, and status benefits, in anticipation of further financial troubles for AA and others. I think the macro issues are unavoidable at this point. It’s going to get turbulent. While some will claim this is ‘TDS,’ I urge them to check their 401(k)s, the bond market, and the relative value of the USD. The travel industry is uniquely exposed and it’s going to get rocked again. Not pretty.

27. AA has become the US version of Ryanair and I anticipate a higher number of poop accidents. USAir execs will come up with something brilliant to mitigate, like replacing pillow for diapers

28. There is no certainty that the markets will get rocked but the moves of several USA airlines may make them vulnerable to bankruptcy. I do not see any reason for cutting back on flying for myself. The market pullbacks have increased my retirement accounts substantially this year. Those who hold on through thick and thin will get rewarded later but now is not the time to check their accounts statements because they could do something foolish like pulling out when the market is down.

29. Sounds like the exact same mess BA made of the A350K

30. So the interesting thing about the lavs up front is a number of other carriers actually have it – AC CX EK UA. And the galley configuration in the back is the same as most European or Asian carriers….

31. @jns — You must be the exception, because it’s objectively bad out there. I’ve seen your comments on here before, so you’re not fooling me. This may not be a typical downturn; it’s far worse. Did you ignore what happened with bonds recently? The dollar is slipping in value, too. We can’t dismantle the entire global trade system, attack all our allies all at once, and not expect fallout. This is just the beginning. You don’t have to be a sycophant here. We won’t tell on you.

32. So, 260 people for 3 lavs. Let’s take a Christmas flight across the North Atlantic, nine hours flight time, all seats taken, 87 pax/toilet. Takeoff and landing make up a little over an hour when the toilets after inaccessible, so eight hours total. The average passenger uses the lav 2.4 times during a long haul flight. Let’s use a conservative estimate of 2 minutes per trip; I suspect the real number is higher, especially when you factor in diaper changes, makeup runs, and the effects of unfamiliar food on tourist digestive systems. That’s 441.4 minutes, or seven and a third hours. There’s no way you’re going to get carts in the aisles or passengers to sit during turbulence. In fact, that would be the kind of design choice that would impair safety. If the airline’s choice is to require passengers to move about when it’s unsafe in order to fulfill a biological need, who’s liable for the CAT broken ankles?

    And with those lavatories operating at peak capacity, they are not gonna be pretty. And they will fall. And the system already has no redundancy.

    So, no, I don’t see how three lavs would work.