American Airlines eliminating its Flagship First Class product in 2024

As everyone has noticed by now, I moved from London to the San Francisco Bay Area in August.  I started a new job at the end of 2022, and as part of the deal with the new job, I had to sign an Outside Business Agreement so that this blog could continue to exist.  That agreement finally got settled in March, and it’s taken me about another month to get caught back up on the blog.  As of today, I am officially caught up, and so I can talk about my plans for this year!

One of the major developments relevant for this blog is that American Airlines is eliminating its Flagship First Class service in 2024 and introducing a new and improved Flagship Business Class seat.  With the loss of Flagship First, there will be no airline based in the Americas that offers First Class, which is unfortunate. 

I talk a lot on this blog about flights and flying up front, and sometimes I think it might miss one key point; fundamentally, airlines are selling a ticket from one airport to another.  But more than that, airlines want to maximize their profit per passenger, and that’s why different classes of service exist. For domestic flights in the US, which have lower profit margins and are (theoretically) shorter, there are traditionally two classes of service: Economy Class and First Class.  In Europe, this class differentiation is called Business Class and Economy Class instead (arguably because the flights are usually still international). 

Domestic First Class in the US is simply a bigger recliner seat and improved service.  US airlines also like to segregate economy class into different products with improved economy products (e.g. Delta’s Comfort+, United’s Economy Plus, Alaska’s Premium Class, or American’s Main Cabin Extra).  However, on international flights, there are larger profits to be had, and so airlines have an incentive to offer more products on the same aircraft to extract additional revenue from its passengers.  Full-service carriers almost universally, therefore, offer Business Class, Premium Economy (which is relatively new as a concept), and Economy Class on these flights. 

Premium Economy is comparable to domestic First Class, and Economy Class is similarly split into improved and standard.  Business Class, however, takes on a new meaning, which now, almost universally, means lie-flat seats.  Historically, Business Class was more comparable to Premium Economy and airlines offered, instead, ‘First Class’, which has always been ‘the best way to travel’.  However, with improved Business Class offerings, the demand for First Class has decreased because the two classes are more comparable in amenities.  A lot of airlines have decided, therefore, to eliminate First Class due to limited demand

I’d argue a lack of sales in First Class is more a functional of a failure to improve First Class to make it worth paying the upgrade.  In the case of American Airlines, their previous Business Class offering was in a 2-3-2 configuration and had angle-flat seats, whereas First Class was in a 1-2-1 configuration and had lie-flat seats.  When they improved their product to the current Flagship Business product, which is in a 1-2-1 configuration, they also improved their Flagship First hard product, which remained in a 1-2-1 configuration, but not as much.  Because of the swivel of the Flagship First chairs, they don’t have privacy walls, which is unfortunate.  Further, Flagship First’s menu is virtually identical to that of Flagship Business but with 1 singular course.  British Airways’ First Class meal service is a huge step above that of Club World.  American Airlines’ Flagship First flight attendants also don’t receive special training to provide the enhanced, personalized service that one expects in First Class.

All this being said, American Airlines’ Flagship First class was barely anything more than a Business Plus Class in effect.  I’ve only had one opportunity to fly American’s Flagship First class product internationally and on their transcontinental service. 

I took these flights back-to-back in April 2021, and so I was unable to fully experience Flagship First class service, so I’m trying to fit in some more Flagship First class flights before the product disappears entirely.  One of my airline regrets is that I was never able to fly United’s Global/Polaris First class service.  Like Flagship First, it wasn’t an amazing product, but I missed my chance for it.

I’ve booked a few upgrades to/tickets in Flagship First to achieve this goal.  Specifically, I’ve booked flights from London to New York and New York to San Francisco to sample both products. 

The transcontinental variety of Flagship First is only available on select transcontinental routes, including LAX – JFK, LAX – BOS, SFO – JFK, SNA – JFK, and some LAX – MIA flights (which I’ve done in Flagship Business).  The international variety of Flagship First is only available on flights from JFK, LAX, MIA, and DFW to long-haul destinations in South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.  However, only MIA and DFW still offer the “traditional” Flagship First experience that includes Flagship First check-in and Flagship First dining.  LAX no longer offers Flagship First dining, and JFK’s offering is combined with British Airways (in a good way I’m told).  Example routes featuring Flagship First include LAX/DFW/MIA/JFK – LHR, DFW – HKG, DFW/MIA – Sao Paulo.  If the opportunity presents itself, I’ll try to book some of the other routes with Flagship First.

One of the big status perks of flying premium transcontinental flights on American Airlines is that they earn the same amount of tier points as flying transatlantic flights in a given class. Flying (regular discount) economy on this route would usually earn 35 tier points. Transcontinental Flagship Business earns 140 tier points and Flagship First earns 210 tier points. Since an upgrade from Flagship Business to Flagship First can

Let me know in the comments what you think about American Airlines dropping Flagship First.