born sleepy

Was fortunate to have SWUs clear on MIA/TLV and TLV/JFK, the latter about five minutes before boarding — I may have let out a little yelp, because the front cabin was booked full two weeks out. Three of six on the list cleared! Maybe the three never made it through the monstrous TLV queues in time? Srsly, get there at least four hours early.

Anyway: the outbound was simple "Business" class. We got an OK meal, Casper pillows and mattress pads, and some brand of pajamas to keep. Nice!

The return was "Flagship Business" according to the menu cover. We did NOT get mattress pads nor pajamas. Each seat had a wrapped duvet and a nice Casper pillow, but no pad. The meal was better (catered in TLV) but the menu structure was the same. Nothing extravagant, and similar wine offerings. I was able to enter the Flagship lounge at JFK, but I'm not sure if that was part of the "Flagship Business" thing, or being EXP/Emerald on an international itin. We landed around 05:40 so the dining room was closed once I got there.

So what's the difference?

JJeffrey

On AA longhaul flights there is absolutely no difference between "Flagship Business" and just "Business" class.

AA marketing has just done a terrible job of the whole "Flagship" thing, it's wildly inconsistent.

The service differences you noticed were purely due to catering differences between departing MIA and TLV, not because one was "Flagship" and the other wasn't.

All AA longhaul flights in business class are considered "Flagship Business" regardless of how it shows up at aa.com or on the ticket receipt, what's printed on the menu, whether the flight departs from a hub with a Flagship Lounge, etc. etc.

aj411

I find the pajamas intriguing. I didnt think AA gave out PJs for anything except First

born sleepy

Clear as mud then... why even bother calling the same thing two different names? When I was researching flights, some show up on aa.com as "flagship biz" and some don't on the same non-F metal, 772.

It makes no sense at all.

JJeffrey

Yea, this is a prime example of one of the many inconsistencies I was referring to above.

shd9

They definitely used to give out PJs and mattress pads to J pax flying to HKG and SYD.

LlamaJesus

I’m flying to TLV in September and read another account that MIA-TLV gives pajamas but not JFK-TLV. So it might just be MIA being weird (and maybe they have a lot there due to all the widebodies that AA pushes through there).

AA really needs to fix the Flagship marketing though, as others have said. IMO it’s not quite as bad as DL and UA (the confusion between Delta One and Polaris referring to hard product vs. soft product is just plain silly…they need to stop using the same term to refer to both products) but they need to do something from a marketing and sales perspective (frankly, start by making it more clear what you’re buying and what you’re getting).

enviroian

Not to LHR though

FlyingEgghead

Makes some sense in that MIA-TLV is 6603 miles, significantly longer than JFK-TLV and any AA European route (even DFW-FCO and LAX-LHR). In fact it's close to LAX-HKG (7260 miles), which had pajamas in J when AA flew it.

enviroian

Silly. Distance shouldn't be a determining metric either way if you're flying AA's beloved "Flagship". Whether it's miami to tel aviv or logan to heathrow, it should be included.

footballfanatic

would it be too much to ask for consistency, and describing that consistency on the website?

jtav559

The only thing consistent about AA is that you have a 100% chance of being pitched a Barclays AA Aviator card on your next flight to anywhere.

BlooJoo

Flights to Asia/Pacific get PJs. TLV is in Asia.

Madison Guy

Well, PEK (when they were flying those routes, ORD-PEK, PEK-LAX for example) did NOT jave PJs in J even though that is Asia.

FlyingEgghead

As noted, it's not that simple. In addition to PEK, I believe there are no pajamas in J on TYO flights and none on JFK-TLV. It's a combination of distance (is the flight long enough to be worth changing into and out of pajamas) and competition (do other airlines provide them in J).