American’s New Pimped Out Domestic Product… Now Onboard the 737!

When I went out to see American’s new Airbus A319 this past summer, I loved the new inflight product — but did not like that they had only 8 first class seats aboard an aircraft that would be primarily replacing an older plane (MD80) with 16.

In fact, though it looked like a great ride, my intention has been to avoid flying it — I love my upgrades too much.

What I didn’t realize was that the product I saw first on he A319 is in fact the new standard domestic offering. So I walked aboard a new 737 — so new that Gogo’s inflight wireless hadn’t even been installed yet — and was confused for a short while what kind of aircraft I was flying.

This is the new domestic first class — onboard a 737:

There’s a large personal television in the seatback in front of you:

And a remote control for it at your seat, although the TV itself is touch screen.

And here’s coach:

The coach cabin has personal screens as well, here’s the bulkhead:

And the bulkhead coach seats:

Walking past my seat in first, I overheard at least half of the passengers remarking on the aircraft — and universally appreciative. Some noted the new plane smell, others how it “didn’t look like the 1970s anymore.”

And with 16 seats upfront, I love it!

The only downside is that the plane was too new, it didn’t have Gogo inflight internet installed yet!


About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. The 8F on UA’s A319s is horrible for upgrades. You need to flying the Weds morning 5am flight and be GS to have a chance of upgrade at all.

    At least UA still has decent sized F cabins on their 738s and 739s.

    But something weird about that new sky interior ceiling … the overhead bins just feel so much smaller relative to old school 752 or 738 bins

  2. I love this blog. And I understand it is a travel blog, not a philosophy site.

    But “Pimped out”? I know the Ghetto culture is wildly popular. I just don’t understand why someone as classy as you has to indulge in it too…

    Forgive me, but I just don’t find “pimps” to be something to admire. Are we going to hear about the FA “hoes” next?

    Unless I misunderstood, and you were calling the planes an utterly tasteless over the top aesthetic mess, in which case you used the proper term. 😉

  3. Yes Gary… How dare you use colloquialisms in your post… Rolls eyes…

    Someone call the PC police for Robert Hanson. Or get him a copy of Pimp my Ride season 1…

  4. @Nick – reminds me of Max Headroom!

    @Robert Hanson – don’t be such an old fuddy duddy! gary’s having some fun. no need to be dry and serious all the time. and BTW, one ho, two hos. hoes are garden tools. 😉

  5. How come the guys teeth are bigger than the world “Welcome” on the seat-back view screen? Couldn’t they find a hot woman like on Cathay Pacific (or can we toggle our choice of face)?

    ED.

  6. Interesting. I didn’t know they were doing this already. Any word on the schedule for the roll-out?

  7. I don’t know anything about the roll out and holidays may make it a challenge to find out quickly — i just boarded and there it was!

  8. Maybe it’s just me but I find it incredibly annoying that they put a touch screen on the back of my seat. I am forced to feel bumping and thumping as the neighbor behind me tries to get to the next level in some video game or changes channels.

  9. I was on this new pimped out 737 last week. Sat at the bulkhead in MCE. The seat actually had more seat pitch than the other MCE seats, especially since the bulkhead section under the PTV curves away from the seat, which I found to be very comfy. The sky interior was really cool but the only downside was that the extra seat pitch provided by the bulkhead made the PTV screen a bit hard to reach since it was a touchscreen. It would’ve been better if AA attached the PTV to a foldout arm in the armrest of MCE’s bulkhead seats. My flight was overall pleasant.

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