Review - American Airlines Transcontinental First & Business Class Showdown A321 New York Kennedy to San Francisco to New York Kennedy
AA76 JFK-SFO/AA276 SFO-JFK
July 1st, 2021/July 6th, 2021
Check-in:
In true celebration for America’s birthday, my partner and I decided to explore more of this beautiful country by visiting Napa Valley during this year’s 4th of July weekend. Some of y’all privileged class got on a plane to Europa as soon as it reopened like it’s the last call for the Mayflower (but take me please!).
Given the close proximity from San Francisco to Napa Valley, flying direct into SFO seemed like the obvious option. This particular flight is considered a transcontinental flight. Along with flights between New York and La La Land, these flights are the most premium flights in the US due to the robust demand for bicoastal business travel and ample wealth that resides on both sides. While transcontinental flights are nothing compared to the hay-days when they sprinted across, well, the continent on the dot at every hour, fortunately the airlines have not downgraded the flying equipment. That is, you’re still guaranteed a lie-flat bed in first or business class.
American Airlines is unique among its peers in that it’s the only airline to offer both first and business class. When American first configured your average single-aisle Airbus A321 with a mere 102 seats, it was truly groundbreaking, unlike every other gay who posted a shirtless pic in FIP. Direct aisle access and lie-flat seats are terms you often don’t associate with narrow-body jets. But the years have gone by, and the competitors have caught on. And by competitors I just mean JetBlue.
Lounge:
JFK-SFO:
We arrived at JFK at around 6:30AM for our 7:30AM departure, which turned out to be cutting it kind of close at the onset of holiday travels. The terminals at JFK have seen more glorious days. Normally transcontinental premium passengers have access to the Flagship Lounge, which is AA’s international business class lounge. Since international travel hasn’t rebounded as much as domestic travel has, that lounge is currently closed, and all passengers have been redirected to the regular Admirals Club, which is no reason to arrive early for.
SFO-JFK:
Things were a bit different in the California Republic. Although Hollywood never cared to inject a little love (botox) in the eternal mess that is LAX, SFO appears to be a full-on vanity project for Silicon Valley. The windows at SFO are expansive, the floor mats are sans stains, and the whole terminal area rivals the finest WeWork location. I was surprised when I found out there wasn’t kombucha flowing free out of the water fountains. I’m kidding. Me, a public water fountain, imagine.
Our red-eye back to New York wasn’t until 11PM. While I would have preferred to sit by the pool at the Alila Napa Valley rather than in an airport lounge, my partner was worried we wouldn’t be able to find an Uber driver who’s willing take us back to San Francisco. Therefore we had about 2.5hrs to kill. There is an American Express Centurion Lounge at SFO, but all Centurion Lounges are currently operating a limited schedule and close at around 7PM, leaving us with the only option of the Admirals Club.
I’ll just go over the basics about the lounge, as there isn’t a whole lot to discuss. The lounge is somewhat recently renovated and is similar to all the new Admirals Clubs in the network. The space is quite large - to the left of the reception is the separate dining/bar area, and to the right is the more traditional lounge seating.
American Airlines Admirals Club SFO Dining Area
The food selection was the industry standard cubed cheese and cookies, with a hot soup and some salads.
American Airlines Admirals Club SFO Snack Selection
For a domestic lounge, it wasn’t too bad. There were also complimentary Coors Lite and house red/white, which I thought was nice. Additional drinks and food were available for purchase as well, and you can find the digital menu here:
American Airlines Admirals Club SFO Menu
We had been at the vineyards all day and didn’t have a chance to eat, so we ordered the “signature” chicken bites. I think “signature” refers to the actual Safeway Signature brand, because this is what it looked like:
American Airlines Admirals Club SFO Chicken Bites
Alas. It wasn’t like I expected it to be good anyway. The service in the lounge was, on the other hand, good. The wait staff were friendly, and you could tell they had just reopened because everybody was still enthusiastic. The bartender was so bored from watching soccer on TV that he came around to ask if we wanted to do free shots, which I normally would have gladly obliged if it weren’t for a three-day bender in the wine country.
Overall the lounge was serviceable. While the terminal area itself was probably the best you can find in the US, it never hurts to have a free beer. But again, I wouldn’t go out of my way to pay a visit. The best part of the lounge was the unobstructed view of the nearby international terminal. We spotted a British Airways dreamliner pushing back and a China Airlines B77W arriving from Taipei, which I consider to be a treat given how limited international flying still is.
American Airlines Admirals Club SFO Tarmac View
Shortly it was time for us to catch our ride back to New York.
Boarding:
JFK-SFO:
We timely arrived at the gate as our names were paged by the gate agent. As it turned out, the flight was oversold, and luckily we got bumped up from business class to first class.
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Seat
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Seat
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Seat
In actuality, the transcontinental first class seats are identical to the ones in AA’s international business class. I’ve flown in these before, but it still amazed me that at one point in AA’s existence it had the daring to install these on a narrow-body jet. Fathom the AA management back then was like, you know what, let’s not suck anymore.
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Seat
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Seat
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Amenity Kit
Awaiting at our seats were the amenity kit, menu, bedding and a bottle of purified water. I believe the amenity kit is the most recent partnership with STATE, which I had to look up, and it is a baggage company based in Brooklyn. Honestly, I never liked any of AA’s amenity kits, and this one is no exception. I would say the Cole Haan one a few years back was probably the best in terms of quality and design, but then again what’s next, Men’s Warehouse?
I have, however, always thoroughly enjoyed the Casper bedding.
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Bedding
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Seat
The menu and wine list read as follows:
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Menu JFK-SFO
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Menu JFK-SFO
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Wine List JFK-SFO
SFO-JFK:
For the return portion, we didn’t get quite as lucky and sat in the cabin we were booked in. I know, boo-hoo!
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Cabin
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Seat
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Seat
If you are ever traveling with someone, business class is practically more ideal than first class. There is only one seat on each side of the aisle in first class, making a civil (in indoor voice) conversation with your companion challenging.
One abnormality was upon settling in, the Asian business class flight attendant (the entire cabin crew was somehow Asian for that matter) came over to thank me for flying with American again and to let her know if I needed anything during the flight. It was such a déjà vu as if I was flying Cathay Pacific. I’m not sure if the flight attendant recently joined AA from an Asian carrier, but over the 200+ flights I’ve taken with AA, this was the first time I was personally greeted prior to departure.
As the stereotype holds, service was a bit more refined than usual. She always knelt down for each interaction and was extremely attentive throughout the flight.
Awaiting at our seats were the same amenities as in first class, with the only difference being the amenity kit, which was provided by APL.
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Amenity Kit SFO-JFK
Being a red-eye flight, AA still served a full dinner. The menu and wine list read as follows:
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Menu SFO-JFK
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Menu SFO-JFK
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Wine List SFO-JFK
I would say the only notable differentiation between first and business class catering was the Lanson champagne, while in business class it was a prosecco.
Inflight:
JFK-SFO:
Once the plane gained some altitude, cabin service started with handing out headphones, which were the standard Bang & Olufsen.
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First/Business Class Headphone JFK-SFO
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First/Business Class Headphone JFK-SFO
Meal service ensued shortly after, with drinks to start. I ordered a glass of champagne and some orange juice. All drinks were served in plastic cups.
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Breakfast Beverage JFK-SFO
For breakfast, I decided to go with the Swiss cheese and roasted tomato omelet, served with hollandaise sauce, Italian chicken sausage and seasoned potatoes. My partner went with American breakfast, which included scrambled eggs with chives, Canadian bacon, roasted potatoes and herbed tomato. Each option also contained a stale roll, an unmemorable fruit plate and a cheese plate.
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Breakfast JFK-SFO
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Breakfast JFK-SFO
The meals were edible, and I was quite pleased that it wasn’t very greasy. The first class flight attendant was very proactive in offering refills and checking on people to see if anybody needed anything.
Our flight time was blocked for just under 6 hours, which flew by quickly after a meal and a couple movies. Prior to landing, the flight attendant came around with a tray of chocolate chip cookies, which were wrapped in saran film. A cold cookie just doesn’t hit the same as a warm and gooey one, so I took a picture but passed on the consumption.
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship First Class Pre-Arrival Snack JFK-SFO
SFO-JFK:
On the return, dinner selection was a bit more interesting. I chose the seared salmon, served with basmati rice, peas, baby carrots, and herb butter, while my partner chose the beef short ribs, served with white cheddar mascarpone grits, gremolata, and sautéed veggies in a beer sauce.
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Dinner SFO-JFK
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Dinner SFO-JFK
American Airlines A321 Transcontinental Flagship Business Class Dinner SFO-JFK
To accompany the main courses were a burrata salad and a raspberry cheesecake tart. The burrata might sound like a bizarre choice for an airplane meal, but it turned out to be better than expected. The cheesecake hit the spot with the same sugar level from the Cheesecake Factory. I’m confident these are the same options we had on our flight from Hawaii in last December, only not as good. The grits were dry while the salmon flavorless. The short rib was mediocre at best. The zucchinis were fresh and savory, though.
Regardless, it was appreciated that AA still served a full meal on such a late flight. Once the trays were cleared, I quickly reclined my seat for some shut-eye.
On Arrival:
Simply put, there isn’t a better way to fly across the country commercially. However, the difference between first and business class onboard is extremely negligible. Even if you plan on arriving at the airport 5 hours early to chug 3 bottles of Krug, I’d say the price premium is still not worth it, in my humble opinion. That being said, there are other options in the market that are equally, if not marginally better than AA - as I mentioned in the beginning, JetBlue also offers a great product called Mint, which generally has slightly better catering, and United if it’s in the Polaris business cabin.