On Saturday evening, my wife and I flew AA business class from Detroit to Chicago to London. Lucky for us, the route from Chicago to London now features AA’s brand new Flagship Suites. We paid only 45,000 Alaska miles — making this one of the best sweet-spot deals (or should I say suite-spot deals?) for flights to Europe (oddly, if you book direct from Chicago to London it prices at 55,000 miles, but with a stop in Chicago it frequently prices at 45,000 miles).
AA 787-9 Flagship Suite Bottom Line Review
While service on this flight was mediocre, the hard product — the suite — was very good. It wasn’t ultra-luxurious like Qatar Qsuites or Starlux, but it is a step or two ahead of anything currently offered by Delta or United. That said, I was a big fan of JetBlue Mint when I flew it from London to Boston and slightly prefer that over AA’s Flagship Suite (yes, even now that JetBlue locks their suite doors open).
My favorite feature of AA’s Flagship Suite was the fact that the seat is designed to be used in a chaise longue position (as shown in the picture above). With a pillow behind my back, this was comfortable and made the suite feel more spacious. I also loved various well thought out little touches like the slippers holder, multiple snack/drink trays, and a useful trinket tray. My only complaint is that the suite didn’t offer any storage space for a backpack or shoes. This doesn’t appear to be a problem, though, if you’re lucky enough to snag a bulkhead seat (a preferred suite), which offers tons of storage.
Would I fly it again? Absolutely! I’m looking forward to it!
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Comfortable cloth seats
- Cabin kept comfortably cool overnight
- Chaise longue seating
- Two separate side trays for snacks and drinks (one illuminated with cool AA logo)
- Slippers + slipper holder
- Excellent seat position controls
- Suite door slides easily open and shut
- Wide armrest raises and lowers and includes a small storage space
- Meal tray table well designed and attractive
- Trinket tray very useful
- Good power options: USB-C, USB-A, AC
- Comfortable headrest pillow
- Sconce light with touch control
- Quality headphones (when working — my wife’s first pair didn’t work at all, but when we asked a flight attendant, he brought another pair right away)
Cons
- Limited storage (except for bulkhead preferred seating which has plenty)
- Amenity kit very basic
- Wireless charger useless for many (this is a common problem, not unique to AA)
- Mediocre service
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If you flew the Saturday before July 14’th – then I was also on that ORD-LHR AA86 flight (in 12A). However, unlike you, I never got my door unlocked.
I asked three different flight attendants and still I never got my door unlocked. I was told the first time “can’t unlock till after food service” – of which I explained I wasn’t eating (I’d eaten in the club). Later on I was told “we are not allowed to unlock these yet” – as-if it was a corporate thing or a certification thing. As a full time AA flyer and semi-frequent QR flyer, I found this sad and kinda ruined the whole 78P experience. Of course, I never saw any other doors closed (I looked +/- my seat). Besides this issue, great seats and flight.
So I’m calling bull on this. Either AA did something different for you and/or a different flight. Either way, AA clearly isn’t ready for sliding door. Sigh.
They’re also flying these new Dreamliners (with Flagship Suites) between Chicago to Los Angeles (for now), and soon, they’ll fly between Philadelphia to London and Zurich, and then between Dallas to Brisbane and Auckland
I’d take that with a big grain of salt. I’m flying to ZRH and back this November but the seat map and info still show the old style seat.
I flew the premium economy product lax-ord. Seat was excellent but no food service not even buy on board.
Great article, I took this flight back in January but it was on BA through AA. When I go to price it on the app the lowest price it comes out at is 127k . How did you get a 55k price?
It was 45K Alaska miles for my flight (Detroit to Chicago to London). That price depends upon business class awards being open to partner airlines, which is not always the case.
Happy to see first impressions of the new product. Did you pay extra for the bulkhead seats?
No, we weren’t in the bulkhead seats. I don’t think they’re charging more for the preferred seats yet — it’s first come, first served right now, but I believe they plan to charge more in the future.
That’s awesome! I flew from MKE-ORD-FCO on Saturday with my Wife. Kinda bummed i didn’t run into in the AA Flagship lounge (decent lounge but nothing to write home about). I also used AS miles to book the AA business class seats on a 787-Max 8. Similar experience on board, just a bit older. Love to see it!
We didn’t make it to the lounge. Our flight from Detroit was over an hour late so we literally ran to the gate.
How do you search such that we get a flight thru ORD. I want to search SFO–> ORD–> LHR on alaska
Good question. I’m not sure how to do that
Nice review! Looking forward to eventually trying this product for myself
Which seats are the preferred options? Just the first row?
All 8 bulkhead seats are Preferred (e.g. the first row in each business class section)
I also have no IDEA whatsoever why a flagship route like MIA-LHR doesnt get the flagship suite before Chicago? That is so weird. Years ago Virgin waited to upgrade their ancient A330s to the new 787 from Miami.
United is eating AA’s lunch out of O’Hare. AA recently lost gate space to United and United’s at a higher local market share than they’ve ever been. Guessing AA wants to redouble its competitive position rather than falling even further behind? AA has made some hay here about removing single cabin regionals from ORD, guaranteeing all flights will have some F cabin seats, plus the flagship 789 product.
Good points.
On my MIA-LHR flights I have been getting great service form AA. Now a few of those were in First class. My SYD-MIA in first a few weeks ago had a really great crew and service.
Our flight next year got switched to the new product and we’ll be in the preferred seats.
Mediocre service. Just like my recent flight home from BCN-JFK. Good thing I was expecting it so I wasn’t bothered by it.
How is the night time noice coming from the gallery when in the bulkhead seats or Preferred seats? I have this flight booked and I didn’t choose those seats because of the reason.
Sorry, I don’t remember whether it was noisy or not
I just flew from CLT to LHR on the 777-200 very cramped and not as pleasant as your 787
Think Chicago to London is 55,000 not 45,000
Right. Thanks. I’ve updated that section. If you fly direct from Chicago it prices at 55K but if you fly from other cities through Chicago, it often prices at 45K. I flew DTW-ORD-LHR
I flew MKE-ORD-FCO at 55k Alaskan points, so YMMV.