My family and I recently flew Los Angeles – Sydney on American Airlines in first class. We were able to redeem points for four tickets, which is half the cabin.

American Airlines is eliminating Flagship First Class in favor of more business and premium economy seats on its fleet of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The end of first class on the last U.S. carrier to offer it internationally is sad to me, but the project has been pushed back. At one point I wondered whether my trip to Sydney and back two years ago would be my last in first class on the aircraft. In fact, I’m planning to fly it again next month, too.

As American has planned to wind down the offering, they’ve really let the product slide.

• They no longer differentiate meal service. First class meals are the same as business class, plus the addition of a soup course.
  
• Amenity kits are essentially the same contents as in business class – and premium economy.
  
• Flight attendants no longer even set your table. Everything is just served on a tray, and utensils come wrapped in the napkin on the tray.

There’s nothing first class (or even business class) about the wine program. There’s no Australian wines on Australia routes, even departing Sydney. I don’t remember the last time a flight attendant offered turndown service. And with these planes slated to go in for retrofit, it seems like the airline is letting cabin maintenance slip.

In spite of all of that, I still really like American’s Flagship First Class and will miss it.

• It offers first class lounge access – so American’s Flagship First Dining in Dallas and Miami, and Chelsea lounge at New York JFK. And it means use of the Qantas first class lounge in Los Angeles and Sydney (and Cathay Pacific first class lounge at London Heathrow). oneworld Emerald access provides that but only for the member and one guest. I was traveling as a group of four passengers.

• The bedding is quite good, and far more substantive than in business class! They still offer pajamas in first class, while they’ve eliminated them in business class on even the longest routes.

• The physical footprint of the seat is just so much larger than in business class. The seat was antiquated even when it was launched a dozen years ago and even more so now. And there’s virtually no storage to speak of. But the personal space is still a real luxury and not feeling cramped is more relaxing.

• The smaller cabin of just eight seats – not being surrounded by a sea of people – is absolutely key to tranquility. We were four of the seats and so half the cabin! It’s not flying private, but much closer to private than being ‘crammed in’ (first world problems to many, I suppose) in business class.

Since American was offering first class at just a 10,000 mile premium over business class, it was a no-brainer for me. I’d take that on a flight that’s over 13 hours every single time (even times four, and in both directions, I do have a lot of miles).

The American Airlines Cabin In Disrepair

About four hours before our flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, my wife’s seat was changed. I thought, either someone important had her moved or the seat is broken. The Occam’s American Airlines Razor version said this had to be a broken seat.

Fortunately the cabin was booked to seven of the eight seats, and in fact it was blocked at seven. Since the cabin wasn’t yet full, my wife was moved to a seat that was supposed to work.

Of course it didn’t totally work, even in the new seat. Her inflight entertainment system – both the screen and the controller – were broken. My controller and my daughter’s would both fritz, too, but would start working again (my system would freeze from time to time).

The Flight To Sydney Was Fine

We boarded from gate 155 out of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, which made the Qantas lounge convenient. We’d checked in at Flagship (which no longer has a direct door outside the terminal but requires walking inside the main terminal and approaching staff there). We had a walk over, then, but the Qantas lounge is ‘on the way’ into TBIT when you do that.

On boarding there was an amenity kit at my seat. Pajamas and menus were distributed. Predeparture champagne, orange juice and water was offered. Considering that we board early for a long haul departure (and we weren’t running late), that there are only 8 seats in the cabin, and that this is international first class it seems silly to do a limited predeparture beverage service.

The pajamas that American provides – now only in first class and not business on this route – are fine but not nearly the quality of 2012. Those I still use and bring with me on long haul flights in business class. And is it really too much to ask for pockets? That’s something many carriers get wrong in their pajamas.

Once in the air, water bottles were distributed after the nut and olive canape.

The meals remain undifferentiated from business class, and fine business class meals compared to (say) United but not meals you’d be happy with on the ground. Here’s the menu:

The bedding American Airlines uses is surprisingly good and robust. That’s one of the real benefits of their first class product. Service was generally friendly and helpful (though they don’t proactively offer to set up the bed).

I actually fell asleep as they were preparing the meal. When I woke up I decided to have just starter, main and dessert, or at least barely nibble on each of those.

Here’s the midflight snack setup in the galley (it’s more extensive in the bar area) and the sliders which – while not as good as Delta’s Shake Shack burger – weren’t terrible.

Breakfast, though, was largely inedible. It boggles my mind how cheap this is even for business class. Low quality bacon, some kind of egg substance, and unripe fruit plus a packaged croissant of some sort. The potatoes were mostly flavorless, which was their best attribute. At least American still has an espresso machine onboard and I can have a double espresso in lieu of coffee.

Return Flight From Sydney To Los Angeles

We boarded our return flight, and all the seats in the cabin appeared to be functional – a plus!

Flight attendants were handing out pajamas but most passengers declined, because they only had the “small/medium” onboard. Lucky I’ve lost so much weight, they fit!

The amenity kit was the same as on the outbound. I was actually a bit disappointed, since they’d announced a new limited-edition kit a few days prior. I have another American Airlines Flagship First Class flight next month, so hopefully I’ll see it then.

The meal – while the business class meal! – was actually quite tasty. I was happy with the steak.

The midflight prepared snack was fine, and breakfast was a little bit better than on the outbound (you could actually eat it this time).

It’s remarkable how cheap American Airlines is with the product. One thing when you spend so little on wine, I suppose customers drink less. So you don’t just have a lower cost per bottle, you buy fewer bottles too. I can’t imagine they save that much money doing the same amenity kit contents in first class as in premium economy though. That’s just lazy.

Still, this is one of the best ways to do a Pacific crossing between the U.S. and Australia. I’d gladly fly Flagship First over business class on Qantas, United or Delta. And I’m sad that this option will go away, even if I’m equally sad the depths to which the airline has allowed their offering to sink.