flying from JFK to Rome in may. wanted to know if is worth it to upgrade from coach to first. costing 25k miles plus $250. usually love the upgrades from domestic, caribbean flights on AA but concern on the excessive miles to upgrade to Europe. Is it worth it......

If you can upgrade all the way from coach to 1st, then yes, it's definitely worth it. Most AA transatlantic flights are 3 class, so are you sure the upgrade isn't to business class?

The biggest differences between coach and business are the seats. a) elbow room and b) they actually recline so you can almost get some sleep, and c) leg room - great especially if you're over 5'10".

I don't find the food in AA business class very good, and usually eat before I get on the plane anyway so I can sleep as much as possible.

AA 1st class is lie flat beds and another step up in food quality.

The flight to Rome is a 2 class 763. It's actually very nice. Is it worth it? that's a personal decision. With the new $250 co-pay, it does make it on the expensive side, but I find the 2 class front cabin a lot better than the middle cabin on a 3 class 777. You get what is a cross between first and business in business class. The food offering is better, service is a lot better and you do get a personal DVD player with noise cancelling headphones. The setup includes about 20 DVDs. Latest movies, some classics, children stuff as well as some TV shows. What makes this nicer over the business class on a 777 is the fact that it's basically "on demand" setup. On a 777 the poor individual screen quality coupled with the shows running in a cycle makes it a very antiquated.

Personally I would upgrade, but than I get to use the SWUs that do not need a co-pay, although AA changed rules and excluded the lowest Q fares from the possibility of using SWUs. One way or another they do get their money.

so would i get flatbeds on this flight or no? traying to decided whether i would be able to sleep thru the flight or not?

No flatbed, but it is a nice seat with tons of room, 62" of pitch to be precise. It almost flat when reclined, but it is on an angle, still a better recline than the business seat on their 777s. Unfortunately AA only provides a small pillow with a regular blanket, so many people bring their own big pillows.

I forgot to mention few other perks you will get flying in business class.

Business class check-in.
Business class lounges access.
I'm not sure if Rome airport has this, but some airports have a special immigration line for business/first class passengers. In London it has been a life saver in many instances. I've seen the regular lines stretch outside the immigration hall with hundreds of people from all over the world. At the same time the "special" line was only 10 or so people deep.

No American Airlines lounge in Rome.

The American Airlines business class product is great. I prefer it to that of SWISS and Lufthansa... the whole concept of life flat is far over-blown. American has lazy-boy style seats that, in my opinion, are far greater to sleep, work or just lay around on.

One downside - you do not the mechanical flight attendants everyone raves about on Singapore, Lufthansa, SWISS, etc... Food is not superb, nor is the wine selection.

Forgot to mention that...

British Airways is the only flat bed Business I'd ever consider (Maybe Virgin's Upper Class, but never had the chance to try).

BA has a true bed, and an unbelievable product.

As a business ticket holder flying from Rome, you will get an initation to use some partners lounge. Can't tell you which one but that's the way it works when AA does not have an Admiral's Club.

I will have to disagree about wine selection in J or F on AA. It actually does have a very nice selection, in most cases better than BA or few other European airlines.

I had some superb AA FAs working the flights and I also had some average ones with an occasional bad one thrown in, but these days that's very much true to most European based airlines as well.

AAFrequentFlyer,

My downside was meant to be a tongue in cheek remark! American has great Flight Attendants, better than most airlines I have flown.