{"id":246059,"date":"2025-05-18T20:01:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T20:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airline\/first-class-makes-a-comeback-at-american-and-united-but-under-a-different-name-cranky-flier\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T20:01:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T20:01:23","slug":"first-class-makes-a-comeback-at-american-and-united-but-under-a-different-name-cranky-flier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=246059","title":{"rendered":"First Class Makes a Comeback at American and United But Under a Different Name \u2013 Cranky Flier"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The way that airline cabins are named all seems rather silly to me. After all, what years ago was First, Business, and Economy has now become Business, Premium Economy, and Economy. It\u2019s not all that different. But as premium continues to grow in popularity, the airlines are looking for that next premium opportunity, and that means the return of a more exclusive First Class-style offering. Last week American rolled out its newest premium-heavy B787-9<\/a> configuration, and this week United announced its plans for what it is calling the United Elevated interior<\/a>. What both of these have in common is that the front row of each cabin is more of a First Class-style experience but not quite First Class in name.<\/p>\n

Yes, there have been several global airlines that have long had a premium First Class offering, but this is part of a different trend. This follows JetBlue, Lufthansa, and others who have found that the geometry of the aircraft cabin means that the airlines can use some dead space in the very first row to create an improved and more exclusive experience.<\/p>\n

Really, this trend goes back to when Etihad installed the Residence on its A380s<\/a>. I was a huge fan of that plan since it used previously-dead space on the sides of the stairs on the upper deck. They weren\u2019t going to be able to add extra seats in that area, but they sure could make some of those seats worth paying a lot more money for.<\/p>\n

This has now stretched into other premium cabins. This image from JetBlue of what it calls its Mint Studio on the A321LR shows what I mean:<\/p>\n

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If there was a seat in front of that row, it would cut into the front left area here. But since there isn\u2019t a seat there, this is just extra space which can be used for a guest seat and more room.<\/p>\n

On the surface, both American and United are doing something similar with their B787-9s. For American, it\u2019s a new sub-fleet that is meant to rectify the mistake of putting too few premium seats on its B787s originally. For United, this is about trying to create a sub-fleet to serve the most premium markets \u2014 Singapore is first from San Francisco, and London will follow in the not-too-distant future \u2014 while also setting up for an eventual replacement of those \u201chigh-J\u201d B767s with a ton of Polaris seating.<\/p>\n

As the airline prepares to phase out First Class, American has been somewhat less clear about its plans for these front seats. When it first announced its new aircraft interior over a year ago, it said that the front row would be the Flagship Suite Preferred<\/a> seat on both the new B787-9s and the soon-to-be retrofitted B777-300ERs.<\/p>\n

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This would include more space and storage, of course, but also some onboard goodies that match what Flagship First passengers get today on the few flights that still have it:<\/p>\n