American Airlines To Fly 787 Dreamliner Chicago – Beijing

The American Airlines routes to China, and especially the Chicago – Beijing route, are often great hunting grounds for travelers looking for excellent Economy Class and Business Class fares. I actually reached AAdvantage Executive Platinum status for the first time (a few years ago) by doing two back to back Economy Class trips that included the Chicago – Beijing route.

At a cost of just 3 cents per mile they were fantastic value and, not only did I hit top-tier AAdvantage status, but I also got to explore a fascinating city and finally visit the Great Wall of China.

American Airlines has flown a Boeing 777-200 on this route for as long as I can remember but, from 3 March, the route will be taken over by one of their new 787-8 Dreamliners.

The schedule looks like this:

AA187 ORD 15:35 – 19:25+1 day PEK (no service on Tuesday)
AA186 PEK 10:10 – 09:00 ORD (no service on Thursday)

American 787-8 v 777-200

The arrival of the 787 on this route will see First Class disappear but, in exchange for that, Business Class passengers will have American’s latest Business Class cabin & seats:

American Airlines 787-8 Business Class Cabin

American Airlines 787-8 Business Class Cabin

The better Business Class seats also come with a further price to pay…a smaller cabin. While the 777-200 offers passengers 37 Business Class seats, the 787-8 offers just 28, so expect upgrades to be harder to get.

While Business Class passengers should have a nice environment to fly in, the same can’t be said of those back in Economy Class. American Airlines’ old 777-200 are one of the few aircraft in their fleet where Economy Class passengers get 18″ wide seats – the Dreamliner comes with seats just 17″ wide.

American Airlines 787-8 Economy Class Cabin

Award Availability

If you were thinking that this could be a good opportunity to try out the American Airlines 787’s Business Class cabin you’ll have to be prepared to part with cash or a lot of miles.

At the time of writing there isn’t a single MilesSAAver Business Class seat available on the outbound – AAnytime Awards at 140,000 miles (one-way) being the best you can hope for….

…and there’s just the single Business Class MilesSAAver Seat available for the return (31 March 2016):

Bottom Line

First and foremost, if you’re already booked to travel this route after 3 March 2016 make sure you check your seat assignments – they may have changed…and probably not for the better!

Secondly, it will be interesting to see if the 777-200 that’s being taken off the route will head to the shop for  refurbishment. If it is then this news is a double-whammy for Economy Class passengers – the 787-8 already has narrower seats than the old 777-200 (so thats a downgrade in  Economy) and the refurbished 777-200s will have an extra seat squeezed into each row making them just as tight as the 787. Welcome to cattle class AA-style!