American Flagship Suites Preferred Review Introduction
In June 2025, American Airlines launched its new 787-9P (P for premium configuration). The 787-9P contains American’s latest business class seat known as Flagship Suites and Flagship Suites Preferred, which delivers a refreshed design with privacy doors. This makes American Airlines the second US based carrier to offer seats with privacy doors following Delta. Soon, United plans to follow suit and introduce privacy doors in 2026 with its newest Polaris cabin.
American has never been an airline I’ve been particularly keen to fly overseas as they historically have offered an average seat with below average service and amenities. With the launch of Flagship Suites, I certainly didn’t expect service to improve much but was curious if American’s latest seat provided enough of a good experience that I would go out of my way to fly it again over the competition.
Booking American Flagship Suites with Miles and Points
American offers its latest Flagship Suites domestically between Los Angeles (LAX) and Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and internationally between Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and London Heathrow (LHR). Additional international routes will launch later this year and into 2026 including Philadelphia to London, Philadelphia to Zurich, Dallas to London, Dallas to Brisbane, Dallas to Auckland, and Dallas to Buenos Aires. When booking, double check AA.com and make sure you are flying an aircraft operated by the “78P – Boeing 787”, otherwise you’ll find yourself on one of American’s older business class cabins.
Once you have a route in mind, what’s the best way to book American’s latest business class with miles and points? My recommendation would be through Alaska’s Mileage Plan (now rebranded as Atmos Rewards). While you can book American award tickets through its own AAdvantage program or through a multitude of One World Airlines (British Airways, Qantas, JAL, Qatar, etc), Alaska’s Mileage Plan typically offers the best value.
To provide an example, my partner and I booked our American Flagship Suites Preferred trip through Alaska’s Mileage Plan from ORD to LHR for 55k miles and $19 in taxes/fees.
If you booked the same trip through American’s AAdvantage program – you’d pay a more costly 70,000 miles. Sometimes this price discrepancy is even greater depending on the day/route.
American Airlines 787-9P Seat Map and Configuration
American’s new 78P has a high density business class cabin containing 14 rows and a total of 51 business class seats. Compared to American’s older 787-9 non premium variant, you’ll notice this is an increase of 21 seats in the business class cabin. While this is a great thing for award availability and upgrades, it’s not the best in terms of service which I’ll cover later in the review.
Below is American’s 78P Boeing 787 seat map that you’ll currently find when booking through American Airlines’ website. The business class cabin is split into two parts. The main business class cabin sits between rows 1 and 9 and the mini cabin sits between rows 10 and 14. All rows are mostly in a 1:2:1 seating configuration.
So which seat is best to choose on American’s 787-9P? Generally, I’d prefer to avoid the front and back rows of a business class cabin due to their proximity to the service galleys and lavatories. However, in the front row of the main and mini business class cabin is what American calls “Flagship Suites Preferred”. These seats offer 19% more bed space and 42% more living area compared to the regular Flagship Suites found in the remainder of the cabin. Beyond the extra space, these seats also offer improved amenities, and in my opinion these benefits outweigh the proximity to the galleys.
It’s not clearly evident yet from the 787-9P seat map which seats offer the Flagship Suite Preferred experience but you’ll find them in seats 1A, 1L, 2D, 2H, 10D, 10H, 10L, and 11A. This is likely due to the fact that American is not currently charging a premium to sit in these seats as they are available on a first come first serve basis. My partner and I were lucky enough to both snag a seat on our flight in 1L and 2H.
Focusing in on the 8 Flagship Suite Preferred seats, some may prefer seats in row 10/11 over rows 1/2 due to the smaller mini cabin having less traffic and noise than the main cabin. Another consideration is that 1L and 2H, while close to the galleys like the rest of the Flagship Suites Preferred, are not immediately next to a bathroom (which is only on the left side of the cabin closer to 1A) so those might make them a better option than the other seats. From sitting in 1L and 2H, my partner and I certainly overheard some of the galley noise and conversations by the cabin crew but it wasn’t off-putting enough where I’d rather sit in a non-preferred seat. If you wear headphones or earplugs during the flight, I wouldn’t anticipate it being a problem at all.
I do expect that American will charge a premium for Flagship Suites Preferred before the end of the year so I’d recommend booking your travel and snagging an available seat before they do. It’ll be interesting to see the premium they charge for these seats, but I’d expect it to be more expensive on longer routes to Australia and New Zealand compared to Europe.
American Airlines Flagship Suites Preferred Seat Review
Our flight left at the late hour of 10:30 PM, but I was able to grab a picture of the beautiful new 787-9P, prior to sunset from the gate area.
Boarding began on time but certainly doesn’t feel all that premium when you have 50 passengers seated in the business class cabin all lining up in the same boarding group. Perhaps American could introduce a higher boarding priority to the 8 Flagship Suites Preferred customers once they start charging for the product to help differentiate it further from the rest of the cabin.
Boarding through the second door, we turned left to arrive at seats 1L and 2H. We liked the look of the American logo in the galley on the new 787-9P.
We were towards the back of the boarding group and the cabin was already quite full as we arrived towards our seats. You’ll notice the Flagship Suites Preferred seats have a black color scheme, which separates them from the brownish color on the outside of the standard Flagship Suites.
Another thing you may notice right away is that all of the seat privacy doors were open. Unfortunately, American was still waiting for FAA certification to unlock the privacy doors for passengers to use on this flight. At the time of writing this review, American has now made the doors available for customers to unlock so you shouldn’t face that problem on your future flight.
At first glance, American’s Flagship Suite Preferred is certainly a bit more spacious than your typical business class seat and offers a larger than average footwell. One thing I don’t love about the seat is the wide variety of colors in use that doesn’t seem cohesive or premium (but maybe that’s just me?).
The front counter space is black/white, the seat headrest is brown, the side drink holder is white, the privacy shields are black/gray, and the storage compartments across the seat are an overly bright red. I wish American had stuck with some more consistent primary colors.
The footwell (while not nearly as large as Air France’s phenomenal bulkhead seat pictured below), does allow for some additional comfort while lounging and sleeping compared. I think this would especially be welcome to taller passengers and side sleepers who might find the traditional footwell on most business class seats to be too restrictive.
In addition to the color scheme, a secondary concern I have with this seat is how well it will stand up over time. The plane we were on had been in service for approximately a month and was already showing some reasonable signs of wear. You’ll notice multiple nicks along the middle of privacy divider in my partner’s seat.
You’ll also notice some good nicks along the privacy door wall on my seat as well which is concerning given the privacy doors weren’t even operable yet at the time of our flight.
Even when the doors are open, you can see the privacy levels are still pretty adequate between the seats.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the specific seat elements. Off to the side of the seat, you have access to table light for which you can adjust the brightness with the button on top.
To the right of the table light is a reading light that you can open and close.
Between the lights is a storage locker which contained the inflight headphones and a mirror. I liked the large size of the mirror and the available tilt function.
In addition to this main storage compartment, you have a small compartment above the seat controls that could hold a wallet, passport, cell phone, etc.
Next to this smaller storage compartment is cocktail trail that you can illuminate. I was offered a pre-departure champagne, which I placed here. The American logo that appears when you illuminate the cocktail tray was pretty slick.
Below the cocktail tray is a vertical slipper holder. I think it’s a great idea to have a dedicated place to put your slippers as I often times misplace one under blankets or the seat when in lie flat mode.
On the opposite side of the seat you have an arm rest which can be raised and lowered.
Looking towards the front of the seat is another set of storage compartment off to the left which contained the safety card, inflight entertainment details, and a pamphlet outlining the seat features. Oddly the pamphlet is specifically for the Flagship Suite and not the Flagship Suite Preferred I was sitting in. While there is certainly overlap between some of the features the overall layout is not the same and would just be confusing to reference more than anything.
Below the front table is the pull out tray, which I do wish had an option to be a bit larger. Going back to the wear and tear on the seat, my partners tray table wouldn’t go fully flat and already had a tilt in it.
Below the tray table are additional storage compartments and the biggest one on the right could comfortably hold my 14 inch MacBook Pro.
Underneath the footwell, is a small shoe storage area.
Overhead you’ll have access to a couple of additional lights and air vents which is a welcome feature for keeping the cabin at your desired temperature.
American Flagship Suites Entertainment and Tech
Both American’s Flagship Suites and Flagship Suites Preferred provide passengers with 17.5 inch 4K entertainment displays. While the display is sharp, I do wish American had opted for a larger and more aesthetically pleasing monitor on the Flagship Suite Preferred. The gray thick border on the display certainly doesn’t feel high end. By comparison, United’s latest Polaris Studio seat launching early next year will include a 27 inch screen.
I did like the overall entertainment interface with access to various controls including a dark mode, seat lighting, and bluetooth (for connecting wireless headphones). There’s even a night shift mode like what you might use on your iPhone to limit blue light.
I liked the design of the flight info screen with quick access to distance left, time of arrival, and gate information. You can drill into your flight map from here to track your flight which has a standard UI that you’ll find across a lot of airlines.
An in-flight drink and snack menu screen was also present but this didn’t seem particularly geared toward international flights. Instead, I think this is what you would expect to eat/drink when this plane is used for domestic hops.
American has a good amount of entertainment options available across Movies, TV Shows, Music, and Games. You can add items to a list that you want to watch throughout the flight. Below is some of what was on offer for this flight.
Included with the seat is a well designed entertainment remote. The look reminds me of the HTC smartphones from back in the day. The remote offers access to quick setting changes and a handy universal search across all the entertainment options available.
In front of the remote holder, you’ll notice a wireless charging pad. Unfortunately, my partner and I have the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max and neither was compatible since they are too large. This seems like a major oversight by American given phone screens seem to be getting larger over the past 5 years rather than smaller.
With that said, I really like the design of the phone stand with wireless charging built in. Most other airlines just have a flat surface to lay your phone for wireless charging but the stand allows you to watch something on your phone or more easily see when a notification comes in while it wirelessly charges.
Below the storage locker, American has included a good variety of power options including a universal outlet, USB-C and USB-A charging options.
My moderately sized Apple charging brick fit well with this outlet.
Finally, American offers Bang and Olufsen to customers in Flagship Suites. These are excellent quality for business class but I personally prefer using my own AirPods.
American Airlines 787-9P Wi-Fi Access
Wifi was offered on this flight for purchase and priced at $20 for 2 hours or $25 for the full flight. Given the short duration of this overnight flight I didn’t opt to pay for it. American is planning to introduce free wifi to most of its fleet in 2026 so I look forward to trying it out when it no longer comes at a cost.
American Flagship Suites Preferred Amenities
American’s Flagship Suites Preferred were originally advertised to come with some additional amenities compared to the standard Flagship Suite. Per American’s newsroom post in 2024, the Flagship Suites Preferred was supposed to come with the following amenities:
- Enhanced amenity kit (same as Flagship First amenity kit)
- Nest Bedding mattress pad
- Nest Bedding slippers
- Duvet
- Cool Touch dual-sided pillow
- Throw blanket
- Chenille lumbar pillow with memory foam
- Nest Bedding pajamas
- Bang & Olufsen noise-canceling headphones
The standard Flagship Suites were only supposed to get access to the duvet, cool touch pillow, slippers, and noise cancelling headphones. With that said American just announced they will also be providing mattress pads and pajamas to all business class passengers on long haul flights to East Asia, the Middle East, India, Australia and New Zealand.
In other words, the differentiation between the amenities you get with Flagship Suites Preferred vs standard Flagship Suites will vary based on your route. It seems you’ll get the most extras on shorter flights between the US and Europe where the standard Flagship Suites won’t get a mattress pad, duvet, and pajamas. I’ll mark this as developing for now as I expect other changes could come once American actually starts charging a premium for Flagship Suites Preferred seats.
So did we get all the amenities originally advertised for Flagship Suites Preferred on our flight? Unfortunately some were missing. It’s unclear to me if American simply failed to load everything on properly on our flight or if they are deferring loading all the advertised amenities until they begin upcharging for these seats (which is certainly fair if it’s the latter). On our flight we did get all the enhanced bedding and slippers but did not receive the pajamas or enhanced amenity kit. My partner curiously inquired if we should have gotten those extra amenities and the flight attendant wasn’t entirely sure either but said they hadn’t been loaded if so.
Focusing in on the amenity kit, we received American’s new Brandon Blackwood amenity kit. Per the press release, we should have received the Portmore handbag pictured to the right below but instead received the standard business class kit. Personally, I prefer the utility of the standard kit we received.
Inside was a dental kit, ear plugs, eye mask, lip balm, and moisturizer. Nothing too exciting here but nothing essential missing either that I’d want to use during a flight.
Below are the slippers provided.
American Airlines 787-9P Taxi and Takeoff
After a refill on my pre-departure champagne, we began to push back and the safety video played.
Oddly after the safety video, American played a fairly long video highlighting the features of the Flagship Suites Preferred. On one hand, I understand if they want to advertise some of the features of this seat to customers so they consider upgrading in the future. However, it got into a lot of small details on the seat features that were only relevant to 8 people on the plane currently sitting in those seats.
For example, it told us where all the storage compartments were around the seat. I’d be pretty annoyed if I was in economy or even one of the standard Flagship Suites listening to this.
As we taxied out, I enjoyed seeing a fleet of American planes out of ORD terminal 3 and a JAL 777 which currently has a rough scheduled departure time of 1:30 AM to Haneda.
As we finally departed, I enjoyed the views of Chicago at night. Given it was Fourth of July weekend, I saw a few fireworks on the way out. The window here is the standard 787 window with dimmable button.
American Airlines Flagship Suites Meal Service
Below is the food and drinks menu available on this flight. American Airlines does offer pre-order meal service online and through its app if you’d like to reserve a specific option ahead of time. We did not pre-order and just selected from the menu.
We did note that the cabin crew did not ask for our meal preferences during boarding and this may have been due to the fact that the business class cabin is simply too large to gather orders from everyone prior to push back. If this is the standard procedure for the 787-9P, an advantage of the front row Flagship Suites is that you’ll probably get your top meal choice as the meal cart comes down the aisle from front to back.
Meal service began with warm nuts, and I selected the chardonnay to drink.
This was followed by appetizers being served on a tray which included the caprese and spinach salad. Both were refreshing after a hot summer day. Salt, pepper, balsamic vinaigrette, and Lindt chocolate were also included.
For the main, I went with the all day roast and my partner went with the seared shrimp. The roast was quite tender but the vegetables were a tad overcooked. My partner enjoyed her shrimp.
For dessert, I ordered the sundae with all the available toppings. The ice cream was still frozen and needed to be softened up for awhile before I could eat it. All in all, this was a solid business class meal service across the Atlantic that left me satisfied. While it’s nothing fancy, I’ve certainly encountered worse across the Atlantic (cough cough United).
Between meal services, a small selection of snacks and sandwiches were set up in the galley between the main and mini business class cabin. While I think the presentation looked nice, I think I would prefer the small plates to be wrapped as other people are going to be reaching over those to grab packaged items or water.
About 90 minutes prior to landing, the breakfast service started. I slept through it but my partner went with the American Breakfast option along with a cappuccino. I’m glad that American continues to offer espresso based drinks on its latest 787 aircraft.
American 787-9P Bathroom
Between meal services, I checked out the forward restroom. Nothing to rave about here in terms of extra amenities or space. I do appreciate when airlines customize the look the bathroom to fit with its branding (KLM’s blue Delft houses, Starlux’s custom toilet paper, etc), but we personally weren’t fans of the clouds in the sky wallpaper here. It felt a little overbearing.
Flagship Suites Preferred Bedding
When it came time to sleep, the nest bedding American provides to Flagship Suites Preferred was very comfortable. In combination with the higher degree of room in the footwell and the overhead vents to regulate temperature, this was some of the best sleep I’ve gotten in business class. When American does start charging a higher price for Flagship Suites Preferred, I think this would be one of the biggest reasons to consider the upgrade especially for taller passengers.
American Airlines 787-9P Service
The service on this flight had its highlights and lowlights. On one hand the crew on this flight was engaging and very friendly. I proactively got refills on my pre-departure beverage prior to push back and the flight attendant working our aisle always warmly asked, “What can I get you, my friend?” A member of the crew would also quite frequently roam the aisle to see if anyone needed anything between meal service.
Where did things go wrong? While I won’t fault the crew at all for this (they were hustling best they could), there was simply too many passengers for them to handle at times. For instance, the initial dinner service took almost 2.5 hours to get through and we were sitting in the front row. Sleep is of the essence on these short overnight flights to Europe and I can’t imagine passengers towards the back were too happy with how long things were taking. American needs to make the service either more efficient or add another crew member to improve the service flow. I have to imagine some people towards the back barely got any sleep before being awoken by the sounds of the breakfast service.
Some of the slowness may have just been due to crew familiarization. I overheard the crew roaming the front galley trying to find where things were compared to what they were used to in other variants of the 787. I also heard them complain how insane this service would be with this many business class passengers and they can’t imagine how challenging it would be if one flight attendant were to call out sick prior to the flight and they had to perform this service with one less person.
Hopefully, American can find ways to improve the service over time. On one hand I really like have 50 business class seats as it increases my chances of snagging an award seat, but it also will cause a noticeable dip in service levels especially on shorter overnight flights. That’s a shame considering this crew was otherwise one of the best I’ve come across flying with American.
American 787-9P Business Class Review – Flagship Suites Preferred
American Airlines’ new Flagship Suite Preferred is highly comfortable, spacious, and offers great tech. I believe it’s one of the best value award tickets across the Atlantic right now given you can book it for as low as 55,000 miles and not pay a premium yet for the Flagship Suite Preferred. While the upside is a top notch seat at a great price, the downside is that’s all I really appreciated about the experience.
If you enjoy a good lounge experience out of the US, Delta One is in a different league compared to American’s Flagship lounges and I’d also give an edge to United’s Polaris lounges. Moreover, I typically find that Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, British Airways and Air France offer better food, service, and amenities (minus the bedding) across the Atlantic while also offering business class seats with privacy doors on select routes. Virgin Atlantic, Air France, and Lufthansa specifically offer enhanced business class seats with extra room that are similar to American’s Flagship Suites Preferred offering but could cost you extra.
I’d fly American’s 787P again if they continue to offer low cost award availability via Alaska Airlines. I hope to evaluate the product again on a longer flight to New Zealand or Australia where the extra space would matter more.
All in all, if you are an American frequent flyer, this will be a significant upgrade to look forward to on your future travels.
