American Airlines 787 Flagship Preferred Suite Review

Separately, I reviewed American Airlines’ new Flagship Suite. These are AA’s terrific new business class seats. But AA has a slightly nicer option on the same flights: Flagship Preferred Suites. These are the business class suites that are in the first row of each of the two business class sections. Eventually, AA plans to charge more for these seats, but for now, it’s first-come, first-served. I flew from London to Chicago in this suite. The experience was very similar to that of the regular suites, so in this post, I’ll highlight the differences…

More storage

Unlike regular Flagship Suites, Preferred Suites have tons of near-seat storage. I put my backpack under the footrest, my shoes in a floor cubby, and the amenity kit in another cubby. There was more storage than I could use! Meanwhile, the lack of storage was my only major complaint about the regular suites.

More space for long legs

The footwell in these suites is wider, and even with my short legs, I appreciated having more room to spread out.

Off-center view of the entertainment screen

I’d guess that most people won’t even notice this, but it bothered me when my neck began to ache slightly. As you can see in the pictures above and below, the seat is angled so that your natural gaze is directed towards the far corner of the suite, but the screen is positioned slightly to the side of that. This is the one thing that I thought was better about the regular suite.

Better bedding  

Preferred suites come with a fitted mattress pad, throw blanket, and memory foam lumbar pillow. When I started setting up my bed, I was surprised when a flight attendant suggested that I go freshen up while she made the bed. That’s a rare but welcome level of service that I can’t remember ever experiencing before on an American carrier.

No Pajamas for me

We flew a daytime flight and were not offered pajamas. This didn’t bother me at all — I’m just noting it because pajamas are one of the differentiators between regular suites and Preferred suites. I expect that they are either only available on nighttime flights (which I find reasonable!) or available upon request.

Improved amenity kit

I didn’t find the contents of the amenity kit exciting, but the case was pretty cool. In other suites, the case and contents are very basic.

Undifferentiated food and drink options

The food and drink options were the same as those available in regular suites. It was mostly edible.

Starters:

Chicken lunch:

Chocolate mousse dessert:

Pre-landing snack. I’m pretty sure that the melted cheese on my sandwich was supposed to be on the inside, but it was served on top with the plane side of the bread slice facing the contents of the sandwich:

Things I missed before…

There are a couple of key things I missed from my previous review, which are available to all business class passengers:

Mid-flight snacks

You’ll find mid-flight snacks available on the left side of the plane, in the back of the forward business class section.

Bigger bathroom

The bathroom on the left side of the plane, between the two business class sections, is significantly larger than the other bathrooms on the plane. I did my best to capture its size in the photo above, but I don’t think I did it justice.

Conclusion

Flagship Preferred Suites are a nice upgrade over regular Flagship Suites. I appreciated having more storage space, more legroom, and soft bedding. On the other hand, the regular Flagship Suites are also very nice. Once they start charging for Preferred Suites, I doubt I’ll pay to upgrade, but as long as the upgrade is free, I’ll take it.

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