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American Airlines Business Class 777-300ER Review
The last time I flew American Airlines’ 777-300ER business class product was over 8 years ago ( I did review first class last year ). It uses the same Zodiac Cirrus seat as is found on Cathay Pacific, and I would rank it as AA’s second best business class to the Super Diamonds you find on their 787s and 772. Let’s take a look at this overnight flight , on a quick 6 hour jaunt, from JFK to LHR including booking.
One thing I immediately noticed, and it remained for the entirety of the flight, was the cabin temperature…cold! They kept this bad boy on the very cool side for the whole flight – I was glad I had my hoodie!
Details on American Air’s 777-300ER Business Class JFK-LHR
- When: December 27th, 2024
- Route: JFK-LHR
- Duration: 6 hours
- Class: Business Class
- Seats: 14A and 15A
- Price: 62k American Airlines Miles + $5.60 per person
Booking
I booked this flight the day before departure with a connecting flight from Indianapolis for 62k AA miles and $5.60. In fact, I flew from IND-LGA took an uber ( 30 mins in an Uber Black SUV cost me $170 ) and then JFK to LHR. We enjoyed the Greenwich Lounge while at JFK.
Picking a seat on American’s 777-300ER
There are two cabins to choose from on AA’s 77W business class, and typically I would prefer the mini cabin in rows 3 and 4. However, since we booked this so last minute, most of the seats were selected and we ended up seating at the rear of the aircraft along the window on the port side of the plane. For some reason the embed isn’t showing the 15th row, but that’s where I sat.
American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER aircraft seat map . Provided by seatmaps.com
Is first class worth it? Not really.
I flew first class last year on the same plane from Dallas to London and there is no differentiation between the food, drinks etc that you’d received in business class. The seat is slightly bigger, but honestly, there isn’t really a reason to pay the premium for first vs business class unless you really want a better lounge experience out of New York. You can read the full review here.
First Impression – the plane has held up pretty well!
Here is the picture from 8 years ago, as you can see the seat had a storage compartment with a door and a mirror. That’s no longer the case, which is a bummer.
For a cabin that is pretty old, I thought everything was in quite good shape!
Amenities
The Amenity Kit is basic with toothbrush and toothpaste, ear plugs, a very small eye mask, and some lotion. You do get a pair of slippers.
Seat 15A
I chose the very last seat on the plane, which is my favorite when filming since I can usually photograph and film without disburbing other passengers. This style of seat, often referred to as a reverse herringbone, which situates your head to the outside and feet to the inside is one of my favorite business class configurations.
The last seat in the cabin offers just a single window, but everything else about the seat was exactly how I remembered it.
All of the seating controls are easily accessed immediately next to your head with power, a light, IFE controls, etc
Storage
The cabinet doesn’t have a door on it anymore, as I mentioned earlier in the review, which is a bummer. Having your personal items secured is preferred, but there is a small cubby in the footwell where you can place any items you may be more concerned about.
Speaking of the footwell, this seat didn’t offer any space under the actual foot well for small items.
Bed Mode
The seat makes into a comfortable bed; however, with an 830 pm departure and a short flight across the pond, I sadly didn’t get a wink of sleep on the 6 hour flight. The bed is quite long, and at 6 feet I didn’t have any issues stretching out and feeling as though both the width and length were adequate.
- One medium sized pillow
- One Comforter
Compare this to the amazing bedding of United’s Polaris and you realize that AA is behind the curve on bedding. United provides not one, but two pillows, and a nice comforter.
Food
Since it was an overnight, I skipped the meal service hoping instead that I’d sleep…I just laid there hoping to sleep while everyone got served lol. AA isn’t known for having the best catering anyways, so I didn’t think I was really missing out.
I did have the yogurt and fruit plate for breakfast. The coffee was probably the worst I’ve tasted.
Service
The flight crew could not have been nicer with a fun and peppy attitude.
To Conclude
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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