Review: American Airlines Business Class A321 (LAX-JFK)

February 22, 2016

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The penultimate flight during my 8 Flights, 7 Lounges & 3 Hotels In 5 Days trip was a transcontinental flight between Los Angeles and New York on an American Airlines A321 aircraft. American Airlines has one of the better transcon services for premium cabin passengers as all of its LAX and SFO flights to New York are served by a dedicated sub-fleet of A321 aircraft. Even in Economy Class the seat offering is slightly better than you’ll find on most other American Airlines airlines aircraft…but more on that later.

My Los Angeles – New York flight was a precursor to a New York – Milan flight that I would be taking later that evening and, while my systemwide upgrade had cleared for the transatlantic portion of my journey, I was still booked in Economy Class for this particular flight.

I had booked my flight a few months in advance so, thanks to that and my American Airlines Executive Platinum status, I was at the top of the upgrade list…

….but, a few minutes before boarding, the gate agent announced that First Class had “checked-in full” so no upgrade for me.

It wasn’t a big deal. I knew I had an exit row seat and that I was on the aisle so leg room (my primary concern) wasn’t going to be an issue.

I was also at the head of the Priority Boarding line so I wasn’t going to have any issues with overhead bin space.

Boarding/Pre-Departure

The gate agent called the Concierge Key passengers to board first (and called them by name which I hadn’t heard happen before) but I was still one of the first on to the aircraft. With a little bit of envy I walked past the comfortable-looking First and Business Class cabins into the Economy Class cabin.

American Airlines A321 First Class seat

The Economy Class cabin on the A321 is set out in a 3-3 layout and comes with 36 Main Cabin Extra seats with 35″ of seat pitch and 36 Economy Class seats with 31″ of seat pitch. All the seats in Economy Class are 18″ wide.

American Airlines Economy Class A321 – Cabin

American Airlines A321 Economy Class Seat Map per SeatGuru.com

I was seated in 11C and, as far as American Airlines Economy Class seats are concerned, it was just about as good as it gets. The seat width was perfectly ok…..

American Airlines Economy Class A321 – Exit row seating

…and I knew I had more leg room than any Business or First Class passenger 🙂

American Airlines Economy Class A321 – Exit row seating

I took my seat in 11C and watched as the rest of the aircraft began to fill up. About 10 minutes into boarding a passenger approached me and, while showing me his boarding pass, said “I think you’re in my seat” – his boarding pass had 11C on it.

A few year ago this would have made me quite worried but experience has taught me that this was actually great news. A quick look at the American Airlines app confirmed what I suspected – for whatever reason, my upgrade had cleared at the very last moment.

I moved out of the seat into the exit row, allowed the other passenger to take the seat and, once the rest of the passengers had filed by, I saw a gate agent walking down the aisle with a new boarding pass in her hand – I was given seat 8A.

Cabin/Seat

The American Airlines Business Class cabin on the A321 is set out in 5 rows with 2 seats either side of the aisle:

American Airlines Business Class A321 – Seat Map per SeatGuru.com

These aren’t the seats you normally see up front on American Airlines domestic flights…these are much better:

American Airlines Business Class A321 – Seats

These photos were taken, rather hurriedly, as I boarded the plane and was making my way back to Economy Class but this one should give you a little bit of an idea of the leg room you get:

American Airlines Business Class A321 – Seats

The seats recline all the way back to form a lie-flat bed (you’ll have to take my word for that!) and, as you should be able to see, they come with a pillow and a blanket for the flight.

There’s a small stool for your feet (when the seat is in bed-mode) under the entertainment screen and, although the photo makes it look pretty cramped, I didn’t find it too bad.

American Airlines Business Class A321 – Seats

There isn’t that much storage space around the seat although there is a shelf immediately under the entertainment screen.

American Airlines Business Class A321 – Seat

The control panel for the seat is mounted in the arm rest that separates the two seats…..

American Airlines Business Class A321 – Seat Controls

…and there’s almost no end to the number of positions you can put the seat into – I found it very comfortable indeed.

The tray table is a good size and easily fits a 11″ MacBook Air with plenty of room for other items too:

Connectivity/Entertainment

The American Airlines A321 comes equipped with GoGo WiFi which, to my mind, is expensive for what it is. Purchasing in advance is usually the cheaper way to pay for WiFi but, at these prices, make sure someone else is paying if you absolutely have to be online!

I’ll hold my hands up and admit to not checking what the onboard options were so, in anyone knows, please post in the comments.

Each Business Class seat on the A321 comes equipped with a multi-county power port, a USB port and various audio ports:

American Airlines Business Class A321 – Power & Audio Ports

The only thing I didn’t really like about this was its location, which it behind the seat, around shoulder height (when you’re seated):

American Airlines Business Class A321 – Power & Audio Ports

I didn’t find it particularly convenient but, as that was really the only issue I had with the seat, it’s really not that big of a thing.

The entertainment screen is a very good size and, unless you happen to stumble upon a domestic route served by a Dreamliner, will be the best screen you see on a domestic flight.