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Unrefitted Boeing 738 to 7M8 or densified Oasis 738 aircraft Swap - Seat loss, etc.

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Old Oct 16, 2018, 12:53 pm
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Last edit by: JDiver
Under “Project Oasis” all legacy AA Boeing 737-800 / 738 aircraft will join the densely configured 737 MAX 8 / 7M8 go on in the 2020s in their “densified” version with the oversized Boeing Space Bins. The densification began during late 2018 and is expected to be complete sometime in 2021.

See AA 737 MAX 8 SSW / 7M8 aircraft in service Nov 2017 (discussion)


For the A321-200 retrofit program under “Project Oasis” see A321 / 32B old to densified A321 / 32B Oasis Aircraft Swap - Seat loss, etc.

See registration numbers of retrofitted “Oasis” standard aircraft on the (unofficial) AA Fleet site in the two pages of 738s - “classic” and “enhanced” versions.

Those reported as refitted show F16, Y156 (MCE30) and “BSI - SPACE” denoting the new Boeing Space Bins, allowing 60 more carryons per aircraft). The pages also list type of IFE, WiFi, etc.

Gary Weissel, managing director of Tronos Aviation Consulting Inc., estimated that American could generate about $400,000 a year for each seat it adds to a plane, based on average fares and typical aircraft usage.
Types:

100 Boeing 737 MAX 8: (began arriving 2018 “out of the box”)

304 Boeing 737-800 737-800 / 738 (rapidly being retrofitted)

Configuration:

Final “Oasis” configuration: F16, Y156 (of which 30 are MCE) IFE WiFi streaming, Internet WiFi mostly? via ViaSat, seat power 110 VAC universal plug plus 5 VDC USB low output, oversized Space overhead baggage bins.

See here for SeatGuru seat chart.

First / Business: (16 seats in rows numbered 1-4, A , DF) Rockwell Collins MiQ (similar to AA Premium Economy seats without foot rests) with 37” seat pitch. NOTE unrefitted 737s have rows 3-6 in F).

Main Cabin Extra: (30 seats numbered rows 8, 9, 10, 16 and 17, seats ABC and DEF) Rockwell Collins Meridian seats with 33” seat pitch.

Main Cabin: (126 seats numbered rows 11-15 and 18-33) Rockwell Collins Meridian seats with 30” seat pitch.

SeatGuru claims

  • First: Pitch 37”, width 21”
  • Main Cabin Extra : Pitch 33”, width 16.6-17.8”
  • Main Cabin: Pitch 30”, width 16.6-17.8”

NOTE: AA does a poor job of retaining your booked or equivalent seats in equipment change situations, which will only increase until 152 aircraft are refitted.

At shoulder height, the width of Rockwell’s Advanced Spacewall restroom -- made by the company’s B/E Aerospace unit -- is about the same as older economy-class restrooms. The space savings comes around sink level, as the wall curves in to allow a row of three seats to be tucked under the bend. The lavatory, which is just one available option, provides seven inches more of cabin space, according to a Rockwell spokeswoman. The company and several airlines declined to provide full dimensions.

The refitted aircraft sport the new “Spacewall“ ultra slimline lavatory (29” in F, 24” in Y). First / Business seats.

The smaller restrooms as installed “out of the box” on American’s 100 new 737 Max aircraft have prompted employees to dub it the Mini. - Bloomberg, 9 Jun 2018
FOR LIST OF CONVERTED Boeing 737-800 aircraft to densified 737-800 / 738 “Oasis” (all 737 MAX 8 / 7M8 aircraft arrive in the “Oasis” configuration out of the box): see American Airlines (unofficial) fleet site 738 Classic (link) and 738 Enhanced link listings. Old versions are 16 / 144, new “Oasis” are 16 / 156.

This retrofit is occurring fairly rapidly, and there are 304 738s. Rather than tediously updating a list here, look at the AA fleet site pages linked to above. The fleet site is updating their information in a timely manner.
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Unrefitted Boeing 738 to 7M8 or densified Oasis 738 aircraft Swap - Seat loss, etc.

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Old Feb 25, 2019, 10:29 am
  #121  
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
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Originally Posted by Agland
Anyone have experience with the Oasis'd Exit Rows vs. normal MCE?

I'm DCA - MIA next month and debating between 17C (second exit row aisle, 'green' rating on seatguru) vs. 10C (second row of MCE, aisle).

I usually prefer to be front of plane, as a rule...

What is everyone's opinion? Anyone flown in either? I'm setting an expertflyer alert for the bulkhead seat, but wondering which spot to sandbag in the meantime.
if you flight is 1 month out, equipment change can happen. Stick with row 8-9 to make sure you get MCE regardless of the plane. I think legroom is comparable to a319.
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Old Feb 25, 2019, 10:38 am
  #122  
 
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Originally Posted by gateH15

if you flight is 1 month out, equipment change can happen. Stick with row 8-9 to make sure you get MCE regardless of the plane. I think legroom is comparable to a319.
Ah... nothing available in 8 or 9. Last row of MCE is 10 in the 'new' planes. What a mess.
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Old Feb 25, 2019, 10:56 am
  #123  
 
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Originally Posted by Agland
Ah... nothing available in 8 or 9. Last row of MCE is 10 in the 'new' planes. What a mess.
well if nothing is available just select the exit row than. If it stays oasised you will have a good legroom. If equipment change happens you screwed regardless. Keep checking if 8-9 opens up
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Old Feb 25, 2019, 10:57 am
  #124  
 
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Originally Posted by gateH15

well if nothing is available just select the exit row than. If it stays oasised you will have a good legroom. If equipment change happens you screwed regardless. Keep checking if 8-9 opens up
Expertflyer to the rescue! (hopefully)
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Old Feb 25, 2019, 11:00 am
  #125  
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I wrote into AA offering suggestions on how to deal with seat changes on these planes and all I got was a "Golly jee, we try" response.......row 8/9 only.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:51 pm
  #126  
 
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So,after reading about the horror of the Oasis plane for over a year, I finally had a chance to fly a 737-800 oasis configuration last night from DCA-ORD.

My later flight,which was also supposed to be an oasis plane, was cancelled. Probably due to the Oasis bin issue. So when I rebooked, all that was available was an aisle seat in row 28. I took it, and spent the next 4 hours checking the seat map and my expertflyer email alerts for an aisle MCE seat. I did get an alert for 9C as I cleared security, but by the time I reacted it was gone.

I figured, for a short flight I can handle the awful seating. FYI, I am a big guy 6'3" and 250 pounds. But, for my height my legs are relatively short.

My overall impression, it isn't as bad as I expected. I like the convenient USB port and tablet holder. The legroom was bad, but it was tolerable. And the seats seem like the same seats in the new 737-800's, just with no IFE screen. To be fair, I was seated next to a fairly small Asian women. If there was someone beside me who ...looked like me.. it would have been uncomfortable, but that is true of any 737-800 even in MCE.

The lavatory is small, but I could still do what I needed to in there. The space bins are nice. I will admit to cheating and putting both my suitcase and breifcase up high, but the bins were far from full, even though people did not put there bags on their sides.

Actually, the biggest problem I see is the extra people. It took forever to load and unload the plane. The new bins are a bit harder to stow luggage, and smaller items can get lost. Also, beverage service to 172 people takes a while, even with 4 FA's.

I did look at the First seats. They did appear really tight and I can see the storage issue at the feet. Along with the lack of a divider, first class is a bigger downgrade the coach in this configuration.

With all that, it is still a downgrade, and I hope the rumors are true that they are thinking of taking at least 1 row out of this plane.

Oh - and a question. During takeoff, we were allowed to have the tablet /phone holders down. But we had to put them away for landing. Is this standard procedure?
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 5:23 pm
  #127  
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
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Originally Posted by KBMIFlyer
So,after reading about the horror of the Oasis plane for over a year, I finally had a chance to fly a 737-800 oasis configuration last night from DCA-ORD.

My later flight,which was also supposed to be an oasis plane, was cancelled. Probably due to the Oasis bin issue. So when I rebooked, all that was available was an aisle seat in row 28. I took it, and spent the next 4 hours checking the seat map and my expertflyer email alerts for an aisle MCE seat. I did get an alert for 9C as I cleared security, but by the time I reacted it was gone.

I figured, for a short flight I can handle the awful seating. FYI, I am a big guy 6'3" and 250 pounds. But, for my height my legs are relatively short.

My overall impression, it isn't as bad as I expected. I like the convenient USB port and tablet holder. The legroom was bad, but it was tolerable. And the seats seem like the same seats in the new 737-800's, just with no IFE screen. To be fair, I was seated next to a fairly small Asian women. If there was someone beside me who ...looked like me.. it would have been uncomfortable, but that is true of any 737-800 even in MCE.

The lavatory is small, but I could still do what I needed to in there. The space bins are nice. I will admit to cheating and putting both my suitcase and breifcase up high, but the bins were far from full, even though people did not put there bags on their sides.

Actually, the biggest problem I see is the extra people. It took forever to load and unload the plane. The new bins are a bit harder to stow luggage, and smaller items can get lost. Also, beverage service to 172 people takes a while, even with 4 FA's.

I did look at the First seats. They did appear really tight and I can see the storage issue at the feet. Along with the lack of a divider, first class is a bigger downgrade the coach in this configuration.

With all that, it is still a downgrade, and I hope the rumors are true that they are thinking of taking at least 1 row out of this plane.

Oh - and a question. During takeoff, we were allowed to have the tablet /phone holders down. But we had to put them away for landing. Is this standard procedure?
Iran not allowed cuz it can get in a way during emergency. But FAs were either unfamiliar with new aircraft or didn’t care which happens sometimes. Once I was on 321 in exit row. My seat mate had laptop open during take off and landing and FAs was sitting right across 🙄
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 6:32 pm
  #128  
 
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Originally Posted by KBMIFlyer
My overall impression, it isn't as bad as I expected. I like the convenient USB port and tablet holder. The legroom was bad, but it was tolerable. And the seats seem like the same seats in the new 737-800's, just with no IFE screen. To be fair, I was seated next to a fairly small Asian women. If there was someone beside me who ...looked like me.. it would have been uncomfortable, but that is true of any 737-800 even in MCE.
Completely. This was the exact same experience I had when I flew one last month in the back row, middle seat after IROPs.

The lavatory is small, but I could still do what I needed to in there. The space bins are nice. I will admit to cheating and putting both my suitcase and breifcase up high, but the bins were far from full, even though people did not put there bags on their sides.

Actually, the biggest problem I see is the extra people. It took forever to load and unload the plane. The new bins are a bit harder to stow luggage, and smaller items can get lost. Also, beverage service to 172 people takes a while, even with 4 FA's.
Agree on this a lot. The seat itself wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it did feel like people just kept coming and coming. My biggest complaint now is the claustrophobia this plane causes. And I’m not at all claustrophobic.


Oh - and a question. During takeoff, we were allowed to have the tablet /phone holders down. But we had to put them away for landing. Is this standard procedure?
We were made to stow them for landing as well.
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Old Mar 31, 2019, 9:00 pm
  #129  
 
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just saw JonNYC posted this! Finally AA got it right. I though this day will never come! No more losing exit row seat assignments.

JDiver, JonNYC, Hippster and 1 others like this.
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Old Apr 1, 2019, 7:41 am
  #130  
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will be curious to hear reports of if it's generally working or not
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Old Apr 1, 2019, 7:47 am
  #131  
 
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Originally Posted by JonNYC
will be curious to hear reports of if it's generally working or not
I’ll report in a few days if my flight gets oasised.
Also would be nice if they did the same for a321 when LAS gets swaped to LUS so you don’t lose row 11
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Old Apr 7, 2019, 11:00 pm
  #132  
 
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Originally Posted by JonNYC
will be curious to hear reports of if it's generally working or not
Didn’t work at all. Three people in our party in J. Originally all in same row. Now all over the place. Could not fix it on line. Had to call AA to put us back together.
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Old Apr 7, 2019, 11:04 pm
  #133  
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Originally Posted by tbrein

Didn’t work at all. Three people in our party in J. Originally all in same row. Now all over the place. Could not fix it on line. Had to call AA to put us back together.
That’s actually not part of the policy if you read it.
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Old Apr 8, 2019, 12:01 am
  #134  
 
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We
Originally Posted by JonNYC
That’s actually not part of the policy if you read it.
Then I don’t understand. We lost our original seats and the three of us were all scattered. There was room to put two together and the other across the aisle.
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Old Apr 8, 2019, 12:12 am
  #135  
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Originally Posted by tbrein
We
Then I don’t understand. We lost our original seats and the three of us were all scattered. There was room to put two together and the other across the aisle.
The policy says nothing about keeping people together, merely retaining seat type.
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