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
Image Gallery
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Nice review! Looking forward to eventually trying this product for myself
Which seats are the preferred options? Just the first row?
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.
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.
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
Where do you find the time? JetBlue challenge and a flight to AA. Or is the AA flight a positioning flight in order to sell the Mrs. on the B6 challenge?
I haven’t committed to doing the JetBlue challenge. When I considered it, I thought I was going to change this flight to a JetBlue flight to London, but when my wife and I backed out of doing the challenge together, I decided to keep this flight.
thanks for the review !! Any pics of the Amenity kit ? just curious why you called it very basic . not a Leather pouch?
From the one picture, it looks like it may be from the new Brandon Blackwood collaboration. I doubt that these are products in Greg’s wheelhouse. Or most AA passengers. For whatever reason, the First Class and Premium Economy kits are more interesting, with the business class ones having their flair in the lining of the kit.
Sorry, no I didn’t take any photos of the contents. You can see the black amenity kit in the second photo in the image gallery above. It contained a dental kit, eyeshades, pholk hand & body lotion, and Buttah lip balm.
Great review, Greg! So you normally store your passport in the side / trinket compartments? I would be worried I would leave it behind :/
Yes, I do, but I always now check first to make sure there aren’t any gaps in the compartment (see this post for the reason why: https://frequentmiler.com/bangkok-bound-thai-1st-class-and-my-uh-oh-moment/)
Yes, I remember reading that post and being afraid that would happen to me. I try to keep my passport in my backpack as much as possible unless I need to show it to airline staff or customs staff. I do have a photo on my phone that I can reference if I need to fill out paperwork on board the plane.
Americans (the group of people, not the airline) are some of the worst at providing service. They never get to see it, and if you don’t see it, it’s hard to emulate it.
My wife and I have been flying British Airways for going on five decades (including a number of flights on the Concorde). The truth is that the service on BA emulates the service on US-based airlines. Anyone in the UK who regularly flies BA will tell you so. They’d be lying if they said otherwise. The decline started with Walsh and accelerated with Cruz and has been extended with the current CEO.