JDiver

The B/E Aerospace Super Diamond aircraft have a “reverse herringbone” layout with all seats facing forward at an angle. These have airbags in the seat belts and are not authorized for seat belt extensions and require use of a shoulder strap attachment for ground operations, takeoff and landing.

Chart of Business cabin c/o SeatGuru. Link to full SeatGuru 772 “v 4”chart, with Premium Economy.

JDiver

AA had originally arranged for Zodiac to build a modified "Concept D" Business Class seat to be used in the 787-8 and for the full 47 aircraft fleet 777-223ER refit. Difficulties in supplying the one of a kind “orphan” seat meant some 787-8s were parked awaiting seats to go into service and delays in the 772 refit. AA ultimately terminated Zodiac's contract in mid-contract.

787-8s and 19 772s are equipped with the Zodiac “Concept D” Business Suite seats. The seats face forward and aft in a “yin & yang”design, and the seats that are connected to each other at the head (seat, vs. foot, end) currently transfer motion between seats. Additionally, Center privacy screens were not passenger or cabin crew operable as delivered, So ground crew arbitrarily placed these in an up, down or varied position as they saw fit.

AA has stated they will have these “motion over the ocean” and divider issues remediated, but any” to the seat fixture will require extensive proof testing and FAA approval (STC). It’s likely the manufacturer with a terminated contract isn’t interested in working with the issue?

The initial Zodiac equipped 772s were split among aircraft with 37 or 45 J seats. AA has now settled on a standard of 37 Business class seats on the 772 and is refitting the 772s with 45 J seats to 37 as Premium Economy is installed. All 772s will offer 37 J seats.

AA sought a new manufacturer for its Business seats, and ultimately came to an agreement with B/E Aerospace to use their Super Diamond Solo seat. The Super Diamond is used in the 787-9 and the 28 772s without Zodiac seats.

American Airlines chooses new business seat for Dreamliner

JonNYC confirms the Super Diamond seat will debut on American Airlines Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Longboater confirms these will be used to refit the remaining 772 aircraft not receiving the Zodiac "Concept D" seats.


State of the seat: N783AN was fitted with these seats and has been flying a few months (February 2017). Of 47 retrofitted, expect ~23-24 to get the current retrofit / CIP Zodiac "Concept D" seat. The remainder will receive the B/E Aerospace "Super Diamond" business seat, which are the seat selected for the A350 and 787-9. True Premium Economy will be added to the 777-223ER during the next three years as well (and "out of the box" on delivered 787-9, A350).

Link Star Telegram article.

That means there will be two different new business class seats on American’s reconfigured 777-200s:

American says this will not alter the (delayed) timeline for reconfiguring 777-200 aircraft.

They will not be changing seats for the ~23 77D (772) or the 787-8 aircraft.

Here’s the full detail on American’s seat plans for ...777-200 aircraft:

"The B777-200 260-seat configuration (15 aircraft) that we are retrofitting now will be completed with the Zodiac "Concept D" Business Suite.

The B777-200 289-seat configuration (34 aircraft) will be mixed between the Zodiac Business Suite and the new Business Class seat. We have not finalized the exact numbers, but expect the Zodiac Business Suite will be on no more than 10 (more) of the 289-seat aircraft (total 23).

We will keep 13 aircraft in a 260 seat configuration, which will be one subfleet. For the 289 seat configuration, if we mix seat types, the seat maps may be different, but the configuration will remain the same." AA spokesperson Laura Nedbal

See aa.com's Boeing 777-200 Retrofit page for more information and renderings

Estimated time of completion (revised Dec 2014): end of 2017?

Program details: [

JDiver

The first 772 hull with the B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seats is out of the blocks! N783AN.

See Boarding Area: One Mile at a Time: link.


OMAAT reader Jacob said

"The seats felt a little wider than the older version, and of course, all the seats were forward facing instead of the alternating forward and backward. Everything was pretty similar except for a few things:

• Instead of turning on the reading light with the remote control, you physically pushed it out of the console.
  
  
• The tray table has a latch under it to extend it and pull it closer to you. This was the only thing that gave the flight attendants a little trouble.
  
  
• The seatbelt airbag thing somehow got even bigger. Now it’s just absurdly big. And the seatbelt you actually click into a buckle that’s actually inside the seat. More like a normal car."

brc757rr

So then they reconfigured an already reconfigured aircraft? Ship N783AN was the first ship to receive the low density J and high density Y cabin with the Zodiac seat. Very interesting.

jay_dubya

I'm guessing this allows them to test out the new seat without waiting for a complete overhaul of Y and any other modifications the old planes need.

JDiver

I think you're correct.

The infrastructure changes probably require a full widebody C check prior to seats installation (wiring, etc.) and they apparently jumped on the first low-high Zodiac converted (initial test article) aircraft.

As AA intends to use this seat for about half of the 772 fleet, all 787-9 and A350 aircraft, it makes good sense to get an early shakedown in hopes of avoiding another Zodiac debacle.

Microwave

That is mitey odd indeed... Perhaps they will decide to ditch the concept D seats completely? Given the myriad problems they still have with them so long after initial introduction (feeling joined seat moving, dividers fixed in place), perhaps this makes sense...

travelgeek1197

Do these refurbs coincide with the Heavy C's? If not, I guess there is nothing preventing an airline from doing the Heavy C with this early so that the bird does not go out of action for such an extended period of time twice in a few years.

~TC

JDiver

Agreed. If I were at AA I'd contract with HAECO to accomplish the necessary work when the aircraft is due a C check. Then, when the seat set is available, the aircraft goes out of service fora much shorter time (at a US contractor's site?) for the necessary CIP interior removal and installation.

travelgeek1197

That is my thoughts as well.....almost doing the prep during the HEAVY C, so the rest can be done in Tulsa or something quickly. However, you and I both know that regardless of what sense that makes, would be cheaper for HAECO to do everything and unfortunately, I think the current team at AA is more penny wise, pound foolish.

Although now they are instead of ferrying flights to HAECO, it appears they are sending some 772's there as a rev flight from DFW.....guess they assume they won't sell enough seats to have load restriction issues associated with the 772s on such a long flight. Perhaps they just reframe from selling any cargo to ensure no pax get bumped, or figure any bumped just go out on the 77W less than 2 hours later.


~TG

Microwave

These 772 HKG flights go out restricted in both cargo and passenger loads, in all 3 classes. This means they don't sell the planes to capacity, they sell to a lower, load-restricted capacity (basically treating the planes as if they have fewer seats). These would be especially great options for passengers flying economy, as the old 772 layout is 9 abreast all the way back, and there shouldn't be a lot of occupied middle seats.

travelgeek1197

Not sure where that info comes from, and not sure what experience you have with load restricted flights, but I can tell you I have seen AA on more than one occasion address load restricted flights simply by bumping people. Been there, seen that on 772s.

So its good to see if they have changed their approach and actually sell less seats.

~TG

ThreeJulietTango

That's the case when the flight becomes (relatively) unexpectedly load-restricted, such as if there are stronger winds than forecast. If it's a restriction known in advance then AA will artificially limit the amount of seats for sale.

jm62

Just got back from a MR DFW-NRT and had the new seats on both flights. Nice addition to the fleet because all the seats face forward, no movement from neighbor. It was in the 37j configuration. Had seat 4L going and 7A coming back. in 4L the seat felt a little tight when trying to sleep, the foot well is a little small. Coming back had 7A, a bulkhead and the I loved the seat, lots of room to move around. 7A only has one window but is positioned nicely so you can see out. All the seats have the airbags in the seatbelt and made it a little uncomfortable to sleep with it on. My opinion, not as nice as J in the 77w but better than all the other products AA offers.

travelgeek1197

Sounds good......but in reality LAA did not operate that way. Saw long haul flights LR 10+ days out of a month, all with bumped pax, or just avoided it by the skin of there teeth by two no-shows. Certain routes during certain times of the year may be considered "unexpected" in that it doesn't happen every day. But when there is a 40%+ of unfavorable winds, you cannot consider that unexpected.

But again, as I have said, it appears the way they handle such things has changed from what Microwave said.

~TG