LAA 2-class Airbus 321S / A321H (Sharklets) (master thread)
 

It has appeared as of 1AUG14 on the LAX-DFW (HT airlineroute.net).

It has 16F and 165Y, split between 35 MCE and 130 Y-.

That makes it 8.8% premium class seating, lower than the 738 (10.7%) and the M80 (11.4%), but at least it's higher than the 319 (a measly 6.3%).

No information about the seating pitch, i.e. if it's as crammed as the 319 or it's more like the 738 [although aren't those getting a new row for a crammed 30" pitch]?.

Note that the equipment code is currently "32B", but I believe that to be a mistake as that code is used for the 3-class transcon interior (and I hope to be correct otherwise it will be quite confusing).

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It's 16F not 18F

Unfortunate but not at all unexpected.

Yep. Can't count. Fixing post next.

It's the US configuration with 1 row removed, to allow MCE. According to Seat Guru, Y has 32" pitch on the US A321. http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/US_...irbus_A321.php

Seat map is on AA.com, e.g. AA170 LAX-LAS (yes, on such a short flight).

FC is the same as the US Airways seat map.

Economy is a bit different. One fewer row in front of the first exit, and then different row numbering for the A-B-C side between the first and second exit.

I think something funny may be happening with staggering rows, because row 13 is being sold as MCE only on the A-B-C side and not the D-E-F side.

I count 36 MCE seats, not 35. Still quite low.

And here's something odd: infinite-legroom seats 25A and 25F on AA, which correspond to 23A and 23F on US, and which Seatguru rates as the best seats on the US plane, are not only not MCE, but are not even preferred or reserved for elites on AA. They're just ordinary seats that anyone can apparently pick.

Standalone AA plan was 20F

Even DL will have 20F on their A321s

Actually, the stand-alone AA plan was 24F/150Y. That changed when Parker and Kirby held a townhall meeting last June in DFW and told AA employees that AA would have to reevaluate seating density decisions.

What I love is that some moron in Corporate Finance actually thought that it makes sense (beyond on a spreadsheet) to have 12 F seats on a 76-seat aircraft and 16 F seats on a 181 seat aircraft. (Yes I understand scope better than probably anyone on here, but I'm just saying).

Some of the density decisions are good (777-200s needed more density) but I'm really concerned about the new Airbus products. It's going to get hard avoiding the Airbus aircraft in the new airline.

The additional F seats on the CR7/CR9/E75 are there to get those aircraft to the magic number (76 seats) per the pilot scope clause, not to optimize revenue. If USdbaAA could operate those with fewer F seats and still use the lower paid regional crews they would happily do so

Why would it be a mistake when 32B refers to Airbus A321 Sharklets?

Because AA uses different designators when the same aircraft has major differences in the configuration. The 752 is designated "757" for the 22/24 F seat version and 75L for the 16 NGBC seat version.

Yes but that is for internal use. You don't see those internal codes appearing in the GDS, unless it's done by accident.