I have to tell you, I have flown JL 787 on the NRT-SIN route and it is one of my favorite routes. The plane is just awesome and when you add JL's service on top of that, it makes for a wonderful flying experience every single time.

And now with AA, I'll be going out of my way to fly MIA-EZE via DFW instead of taking the direct flights, just to fly on the 787!

And this sir is why AA is so bullish on the 77W and the 787s... I think its safe to say they are likely seeing a booking change of high dollar tickets to specific aircraft even if they are "circuitous".

AA's policy is not stated in this thread (directly). Everything here is speculation.

If say a person or two had access to AA policy they would most certainly NOT be allowed to post it here and they would be in deep **** when corporate found out.

The problem is different AA employees are being told different things because they keep changing their minds at corporate. A merger really messes up the groove of an airline. CDG was originally on the books from what all of us were told, but that was like a year ago and managment has rethought what they want to do with these 787s. And that 787 has been under massive security at DFW pending FAA approval. Not even top level management has been allowed near the plane.

I'm forgetting nothing.

You opined that you thought it would be better to fly the small 787 from MIA to EZE instead of from DFW, and I disagreed because MIA-EZE produces several times the O&D and several times the total passenger traffic to EZE than does DFW. The 787 is a smaller plane than 777s, and with almost triple the traffic from MIA, there's no need to downsize the plane to EZE compared to from DFW. DFW-EZE has always been a long and thin route compared to MIA-EZE. If there's any route to EZE that might not need a 777-sized airplane, it's DFW.

Yes, Argentina is in the midst of crisis, but unless it's affecting traffic between EZE and MIA more than it's affecting traffic between EZE and DFW, then DFW-EZE features "too much airplane," not MIA-EZE. AA's 787-8s seat approximately the same as the 763s, and will burn less fuel.

The 787 offers some fuel savings and for airplane geeks, a new experience. UA is proof that it's not a "game-changer." UA is a smaller airline than it was in 2011 and its revenues have not grown anywhere near as much as they've grown at DL, AA, US or WN, despite Smisek's obsessive repetition of the words "787" and "network."

Do you really believe that enough of the flying public (in particular paid J/F) would behave this way? I am skeptical that there are enough aviation enthusiasts who would do this that it impacts AA management decisions about where to put the 788. Possibly some J fliers would do this to get the better hard product - but I think that would be related to the J hard product, not the airframe and its sexy flexy wings .

The 77W on the other hand has - for the moment - a better J and F product than anything else in the AA fleet. I could see non-avgeek pax wanting to book this over the 772 to assure a flat bed.

And once the 772 and 763 fleet are refitted, again, I suspect the majority of the flying public (and HVFs) will book on price and convenience, not necessarily in that order - not the specific aircraft type on a route

Uh-huh. We are definitely the minority here. The vast majority of people don't even know the different types of planes, let alone what plane they will be flying up until they step a foot on it.

MIA-EZE operates 2x 777 and 1x 763. The 763 flight is still profitable. 777's fly full but is also loaded of upgraded PAX - very few paid F/J which was not the case a few years back. The 787 replacing the 763 would allow the route to be even more profitable. When you have a cash cow, you drain it, especially when you can still take your money out (look at the situation in Venezuela where AA has $620 million trapped and can't repatriate. That's more than Q4's earnings for AA!)

I understand your point, we just have different opinions as to where we think the plane should go. Let's just agree to disagree.

I don't think AA sees the 787 as a game changer and it definitely isn't, but it positions the airline in a much better hedging situation should fuel prices increase again, and they will. Not only that, but it allows AA to grow into other markets. On the other hand, if UA thought the 787 was going to be a game changer for them, they didn't notice the had bigger problems than just the types of planes they operate.

Bold and coloring in above quote are mine. On what facts are you basing this statement? I fly this route regularly in paid J and it is always full. I do not ask my fellow passengers whether they paid for J or were upgraded so I do not know the percentage of paid vs upgraded. I am interested to know how you procured this information.

Agree - much of this discussion pertains only to those who frequent FT. Most travelers only ask, does this plane get me to where I want to go?

AA does not operate a 763 MIA-EZE.

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner.

The majority of people are not road warriors. Talk with any international lawyer/banker/high-up corporate exec, especially those who often frequent the same region, and there's a 90% chance that they will have a personal list of airlines and planes (configurations) to avoid.

The majority of people generate losses to an airline. It's this business crowd that makes money for the airline. And they know and care. And talk to each other about this.

That business dynamic is gone. For a while now. With ancillary fees, the so-called "kettles" can bring profit to an airline. Moreover, those $39 short-hop and $99 transcon fares are gone. Even in the winter months, Y international tickets aren't cheap. Domestic F has been discounted to the point of being cheaper than many Y fares. If the "front-cabin" crowd was bringing in so much money for the airlines, we wouldn't be seeing the down-sizing of the front cabins on both domestic and international aircraft.

So you like a little junk in the trunk.

The current thread is: AA publicly announces initial Boeing 787 / 788 routes 11 Feb 2015

This speculation thread discussing possible initial 787-8 aircraft is now archived and closed.

/Moderator