I remember when Qatar Airways launched their now-famous QSuite Business Class at ITB Berlin in 2017.  I was there for the unveil, and even went to the enormous press conference afterward, where legendarily bombastic then-Qatar Airways CEO His Excellency Akbar al Baker said to all of us, “Today we are all friends, today you can call me Akbar.”

Randomly hilarious press conference proclamations aside, I remember thinking at the time that Qatar Airways pulled a masterclass on how to make Business Class seem like First Class.  Even 8 years later, when you think of Qatar Airways you probably think of QSuites (or at least how luxurious Qatar Airways is) before anything else.

A new airline cabin can be a great “halo” product that elevates the rest of the airline’s brand, esteem, and even influence the pricing of their most premium products.

American Airlines recently unveiled their new Business Class, named Flagship Suites, to much fanfare.  Reviews were outrageously positive from my fellow travel bloggers and frequent flying friends.  I really wanted to fly it but I’m still based in Sydney and just hadn’t had the chance yet.

Luckily, American recently announced they were placing the new Flagship Suites on the Brisbane-DFW seasonal route.  I was heading home for Thanksgiving, saw some systemwide upgrade space on the BNE-DFW flight (American’s longest flight right now), and thought there would be no better way to review the new suite, so off I went!

Ok it’s not really fair to say there is just one Flagship Suite, as there are two varieties: regular suites and the slightly larger bulkhead suites.  The suites are based on the Adient Ascent seating platform, which debuted on Hawaiian (now Alaska) Airlines and, coincidentally enough, Qatar Airways on their 787-9s.  American will gradually roll out the new Flagship Suites across their longhaul widebody fleet.  The net effect will be more premium seating across the fleet, but not without some drawbacks: planes will lose the in-flight snack bar, the 777-300ER fleet will lose First Class, and flight attendants will have to serve those additional customers from the same galleys.

From a business perspective, the new suite makes sense, but I was really interested in American’s service delivery.  Basically, would the service do the new suite justice?  Ok, I’ve prattled on enough, let’s get to the flight.

The New American Airlines Flagship Suite

The layout of the 787-9P (American’s plane type designation for the Flagship-equipped planes) is simple: two business class sections, with the first row of each section being the larger bulkhead suites.  I was booked in 10H, the bulkhead of the second cabin.

The Suite Itself

I was immediately impressed with the cabin and the suite itself.  It was visually impressive and authentically American Airlines.

The regular suite looked nice as well.  American did not get overly creative with the colors in the suites but everything fit well together and looked very premium, the headrests were really well done, featuring an embroidered logo. 

Oh, about that: there are a LOT of logos in the cabin.

Overall, really good (or at least thorough) theming from American.

At each seat were mattress pads, blankets, pillow, and sandals.  I tossed most of it into the overhead bin but most of it would’ve fit under the footrest area, which for the bulkhead suites had an impressive amount of space.

And don’t worry, the cabin had a similar masthead with Flagship branding.  And another logo.

The features I expected

Looking around the suite, I saw more premium finishes around the seat controls along with the requisite power and USB outlets (both -A and -C) that you’d expect from a new seat.

(Yep, another logo at the bottom of the mirror)

There was also a handy storage area for your shoes.

At each seat was the new American Airlines amenity kit by Raven + Lily.

(another logo)

Overall, very nice, but pretty much what you would expect for a new Business Class seat so far, you might be thinking.  But there’s more!

Some awesome features I did not expect

This suite has some GENIUS elements to it.  First off, one of the things I hate about wireless charging pads in airplane seats is that they are always flat, so you can’t really do anything with a phone that you place there.  American’s Flagship Suites are brilliant and have angled wireless charging pads so you can actually watch something on your phone while using it.

Another brilliant feature is this odd-looking bracket.

Just another bracket, right?  Nope, IT’S FOR YOUR SANDALS.  Not a logo in sight though.

One of those things that I never knew I needed but really appreciated.  Granted it kind of limits anything else being done with that bracket but who doesn’t love a hyper-specific touch like that?

Up next on the Genius Feature list: the lighted cocktail table.

Yep, you read that correctly.

It’s an innocent cocktail table, right?

(also, you can see the iPhone resting on the wireless charging pad there as well, and no I never put a case on my phone)

Nope, not just an innocent cocktail table.  If you hit one of the buttons on the suite control area, you’ll see a random American logo pop up (!) and a very faint light from beneath the marble-esque finish.

Why is that genius?  The lighting is just bright enough that a flight attendant walking by can easily spot empty glasses but not too bright that it’s distracting.  I never knew stuff like this existed but loved how it was not only kind of fun for a customer but helped the flight attendants keep an eye on the cabin in a unique way.

(I am ashamed I didn’t get better pictures of the cocktail table lighting up once the cabin was darkened after the meal service.  The effect appears faint here but was immediately noticeable once the cabin lights were dimmed)

The storage areas were smartly-designed as well.  You have this Louboutin-looking small area for watches, rings, etc. that you might take off before going to sleep…

Then you had the laptop bin for storing a laptop if you wanted to ruin a perfectly good flight by doing work…

And then American’s little guided tour of the suite showed them putting short cans of soda precisely into this area designed for them.

I hope you’ll agree, some really nice touches!

The Food

The meals on board were about what you would expect from American.  That said, American really wants you to reserve your meal in advance these days, as the aisle on the port side of the plane ran out of the beef option by the time they made it to my cabin, which was awkward because the starboard aisle (that I was sitting on) still had beef options available.  I get why American does that but they need to recalibrate their catering quantities I think.

We started with the tried and true warm mixed nuts.

I was feeling festive, since I was coming back to Texas to see my family for Thanksgiving, so I went for champagne…served in a wine glass.  It’s a small nitpick, but when the champagne went flat after 7 seconds I was in a nitpicky mood.

(yep, logo on the glass)

We then had a crab salad to start.  I had the macro lens on my camera already so thought I’d do a nice close up shot of the crab but now realize that close up shots of crab meat do not look particularly appetizing.

The bread was warm and the butter ice cold and unspreadable, like always.  Top tip: keep the butter in the wrapping and chuck it underneath the bread for about 5 minutes to warm it up a bit and make it easier to spread.

It was then time for the beef.  It tasted great, no notes.

And finally the best ice cream sundae in the skies.  When they asked me what toppings I wanted I gave them a knowing nod and they knew what to do.  Pretty certain it was 6-7% ice cream and the rest was the toppings, as it should be.

After dinner, I had a really nice sleep, amidst breaks to catch up on Sudoku.

Ok so why did you call it a Peculiar Masterclass in the title of the post?

Ok, remember above when I mentioned that Qatar’s QSuites were a masterclass in making Business Class feel like First Class?  I flew QSuites recently and still felt the same way.  It doesn’t mean I’ve never had a bad QSuite flight but the experience matches the impressive seat design.

So what did I think after a 15-hour flight in American’s Flagship Suite?  It was impressively…peculiar.  A masterclass in peculiar, even.

Let’s start with something exclusive to the bulkhead suites: the peculiar-looking TV.  Now, to be fair, it has some impressive technology, including allowing you to connect your own bluetooth headphones, which is a great feature for you weirdos who watch movies and TV shows on flights instead of just the flight map like us normals.

But look at it.

(at least three logos in the picture above)

Does it not seem kind of small for the amount of space in the suite?  Almost like they originally planned for a bigger TV in the suite but either couldn’t or chose not to get the bigger one certified since there would be only 8 of them on these flights compared to 50-60 of the regular-sized Flagship Suite TVs?

I do not know the answer, but it bugged me from the second I sat in the seat until the moment I left it.  Like obviously I was still able to enjoy the flight and pursue a happy life afterward, but it’s just one of those things that kept getting my attention.

Also, doesn’t it look like the bezel around the TV was made for a different-sized TV?  Notice the black bar across the top of the actual screen before the dark gray plastic bezel.  It’s like someone made the display graphics in a different aspect ratio than what the bezel would allow.

So, again, it wasn’t like BAD, just…peculiar.

There were some other things that fit this category, the funniest among them was the Small Soda Can Storage Area (SSCSA).  If you don’t remember, it was next to the storage area for the laptop.

Just after takeoff, a flight attendant came around giving us bottles of water…that were too tall for this storage area.  There was no other obvious place to put the water so I just chucked it in there anyway.

For the rest of the flight I did not see a single soda can delivered to a customer, as all drinks were served in glasses.  Not the biggest deal, again, but, like, they specifically showed someone putting a small-sized soda can in that area in their introduction to the new suite!  Not bad, just…peculiar.

Now, for the big question: how did American handle the suite door?

I’ve been lucky enough to fly on many Business Classes that feature doors.  I generally do not prefer them and would rather have the extra shoulder space but I know a lot of people like them.

Now, having flown on so many of those Business Classes, I can also say that American’s service model for the doors (verified by plenty of other passengers who have ridden in the new Flagship Suite) makes absolutely no sense.  I was so confused by it that I didn’t even take a picture of the door when it was shut.

What do I mean?

First off, the doors remained locked open until the first meal service was complete.  Not how other airlines do it but I’ll give American a pass here, since there are more premium seats to serve and this no doubt speeds things up.

What happened after the meal service?  The flight attendant came by to unlock the door and said to each passenger, “If the door is shut, it means no service.”  

I asked the flight attendant to repeat it, and he said basically the same thing, “oh I just mean that if the door is shut it means there will not be any service for you, like a do not disturb button.”

Dear reader, may I present to you the suite control panel featuring, on the left, albeit a little blurry, an actual do not disturb button.

That button turns your seat number light to red, which indicates you would not like to be disturbed by a flight attendant.

“Oh come on Andy,” I can hear you saying. 

No. 

Here’s why that is stupid.

I managed to get some incredible sleep on this flight with the wonderful mattress pad, duvet, and personal air vents that American has on these 787-9Ps.  When I woke up with about 2.5 hours left in the flight, I heard the flight attendants in the galley clanking things around, the sign that breakfast might be coming soon.

I was worried I might’ve missed breakfast (I was hungry and would be getting in a car and driving for 3 hours as soon as I landed at DFW) so I slung my door open and…sat there for an hour until breakfast started.

All the noise from the galley?  Heard every bit of it since my door was open, instead of leaving it closed but not activating the do not disturb button.

Why the door thing mattered to me

Ultimately, yes, this was peculiar and not outright BAD or anything like that, and I know I’ll get roasted in the comments because “aw poor thing complaining about being in Business Class for 15 hours” but American has basically given its financial future to these Flagship Suites and they need to command a price premium to justify the massive investment to purchase and install them. 

Passengers will usually remember the beginning of the experience and the end of the experience.  At the beginning of the experience, I noticed that the TV seemed kind of small (like laughably small) and the image had a black bar at the top of it.  At the end of the experience I sat there for an hour listening to every clankety-clank of galley doors opening and shutting and feeling like an idiot for keeping my door open, but I didn’t want to have to pay attention to when the flight attendants started their service when I could be watching the flight map instead.

Flight attendants for other airlines will open your door if your do not disturb light is inactive, it’s kind of the whole point of do not disturb buttons.

Again, not the worst thing in the world, just…peculiar.

My final verdict

In my opinion, the new American Airlines Flagship Suite is a great metaphor for how many feel about the current state of American Airlines.  Well-designed, good theming, and peculiar execution that makes you raise one of your eyebrows and go “huh?”

I do like this seat more than the Super Diamond seat on the non-upgraded 787-9s but probably not as much as the venerable Cirrus II seat on American’s 777-300ER fleet. 

The new Flagship Suites are good seats with smart storage and great technology, nothing wrong with them.  However, if American is going to stake their financial future on a premium suite like this, they need to make sure every element of the experience matches the impressively premium hard product.

Do I think American can provide the type of service that matches a suite like this?  Absolutely.  Do I think they will do it?  Time will tell.

 

 

 

What do you think about American’s new Flagship Suites?  Tell me in the comments below!