Flight Review: American Airlines New York-London New Flagship Business – International
By Paul Riegler on 15 January 2018
Not another review of a flight to London, I hear you cry. Well, dear readers, this one is different. This time we are on a newly configured American Airlines 777-200ER sporting the carrier’s new business-class seats.
The 777-200ER originally was a three-class plane, with Flagship First, business, and coach. A few years ago, the airline decided to offer more business-class seats on these planes and offer Flagship First only on the larger Boeing 777-300ER.
Currently, American operates three evening flights from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow, and two of them are on the newly-configured 777-200s. There are 12 rows of business-class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration starting at row 1, with a total of 45 seats. Each seat has direct-aisle access. This is followed by 55 seats in Main Cabin Extra, the airline’s premium economy lite section, and 160 seats in coach.
American’s new Flagship Lounge at JFK
Terminal 8 at JFK was exceptionally quiet as I arrived. While there were lines at the check-in counters, I already had my boarding pass on my Apple Watch and, with no one on line at the TSA PreCheck, I breezed through.
I had time to stop at the new Flagship Lounge and sip a refreshing drink, but it was soon time to head to the gate.
BOARDING
American switched to a new nine-group boarding process earlier in the year. Group 1 on the updated 777-200ER is for business-class passengers only, which makes sense given the number of business-class seats. I arrived at the gate just as that group was called.
Click here to continue to Page 2 – Flight Plan and Seat Comfort
