A similarly impressive technological advance has occurred in the business cabin, in which I flew on the return leg — after a four-hour delay at Dallas due to anonymous, and not overly reassuring, technical problems with the plane. Each business passenger is loaned a pair of expensive Bose noise-cancelling headphones. (They also do this on Japan Airlines, Air India and Cathay Pacific.) Plug them in and, even when you’re not watching or listening to anything, cabin noise is reduced to a muted hum.

These are the first American Airlines planes to have fully flat beds in business, so the carrier certainly had some catching up to do. There was, however, no adjustable lumbar support and headrest, which you get in BA’s business class, for example.