I know this sounds dumb, but who has the best first class seats. We have flown US Air, but they have downsized so much. We are heading to Vegas, and fly 1st because of my hubby's back. Thanks for any input.

To some extent, it depends on the particular aircraft type, not just the carrier.

Maybe if you post the route (where are you flying from?) someone here will be able to give a sensible answer.

Sorry, we are flying Pittsburgh to Las Vegas.

As no one has first class that flies this nonstop, you will have some combination of aircraft, so it is really hard to speak in generalities. If you post complete routings, saying what segments are available with what aircraft, folks might be able to help.

In general, you'd want to avoid regional jets for the longer part of your journey, as their First Class will be hardly worth spending the money- though it might get you to Vegas faster.


Keep in mind that equipment swaps are common, though, so no one can guarantee what plane you'll be on when you fly.
None of the airlines operate the routes you'd fly with their best first class setup. Likely, any difference will be marginal -- particularly if your concern is with the seat itself. Take a look at Seatguru.com. For example, on an A319, the following dimensions for seat and pitch on the four major carriers show no major differences:
Delta 36" pitch, 21" width
United 38", 20.5"
US Airways 37", 21"
American 38", 21"

On different planes, they could easily be swapped.

As Adam's answer indicates, there really is not much difference between
almost all of the domestic first class seats on the various airlines.

The only really nice domestic seats are in the various airlines' business and/or first seats between JFK and either SFO or LAX. But such a routing would mean you'd need to take three flights to get from PIT to LAS and probably be considerably more expensive than a more direct route.

Of the various options JFK-SFO/LAX options, I believe that the new JetBlue business class (or whatever they are calling that section of their planes) between JFK and SFO/LAX might be the least expensive right now. I believe they launch the JFK-LAX in January and JFK-SFO in the spring. But then again you'd have to connect to the JetBlue planes from other airlines.

I disagree with the comment that FC in RJs is always bad. DL has CRJ-900s and E-175s with four rows of 1-2 FC seats, including a lavatory in front for FC. IMO these are some of the best domestic FC seats, except of course when an international aircraft is deployed on a domestic route.

I guess it depends on what "best" First Class is. The meal and entertainment on an RJ will likely be inferior, as will the width of the seat and headroom. I guess the seat itself could be more comfortable but it's a risky bet, given equipment swaps. Even the Delta CRJ-900 for example is only 19.6 inches wide in F, and that's probably the best scenario.

For my money between those city pairs I'd probably go PIT-DFW-LAS on AA as long as that was a legal connection. I like the newer style AA F seats, (pictured below), as the butt slides out when you recline. Plus with AA you're getting decent meals, wifi and power. Now, the seat pictured is on the 737-800s and some 757-200s but NOT the MD-80. However, while that one is older, I still like it too:

Agreed -- too many variables. The bigger the plane, the nicer the F (although I think it is rare you can get a 77 or 76 domestically anymore).

They might change equipment on you but if you stay away from AA S80 you should be comfortable.

I would book on the us airways site because they sell a discounted F