Comments

1. Yes, and the issue is Frontier is catering towards the low end of the economic spectrum which is getting hammered. No fare means no ancillary fees. Frontier isn’t all the far behind Spirit is racking up losses. For now, Frontier has an investment partner with deep pockets and a CEO that believes his ULCC can be profitable but at some point that’s going to go away if the losses continue.

2. “Frontier Airlines leads the world…” a phrase not often uttered. @George Romey, you forgot to blame #46, or the AutoPen, when it’s clearly #47’s wealth-killing tariffs and other bad policies harming everyone, especially the poor, who aren’t traveling; they just stay home when things go this way.

   And, wow, a second Nigeria reference on VFTW in one week! Gonna need some more jollof rice. Extra chilies.

   Finally, that new AA XLR with the Flagship Suites is a thing of beauty; kinda looks like the seat map of jetBlue’s transatlantic Mint product, but with the 3 rows of recliners after the lie-flat, and no ‘apartment’ seat in front.

   Anyway, be safe out there, everyone. *sigh* wild times…

3. So there’s no extra legroom / MCE seating on the A321XLR? Or only exit row? That’s awful and a real downgrade for status holders / economy fliers. Kind of reminds me of the SAS A321Neo config (20 v 22J although all aisle access on AA), albeit credit to AA that economy at least still has 31″ of legroom versus 30″ on SAS. But between a paltry MCE offering on 787P and now basically no MCE on XLR, feels like a really unwelcome trend here. Even worse when traveling with kids as they cannot sit in an exit row. Can make J look splashy but this whole thing feels very budget and sardine-esque.

   Why anyone would choose AA based on this LOPA is beyond me – if I had to choose a narrowbody to fly across the Atlantic, the B6 A321LR is a much more comfortable layout for most fliers. And why choose a narrowbody at all? Wake me up with the 777s are reconfigured, and hopefully JonNYC is correct that there will be 30 MCE seats on the new 777s (albeit 34″ v 35″ of legroom).

   And if these XLRs are ultimately going to be flying JFK-LAX, people are really going to miss the days of the 321T which provided a much nicer experience for most (at least when the planes were actually being maintained). Even the 767-300’s DL flies JFK-LAX are a better experience than this AA XLR LOPA!

4. Ugh, sleezy restaurant practices. Really got to pay extra attention to whatever you’re paying for now more than ever.

   @1990 — Dang, bad week to take “Nigeria references” off my daily VFTW bingo cards

5. @1990 – B6 A321LR economy is 32″ of pitch, has 24 even more space seats at 35″ and 24 business class seats. Much better config than AA with 31″ economy with only one exit row having extra legroom (and unclear if that’s even being marketed as MCE, although I have to imagine it will be). And only 20 business seats versus 24 mint. Will definitely feel cramped, especially with 17 more seats on the AA XLR overall versus B6.

   If you value premium economy / domestic first (at 37″ here, not even 38″), I guess AA provides that offering. Kind of a weird 12 seat PE cabin. But if you are looking to fly at the back of the bus the message is clear – if you want to pay us for PE, great, but if you’re a status holder expecting an MCE seat, you are SOL.

   Just don’t understand the use case here, especially when there are more comfortable planes to get transcontinental or transatlantic. I sort of get it for someone like SAS flying 8 hour routes between NY and Oslo – can do that in a 321 pretty economically without much competition. But on competitive routes like JFK-LHR/LAX? Good luck.