American Airlines nixing first class for business class on international flights

FORT WORTH, Texas — In a bid to better satisfy demand, American Airlines confirmed Thursday that it will phase out first-class seating on international flights in favor of creating swankier business-class spots.

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“The first class will not exist … at American Airlines for the simple reason that our customers aren’t buying it,” Vasu Raja, the airline’s chief commercial officer, said on an earnings call, expanding on the change first discussed publicly in September.

According to CNN Business, some of the new seats on long-haul international flights will be dubbed “flagship suites,” featuring sliding doors for privacy and seats that convert into beds.

As per The Street: “Though traveling for business has been declining lately, largely because many companies would rather save money on plane tickets by sticking to Zoom meetings, more customers are willing to shell out a little extra for a more comfortable flight post-pandemic, perhaps for reasons of safety, or perhaps just a general sense that they deserve better in stressful times.”

The bottom line, Raja said, is that American’s customers have spoken.

“The quality of the business class seat has improved so much. And frankly, by removing [first class] we can go provide more business class seats, which is what our customers most want or are most willing to pay for,” he said.

The revamp is expected to increase premium seating on the long-haul planes by more than 45% by 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the newspaper, the airline plans to retrofit its Boeing 777-300ER planes to include the new suites, which will be automatically included on newly delivered Boeing 787-9 planes and Airbus A321 XLRs starting in 2024.

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