OnShortFinal

crazyfrenchbiker

Pleasant surprise flying Friday from LHR-ORD to find PE seats are open. I moved to Row 6 as others above have commented and it appears I'll be on N800AN.

Lavezzi

They ....ing changed the plane again, now i'm back to SQ1 and again not sat next to my partner

econometrics

N768AA leaving PAE back to JFK this morning.

And N754AN going to PAE from JFK as well.

4 Zodiac 45J 772s left in service now.

boss315

Just finished a turnaround MR to HKG on the 77W both ways. I am BIG--6'5' and 300 so room is a must.
From LAX, had exit row, 16B. Unlimited legroom; no problem with bathroom lines or use; leg rest wasn't useful--due to leg length and not AA's fault.;seat cushion length is great (compared to JL and CX where it seems short) blanket and amenities are nice; food MUCH improved over coach; Sort of nice having a semi-dedicated bathroom at front of cabin. Service was C+--crew never smiled or showed any friendliness--not rude--just robotic.
Came back via DFW--16E--exit row but in the four abreast section. I had horrors of this seat, but it wasn't bad--more leg room than I would ever use..easy egress and ingress. Crew much more friendly and very pleasant, proactive and service-oriented.
The other rows had more legroom but seemed rather cramped, still. People had to climb over others, so not sure I would do those rows.
For the extra dollars and assuming not upgrade available, a great product

falco269

Flying N800AN (the lone refurbed 787-8) this morning ORD-SFO, equipment swap/updated seat chart appeared online a few days ago so I was able to snag PE seat 8J labeled as Main Cabin Extra.

They ended up boarding First last, after all other groups. There were some issues with the downgrade process and several passengers who had booked F were not pleased. Gate agents/managers seemed to handle it well. Seems like something that should have been handled properly ahead of time, especially since the equipment change happened days in advance.

FlightNurse

this seems to be a problem with AA, they do not do equipment swap well.

thunderlounge

AA can see when someone bought their ticket, what they paid, and any relevant status.

Ask for volunteers, then pick a way from data on hand. No matter what they do, someone is going to be cheesed off. Might as well bite the bullet and make the process known (and followed.)

FlightNurse

AA knows a lot, when a passengers check in, and if a flight is delayed and if you have a connecting flight, but they do not have their act together when an equipment swap happens, kinda sad

econometrics

N773AN going to PAE from JFK today for PE refit.

N757AN going from PAE to JFK to go back into service with PE.

3 45J Zodiacs left without PE: N759AN, N795AN, N798AN.

Separately, I'm beginning to wonder if AA is reconsidering reducing the 787-8 from 28 to 20J. With only the one 788 refit with PE (N800AN), it's been about a couple of months of them being able to see how this could affect the revs on the 788 routes. Since we're seeing so many 788s ex-ORD, especially to LHR - which has seen pretty solid J demand - I'm purely speculating on this. No further movement to reconfigure the other 19 788s with PE yet is why I'm throwing this out there.

JonNYC

econometrics

Thanks. I saw your note on that, but mistakenly remembered it only being 1x 789, not 2 - or possibly 3.

thunderlounge

An article on Link: TPG from late July has some information on the (then) plan for the 788 refit. Specifically the last paragraph where it reads that:

Considering that article was written on 22 July, thus far it seems to be correctly reflecting what we're seeing. The first frame was worked in September as a prototype, and has been flying since. While we also have not seen another frame sent to PAE thus far.


Of course that is almost a year later than the originally released timeline which had all refits happening last spring and being completed by June. That obviously didn't happen, so perhaps that delay was due to something where they went back to double check demand? Or it could be that with the 773 refits going on at that time, plus the 772's, it was just too much and spreading the fleet too thin. Who knows?

My own speculation is that it's as the article describes. They're checking/testing the modified frame, maybe taking some survey's opinions about the layout etc, and will move forward sometime after the first of the year when the schedule demand for the 788 routes slow down.


Could they, or would they change their mind on the layout? Possibly, but I'm not sure at this point that it is very probable that they would change midstream. If so they would have to get another plan through the FAA (assuming they didn't have a backup approved) as well as another prototype, etc. Seems like an awful lot of hassle.

Personally speaking, I'm happy they seem to be following this as I have one more 788 trip coming up in a couple weeks. I was pretty nervous up until a couple weeks ago, and was right on the fence about moving out of the mini-cabin. Now I'm fairly relaxed over it. Especially as the one converted frame hasn't even sniffed the routes I'm scheduled for. (<knocks on wood>)

econometrics

N754AN heading back to JFK from PAE after the refit.

N798AN going to PAE from JFK today.

Only N795AN & N759AN left without PE / 37J.

SeattleDavid

N795AN would appear to have been in Mobile, AL for a month almost.

And N759AN broke down in Buenos Aires 6 days ago and is scheduled to fly to Tulsa tomorrow (empty presumably).

It would seem that all 772 flights should be expected to have a PE cabin at the moment.