Review: American Airlines Business Class 777-300ER (LHR-DFW)

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Let’s face a few facts from the get-go: US Airlines have had a track record of offering mediocre premium cabin experiences when compared to Asian, Middle Eastern and, in a few cases, European Airlines. For the most part the offerings have been forgettable and rarely worth the prices charged for the seats.

My general rule has always been to avoid US carriers like the plague if actually paying for a premium seat (a very rare occurrence!) but I’ll happily fly them if booking a premium award if nothing better is available.

An American 777-300ER at Dallas Fort Worth Airport

Introduction:

Any offering on an airline can, generally, be categorised in one of two ways:

1. Hard Product – the parts of the product that are bolted down to the aircraft (seats, bathrooms, bars, showers etc…)
2. Soft Product – the parts of the product that can be removed from the plane or differ from day-to-day (food, service quality etc…)

Think of it this way: If you were to turn a plane upside down and shake it around, all the bits that move are probably “soft product”.

I’d love to be able to say that the issues US carriers have had have only been with one of the two categories – but that really isn’t the case. For years the hard product offerings were way behind the competition and the soft product was very hit and miss (and often behind the competition even on the good days). But things have changed……a bit.

The Flight – American Airlines Business Class

Flight No: AA51
Route: LHR – DFW
Aircraft: 777-300ER

After grabbing a bite to eat at the British Airways Galleries First Lounge in Heathrow T3 I headed to the gate to board the flight. As usual I left the lounge considerably earlier than I would in just about any other airport because of the hike you have to embark upon to get to the plane – it’s a hike the military would be proud to add to their training program!

On this occasion I timed my hike perfectly as they called first class boarding just as I arrived and, as the first class cabin on American’s 777-300s is made up of just 8 seats,  we were swiftly on to boarding business class.  Thanks to a bit of efficiency and the willingness of the gate staff  to turn back people with row 38 printed on their boarding passes, we didn’t take long to get on board – British Airways could learn from this, their so-called boarding process is a laughable free-for-all scrum most times.

The American Airlines 777-300 business class cabin is split into two parts by the doors through which you board. There’s a mini-cabin on the left which has just two rows of 4 seats (rows 3 & 4 of the aircraft) and then the rest of the business class cabin to the right of the doors as you board.

Click to enlarge image

 

If at all possible I always opt for the mini-cabin because it feels a lot more private than the rest of business class – but I only opt for the mini-cabin if I can snag a seat in row 3. Row 4 is a bit too close to the galley and can get noisy.

On this particular trip I’d got the exact seat I wanted, 3J – I won’t bore you with the reasons why I like 3J but suffice it to say that getting it makes me happy. And on an 9+ hour flight I like to be happy 🙂

The business class seats are the same regardless of which part of the cabin you’re in and they’re arranged in a reverse-herringbone pattern, which gives a feeling of space.

These are seats 3D/G & 4 D/G

In the beginning, because of the way the sun was shining through the windows, it was easier to take pictures of the seats in the middle of the aircraft:

But then the rest of the cabin began to fill up so I had to return to 3J and make the best of the bad light.

The legroom in the picture above looks more restricted than it actually is, the seat isn’t particularly confining at all.

That picture give you a better idea of how much space there is down by your feet. There’s even space under the ledge for a good-sized bag.

The screen has to be stowed away for take off and landing.

Once you’re in your seat you’ll notice that, on your inside, is a small locker. This is where the flight attendants will usually leave the Bose noise-cancelling headsets:

But the locker also holds a secret – it’s where the headphone socket for the entertainment system is hidden away. If you don’t know this before you board or if a friendly flight attendant doesn’t tell you, you can spend half the flight looking for somewhere to plug in the headphones!

It doesn’t help that you have an entire console of sockets right next to you, in full view,  that lulls you into believing that the headphone socket is on there somewhere….But it isn’t.

Within that console you have:

• The remote control for the entertainment system
• A movable reading light
• Controls for your seat
• A switch for the lights in the ceiling above your seat.
• A multi-country power port (a truly great inclusion)
• USB port to charge your electronics or to connect them to the plane’s entertainment system.
• Two more audio inputs that I’ve yet to see used (but I’m sure someone has).

You get a nice feeling of being in control in the seat, everything is within easy reach around you and there is a lot of storage space for whatever you’ve brought with you.

By the time I’d finished taking the pictures and the rest of the cabin had stopped staring at me we were being offered the usual choice of drinks before take off: Sparking wine (which they insist on calling Champagne, but isn’t), orange juice or water – you can also sake them to mix the sparking wine with the orange justice if you’re trying to recreate that brunch feeling.

The menu for the flight was at the seat, waiting for me, when I got on board but I’d used the “reserve your entrée before you fly” option on the website to choose my meals before hand so I didn’t really need it.

The amenity kit wasn’t the usual kit that we’ve been given for a few years now, they’ve changed them and gone retro.

The idea is that American is celebrating all of the airlines that, at one time or another, merged to form what is now American Airlines – and they’re celebrating them via the amenity kits.

Now this wasn’t my first flight since these new amenity kits have come into use and, up until now I’d had Reno Air, Reno Air and Reno Air….so, on this trip, I was hoping to find out what the other kits looked like. And I got……

Aaaarrggghhhh! Reno-frickin’-Air again! I’m starting to think that they’re aren’t actually any other types of kit out there.

Anyway…deep breaths…..

This is what they give you inside:

On day flights I do my best not to fall asleep (sadly my best is rarely good enough) so, after take off, I set about getting ready for the next 9+ hours.

First up, access to the internet. Yes, American’s 777-300s have internet all the way across the Atlantic and this is both a blessing and a curse. It’s great because I can get some work done and it’s terrible because I can get work done. It’s not bad value either:

After I checked my emails and reassured myself that I wasn’t missing anything back on terra firma I turned my attention to the entertainment system….which is pretty comprehensive.

Passengers across all the cabins get a choice of hundreds of TV shows, movies, documentaries, music and games with which to entertain themselves.

If you want to have a closer look at what was showing on the flight just click the pictures below to enlarge them.

And that was just a sample of what was available.

After we’d reached cruising altitude the flight attendants came around with more drinks and some nuts. I was my usual daredevil self when it came to my choice of drink….

No that’s not vodka or gin.

A little over an hour into the flight the crew began to serve lunch. Normally I ask for my food to be brought to me all at once and as soon after we take off as possible. This gets it all out of the way and allows me to get on with the remainder of the flight in peace – this applies even more so when it’s a night flight.

On this trip I knew I’d be writing this blog so I thought I’d go through the whole course-by-course production that occurs in just about every premium cabin on just about every long-haul route.

The starter came first (unsurprisingly!) – Herbed chicken with tzatziki, cucumber red onion relish and Boursin cheese stuffed Pepadew. And a mini salad with sun-dried tomatoes and choice of dressing.

It wasn’t too bad. It tasted fresh enough and had a bit of flavour – you don’t really get more than that out of a salad at 36,000ft.

For my main course I’d pre-ordered a “Parmesan Crusted Cod” with mushroom risotto, grilled vegetables and a tomato basil cream sauce:

It was terrible. The fish was hard and tasteless, the vegetables were overcooked and tasteless and, no matter what they may say it was, that wasn’t risotto. Food on American is always a lottery – more so since the merger took place – and I lost this time. Probably my fault for ordering the fish. I wonder what the other dishes were like?

For dessert I had the ice cream sundae without too many of the bell & whistles you can have with it – so, basically, it was vanilla ice-cream with a sauce (which may have been butterscotch):

The rest of the menu looked like this:

Once dinner was over I went back to alternating between work and watching shows that I’d brought with me on my laptop – I never leave my entertainment in the hands of an airline (even when it’s as good as it is on American’s 777-300s).

The rest of the flight was uneventful. The flight attendants were nice enough but nothing special and, if I’m honest, they’re often the weakest point of American’s business class offering. If you’re lucky enough to get a good crew or a good flight attendant serving your section, then American’s product can be as good as a lot of other well-regarded carriers out there – it beats the socks off British Airways. But, if you get an indifferent or even surly crew (which happens often enough for it to be a problem for American) it can taint the experience for a lot of people.

Other aspects of the aircraft:

The bathrooms on the 777-300s are quite nicely fitted out (I’ll spare you an actual photo of a toilet!). if you’re on the starboard side of business class the bathroom is enormous compared to what you usually find on planes.

One of the nicest things American has added to their service with the 777-300s is the snack bar. This is found between to two business class sections (behind the galley near row 4) and gets stocked shortly after dinner service has been concluded.

There’s a selection of small sandwiches, fruit, cookies, mini-desserts and cheese as well as bottles of water for you to help yourself to – all-in-all not a bad variety. The snack bar comes in particularly handy when you wake up 5 hours after dinner and 2 hours away from the next meal….something that seems to happen to me a lot!

Continuing with the food theme…..

There was one more meal to be served before we landed. As you may have seen from the menu earlier on the voice was between a Croque Monsieur sandwich with potato salad and a turkey salad with line and yoghurt dressing. I went with the latter:

Not exactly a tantalising sensation for the taste buds but it was adequate for a snack before landing.

Overall I’m a big fan of American’s business class product on this plane. The seat is usually the all important thing for me and this one is very good. There’s plenty of space around the seat to store whatever you bring with you and the seat is comfortable whether you’re working, watching movies or sleeping. Add to that the good connectivity and great selection on the entertainment system and you have a very solid business class product.

If American can do something to get a consistently good level of service on these planes this would be a hard product to book away from.