I’ve been at least an Executive Platinum with American Airlines each year since 2012. Since I’m sitting over 3.8 million miles on my lifetime status counter, I’m thrilled that they’ve introduced higher lifetime status tiers.
While I don’t fly American as much as I once did – AAdvantage was once so rewarding that going somewhere meant just looking for flights at AA.com – they’re still a major player at my home airport. And there’s a lot that I am looking forward to with them in 2025.
In fact there are five things I’m very excited for from American Airlines in the new year. We should see several big improvements have been years in the making.
- New business class widebody suites. These were supposed to debut in 2024 on new Boeing 787-9 delivery aircraft. The first international route was supposed to be Dallas – Brisbane. American Airlines is introducing business class suites with doors, and bulkhead rows that offer extra space and more premium amenities as well.
Credit: American Airlines
Flagship Suite Preferred Seat, Credit: American AirlinesThe attention to detail also looks to be far greater than their current business class seats, which are already better than Delta’s transatlantic workhorse 767 seats and better than United’s Polaris seats.
What’s more, American is going premium-heavy on its 787-9 aircraft with these seats, and with its Boeing 777-300ERs when it reconfigures those (losing Flagship First Class).
- Arrival of the first Airbus A321XLR. American will be taking delivery of Airbus’s new long range narrowbody aircraft, allowing them to convert some seasonal Europe flights to year-round and to reach thinner markets non-stop, flying to secondary European cities.
What’s more, they will have a 1-1 configuration in business class, and business class seats with doors, as well as a new premium economy product on these planes.
Credit: American Airlines
Credit: American Airlines - The Philadelphia Flagship Lounge. American Airlines has business class lounges at New York JFK, Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare, Miami and Dallas – Fort Worth. They’ve been promising a lounge for their primary transatlantic gateway, Philadelphia, for many years and it’s finally in sight.
Construction was set to begin in 2019 for a 2020 opening but was delayed by the pandemic. I wrote exclusively in summer 2023 that the Philadelphia Flagship Lounge project was green lit to return. It’s finally coming in 2025.
There’s a sense in which this may be worth the long wait. They were going to design the space in the old Flagship template which is ok at best. Instead, here’s a rendering of the entryway to the Flagship and Admirals Clubs showing that they’re in the new design template – which have made for truly special spaces at Washington National (E Concourse), Denver, and Newark.
Credit: American AirlinesFlagship lounges are for customers flying long haul business class or first class on American and its oneworld partners; American Airlines Platinum members and above flying international regardless of class of service; and for oneworld sapphire members and above (from airlines other then American and Alaska) and American Airlines ConciergeKey members even when flying domestically.
Passes for Flagship lounge access are available as choice benefits for achieving various loyalty point thresholds each year, and as an ‘Enhance With Miles’ redemption option. (There’s also an option for elites to redeem miles for Flagship First Dining in Miami and Dallas.)
With the new design template, the Philadelphia Flagship lounge will depart from all the rest of the American Airlines business class spaces – and will be a more elevated experience. The A West Admirals Club will similarly be the nicest at the airport, and one of the four nicest in the system. The only other announced ‘new template’ club is Austin, but that one is no longer even slated to be in the same location in the airport – and the new portion of the terminal where it’ll be located isn’t even built yet.
- More first class seats Airbus A320 and A319 aircraft. American plans to retrofit its Airbus A319 and A320 fleets starting this year, including adding 4 first class seats to both aircraft. That will bring the A319 to 12 first class seats and the Airbus A320 to 16.
I’ve been writing for years that American wanted to add first class seats to its Airbus A319s but first needed to make progress on retrofits of its other aircraft and I’ve been harping on the need to refresh or retire the Airbus A320s for some time.
This will give American more first class seats, and there often aren’t enough available even to buy on many routes. It also helps a little bit with upgrades.
- Satellite WiFi on large regional jets. In a two-year process, American is installing high speed internet in its two-cabin regional aircraft. That means Embraer E-175, Bombardier CR7 and CR9s. (Their 50 seat Embraer E-145s will remain dark.)
Regional jet wifi will be provided by Intelsat, which acquired Gogo’s commercial business. This is the provider for American’s Airbus A320 and legacy US Airways A319 aircraft. They’re upgrading the old Gogo air to ground systems currently on these aircraft. It’s gotten to the point that I avoid American’s regional jets whenever I can because I don’t want to fly without functional internet. That will change as these retrofits progress.
Since these are the things I’m looking forward to the most from American Airlines in 2025, it seems fitting to offer suggestions for 5 things American could do to further improve and give me new things to look forward to this year and beyond!
- Offer food for sale. American ostensibly only offers food for sale on flights at least 1,300 miles, and there’s not hot options, but the last time I flew New York JFK – Austin they didn’t have any onboard. Flying United Airlines was a revelation. There were copious options to choose from on routes where American offers nothing.
American West under-then CEO Doug Parker is credited with the innovation of moving from free meals in coach to offering food for sale instead so you’d think American Airlines would be a leader here!
Plus, a free item is ostensibly a benefit of AAdvantage Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum status, and the AAdvantage Aviator Silver credit card offers a statement credit for these purposes, so they should actually stock food for sale on flights!
- Price WiFi competitively. American Airlines wifi is more expensive than on any other domestic carrier – by a lot. Delta and JetBlue offer it free. United’s will be free – they’re installing Starlink which is also the fastest. Until then United prices like Southwest and Alaska, with all hovering around $8. You might pay as much as $29 for wifi on a single American Airlines flight – and American is removing the last of their seatback television screens on narrowbody aircraft, too.
By the way, did you know that WiFi doesn’t actually stand for anything? It’s not an acronym or shortening of a name. It’s just something a marketing agency came up with to roll off the tongue better than “IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence.” American’s inflight ViaSat wifi offered industry-leading speed at one point but Delta uses ViaSat, too, and StarLink is faster with less latency. It’s no longer defensible to charge so much more for an average product. And while faster wifi is coming to regional jets, their 50-seat RJs will remain dark. They never even kept their 2017 promise of free messaging!
- Offer more extra legroom seats to sell. Their Boeing 737-800 and MAX 8 aircraft, for instance, have just 3 rows on “Main Cabin Extra” seating aside from the two exit rows. If you aren’t booking months in advance you may not find Main Cabin Extra seats together, or a Main Cabin Extra aisle. Delta and United have learned they can actually sell these.
American decided to offer fewer seats as part of squeezing in more seats – chasing Spirit and Frontier on legroom rather than chasing revenue. They should reconsider their LOPA, since premium seating isn’t just more first class seats.
- Reverse customer-unfriendly policy changes. American operates hubs throughout the country, but in promoting the size and scope of their domestic network changed its standby policies to keep customers from benefiting from those. After current management took over, standby rules changed to prevent a customer from changing their routing. They must still connect through the same hub if standing by for a different flight. That completely eliminates the standby option in many markets, where there aren’t numerous flights a day through each hub.
Further cracking down on standby, the option to have a human add most customers to the standby list has been eliminated. It’s now self-service for all but Platinum Pro members and above and must be doen 45 minutes or more prior to departure. That’s punitive. Seats can go out empty with passengers just standing there, making American and unfriendly airline for the business traveler whose meeting ends early and hopes to make it home for dinner or bedtime with the little ones.
Meanwhile, in imposing more draconian baggage interline rules than competitors, they waste customer time. To avoid having to share checked bag fees with other airlines, they refuse to interline bags on separate tickets – even onto close partners and even when it’s two American Airlines tickets.
American’s elites don’t pay for checked bags, though, so why impose this rule on them? And why impose it on award tickets, including awards on non-oneworld partners where members can’t circumvent the rule by buying paid tickets inside the existing reservation made for an award?
The airline should restore standby at the gate, improve standby rules, and restore through-check bags on their own separate tickets and where a partner airline is involved – in other words they should match competitor policies.
- Update clubs to current standard. The newest American Airlines Admirals Clubs are gorgeous – the E Concourse club at Washington National airport, and new clubs at Denver and Newark. While American’s improved food offerings still don’t compare to Delta or United, the spaces are exceptionally nice. I’d rather sit and work in that E Concourse club than in any other U.S. airline club, anywhere.
Unfortunately, American doesn’t have a slew of new clubs in the offing. And there are no announced plans to retrofit existing clubs with the new design template. There are too many clubs that haven’t seen a real refresh since US Airways days (the main Charlotte and Philadelphia B/C especially) and the 2018-era style is best dubbed ‘modern hospital’.
American has among the very best lounge aesthetics in its new clubs, and some of the worst beyond that. An aversion to non-aircraft capital spending notwithstanding, American should consider investing in its existing lounge footprint.
While I’m making wishes, I’d love to see American keep its current partner award chart (AAdvantage Director Chris Isaac told me last month they have no plans to announce changes) and re-open its LAX Flagship First Dining now that there’s a revenue stream possible with miles redemptions. I liked it better than the Miami and Dallas locations, though not as much as New York JFK which is no longer as special as the Chelsea lounge.
