American Airlines is dropping its first class product on board, but a select few passengers will still have a special product on board. The carrier confirmed this week it will offer a premium seat at the front of its new Flagship Suite business class cabin. Available on select wide body aircraft, the Flagship Suite Preferred seats will offer upgraded amenities on board, in addition to a bit of extra space for travelers.
As previously announced, all Flagship Suite seats fleet-wide will have direct-aisle access with privacy doors, Bluetooth integration for the inflight entertainment system, and wireless charging. The new front row “Preferred” product is set to fly on new delivery 787-9 planes, as well as the 777-300ER fleet being retrofit. It will offer additional storage space, plus exclusive amenities such as a mattress pad and pajamas from Nest Bedding, a throw blanket and memory foam lumbar pillow, and an upgraded amenity kit.
Pricing for the Preferred seats was not shared.
Of note, the A321XLR will feature the Flagship Suite product, but not the Preferred seat option. The new Collins Aerospace Aurora seat American chose for its single-aisle fleet trades the option of a premium space in the first row for increased galley cart capacity. Collins noted this was specifically requested by its airline customers during the product development cycle.
Other airlines featuring first row premium products include JetBlue’s Mint Studio, Air New Zealand’s Business Premiere Luxe, Condor’s Prime on the A330neo, and Virgin Atlantic’s Retreat Suite. United Airlines is also expected to offer something similar on at least some of its planes in the future, though that very much remains unconfirmed at this time.
American also offers Flagship dining and lounge experiences for its first class passengers today. No word yet on whether access to either of those will be included for Flagship Preferred seating passengers.
Updated amenity kits for American Airlines
American is also launching a new amenity kit program, starting on Memorial Day weekend, for its first class, business class, and premium economy passengers. The updated amenity kits come in a range of configurations, depending on the class of service and aircraft type.
All kits will include ear plugs and an eyemask, plus lotion, lip balm, toothpaste, and a toothbrush. On widebody planes first class and Preferred seat passengers will add face mist, a refreshing towelette, and socks to that collection. On narrow-body planes the extras are not included.
Premium economy passengers will get socks on board, while business class passengers will either get socks (single-aisle) or slippers (twin-aisle) depending on aircraft type. Slippers are no longer limited to only longer flights for business class passengers.
Branded partners for the individual products will vary, as American cycles new partners and products into the amenity kit rotation, based on passenger feedback. The initial set of new kits will feature a Thirteen Lune special edition “for the first few weeks” followed by the regular kit for the rest of the summer.
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