The new American Airlines business class suite is the best hard product currently being offered by any U.S. airline, and it’s highly competitive with anything on offer by a European airline, too.

I had a chance to see the new American Airlines Boeing 787-9P, their new premium-heavy aircraft with business class suites and an all new premium economy, before it goes into service June 5.

Poking around the aircraft, I was honestly blown away. The truth is that even coach is improved. There’s way more attention to detail throughout the aircraft than in any plane I have seen from American Airlines, ever, or frankly from a U.S. airline in the past several decades.

Make no mistake, the LOPA – or Layout Of Passenger Accommodation – makes the most of every inch of the aircraft. They are squeezing in seats. But every inch of the plane is well thought-through to create the best possible experience under those circumstances.

Years ago Singapore Airlines had a model Airbus A380 made, with seats built out of manila envelopes and it was so detailed that the seats inside actually reclined. The tagline was “It’s the small details that make giants in the sky.”

And American has invested in the details. I admit, I was surprised. The plane also looked a lot better in person than it did in the photos that had been released.

Let’s enter the aircraft and have a look.

Business Class Suites

During my walkthrough of the cabin I went from wow to wow to wow. These aren’t perfect seats. I’d like more space per passenger and I’d like more storage space. But the attention to detail is unlike anything I’ve seen from American Airlines, and there are thoughtful elements that set the cabin apart from anything offered by a U.S. airline today.

The front bulkhead seats are ‘Flagship Preferred Suites’ with extra room, and they’re really spacious. They’re designated with a different color than the rest of the cabin, and have been announced to receive differentiated amenities. It’s not first class, but it’s still going to be an elevated experience.

These are Adient Ascent seats, which are highly customizable. Qatar Airways uses them for their Boeing 787-9s. Hawaiian Airlines uses them. And United has recently announced they will use them as well. They’re suites with doors, bringing American into a strong competitive position for hard product.

Here’s the basic suite:

The airplane has 51 business class seats, and to keep the layout as efficient as possible the seat pitch (or distance from seat back to seat back) is 42 inches at the windows, and 44 inches at the center seats. The window seats provide footwell space all the way flush to the sidewalls creating more space to offset this difference.

One thing I noticed is that the American Airlines logo on the seat beside the charging pad subtly glows in the dark. I was surprised to see detail work like that and it’s not something any other U.S. carrier does. The closest may be the small illuminated United globe on the shell of their new 787-9 suite that hasn’t yet debuted.

One oddity is that while the plane had power while I was onboard, my phone wouldn’t charge on the charging pad, it might be a bit too big? There’s a dip or gulf to keep your phone in place and my phone – a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (which just replaced my 5 year old phone) doesn’t quite fit into it.

There is not a lot of storage space at the seat. The red interior for storage was Alison Taylor, the former chief customer officer and head of sales. Apparently it was meant as a bin for her jewelry. It’s notable I think just how long this project has been in the works.

Here’s the power at each seat, and the storage area for headphones that has a mirror.

The tray table swivels nicely, which is great for getting in and out of the seat.

I first wrote about this seat choice being likely back in February 2020. So while it’s now part of the airline’s premium push, it also harkens back to a different era at the carrier and has had influence from many executives who are no longer with the airline.

There were concerns from the photos about screen size but honestly the screens seemed fine. And the soft backlighting made for a really warm feel in the cabin. (The Cathay Pacific “Aria Suite” has this.) That’s something that we didn’t get from the airline’s photos that had been released earlier. They weren’t highlighting the view of the cabin from the back!

There are several seat elements that are really helpful. There’s a small drink tray that folds out near the door at the front of the seat, so that a flight attendant can place a drink or canape item for passengers without reaching over them all the way into the suite. It was a small detail I’ve always appreciated in the Qantas Airbus A380 first class suite, so nice to see here.

Another really unique element of the seat is the ‘chaise lounge position’ which is something I’ve seen American listing as a feature in its materials but they never really explained it. When the seat is in fully flat bed mode, you can actually sit up against the back of the seat, on the headrest. I often feel like I’ll break a seat if I do that!

Here it’s something that the airline intends, as a comfort position, and they’ve even installed a second seat belt attachment so that you can be belted while in that position (American patented this element). This seemed nice but not a difference-maker until I mentioned it to my wife and her eyes absolutely lit up.

While I was onboard the aircraft the suite doors were locked open, still awaiting FAA certification. Apparently the center seat dividers have to be closed for takeoff when the doors are open. Maybe that should be their default position anyway since most passengers in center seats won’t be traveling together. But I do prefer to have it open the whole time when a parent is beside a small child there.

I did notice that the bar or midflight snack area in the cabin is small. It is more or less down to just a shelf rather than any kind of social space. Many airlines do this, but it’s still a disappointment compared to the current Boeing 777s.

It feels like a marketing error for American Airlines only to have shown photos of the cabin facing from the front to the back. It’s a really nice view from the rear forward.

Here’s an interesting note about the lavatories. The cloud wallpaper really works for me. I wonder what sort of maintenance issue it will be (the way passengers abuse the lavs). But this really gives the feel of both calming and spaciousness (infinite sky) when you’re standing in the space.

Maybe I’m grading on a curve a bit, since this is American Airlines – but I am genuinely impressed. I wish there was more storage space – a place for my laptop so I didn’t have to put it away when I go to bed, say – but while the configuration is dense the seats are comfortable and the attention to detail in the cabin is incredible.

I’ll leave this section with a few more photos from the cabin.

Premium Economy

American Airlines seems to have really fixed the premium economy experience. The old MiQ seat they’ve been using on their 787 and 777 aircraft is an industry workhorse. It’s everywhere. This seat is better.

When they installed it, the old product wasn’t well thought out. Since there wasn’t much space between seats, most premium economy seats had only a foot bar. Only the bulkhead had an actual footrest (because there was no seat in front of it to protrude a bar out from). And the TVs were in the armrests of the bulkhead seats.

Now they’ve improved on both of these issues, and added a gorgeous and much more comfortable seat on top. (My wife said to me, “I would fly that.”)

All of the premium economy seats have both foot rest and foot bar, and the bulkhead row TVs are mounted in front of the seats so they don’t take away space.

Economy

Most passengers are going to be flying economy, even in dense premium aircraft. And the fuselage of a Boeing 787 pretty much means that there’s not going to be a lot of elbow room since airlines are uniformly going to be outfitting the cabin in a 3-3-3 configuration.

However this cabin is well-designed visually. It’s calming. The seat feels like it has enough padding. And while it doesn’t go so far as to offer things like a foot bar or cupholder, like Singapore Airlines does in long haul economy (those cupholders are a maintenance nightmare – they break) I feel like the airline did a very nice job with the cabin.

Bulkhead Main Cabin Extra looks pretty good, I think.

And if you look closely you can see that the lines on the seat backs in coach aren’t all identical across seats. That makes each one feel a bit unique. Real leather wouldn’t be exactly uniform, so it is a style choice but also easier for maintenance because they don’t have to match parts

Downsides To The Aircraft

I’ve like to see more lavatories. That makes a big difference with lines and cleanliness on a long flight. There are no lavs at the rear of the aircraft, and I think that’s going to surprise a lot of passengers who go looking for one, banging on the locked crew rest door (despite a small sign saying it is not a lavatory).

Where You’ll Find The Aircraft

There are no plans to retrofit existing Boeing 787 aircraft with this interior, nor to update Boeing 777-200s though I could see such a decision as part of extending the planned service of those aircraft. American will be updating its Boeing 777-300ER planes to this interior as part of a project that eliminates Flagship First Class.

These Boeing 787-9Ps will be flying:

• Starting June 5, 2025, Chicago – Los Angeles (flights 2012/2321)
  
• Starting June 5, 2025, Chicago – London (flights 98/91) and then operating all three flights on the route starting July 6.
  
• Starting August 6, 2025, Philadelphia – London (flights 728/737)
  
• Starting September 3, 2025, Philadelphia – Zurich (flights 92/93)
  
• Starting October 26, 2025, Dallas – Brisbane (flights 7/8)

Conclusion

Soft lighting in the entryway when you first board makes flight attendants welcoming passengers look sharper. Spotlights into the overhead bins turned on at boarding help visually. There is just so much attention to detail that we haven’t seen before at the airline. It is the level of caring about style that we haven’t seen since Visrab Vahidi. Still, it is a dense plane! And seats lack storage other than for a former executive’s jewelry.

At the end of the day, I’d gladly fly this product over anything that a U.S. airline has in the market today. And I’d choose it over business class on British Airways or Lufthansa (yes, even confusing Allegris). Maybe I’d fly the Air France A350 with hit-or-miss service and better food.

Preferences vary, but I was a lot more impressed with the interior of the aircraft than I expected to be.