Premium Transcon Routes by Airline
 

As someone who does not live in the New York area, I'm trying (and failing) to get a clear handle on who has a "true" premium cabin for long-haul domestic service and out of which airport(s) on the east coast they fly. I know everyone has an NYC-area airport covered (AA, B6, and DL use JFK, UA uses EWR, and VX...wherever a VX plane goes...but I'll set VX aside since (1) VX's premium product is omnipresent and (2) this is basically planning around AS futzing the takeover). At the moment, though...does anyone other than UA fly these products out of the DC area? Or Boston (or indeed anywhere else on the Eastern Seaboard)?

On the other end, I'm presuming that SFO/LAX are basically the only destinations "on the board" (SEA is the only other one of interest, really). That's less of an issue for the moment.

Normally I'd just check this via ITA Matrix, but for once that system is basically useless for my purposes (since "business or better" will kick out both three-class aircraft offering J and F alongside two-cabin "baseline domestic F" offerings), AA's website produces some strange apparently-errant fares (F prices normally but I wind up with a $10,000-ish price on Business), and nobody seems to want to "cleanly" differentiate between "just F" and "premium F" (DL, for example, just has a "First/Delta One" listing).

I'm thinking that the options are basically:
UA: EWR-SFO/LAX, IAD-SFO/LAX
AA: JFK-SFO/LAX
DL: JFK-SFO/LAX
B6: JFK-SFO/LAX

UA's TCON services out of IAD are almost all two-class 737/A320 series jets, though I think there's generally an evening trip with a 777 to one or both destinations

DL occasionally runs a 757 with 16 lie-flat "Delta One" seats on JFK<-->SEA, but unlike the LAX/SFO routes that indeed get the highly marketed (and high-priced) premium cabin service and amenities, you'll just see standard domestic F catering, blankets, pillows, etc on these trips

BOS-SFO now. BOS-LAX coming later this year. FLL-SFO/LAX, SAN-BOS/JFK, SEA-BOS/JFK, LAS-JFK slowly rolling into the system starting in 2017. More to come after that, but details remain fuzzy on the next round.

(link to my blog; you've been warned)

Thanks on the update; I wasn't sure what the rollout timetable was for B6 and was basically presuming "next year" for the rest.

On DL: I'll check the offering there, since a direct into SEA actually works for certain circumstances for me (even if it means I have to give up an afternoon in the Clubhouse at SFO). Is the 757-200 offering (with the seats showing up at an angle on the DL seatmap) one of these (the offering lists as "Business Class" and codes as J/C/I/D/Z)? As much as I'd like the premium soft product, I'm really most interested in a solid hard product (in a pinch I can always pack a blanket from VX or 2V).

On UA: I found one flight to LAX and two/day (one morning, one evening) to SFO on the day I was looking. IIRC, some of this may be down to the strangeness from that union settlement.

Edit: Actually, domestic flights listing as J/C/I/D/Z...are those similar instances? ATL seems to have some of those headed westwards.

yes ... the only caveat I will offer about these J seats is that you have to be a contortionist to get out of the window seat if the passenger in the aisle seat has it in the full (or nearly) flat position

DL has a number of ATL<-->SEA flights that are continuations of international trips: these will display the premium booking inventory codes, but unless there's a "flat bed" icon in the flight info section you're almost certainly going to get 20 standard domestic F seats on a 757 or a 737-900 ... that said, typically they run a 767-300 on an early morning (~0830) westbound and a mid-morning (~1045) eastbound trip, and there are usually 36 flat-beds on those jets (even though it will be standard domestic F service)

Ok, now I'm making a point to check for lie-flats.

Just to check, neither AA nor UA have any equivalent "broad networks" of lie-flats domestically, right?

Edit: UA seems to have some scattershot options. AA looks like the thinnest of the "big three" in terms of these options (which is really just as well from my POV).

American's A321T, which is used on the JFK-LAX/SFO routes, is configured with 10 F and 20 C lie-flat seats.



http://www.businesstraveller.com/fil...st-class-2.jpg



http://www.nycaviation.com/newspage/...30-620x413.jpg