Originally Posted by ijgordon

Presumably the new F/J seats are very heavy, so that would offset at least some of the reduced weight of the passengers. But I have to think AA has done the math, and subject to the aircraft meeting its performance specifications (not always the case with Airbus...), they think this configuration will work with a specific cargo load. That said, they may view something like a 5% diversion rate during the winter as "acceptable" so I'm not sure we can say with any certainty at this point whether or not these planes will always be able to make the westbound transcons non-stop.