dharmabum1

I have never flown in First Class on the new 777. These new planes have the seats that become almost like beds now. I have flown business to Europe and liked it. Is it worth upgrading to first from coach or business and paying the extra dollars and or miles. It's about an 8hr journey and don't know if First Class is that much better? It will take about an extra $700 on American Airlines and a little adjusting of flights to do it though.

RonZ

Since you are asking for opinions, I say go business and donate the $700 to your favorite charity.

mclaurie

I have flown business on BA with the seats that become like beds. It's definitely easier to sleep than in a regular seat but you're lying almost on the floor. If it's an overnight flight and you don't normally sleep well then, yes, maybe it would be worth it for you. Without knowing what you might be giving up in order to do/afford this, it's hard to judge whether it's worth it to <i>you</i>. I find anything better than coach on a long haul &quot;worth it.&quot; If I'm paying, the coach &quot;plus&quot; or world traveller or whatever they call the business class type seats is good enough for me. Don't know that AA has that option.

Cassandra

Haven't flown first but have observed the seats. Consideration: if you want to look out the window and/or have a conversation with a traveling companion, 1st class isn't where to do it. You are enclosed in a sort of cubby and you may be facing the middle of the plane. Seems to me that if you really want to try to sleep on the eastbound overnight leg, it might be worth it (but either skip dinner or make sure to order it to come early and altogether so you can eat and get right to bed). Coming back, it's a long long long day and you won't be prone the whole time, of course -- so you might be reasonably comfortable in business class. Go to AA's website and look at the firstclass seats, or try airliners.net for some photos. Even seatguru isn't thrilled with all of first class on a 777.

rkkwan

$700 is for upgrade from business to first? If so, it's probably worth it. A 1st class seat usually cost about double that of business, or about $3K to $4K more.

AAFrequentFlyer

Can you tell me how you can upgrade from coach (or is it from business?) to first on AA and for only $700???

If you upgraded to business from coach, no amount of money will get you another upgrade to first, unless you get the ultimate op-up.

Patty

I'm also curious to know how you can upgrade to first for $700. Upgrade from what kind of ticket? Please clarify. Thanks.

AAFrequentFlyer

BTW, here is some info on AA F suites.

AA 777s have 2 different variations of F seats. Atlantic (best) and Pacific (not so good). Unfortunately the names don't mean anything anymore and you may get one or the other on any given flight.

Atlantic suites - IMHO and many other FFers, are one of the best in the industry at the moment. They are very comfortable. Unfortunately AA does not finish the product as it should be done. No PJs like BA or CX or QF, etc. No real pillows, duvets, just regular blankets.
Wines and food is very acceptable. Service is a gamble, but lately I would say that about 9 out of 10 flights have very good crews. Seating is 8 single suites (4 window on each side) and 4 pairs in the middle. If you want to have your partner next to you, choose the middle seats, although it is possible to talk across the aisle if one wants a window seat. Also the suite allows you to invite your partner to have a dinner with you, sitting on the permanent foot rest and sharing your table. Very nice feature.

Pascific suites - Not as private. For me, usually a single traveler, it's not preffered. Still fully flat, but the window passenger has to climb over the aisle passenger when the need to use the toilet arrises and the other passenger is fully stretched out and sleeping.

BTW, there is no way to predict what you will get until the day of the flight. All AA maps on AA.com show the Atlantic suites during reservation, but AA will switch to Pacific when required by operations. It kind of sucks but till they install &quot;rumored&quot; new business seats we all have to play the guessing game. JFK has a very good chance of having Atlantic suites but no guarantees.

Intrepid1

I have always thought that the price of First Class airline seats was/is one of the biggest rip-offs going and I am unable to sleep on a plane unless I am lying fairly flat.

I would also agree that it depends on what else you may be &quot;giving up&quot; for the money.

But, this coming July we are going to fly in Continental's Business/First to Europe and experience their 170-degree seats. We got these on sale this past february directly from the airline and for $1300 each we thought it was worth it for a change.

But what is worth it remains strictly relative to each individual IMO. My understanding has always been that the very vast majority of FC seats are being taken by FF plan members who have either traded in miles or used miles to upgrade.

jlillberto

An awful lot of business class and 1st class seats are taken by non-revs...airline employees, families and friends. When I worked for a major airline, we got 1st class from Tokoyo to Chicago. Flew business quite a few times to Europe and almost always first domestically. I wouldn't pay for first on any route. However, I am paying a discounted business class fare to Copenhagen in September. After our trip home from Paris in April, I just couldn't stand the thought of small, cramped seats in a crowded coach section.

I don't understand how one could possibly upgrade for $700 to Europe either.

dharmabum1

I would be using AA miles. I have enough miles for business and can purchase more miles for $700. Unfortunately, AA runs out of their Mile Saver mile seats rather fast.
Rather, they just don't allocate many of them in the first place. Its really quite bizarre. I can fly in coach round trip for 100,000 Anytime Miles. Normally you only need 90,000 miles to fly round trip to Europe in business class. But for only another 25,000 miles I can fly in First Class in their Mile Saver program because those seats havent been taken yet. So thats why it only costs me another $700 to fly round trip in FC. I have flown in business class before but never in FC to Europe or Japan so I was interested in hearing if it was really worth more to fly in those reclining type bed seats....

Gardyloo

Do you live anywhere close to, or easily accessible to, a Canadian airport served by British Airways? If it were me I'd spend the extra $700 (or probably a fraction of it) to get to Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver and ride in BA's flat-bed business class over the water. You can't use AA miles for transatlantic service on BA between the US and London, but you can from Canada or Mexico. And ironically, if you ride AA to your Canadian gateway you'll earn miles getting there, so the net mileage cost would be less than the 90K for the business class trip.

Just a thought.

Zeus

Wow! $700 would pay my room, board an beers for a week or more in Europe. So that's how the other Half lives...

AAFrequentFlyer

Thanks for the clarification. I have to admit, I didn't expect this explanation, but it's simple enough now that I know what you meant.

<b>Gardyloo</b>,

if he were to use BA, he still would need 125K miles, so he still needs to purchase the miles. So I really don't understand your reasoning about saving anything???

but, Gardyloo is also incorrect as to having to pay to get to Canada. All Partner award will allow the OP to include AA to Canada. The problem is getting BA to open up inventory on their 1 or 2 flights that have F out of Canada. I believe they only have a 1 flight each from Toronto and Vancouver with F, all the other flights are 2 class only.

IMHO, the AA Atlantic suites are better than BA's suites, AA wine list is also better, the food and service very comparable. BA beats AA with the PJs, duvets and a ride on a 747, still the best F ride in the world IMHO.

AAFrequentFlyer

<b>Gardyloo</b>,

humble apology. I misread your entire post. You were talking about business seats on BA, so I do understand your saving theory now.

Still, the award would also include the AA portion to Canada, so even a better deal.

But, there is something special about being in F with total privacy, not sitting backwards (BA thing, 50/50 chance). Sometimes it's not just about having a flat bed seat, it's about the whole experience and maybe that's what the OP is looking for.

Patty

AAFF,
I believe Gardyloo was referring to BA's business class, hence the 90K.

dharmabum1,
Thanks for the explanation. Now that makes sense, although I'm still unsure of what your exact choices are. Are you saying that there are or aren't any business award seats for 90K? If there are, I don't think I would spend the extra 35K on an eight hour flight, especially considering that I would have to purchase the extra miles.

Gardyloo

AAFF - no big thing; I assumed we were talking apples and pork chops.

Are you sure you can use AA award miles to Canada to connect on a BA transatlantic flight on the same PNR and everything? I would have thought that the boffins at AAdvantage would nix that one, but I hhave no experience to justify that assumption.

I think it would also matter where the OP is starting from, and going to. An all-BA itinerary to deep Europe might be preferable to an AA-plus-someone-else itinerary if the ultimate destination doesn't happen to be an AA terminus. Likewise (and this is really a personal viewpoint) on an east coast-UK nighttime itinerary, the FC bed v. the New Club World bed (on BA) would make less difference than if the OP were originating on the west coast or could take a daytime flight. Like many I view FF miles as being worth between US$.01 and $.02 each, so 25K miles = between $250 and $500. Cheap for an upgrade to First on a transatlantic flight; costly for a hotel and a meal once you land.

Intex

I think it really depends on what aircraft you have to fly. Anything FC in a small body is a waste (ie: MD80,737), but to give you an idea of American's FC to Europe, when we travelled from the West Coast to Paris, I was hoping the plane didn't land quite so soon , as I was enjoying the movies,food and seats.

Marilyn

I recently went through a similar dilemma for an SFO-London-Paris-SFO routing. (Gardyloo was one of the posters who helped me.)

There were no coach or business class tickets, but I was eventually able to get first for 125,000 miles on American. It's costing me only $95 pp -- $90 in taxes and $5 service fee for booking by phone rather than on line. (There is no way I could ever have booked this on line!)

So I'm glad to hear that AA First west coast to London is worth it! Now I only have to worry about which seats we get assigned. I just figure I don't want to die with 200,000 AA miles, you know?


Meanwhile, have any of you experts had any experience with Air Tahiti Nui first class? Because that's how we're getting home from CDG to LAX, then AA up to SFO. Would love someone to tell me it will be 10 heavenly hours of feeling like I'm in the South Pacific...

AAFrequentFlyer

AA does not have a non-stop from SFO to London, so you must be connecting somewhere, LAX, DFW, ORD, MIA, JFK or BOS. Once you connect you will be on the 777, not before. As I posted above, it's an unknown which configuration you will get. LAX, JFK or MIA has a better chance for the real F suites, the Atlantic suites, the other connections are 50/50 at best. So seat assignments could change at the airport if the equipment gets substituted. Be prepared for that possibility.

The reports I've seen on Air Tahiti in F are all very favorable. I would expect a very nice flight.