New American Airlines Business Class Seating Coming in 2024

American Airlines has confirmed that it will introduce its new business-class seats near the end of 2024. While a little late in the offering since AA has been teasing us about these new seats since 2022, they are finally happening.

Which Planes are Getting New Seats?

At first, the new seating will be installed on the newly delivered Boeing 787-9s as well as the slew of Airbus A321XLRs that American Airlines is scheduled to receive starting in 2024.

If you are wondering about existing stock, there is no need. AA has indicated that the new AA Flagship Suites will be retroactively fitted to Boeing 777-300ERs already in service. However, AA has not given a timeframe about how long this will take or when it expects all its aircraft to have the new suites.

Unfortunately, AA has not said that it will retrofit any existing B787 aircraft or Boeing 777-200ERs with the new seat. While this is disappointing, we hope that AA will change its mind in the long run since it’s pretty difficult to run to airframes with such stark differences in seat quality.

New American Airlines Boeing 787-9 Seating

At first glance, the new AA seating looks stunningly good in either cabin.

The new B787-9 aircraft will feature:

A whopping 51 Flagship suites in a 1-2-1 configuration.
32 premium economy seats in 2-3-2 configurations.
143 standard economy seats and 18 Economy extra seats.

AA Business Class Seating

The seats are in a herringbone pattern angled towards the side of the aircraft. the B787-9 will have a 1-2-1 configuration. In terms of styling, there are some very attractive greys, whites, reds, and wood tones.

The new B787-9 American Airlines business class cabin - image courtesy of American Airlines — The new B787-9 American Airlines business class cabin (Image courtesy of AA)

The wood effect sliding door contrasts nicely with the dark anthracite grey upholstery with red accents. In addition, the TV looks substantial with a jet-black color that adds further contrast to the seat.

The new American Airlines business class seat is feature rich - image courtesy of American Airlines — The new American Airlines business class seat is feature rich (Image courtesy of AA)

Once rolled out on newly delivered aircraft, each Boeing 787-9 will have a whopping 51 Flagship suites.

The new American Airlines business class seat is beautiful - image courtesy of American Airlines — The new American Airlines business class seat is beautiful (Image courtesy of AA)

By far, the outstanding feature of the new AA flagship suites is the door. This adds an unparalleled level of privacy whether you want to work or get your head down and catch up on some sleep during a long flight.

The new seat in lie flat mode.- image courtesy of American Airlines — The new seat in lie flat mode (Image courtesy of AA)

If you are wondering if you have seen the seat before, you may be onto something. There is a clear similarity between it and the current Air Canada Signature class seating. However, the new AA suite seems to be an upgraded version of the seat. In reality, the Air Canada seat is the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond, while the AA seat will be the Adient Ascent seat. However, if you have flown Qatar, you will have seen this seat on their B787 aircraft.

Although a different product the new American Airlines business class seat is similar to the Air Canada one.

The AC seat does not have as many features as the new AA seat, including the magazine holder on the entry, not to mention the sliding door.

AA Premium Economy Seating

Along with the new AA flagship suites, AA announced that it will also be debuting new premium economy seats. The new aircraft will feature 32 premium economy seats in 2-3-2 configurations. In addition, the aircraft will feature 143 standard economy seats and 18 Economy extra seats.

The new American Airlines Premium Economy cabin- Image courtesy of AA — The new American Airlines Premium Economy cabin (Image courtesy of AA)

The new premium economy seats carry a grey shell with Navy blue upholstery. The dark brown wood-like tone is carried through in the seat headrest and magazine pocket on the back of the seat.

The new American Airlines Premium Economy seats from the rear- Image courtesy of AA — The new American Airlines Premium Economy seats from the rear (Image courtesy of AA)

The seats also feature a large in-flight entertainment screen (although not as big as the one in business class).

New American Airlines Airbus A321XLR Seating

Alongside the B787-9, Americans will also be installing the same flagship suites and premium economy seats on the new Airbus A321XLR it will be taking delivery of.

The new Business Class seats will also be installed on some A321 aircraft (Image courtesy of AA)

On the narrow-body jet, the flagship suite will be configured in a 1-1 setup with 20 seats on each aircraft.

The new Business Class seats on the A321 aircraft (Image courtesy of AA)

Interestingly, AA plans to have fewer premium economy seats on these narrow-body jets. And will only install 12 seats in three rows of 2-2.

AA premium economy seating on the Airbus A321- image courtesy of AA — AA premium economy seating on the Airbus A321XLR (Image courtesy of AA)

The seats will carry the same color palette as its big brother on the B787-9.

Goodbye Premium First Class

Currently, AA operates a Premium First Class cabin on the cabins A321 and Bowing 777-300ER. The Premium first cabin will be discontinued when the B777 is reconfigured with the new seats. However, according to reports, the A321 will be reconfigured to the standard domestic configuration. While there, transcon routes will be taken over by a newer product equipped with a flat seat.

Final Thoughts

On the one hand, seeing these changes is excellent news for AA fans, and the new product looks like a massive upgrade on the current AA offering. Conversely, this sadly marks the end of a true first-class service by any US carrier. Once the changes are implemented, no major US carrier (Delta, United, and AA) will operate a genuine first-class service.

While we could waste time bemoaning the loss of truly first-class, let us not overlook the positive, especially if you are an AA fan. The new offerings from AA will not so much as let it jump ahead of the competition but catch up and level the playing field. Especially when you compare the seats to some of the offerings on a JetBlue Mint service.