American Airlines is the US airline that I fly most, given that I live in Miami. I’ll be the first to admit that I sometimes give American Airlines a hard time, though that doesn’t mean I think the airline is terrible. While there are a lot of areas where American can improve, there are also areas where the airline does well.
In the spirit of positive reinforcement, in this post I wanted to share 11 things that I think American Airlines does well. In separate posts, I’m taking an updated look at the things that Delta Air Lines and United Airlines do well, as well as my least favorite things about the “big three” US carriers.
In no particular order, below is what I like about American Airlines…
AAdvantage Loyalty Points system
Nowadays American AAdvantage elite status is based on the Loyalty Points concept. As I’ve explained, this program is absolutely brilliant, even if it doesn’t work great for me. You can earn elite status entirely through credit card spending, if you’d like, and can also qualify for Loyalty Point Rewards that way.
While I think there’s less value to having elite status than in the past (given how tough upgrades are to come by), I’d argue that among the “big three” US carriers, AAdvantage status is the combination of easiest to earn and most valuable.
International lounge access
American Airlines offers excellent Flagship Lounges in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Miami, along with the Greenwich Lounge New York (the same concept, but a joint venture with British Airways). These are the best easily accessible international airline lounges offered by any US airline.
In line with oneworld lounge access policies, these lounges can be accessed by oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members traveling internationally, as well as all oneworld first and business class passengers. As a point of comparison:
So there’s something to be said for American having very nice lounges that are also easily accessible.
oneworld Emerald status
It’s not that American deserves full credit for this, since it’s more about the alliance than American. However, oneworld Emerald status is my favorite alliance status that exists, and I love the lounges it gets me access to. From the Cathay Pacific First Lounge Hong Kong, to the Japan Airlines First Lounge Tokyo, to the Qantas First Lounge Los Angeles, I pinch myself every time I get to use one of these lounges when not flying first class.
Other alliances don’t have an elite tier that can compete. While Star Alliance Gold status is useful as well, it’s not nearly as valuable.
Flagship First Dining
American offers amazing Flagship First Dining facilities in Dallas and Miami, along with the Chelsea Lounge New York (which is the same concept, but a joint venture with British Airways). These are private, gorgeous spaces with a la carte dining. The food and service are generally quite good, but more than anything, I just appreciate how tranquil these facilities are. These are among the best lounge spaces you’ll find in the United States.
Flagship First Dining is open to “premium” first class customers, traveling either on Boeing 777-300ERs or Airbus A321Ts. Now, it’s anyone’s guess what the future holds for these facilities, given that American is expected to eliminate international first class within the next year or so. I suspect American will maintain these facilities, but just switch up access requirements, but who knows. In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy them when I have access.
International business class seats
While not particularly flashy, I’d say that on balance American has the best and most consistent international business class seats of the “big three” US airlines. American’s wide body fleet consists exclusively of Boeing 777s and Boeing 787s, and all of those planes have fully flat beds with direct aisle access.
To compare this to Delta and United:
- Delta’s most common wide body aircraft is the Boeing 767, and those have a not-great business class product, with extremely narrow seats and many with outdated interiors; Delta also has ex-LATAM Airbus A350s, which don’t even have direct aisle access in business class
- United has now completed its Polaris business class retrofit project, so you’ll find Polaris seats on all 787s and 767s, and on most 777s; however, the airline also flies 757s on long haul flights, and some 777s don’t have Polaris seats (they’re used primarily for domestic flights)
American is the only one of the “big three” US airlines where you’re guaranteed direct aisle access in business class when on a long haul, international flight. And while American’s long haul network might not impress, that’s at least a nice guarantee.
High speed Wi-Fi
American has a great overall Wi-Fi offering in terms of quality, but no in terms of price. The airline has Viasat Wi-Fi on a vast majority of its narrow body aircraft, which is among the best you’ll find in the industry.
Now, this isn’t quite the competitive advantage it used to be. At this point, Delta offers free Wi-Fi for all SkyMiles members on most routes. That’s definitely going to have more appeal to more people. However, with the number of people using Delta’s Wi-Fi (since it’s free), I do find speeds to be a bit better on American.
So if you value being able to stay productive and appreciate solid Wi-Fi speeds, I think American remains the best with inflight Wi-Fi. Certainly both American and Delta beat United by a long shot in this regard.
Citi AAdvantage Executive Card
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review) is my favorite airline co-brand credit card. Unfortunately this card isn’t as generous as it used to be, but there’s still a lot of value to having it. The card has a $595 annual fee, and offers all kinds of great perks.
For one, the card comes with an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember. On top of that, you can add up to three authorized users to the card for a total of $175, and they each receive Admirals Club access as well. In other words, you can get authorized users Admirals Club access for an average of under $60 each. If you fly American frequently, I find that this is quite easy to justify.
Valuable partner award tickets
Among the “big three” US airlines, American AAdvantage is the only program that offers some industry-leading partner award redemption values. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that all AAdvantage awards are an amazing value, but American has some real sweet spots.
In particular, being able to fly from the United States to the Middle East, India, Africa, etc., on Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, is an amazing value. These awards cost 70,000-75,000 miles one-way in business class, and you won’t find a better value for these kinds of awards through other programs.
Award availability can be tough to come by, though there are plenty of people who have success redeeming AAdvantage miles for great value. American at least intends to offer good value on partner awards.
Meanwhile to compare that to other programs:
Wide body planes on domestic flights
More so than at Delta and United, American operates a good number of internationally configured planes on domestic flights. This means that you can score a flat bed even in markets that aren’t typically considered “premium” markets.
For example, I live in Miami, and it’s common to see American flying wide body aircraft to just about all hubs from here. Being able to get flat beds on routes like this is pretty awesome.
Transcon product & upgrades
In terms of the overall value to frequent flyers, American has the best transcon product of the “big three” US airlines. American flies specially configured Airbus A321Ts with just 102 seats, including three classes of service. Generally speaking:
- Upgrades are reasonably easy, since you have 30 premium seats and only 72 economy seats
- Business class passengers get access to the American Flagship Lounge Los Angeles and Greenwich Lounge New York, while first class passengers get access to the Chelsea Lounge New York (meanwhile at United, premium transcon passengers don’t get Polaris Lounge access, and Delta doesn’t yet have premium international lounges)
- Elite members are eligible for complimentary upgrades on these routes at their normal upgrade window, unlike at Delta and United (at United they’re not eligible at all, while at Delta they’re only eligible day of departure)
Admittedly American is expected to reconfigure these planes within the next year, and also eliminate first class on transcontinental routes (and instead offer business class as the highest cabin). However, these planes should be replaced by jets with an even better product (possibly Airbus A321XLRs).
Improved operational reliability
American has made massive improvements when it comes to operational reliability in the past couple of years. Historically, the biggest issue with being an American frequent flyer was just how unreliable the airline was, in ways that largely seemed avoidable.
American has emerged from the pandemic much more reliable than it was before. Now, I wouldn’t say this is a competitive advantage compared to Delta and United, but rather I think Delta’s operational lead has largely been eliminated. While it might not be all that exciting to step on an American plane, at least you know you’ll get where you’re going in a timely fashion… usually.
Bottom line
While American Airlines has its fair share of weaknesses, the airline also does many things well. The airline has solid operational performance, a competitive long haul business class product, a good frequent flyer program, an impressive array of lounges, and high speed Wi-Fi.
I’m curious to hear what OMAAT readers think — what do you think American Airlines does well?
