Review: American Airlines A321 Business Class, New York-Los Angeles

American Airlines Business Class, JFK to LAX

I've never really flown in American Airlines business class so I was really excited about taking this flight. The route being one of the most popular within the USA makes this more special as American Airlines try to offer very good service and hard product on the flight.


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Flight: AA185
Departure time in New York (JFK): 21:15 Terminal 8
Arrival time in Los Angeles (LAX): 00:46 +1 Terminal 4
Aircraft: Airbus A321 Sharklets
Seat: 8C
Duration: 6h 31m
Date of flight: April 3, 2018
*This is a revenue ticket, Business Class flight #156

Video Review from my YouTube Channel 📺

American Airlines Flagship Lounge, Terminal 8

I left the American Airlines Flagship Lounge at 8:05pm for the departure gate which was gate 43.

Boarding, Gate 43

Around 8:38pm, an announcement was made reminding passengers of the hand carry allowance which is just one bag. Seven minutes later, boarding started. This was actually the last flight of the day by AA so you wouldn't wanna miss this flight 😉

Cabin, Business Class

The first five rows on the aircraft comprises the first class cabin and right after that is the business class cabin from rows 6-10 in a 2-2 configuration.

Seats 8A and 8C

Seat, 8C

My seat 8C was an aisle seat.

Personal screen

Under the personal screen is the headphones. The footrest is directly below it.

Seat controls

Bose headphones 👍

Entertainment controller

From the movie selection, I watched the continuation of "Downsizing".

Inflight magazines, air sickness bag, A321T safety card

Power port, headphone jack, bottle of mineral water and amenity kit

The business class amenity kit consisted of a Cole Haan bag, socks, eye mask, ear plugs, bag of Scope and a C.O. Bigelow refreshing travel kit containing a 5ml Rosemary Mint Body Lotion and a 3ml lip balm 👍

Casper bedding 👍

Moments after settling in, I was offered some pre-departure beverage with a choice between water, champagne, etc. and I chose a glass of water. Menu cards were also distributed a few minutes later.

Airshow

Airshow en route to Los Angeles

Inflight Safety Video

Around 9:10pm, the captain came on the PA to welcome us onboard and to inform us of our flight time of 5 hours and 36 minutes and the current temperature in Los Angeles which is 63 degrees. Four minutes later, we began our pushback, followed by the inflight safety video being played on the screen.

American Airlines inflight safety video

Around 9:25pm, the crew started taking food and drinks order. However, about 5 minutes later, the captain was back on the PA to inform us that there would be a bit of delay due to a technical problem. By 10:16pm, we were on the queue as number 5 and 2 minutes later, we had our take off.

Dining

Menu card

Menu card

20 minutes after take off, the table was set up with table napkins and ten minutes later, hot towels were offered.

Around 11pm, my apple juice and mixed nuts were served.

The whole meal was all served in a tray. My Tomato Soup was fantastic as well as the Grilled Lobster and Cheese Sandwich. The other choices were Wagyu Meatloaf and Grilled Cauliflower Steak. Interestingly, the ice cream was Ben & Jerry's although on the menu, it was Haagen Dazs 😉

Around 12:05am, the snacks bar consisting of snacks and fruits was set up located in front of row 6.

Lavatory

American Airlines A321T business class lavatory

American Airlines A321T business class lavatory

Landing

About 25 minutes before landing, a flight attendant was on the PA and announced that they'd be collecting the headphones in first class and business class. Moments later, the captain was back on the PA to inform us that we'd land in LAX Terminal 4 at 1:10am, although we actually landed at 1:08am. We had a long taxi and reached the gate 12 minutes later.

CONCLUSION

Finally, I've been able to try American Airlines business class and I have to say I was impressed. I loved the fact that the seats turn into fully flat beds and the Casper bedding was a big plus. The personal screen was big enough and the movie selection was very good. My tomato soup and lobster sandwich were both very good, although the ice cream should have been Haagen Dazs 😉 The Cole Haan amenity kit was also lovely. Lastly, the crew were friendly and made sure we had an enjoyable flight. Overall, I really enjoyed flying in American Airlines and would definitely fly with them again in the future 😍