American Airlines is about to put its first refreshed Airbus A319s into service and we have a sneak peak of what the new cabins look like.
- They’re adding 4 first class seats (a 50% increase), without removing any seats from coach. So coach gets a bit tighter to compensate. To make more room for the additional seats, two lavatories are being moved to where galley space used to be at the back of the aircraft. They’re even putting a flight attendant jumpseat on one of the lavatory doors.
- The A319s with seat back entertainment screens will see another downgrade – these planes get a new standard interior without screens.
- They get bigger overhead bins, and new seats throughout – the first class seats have wings at head level for a bit of an illusion of privacy, and American is using the new aesthetic scheme that rolled out with its Boeing 787-9P aircraft last year. So we see a bit of a design commonality with refreshed regional jets and with the Airbus A321XLR as well.
- During the transition where only some of these planes will have 8 first class seats and others will have 12 they will be overprovisioning passenger meals on flights scheduled to have an 8-seat first class cabin, in case of an aircraft swap. That way last minute upgrades will have meals, if a flight suddenly finds itself with four extra seats.
Employees crawl around the plane before it’s shown to customers. Here are some shots taken of the new cabin:
Our first look inside the American Airlines A319 retrofit. New updated upholstery and finishes. Airbus XL overhead bins, 4 additional seats in FC (12/120). New mood lighting scenes.
Noticeably lacking seat back IFE screens.#travel #airbus #a319 pic.twitter.com/R8yEm8nMhg— ✈️ (@dfw_787) February 10, 2026
Here’s the new 3-row first class cabin:
And here’s economy. There’s clearly not enough extra legroom coach (Main Cabin Extra), which has been a problem for American. They didn’t think of these as seats they could actually upsell into (the way United and Delta do), so they don’t have enough premium buy up seats in their cabin. The ‘LOPA’ or cabin layout on American plans limits how much revenue they can earn.
You can also see the back galley in the photos shared online.
The retrofit plan for American’s Airbus A319s is something that dates back four years. It came long before the current ‘premium push’. So there’s a bit of a wasted opportunity, continuing to densify planes rather than offering enough extra legroom seats, and continue to take screens out of planes while Delta, United and JetBlue lean into them.
Basically, American bet on a lot of low yield passengers and giving them a stripped down product, competing with ultra-low cost carriers like Spirit exactly when passengers were looking to spend more for a better experience. It was a bet on a vision that turned out to be exactly wrong and that’s a lot of why the airline struggles today. They’re going to have more first class seats to sell, which is great. I happen to find the new coach seats attractive. But they’re still going to have a ‘premium problem’ with these refreshed planes.
@Peter… sadly, MCE (and the FAs) paid the price here. Oof.
In this article, you showed the actual configuration. This is 1 of 4 jumpseats in the aft galley. The other 3 are on the bulkhead wall. There is also a twin jumpseat at the boarding door. That’s 6 jumpseats. With a 12/120 configuration, AA will staff the aircraft with 3 F/A’s. The forward FA will sit on the twin jumpseat alone. The second and third FA’s will sit across the aisle from each other on the aft facing bulkhead seats. I don’t like the seat on the lav either, but you know what it does? It gets a 3rd commuter/jumpseater on the plane. Take it off the aircraft, it’s not needed to seat a F/A staffed to serve the flight. But if the company decided to do that now, the union would b!tch about the company making it harder for F/As to get to work.
They need to stop and reevaluate, the LCC model isn’t working. I get if planes are actively being retrofitted, but everything not premium focused needs to be paused.
As American Airlines rapidly climbs to the bottom of the list and becomes the next Spirit Airlines… YIKES! Ah, but then they become a “Spirit Airlines” with international coverage. GAWD what a thought that is!
Oh, I forgot to add the new “mood lighting”. Mood lighting? They don’t need “mood lighting”. Ask the employees, “Mood? Dismal!”
The picture of the economy cabin is conveniently taken at the end of the Main Cabin Extra Rows behind first class, so it doesn’t show the three rows of MCE which you can see in the back of the First Class photo. It’s the same amount of MCE as the current Lopa for the A319s, so there is no loss. The original plan was to remove a row of MCE behind First Class, but they appeared to have backtracked on that plan.
Spent more money reinventing the wheel to create a LOPA worse than DLs and much worse than UAs for the same aircraft type. The lack of sufficient MCE seating hurts loyalty revenue and actual revenue. Not sure what else there is to say anymore. They need new leadership to meet this moment.
@Peter — A319 always only had just 4 rows MCE. I’d’ve removed one row in the back (bye-bye, 27), added this third row of First (3), converted an extra row into MCE (5 total), and not do this silly crew-out-lav-doors. The extra revenue from First and MCE likely would outweigh the lost row anyway. Alas, neither of us run the airline…
And EPs and CKs should not expect they will have a greater chance of upgrading as AA will peddle low cost upgrades to first time or infrequent fliers. Working a flight tomorrow, 13 EPs onboard and not a one if in FC. People who aspire to EP status for upgrades are being played for suckers. You may infrequently get bumped up front (usually because of a no show) but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
@Pete and @ WIn. you seem to have forgetten the fact this is the EXACT same layout as Delta. Go check AeroLopa
@Peter,
24 MCE seats, what else can we get you? I suspect you pay for BE and want the upgrade to MCE since you don’t have the status to just choose it. Just buy it if it’s that important.
@Gary, so the Jumpseat is on the lav door, BFD. no one should be up using the lav when the FAs are seated. Who cares, you Apparently.
They’re only staffed with 3 F/A’s correct? If that’s the case, NO F/A is sitting on the Lav Jumpseat. IIRC, the Lav Jumpseat would only be used if a commuter wants a free ride on a full flight.
@Win Whitmire
And yet Gary says a longhaul ULCC carrier is not sustainable. We have one right in front of us 😀
@Mitch – no it’s not. DL doesn’t count the exit row as C+ like AA does with MCEI If it did it would be 30 C+ to 24 MCE. UA has 36 E+ (like AA it sells exit row as E+). Also the DL LOPA on Aerolopa says 31″ pitch in economy to AA’s 30″ but not sure I really believe that – DL’s website says 30-31″.
So @Pilot you can get me a LOPA that’s either UA’s or DL’s which are superior LOPAs to AAs. I’ve got the status to choose MCE and very rarely BE. The problem is that it’s often not available.
And when I do choose it, I get downgraded to planes without sufficient MCE (just happened to me when a 777 was ‘downgraded’ to the weird new 787P economy layout).
To @Steve’s point – EPs are not getting upgraded to first. So the consolation price is supposed to be MCE. It’s not even about the extra 2-3″ it’s about the feeling of being segmented. DL and UA understand that and have expansive extra legroom economy sections. AA does not.
“13 EPs onboard and not a one if in FC. People who aspire to EP status for upgrades are being played for suckers. You may infrequently get bumped up front (usually because of a no show) but I wouldn’t hold my breath.” But, that is, I contain, very important to the issue. Thirteen EPs can’t get upgraded to a 12 person F even if nobody buys an F seat. I suspect the airlines realize that, if they sold, say, 10 of 12 F seats, they could just leave those at full F fare and likely see 2 of 13 EPs ubgraded. Or, they can sell those 2 seats at a bargain price and disappoint 13/13. Disappoint 100% or 85%? Not much difference, particularly when you add in others that would qualify to be upgraded. [I’m assuming there would be others with status below EP vying for an upgrade. Adjust my vomment if that’s wrong]
Jake, that is incorrect about 1 of the 3 FAs not having to sit in the “lav door” jumpseat. That is considered a “direct view” seat and must be occupied for TTL.
If American Airlines first-class flight attendants on A319 aircraft are mandated to sit on lavatory doors attached to a jumpseat as an occupational job requirement, will American Airlines flight attendants now smell like poop?
I am a Platinum flier out of DFW who does not attempt to chase PP status because FC upgrades here are futile. Instead, I frequently buy last-minute FC upgrades when it makes sense price-wise, otherwise I sit in MCE.
I worked for AA 2016-2017.
I left and got hired by delta.
One of the better profession changes and decisions that I’ve made.
Nothing surprises me about AA management, leadership and customer service. The AA is constantly going in the opposite direction from the other airlines (thinking that they’re doing the the right thing)….Anything the AA does, it shows and proves that is incorrect/unprofitable/wrong. This applies to upper management, local leaderships, and customer service….just feel bad for the mechanics.
Horrible, cramp design. More coach people crammed tighter. More business/first passengers. No extra flight attendants. Just put a toilet seat on the flight attendant Jumpseat. Crappy seat to begin with. Make it real. Poor Isom decisions and Seymour. They have to go! Need better food, comfort for all.