American Airlines 767-300 Business Class Review
A sure bet for shorter longhaul flights in business
I needed to connect from Miami to JFK to catch a Singapore A380 fifth freedom route to Frankfurt to meet family in Europe over the holidays. I’ve flown plenty of American Airlines first class around the US, but I always like to try and find interesting aircraft/products for what are otherwise boring domestic flights, and I jumped on this ticket when I saw the 767-300 (which continued on to Zurich). For this trip I used some AAdvantage miles (25k) that I got from my signup bonus with the Citi AAdvantage Executive credit card, which when I got it back in 2014 had a 100,000 mile bonus after the spend requirement. Thanks to that particular card’s lounge access priviliges, I also got to hit the Admirals Club in MIA, but more on that later.
How Was The Flight?
What’s awesome:
- good privacy when seated at the window (all even rows)
- seat was comfortable for sleeping and lounging
- great storage options, better than Delta’s version of this same seat
What’s not:
- these seats can feel closed in/constricting after several hours
- no IFE screen? But you get a 10.1″ Samsung tablet on longhauls
- no PDB served (even on domestic flights I expect a PDB of at least water/coffee)
- no stagger to the seats, which means it feels slightly less private than a similar product on other airlines
Seatlink’s take
If you’ve ever flown one of Delta’s 767s in Business Class, or perhaps even JetBlue’s Mint Business Class then you will immediately recognize the forward-facing, staggered 1-2-1 configuration. In generally these products have pretty tight foot/leg space when in bed mode, but as tight as these seats can feel (they’ve been described by some as “coffin-like”), they’re still lie-flat and will allow you to sleep, and if you’re anything like me, then this is a hell of a lot better than recliner or angle-flat anything. Though this was a short flight, I did manage to get a nice nap in, and the window seats next to the window itself (vs the aisle)Â – basically all even-numbered rows – offer nice privacy for a flight of any duration. These seats obviously lack IFE, but for longhaul flights, J passengers are given a tablet for their viewing pleasure.
As this was only a domestic leg, the service program was that of any AA first class leg, so I can’t comment on what the true business class soft product is like for American, but based on the domestic F I’ve experienced a few times, it’s unlikely to disappoint.
Which seat and why
While I generally avoid the last row of the business class cabin because of its usual proximity to either lavs or galleys, in this case it’s a good seat (row 8 window side) because of the private feel and the fact that there’s a bulkhead with only two rows of MCE (Main Cabin Extra) behind. I would avoid row 2 as these are indeed close to the galley, but other than that pretty much anything in a “throne seat” as pictured below will be good, or again the window side seats (even row numbers). Row 7 only has one window, as opposed to the usual 2, but it’s well-positioned so not to worry. Follow this link to check out the entire American 767-300 cabin layout.
TL;DR
I wouldn’t hesitate to take a trip on an AA 763 in the 5-9 hour range. Because this product is both lie-flat and in a 1-2-1 config (which means direct aisle access for all business class passengers), it is a true business class product (IMHO), so a mileage/point redemption will certainly feel worthwhile. This was the domestic leg of a longer flight, so my expectation of the service level was low, but I was pleasantly surprised. Overall I’d give this product 4/5, noting that where I have given Delta the same 4/5 for a similar staggered forward-facing J product, Delta probably actually deserves a 3.5 by comparison.
What else?
Did I miss anything? How do you like AA’s retrofitted 763 business class experience? Leave us a comment below or go ahead and review your seat here: American Airlines 767-300 seating chart.
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