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UPDATE 9 November 2016: It looks as if American Airlines has pulled the Dreamliner from the route with no reason given. The aircraft was scheduled to reappear on the route at the beginning of June 2017 but a recent schedule update now shows the 767 operating through October 2017.
American Airlines has received 13 of its 17 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners so far and they’re not wasting much time in deploying them on their network. We’ve already seen American Airlines flying their new aircraft on routes to Beijing, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Tokyo Narita and Santiago but there have been a lot more new 787 routes announced recently.
The Dreamliner will commence operations between Los Angeles and Tokyo Haneda from next month, it will appear on the Chicago – Beijing route, for a month, starting in March, it’s the aircraft that has made the new Los Angeles to Auckland service a viable proposition for American Airlines and it’s even being deployed on the Chicago – Los Angeles route from 2 June.
Now American Airlines has deployed the Dreamliner on yet another international route.
From 20 June to 5 October 2016 the American Airlines 787-8 Dreamliner will replace the 767-300 aircraft currently operating the Chicago to Manchester route on the following schedule:
AA054 ORD 21:55 – 11:25+1 day MAN
AA055 MAN 13:15 – 15:20 ORD
The Dreamliner the does not reappear on this route until 1 June 2017.
What Difference Will This Make?
Overall Comfort
Overall the Dreamliner is supposed to offer an all around better environment for travel. Due to the nature of the fuselage (50% composite material) the aircraft can be pressurised to allow for a higher in-cabin humidity. A higher humidity means moister air and moister air means less irritated eyes and less nasal irritation (some say it lessens jet lag but that’s unproven) and that can only be a good thing.
The Dreamliner is also a quite aircraft than the 767-300 and, surprisingly, it’s quite noticeable. I recently flew in a Dreamliner between Los Angeles and Dallas and the lack of engine roar was pretty apparent.
Seat Comfort
Aside from the benefits I’ve just outlined, Economy Class passengers won’t have too much to get excited about.
American Airlines 787-8 Dreamliner Economy Class Cabin
American has crammed in 9 seats across their 787-8 Dreamliner cabin so the seat width is is just 17″. SeatGuru will tell you that there are seats with up to 18″ of seat width but I’ve yet to hear of anyone who’s found one of them.
One big advantage that the Dreamliner has is that it offers personal screens for each Economy Class seat while the antiquated 767-300 still inflicts overhead screens on the entire cabin – nice for those who like a retro feel to their aircraft, not so nice for those who like to travel in a little bit of comfort.
American Airlines 787-8 Dreamliner:
American Airlines 767-300:
The two table above will show you just how little difference there is in the seat dimensions of the two Economy Class cabins.
Where a difference will be definitely noticed will be in the Business Class cabin.
I recently tried out the American Airlines Dreamliner Business Class cabin and the American Airlines 767-300 Business Class cabin in the space of 24 hours and, although the 767-300 has an updated product, the 787 is, in my opinion, better.
The Business Class seat in the 767 is ok but has its issues (which I’ll go into further when I post the review):
American Airlines 767-300 Business Class Seat
And while the 787’s Business Class seat is not without it’s flaws I found it preferable to the 767’s in more ways than one:
American Airlines 787 Dreamliner Business Class Seat
Main Cabin Extra
One of the biggest differences (from a passenger point of view) between the two aircraft is the number of Main Cabin Extra (MCE) seats on offer. The Dreamliner has 39 more MCE seats than the 767 and, with Economy Class on both aircraft offering a disappointing 31″ of seat pitch, the more MCE seats available the better.
More information on American Airlines Main Cabin Extra can be found here.
Bottom Line
With the American Airlines Dreamliner soon to start service on the Chicago – Los Angeles route it will now be possible (for a few months) to fly from the UK to LA on the Dreamliner…..and if you’re flying in Business Class and want to break up your journey that’s not a bad option to have.
There is no net increase in Business Class seats due to the aircraft switch so there shouldn’t be any effect on award inventory although, considering the amount of inventory already out there, this isn’t a big deal.
Overall the Dreamliner is a definite upgrade to the Chicago – Manchester route. Economy class passengers will benefit from personal TV screens and a much better chance of getting a Main Cabin Extra seat while Business Class passengers get a better overall seat and in-built personal TV screens rather than Samsung tablets. It’s just a shame this scheduling isn’t for longer than 4 months.
Featured Image courtesy of Woodys Aeroimages via Flickr
Apparently this is not the case, as I have booked a flight on AA54 that was advertised as a 787 at the time of the booking. However, unannouced to passengers on this flight, #AmericanAirlines has since changed equipment back to the 767-300ER dinosaurs. Quite a difference in product offerings from a new 787 with IFE, to a 20 year old 767 without IFE. Worse yet, on the 787 they advertised 55 MCE seats, that has been cut to 18 MCE seats on the 767, all jammed next to the toilet and the galley. No announcement, no email, no text message letting passengers know of this operational change. I found out when I went online to check something on my itinerary. Not pleased in the least, when there are other options like the A330 from PHL. Too late now though, they have my money! #AmericanAirlines keeps wiping my complaints on their facebook page
Thanks very much for reporting back on here – not much help to you but hopefully a lot of help to other readers.
From a look at the flights on ExpertFlyer it would appear that the Dreamliner will be entering service on 20 June (rather than 2 June as originally scheduled) – blog now updated to show this.
Aircraft changes are a very annoying fact of life (as you’ve found out) and I’m definitely in the camp that says that the least an airline can do is flag these up when they occur. Unfortunately their terms or carriage (unsurprisingly written completely in the airline’s favor) state that neither the aircraft nor your seat allocation on the aircraft are guaranteed so they can pretty much do what they like without fear of penalty.
If AA haven’t even offered up an apology (which, if I’m being honest, is the best you were ever going to get) then that’s just very poor customer relations….it costs them nothing and may go a tiny way to placating an otherwise annoyed customer.
Thanks for the update! It would go a long way if they would at least reply to my complaint and explain why they needed to change the flight back to a 767. But even after posting on several blogs about this change, facebook, twitter, and complaints to them directly there has been ZERO response. As a Oneworld Ruby flier, it just shows that to some carriers, your status and loyalty to an organization means little to the company. Cheers!
It does not show on their website. Its August 15. An updates?
It looks as if the Dreamliner has been taken off the route until 22 August at which point it reappears on ORD – MAN until 5 October when the 767 and then a 757 take over the route. The 787 doesn’t then reappear on this route until 1 June 2017 (subject to change)
only reason we booked a trip to Chicago was the 787 Dreamliner but been disappointed now to learn that American Airlines very rarely use this Aircraft on this route and use a Dinosaur 767 with no Entertainment apart from drop down screens which everyone has to watch.
Having booked seats I can’t wait till check in to see what happens.
Anyone have news on why the 787 isn’t on this flight.
What dates are you looking to fly?
It appears that AA55 is currently a 767-300 continually now. Anyone know why?
I heard that there were maintenance issues with the 787 and that’s what led to the strange aircraft scheduling on this route and now, by the looks of things, the removal of the aircraft from the route until June (if it even comes back then). Noting official…just passing on what I’ve heard.