American Airlines' special A321T - TRANSCON Business Class Review

[Music] today's video is sponsored by surf shark hello and welcome to another video and welcome to terminal 8 here at new york's john f kennedy airport now i've traveled with american airlines many many times must be 30 or 40 at least but one thing i've never ticked off is their premium transcontinental service and that's what i'm doing today out to the west coast for san francisco it's american airlines business class on the airbus a321 enjoy the video this trip started bright and early in new york a quick uber from my airport hotel deposited me at terminal 8 which is used by american airlines and their one world partners british airways are due to move in here too in the next few years there's a dedicated check-in area for business class but i was happy to use one of the kiosks which will print your boarding card and bag tag in one go as well as help you make some changes to your booking like picking seats [Music] terminal 8 was built by american and contains a few interesting details such as this cityscape mural incorporating lots of global landmarks and when you get past security there's a war with historic american airlines logos which is your favorite in the middle of the atrium is this eye-catching charles fatsino sculpture which features all the destinations american flew to from jfk in 2013 when it was unveiled business class passengers must use the admirals club here but american allows one world sapphire and emerald frequent flyer customers like me into its top lounge the flagship lounge which is a serious draw to american for me when choosing which airline to use within the us this lounge was renovated a few years ago and is now a clean unfussy and modern place to sit and wait for your plane it was morning when i visited so there was a hot breakfast buffet along with some healthier choices and some of the hard stuff as for me i'd soon be getting lunch on board so i didn't take much and my appetite that morning was rather for the incredible views from this lounge across the apron the american airlines app helpfully tells you the status of the inbound flight and thanks to flight radar i was able to monitor it all the way to the gate this is a special airbus a321 one of 17 configured just for the transcontinental routes flown by american there are just 102 seats on board up front there are 10 lie flat first class seats in a one one configuration then over the wings in the middle of the aircraft is the business class cabin with a 2-2 configuration holding 20 life flat seats down the back are 36 main cabin extra seats and another 36 basic main cabin seats both in a 3-3 configuration [Music] the a321t is a super aircraft but i'll miss the american 757s which were retired this summer jfk must be one of the only airports in the world where it's possible to watch takeoffs and landings that are happening at a completely different airport laguardia is just 10 miles away do let me know if you know of any other airports where you can do this [Music] right outside the flagship lounge there's a display commemorating some medal of honor recipients which is worth checking out if you can spare the time i'll admit editing these videos now is kind of weird i've done a lot of travel in the us and i just miss the sights and the sounds of the airports there the now today's video sponsor is surfshark an award-winning vpn virtual private network vpns can spoof perfectly legally your device's geographic location giving you lots of advantages like unblocking blocked content staying safe on public wi-fi and leveraging lower prices online sometimes this works with plane tickets flying to hong kong in business class this time without the vpn from the uk i'm seeing the lowest prices here of 1635 pounds return enabling the vpn to search as if i'm from a lower income country can reveal better options as the way airlines price their tickets sometimes varies between the country of sale here an option with israeli airline ll saves us 48 pounds in one go that's a greater saving than 27 months of surf shark membership go to surf shark dot deals forward slash winging it for 83 off and three extra months for free of surfsharkvpn i've flown a lot with american and i'm a pretty happy customer but i'll admit my eyebrows were raised by american winning five stars with the airline passenger experience association and here we are aboard this splendid airbus a321t bound for san francisco i've chosen the front row business class because the whole cabin is over the wing and only the front row will afford you a decent view of the ground that kind of stuff matters to me filming a video but really there are no bad seats in this cabin the configuration is 2-2 though so you'll have a seat neighbor wherever you choose to sit bedding and a small amenity kit are provided at the seat it's best just to stow that away for now as we won't be needing them until later [Music] nothing [Applause] [Music] so so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's a beautiful day for flying and we lift off into frozen new york skies and turn west for san francisco today's flight is 2584 miles and it'll take six hours exactly to cross the usa on this airbus these two two seats are of a very similar design to the ones in deltas and united's 757s and do suffer from two major drawbacks one is the lack of privacy which i've already mentioned and the other is that the power ports are in a place which is quite difficult to reach if you're belted into your seat that said however these aircraft do only fly the six-hour flights between the east and west coasts and this is a perfectly adequate product in a marketplace which is very competitively priced by all the major us carriers bonus there are individual air vents at each seat americans domestic premium food offerings are usually pretty lackluster but they have an improved service on these transcon routes which includes hot towel service a pre-lunch drink and smart printed menus [Music] this was a pretty substantial lunch which is important this flight departs at 10 29 a.m local time but six hours later lands at 2 17 p.m san francisco time thanks to the time zone changes you could have 10 hours between meals the braised short rib was fine and although not especially memorable there was nothing really to complain about with any of the food the real highlight on american though is the custom ice cream sundaes where you can choose the toppings and sauces from the ice cream trolley as it passes through a snack basket for the whole cabin was left at the bulkhead but i didn't see anyone use it [Music] there's one bathroom for the 20 business class passengers and it's located at the front of the business cabin connectivity was pretty good on board with the wi-fi priced at a not too expensive 18 for the full flight the speed was pretty good and it didn't drop out once this being an american carrier there was a huge selection of content on the in-flight entertainment including some live channels and including the bbc world service [Music] ah about that amenity kit here are the contents perfectly fine for a six hour flight although this fly fit package some sort of supplement to stave off tiredness i guess is something i've not seen on board a plane before full bedding is provided and i had a comfortable lounge around in the live fat bed before a pre-landing snack of a warm cookie was served incidentally you can sometimes fly these wonderful planes on short hops for very little pre-covid american has been known to make use of these planes to fly short sectors in between transcontinental flights to maximize the use of the aircraft in january i paid just 129 one way to fly the one hour long flight between boston and jfk in first class what's more if economy is more your budget the two two business class seats are available to economy ticket holders who may have paid as little as forty dollars american and one world frequent flyers will get first choice on those seats in an economy ticket but they eventually open up if there are any left 24 hours before departure to everyone else as far as this jfk the san francisco flight goes you can be lucky enough to pick up a one-way business class ticket from about 600 us dollars but then it does come with full service and two and a half thousand miles of country crossed transcontinental service in the u.s is very competitive and i took this flight as part of a much longer itinerary which i obtained as part of a british airways sale don't forget to visit surfshark dot deals forward slash winging it for 83 off and three extra months for free thanks for watching and i'll see you in the next video

Channel: Wingin’ It! Paul Lucas

Views: 108,879

Keywords: American Airlines a321t, American Airlines a321 business class, transcon, transcontinental, business class, New York to san francisco, JFK to sfo, takeoff, landing, American Airlines safety video, American Airlines cabin crew, American Airlines a321t business, flagship business, flagship first, flagship lounge, JFK airport, American Airlines transcontinental business class, Paul lucas, wingin' it, flight review, American Airlines a321t review, flight experience, trip report

Id: iHxZJq6eDQk

Length: 15min 37sec (937 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 28 2020