caseminole

flying this flight and wondering about the service, food, amenties, etc.

anything I need to know before flying next weeK?

enpremiere

If all goes well, it shouldn’t have any stops along the way

Decent plane and hard product but I wouldn’t have high expectations about food or service so be ready for the range of bare minimum to exemplary.

jcatman

1. Take expectations, and reduce by 50%.

2. Walk off plane satisfied.

only1percent

The 787-9 is a nice aircraft in business class: good seats (far better than you remember), good washrooms. Lots of on-demand in-flight entertainment options but if you like movies but wait to see them at home you'll find a ton of new releases and a big screen with noise-canceling headphones; not too shabby. You will have okay wines, good liquor, and okay food and snacks. The amenity kits are a lot less generous than you remembered. You will have a proper pillow and blanket. You will have disposable slippers.

enviroian

What would the be product circa 2004? 772? 763? Were there lie flats in these birds back then?

mvoight

AA didn't have lie flats in business class in 2004.

ryan182

These are both a bit harsh IMO. Sure there is a possibility you run into an indifferent crew, but from 15 years ago the hard product is light years above what was on offer then and it’s certainly not a given the service will be poor as many of the FAa are great and do a good job.

fotographer

I think even if the hard product is so so, on any AA craft... its really down to the FA on the flight that are really up the experience.
Some FA's are on the money, and well sad to say some FA's are in different.
Hope the OP gets a great crew.

enpremiere

On second thought, you're right - the hard product on American long haul is indeed far improved by leaps from even ten years go.

Indifferent or perfunctory isn't necessarily bad, it's just that the OP could end up with anything from a really sub-par experience to an absolutely glowing crew.

Now if they the OP 10% to carry in lunch money, we know where the cousins from SCL live

ijgordon

That was probably around the time they had moved to “more room throughout business” (50” pitch recliners to 60”) and were maybe rolling out the angled-flats, IIRC.
F was probably coming off the 763s by then (and the 3-class 762ERs were moving from Int’l service to transcon) but the 772s were moving to all Flagship Suites in F (from “coffin” flat beds on the “Atlantic” config, or maybe the “pacific” can’t remember exactly).

enviroian

Back then seems AA was doing a lot of “moving to” rather than “moving from” compared to now.

carlosdca

2004 is around the time I started qualifying for elite status.
IIRC, NGBC (the angled lie flat seats) were already implemented as well as the F suites.
I flew F (op'd up from J) for the first time in 2005 (FRA-DFW) on the 772 and the swiveling suit was already there and the video screen felt already dated. I remember I had the most indifferent service ever and I was shocked that that was F as I did not notice any difference to the J service and the FAs were even worse in F.
I never saw a recliner on 772 or 763 business.
LAX JFK was on 762s with some some very comfy recliners (very generous recline) with leg rests. I could sleep better on those than on the newer NGBC, lol.
In 2004, the 757s still had the dreadful brown leather recliners in business. How I hated those.

To the OP, you might remember that 15 years ago, service in AA J was hit or miss.
Nothing has changed. Service is still hit or miss. Most of the times "miss".
Really, expect only for the FA to take your meal order and then get it at your seat. A couple of drink refills and then lights off until breakfast.

Seats are way better than what they used to be. So you will be nicely surprised there.

ijgordon

Yeah, I don't remember the exact timelines (could probably break out the photo archives), but both the 772/762ER/763s had pneumatic recliners, initially with only 50" of pitch, that was extended to ~60" (MRTB) on the 772s/763s. This may have happened around 2000 though, as I do recall a ~2000 Brazil trip down in 762 F (62" pitch recliner, J was definitely still 50") and back in 763 J (60" recliner, with coffin flat beds in F). When the 762ERs replaced the non-ERs on the Flagship transcons, they kept the 62" recliner in F (2-1-2) and 50" in J (2-2-2). I think the non-ERs they previously used were 55" pitch in F and ~40" in J (very tight with a legrest, probably similar to today's Premium Economy!).
The 772s initially had 2 configs - Atlantic and Pacific. One had 16 flagship seats, the other had 18 2-2-2 flat bed coffins. The Pacific had a much larger J section too, and I think it had pilot rest bunks. At some point the 772 configurations were harmonized with 16 FS up front and IIRC 42 (maybe 49) J recliners, probably moved to MRTB by that point. I don't recall exactly when the NGBC started going in, but it was probably over a ~2 year period.

F service started going downhill after 9/11, before then there was a caviar cart and a big salad bowl with lobster tails (outbound from US, on the return it was usually chicken) and other toppings, served from the cart; I think the salad lasted a few years longer than the caviar. Of course IFE was pretty bad as you note - I think the 772 F originally used little cassette tapes, and at some point J got mini DVD players.

But definitely no question that the current J hard product is much, much better than what was available ~15 years ago!
Sorry for the tangent, it's fun to reminisce!

cmd320

I don't disagree with the first part however expectations for the hard product have also become considerably higher than they were 15 years ago. The suggestion is relevant though as there are many indifferent or simply rude AA crews out there. If you approach it with very low expectations, you're unlikely to be disappointed.

OskiBear

I just did flight last month and offer the following:

1. Nonstop - don't believe this existed 15 years ago. After over a decade of flying to EZE annually from LAX, this nonstop is an amazing thing. No bleary-eyed connection in DFW/MIA/JFK
2. The 787-9 business class seats are great - I like them better than those on the other AA widebodies
3. If you're traveling alone, I'd recommend a window seat as the center seats don't have much of a "wall" from the seat on the other side. That said, as a couple, it's great
4. It's a night flight, so I was glad for a reasonably quick meal service and then zonked out until breakfast.