Antarius

Onboard a BA 772 with their Club suites right now. Seeing the seat and seeing a post by SFO777 (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35807322-post73.html) who got themselves some MD80 F seats, made me again wonder why AA decided to go with a gray on gray color scheme on their aircraft.

Despite being basically the same seat on AA's 789s/some 772s and BA's Club Suite, the latter looks infinitely warmer and classy. JL uses red, CX green etc. Even the LAA a321Ts and 77W had a pattern on the dark blue.

What's the thought process here? Color doesn't cost them materially anything. The current domestic F seats look like benches at the DMV.

dw

Thankfully this should be changing in all cabins with the new batch of 787-9s. As for the current fleet, I think it’s representative of a lot we’ve seen from AA over the past few years- nobody in charge of this stuff really seems to care that much, and being good enough is the MO. After all, they think they’re just selling transportation.

Will also note that AA has historically been pretty bad with branding in general. Their international J hard product is arguably better than UA and DL (with the exception of the Concept D seats), but they have never tried to put any aspirational branding around the product the way the other two have, with “Polaris” and “Delta One”. Yes, there is the current “Flagship” branding, but as someone who flies it a lot, it seems that it’s been done in a fairly half assed way.

bostontraveler

AA has never been stylish... not in design...not with their food, their crew, their lounges or entertainment for that matter...

It's not in their DNA.

D3Kingg

I would say the new AC in EWR is stylish. There are fake fire places.

bostontraveler

If you think that’s bad visit the Extime lounge at CDG 😂
EWR is the lap of luxury!

lrdpenn

As bad as it was, I thought it got even worse post-merger. Seems like it might slowly take a turn for the better with the new lounges / aircraft renderings. Everything is so so drab and borderline sloppy. The colors, logo, font, uniforms, cutlery, 2015-era lounge style, check-in areas, Oasis cabins, app, ...

Pre-merger AA was not modern stylish, but it did feel classic stylish. Which was fine. At least it was something. Although I don't miss the 2000-era text in ALL CAPS with SHADOW. lol

Antarius

Whoever got that giant contract do do their design must be laughing their way to the bank. Let's just do gray everywhere!!

Horton AA did spent some effort as the post bankruptcy, pre merger LAA did have some elements of design touches. Still sorely lacking, but better than what we have now.

AA has a strong color scheme and livery. You can tell an AA plane from miles away; I personally think the livery looks fantastic. Despite this, the inside looks like it was built by the DDR or USSR.

On a side note, i like the livery, but detest that stupid abstract flight symbol. The scissor eagle was modern, timeless, clean and elegant. There was no reason to remove that. It could easily co-exist with all the current branding.

lrdpenn

You'll enjoy wandering around JFK T8 - seems like every few visits I notice/spot yet another scissor eagle for example. And yes they all blend in nicely - especially the jetbridges (which all have eagles) with all the OW liveries/tails now. Maybe I am biased because JFK T8 is my favorite AA terminal with a timeless/muted design.

Eventually they will get renovated away (like what happened to LGA) - although that must be some years away. Hopefully some brand consultant doesn't come by one day and start a removal in the name of "consistency". I doubt that though...at least "consistency" is not in AA's blood

footballfanatic

i still prefer the old AA mainline and eagle branding and livery. timeless

Antarius

it looked great on some aircraft like the MD80, 757, 767. The second batch of 738s onwards started looking odd, as the aircraft used more and more composite parts. The 738s looked patchy with gray paint across the underbelly and wing section. The 787 was a non starter.

I liked the livery, but it ran its course, both in terms of practicality and general design. Given that DFW is amazingly a uniform shade of gray-beige, the new tails stand out a lot more than just blending in.

JoeWoodstock

And, we've now come to understand that the color perfectly matches their true brand: Greyhound in the Sky.

==woodstock

MrAndy1369

IMHO, pmAA had very drab Eisenhower 757's (with the tan/beige seats in F). I'd take today's design/colors any day over that.

However, AA definitely is lacking in polish compared to UA and DL in everything — design, app, livery, plateware, even F linens look meh. It's time for a refresh, IMHO. AA's app is sorely lacking in features and amenities standard on DL/UA's.

HaleiwaFlyer

I will argue for the top spenders, AA is doing the best out of the domestic 3

FAA1996

I fly UA almost as much as AA and its hard to see a difference between cabins. Yesterday on UA TPA-DFW it was impossible to tell what airline I was on once in my seat. Non haul BA flights are even worse, more like a low cost airline than anything else.

HaleiwaFlyer

Where AA shines are their non reverse 777 and 789 J seats with wide foot wells and transcon F seats. Although the colors are drab; the seats are comfy to get sleep.

Domestic F recliner seats are pretty much the same flavor with all domestic 3; not much difference in hard product.

AA beats UA and DAL on their soft touch services with invitation only level spenders.