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At the end of October American Airlines changed the aircraft scheduling on its Chicago – London route and, in doing so, eliminated First Class on the route. That aircraft change saw the route operated by a mixture of 787-8 Dreamliners and older 767 aircraft but it looks like American isn’t done with its tinkering just yet.
From 5 March 2017 all flights from Chicago to London will be operated by 787-8 Dreamliners….
…..but, for reasons I’m not entirely clear on, the schedule still show one daily 767 flight from London to Chicago after that date:
I strongly suspect that this is an oversight as, per Routes Online, American has plans to operate the 4th daily flights (which comes online for the summer season) an 787-8 Dreamliner flight too:
AA090 ORD 09:00 – 22:45 LHR (Daily 787-8 service)
AA086 ORD 17:05 – 06:50+1 day LHR (Daily 787-8 service)
AA046 ORD 19:20 – 09:05+1 day LHR (Daily 787-8 service)
AA098 ORD 22:20 – 12:05+1 day LHR (Daily 787-8 service)
AA099 LHR 07:45 – 10:20 ORD (Daily 787-8 service)
AA047 LHR 08:40 – 11:15 ORD (Daily 787-8 service)
AA087 LHR 12:15 – 15:15 ORD (Daily 787-8 service)
AA091 LHR 17:15 – 20:00 ORD (Daily 787-8 service)
The elimination of the 767 from this route should be good news for travelers in all classes as, although the Dreamliner has a tight Economy Class cabin with seats that are just 17″ wide and a seat pitch of just 31″, the older 767 doesn’t offer anything better.
While both Economy Class cabins are undoubtably less than comfortable at least the Dreamliner offers newer seats, onboard WiFi and personal entertainment systems to make the journey a little less arduous.
American Airlines 787-8 Economy Class – image courtesy of American Airlines
In addition, the Dreamliner has up to 55 Main Cabin Extra seats (which have a little more leg room) while the 767 offers just 28.
In the Business Class cabin the difference is even greater with the 767 offering a refurbished cabin that is very average indeed……
American Airlines 767 Business Class seating
…while the Dreamliner offers considerably better seats that offer a much more comfortable experience:
American Airlines 787-8 Business Class seat – image courtesy of American Airlines
Importantly, both the Dreamliner and the 767 offer the same number of Business Class seats so the elimination of the 767 from this route will not see a decrease in Business Class capacity.
Bottom Line
At one point American had a refurbished 777-200 scheduled on this route but, while I can see an argument for saying that the loss of that aircraft is a negative, overall the fact that this route will be eliminating the ageing 767 in favor of Dreamliners is a definite positive move in my opinion.
If you’re booked on to this route and have advance seat reservations I would check those very carefully. American has been changing the aircraft on this route on a very regular basis so there’s a good chance you’re no longer booked into the seat you originally chose.
Featured image courtesy of Loaded Aaron via Flickr
