Review: American Airlines Flagship Business Class (A321)

American Airlines is among the few US carriers offering a lie-flat seat on most of their transcontinental routes. While it’s a higher-density arrangement than JetBlue Mint, I enjoyed the flight even though the seats were a bit tired. Overall, I would fly the product again, and it’s more accessible with points and miles compared to JetBlue. 

Let’s take a look at my review of American Airlines Flagship business class on the A321.

Booking American Airlines Flagship Business Class

Business Class	Aircraft	Route	Flight Duration
American Airlines 32	A321-T	Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK)	5 Hours 20 Minutes

It’s quite a story about how I booked this flight. My dear wife bought me a superbike racing school as a 30th birthday gift that I was supposed to partake in down in Arizona, but 2 days before I departed from Toronto, I realized my passport had gone missing. We pivoted to use that scheduled time off to visit family on Vancouver Island, and we got to experience Air Canada’s rather old A330 business class on the way there. 

While on Vancouver Island, I got word that I could attend the superbike school, but it was easiest if it was the very next week in California. Rather than head home to New York City, I stuck around Vancouver Island for a few days before zipping South to LAX. I arrived in Los Angeles with American Airlines but opted for an economy seat as the flight wasn’t that long, and AA’s Domestic First Class product isn’t that exciting.

I initially planned to book an economy-class ticket home as I found many seats for only 15,000 AAdvantage miles even though cash prices were above $500 CAD for last-minute one-way. I transferred some of my RBC Avion Rewards points to American Airlines AAdvantage on a Sunday, and surprisingly, they didn’t show up in my account until 5 days later on Friday, the day before I was supposed to be flying.

With all this hubbub waiting around for the miles, my eyes wandered, and I found that Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan suddenly had access to many American Airlines Business Class seats. Using the “temporary feature” as Jeff so eloquently put it in Episode 7 of Miles Ahead, I transferred American Express Membership Rewards points from my Amex US account to Hawaiian Airlines and instantly traded them for Alaska miles. This worked out great in the grand scheme of things, as I was seriously worn out after two days on a superbike.

I could have spent fewer miles if I had booked directly with American Airlines AAdvantage, but American miles are hard to earn compared to US Amex Membership Rewards points, so I was happy to “overpay.” 

I considered First Class for a moment, but at the end of the day, I’m glad I saved the extra 18,000 Membership Rewards points, as this flight was super comfy.

And compared to the cash rate of $1,427 CAD, I got an excellent deal!

Ground Experience: LAX American Airlines Flagship Lounge

I had only heard great things about the “Flagship” portion of American Airlines and that these lounges stepped up above most other US airlines. While I wouldn’t classify this on the same level as a Polaris Lounge or Delta One Lounge, it’s better than a United Club, Maple Leaf Lounge, and most Delta SkyClubs. 

When you arrive at the lounge, you’ll scan your boarding pass like any other lounge, but if you have access to the lounge’s flagship side, you’ll be given this laminated card.

After a quick elevator ride, you’ll arrive at the Flagship Lounge entrance, where an attendant will take your laminated card and grant you lounge access.

Immediately after arriving, there’s a champagne station that you literally cannot miss, it’s the first thing you see. I was impressed!

The lounge’s seating is open and airy, and huge windows offer views of the apron and the boarding gates in Terminal B. There’s also a small business center.

Although dining was only buffet-style, the food choices were excellent. For lunch, I indulged in some sushi, which was much higher quality than your average lounge food.

Drinks were also self-serve, which isn’t my favorite. I’d rather have a mixologist like we see at Centurion lounges. Dotted around the lounge were quite a few refreshment stations. In the main bar area, the fridges featured premium drinks like Redbull and Fever Tree tonic.

The only part of the lounge that is lacking is the bathroom and shower area, which look a bit dystopian and industrial.

Cabin Arrangement

American Airlines’ A321T is one of the few narrowbody planes with a three-cabin layout, with First Class at the very front. The first-class seats are reverse herringbone and pretty similar to the Air Canada Signature Class window seats, which I hope Air Canada will install on their soon-to-be-arriving A321XLRs.

The business class cabin is set up in a 2-2 configuration, with the bones of the seat being the same as Gulf Air’s A321LR.

There are no bad seats here for a daytime flight. Perhaps if you wanted to ensure you get some sleep on a redeye, then choosing the window seat is preferred as you won’t be stepped over if your seatmate needs to use the lavatory. 

It’s worth noting that the bulkhead seats provide some extra storage and foot room, as there are no seats in front of you.

Seat

I found this seat to be very comfortable, as I wasn’t trying to get some sleep. However, my experience with it on Gulf Air was less than ideal, as it was an overnight flight.

When you arrive at the seat, you find a pretty robust set of amenities, including headphones, bedding, an amenity kit, and a bottle of water.

The tray table folds out from the center armrest in an identical fashion to Gulf Air’s, and I liked it just as much on this flight as I did on my last one!

The safety card, seat controls, and TV remote are also in the center armrest.

Overall, the seat is relatively compact, and there’s not a lot of extra storage, but you get a power port and the ability to adjust your outside armrest up and down. I was somewhat disappointed as my power port didn’t work, and I’ve stopped carrying USB-A cables with me, so I could not test if there was power from that port.

Bed

As mentioned, I never used the bed on this flight for sleeping, but I always enjoy setting the recline to a pseudo “zero-g” setting, and I was as cozy as a clam. That said, I did test out the lie flat capabilities for a picture while my seatmate used the lav.

The bedding provided is quite plush and not the most luxurious, but I think it’s better than what Air Canada provides on the Signature Class domestic routes. Additionally, there are some seat shortcuts above your right shoulder, which I always appreciate. The primary seat controls light up nicely when the cabin lights are dimmed.

I was happy with the bed setup. There was also more than enough room in the footwell.

Even though the privacy divider was relatively small, it still worked well when the seat was in lie-flat mode.

Amenity Kit

The amenity kit was an unexpected part of the experience. Most carriers won’t give out a kit when a flight is “only” 5ish hours long. That said, it was pretty low-quality cream and lip balm, with an eye mask, socks, ear plugs, dental kit, and some literature.

Bathroom

The bathroom is very narrow on this narrow-body plane.

However, it is still big enough to pass my selfie test, which it did with flying colors!

Dining & Service

High-quality, tasty food and US-based airlines generally do not get along. These carriers emphasize getting you to your destination, and what happens in between takes a back seat. Our reviews of United Polaris business class and Delta One business class prove this claim; granted, the Delta One flight had quite good catering. 

Sadly, this flight was closer to a United Polaris experience, but nothing atrocious happened during service. Arriving on board, I was offered a choice of sparkling wine or orange juice and greeted with a “Welcome, Mr. Burkett.” Hot towel service quickly followed.

Once in flight, the plastic cups were replaced with glass, and warm nuts were served along with a tablecloth.

When the attendant placed my table cloth, they left it strewn over the tray table rather than putting it correctly, but that’s the difference in service between most US Carriers and the rest of the world.

The food choices on this flight were well-rounded, with beef, chicken, fish, and vegetarian options. The wine list was decent, although champagne was served in the flagship lounge, where we only had prosecco as an option.

I opted for the short rib as my main dish. It was pretty solid, but the sauce it was served with could have been better. I enjoyed the appetizer course, but of course, the ice cream sundae for dessert was the highlight.

Midway through the flight, a snack basket was placed on top of my TV screen. I thought this was a better practice than leaving the snacks in the galley. This way, passengers who may not be familiar with the practice of galley snacks can see that they’re available.

The service ended with a chocolate chip cookie and another warm towel, which I enjoyed with some whisky, sparkling water, and an excellent view of the sunset.

Entertainment

Entertainment Console

The entertainment system was pretty wacky on this flight, but it wasn’t every screen; my seatmates worked just fine.

The touch screen was extremely slow to respond, and when I did manage to get a movie to work, it would randomly pixelated.

Even with a few hard resets by the flight attendants, it still persisted to have the same problem. Thankfully, the handheld remote worked great. You can even pull up the flight map on the handheld remote, which is super handy.

When the screen did work, it was high definition and had a simple design for the controls.

I particularly enjoyed the Bang & Olufsen headphones, which were of super high quality.

WiFi

Wi-Fi was accessible through a paid service, or you could redeem 20 minutes of Wi-Fi time for watching an ad. However, this only worked once per device, and then you would get a screen that said, “No offers currently available.” 

The Wi-Fi was reasonably fast, and I could get some work done with the 40 minutes of free time I had between my laptop and phone.

Conclusion

American Airlines Flagship Business Class is one of the few lie-flat products flying from coast to coast in the USA. While it has its quirks, I can’t complain too much as the alternative is that American Airlines stops using these planes and only offers a recliner option like Delta.

I love the option to redeem Alaska Miles for these flights. They are much easier to earn than AAdvantage miles, and I would consider flying this again if I need a transcontinental flight!