Last Friday I received an invitation from American to an event that would show off the “company’s aircraft modernization plans while onboard an American wide-body jet.” Sounded good, but that event was yesterday and with less than a week’s notice, I couldn’t make time. I was, of course, eagerly awaiting the news. In the end, it wasn’t quite the announcement I would have hoped. The news is good for business class (eventually), but mixed at best (that’s being generous) for coach.

It’s very strange that they brought everyone to Dallas for this event, because while they did hold it on a widebody, it was on an airplane that didn’t have the new product onboard. Why? Because the work to upgrade the seats on the fleet won’t even begin until 2014. Why bother to announce something that’s two years away from even starting? Seems like a show for the bankrupcty court to me. I found it highly amusing that the same day, US Airways put out a release announcing it was done putting flat beds on its A330s. American still hasn’t started.

For the 10 new 777-300ERs being delivered starting this year, there isn’t much news over what has already been leaked out by the airline over the last few months. One thing that still hasn’t been cleared up is whether American will be doing 9 or 10-abreast on the 777s. There were conflicting reports from the event, but looking at the seat counts, it looks like the airline is going with the tighter 3-4-3, 10-abreast configuration on all 777s in coach. But let’s forget about the 777-300ER and instead look at the existing fleet, which was what yesterday’s announcement was really about.

Boeing 777-200 – 47 in the fleet
The current flagship aircraft will be undergoing a fairly dramatic makeover. It looks like it will get the same seats as on the 777-300ER throughout with one big difference. All 47 airplanes will lose First Class and become two-cabin. Hmm, maybe they’ll just take the First Class seats on these planes and plop them on to the 777-300ERs. This means that the only airplanes with true international First Class in the entire American fleet will be those 10 lonely 777-300ERs. That’s a big change for the 47 airplanes that have it today.

Let’s do a little math. The 777-200s today have 16 seats in First and 37 in Business. Those 53 seats will be replaced with “up to” 45 of the new Business Class seats. I would imagine that would take up about same or even a little more floor space even with fewer seats. But the more interesting math is in the back of the bus, where it goes from 190 coach seats to “up to” 45 Main Cabin Extra and “up to” 170 coach seats. I don’t see how that’s in any way possible to net 25 more coach seats unless the airline adds an extra seat in each row. This has to be 10-abreast in a 3-4-3 configuration, unless they’re using “up to” to mean they might back down. But with Main Cabin Extra, American’s version of Economy Plus, at 45 seats, it seems that cabin will be 5 rows of 9-abreast seating no matter what.

If you can sit up there, you’re in much better shape, but it might be tough. American elites and elites on partner airlines will be able to sit there for free, so that’s going to mean a lot of demand. It’s even more pronounced on the 767 as I mention below.

If you do end up in the back, American hopes to make you forget about that by having a bunch of audio/video on demand programming and internet access, just like on the 777-300ER.

Boeing 767-300
The workhorse of the fleet is getting a makeover as well, um, sort of. Well, ok, some the fleet is eventually getting a makeover beginning in a couple years.

There are 58 767-300s in the fleet today and “up to half” will be fixed up and made to look pretty. There will be a flat bed in business with direct aisle access, but I assume it’s not the same seat that will be on the 777s. That seat just doesn’t fit very well into a cabin the width of a 767, so the airline will have to use something else. While this is just my assumption, it seems to be confirmed by the fact that unlike on the 777s, inflight entertainment won’t be in the seat. That’s right; American will continue to distribute tablets for business class travelers as is done today.

In coach, it doesn’t look like things are changing much at all. Today, the 767s have overhead monitors, and I’ve confirmed with American that’s not changing. That’s just weak.

The only change appears to be the addition of a very tiny section of Main Cabin Extra seating on this airplane. By tiny, I mean a mere 14 seats in two rows. Compare this to United which puts more than 50 seats in Economy Plus and Delta with 30 to 40 in Economy Comfort on the same aircraft type and this is not very competitive for all those elites looking for relief.

Why would American do that? Probably because it’s easy. The new 767 configuration will have 167 seats in coach, the same number that currently sit behind the overwing galley and lavs. There are four rows of coach in front of that galley which will apparently become two rows of Main Cabin Extra (and will likely lose some space thanks to the new biz configuration). So it will be very nice up there if you can find a way to get a seat. Competition is going to be very tough to get one of those and there are going to be some seriously unhappy elites.

The way I look at this is that American is doing the bare minimum it can get away with on the 767 until it retires those airplanes. The problem is that apparently the first won’t be retired until “2015(ish)”. Who knows how long it will take for there to be no airplanes left with the old seats. It could be years and years.

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None of the timing issues of this whole thing will stop American from crowing about how it will offer direct aisle access to every one in business class. I counted NINE mentions of direct aisle access in the press release. Why the heck is it focusing so much on that? Because it’s pretty much the only thing that differentiates American from United in a good way. Delta has long been working toward its plan to have direct aisle access for all business class seats, and it will get there way before American. But United continues to have all window seats blocked from the aisle by another seat. And on pre-merger United 777s, there are also two middle seats in each row that don’t touch the aisle. So this is American’s effort to show that it’s better than United.

I’m really mixed on this announcement. In Business Class, it’s a very clear improvement. But coach travelers are really getting the raw end of the deal, despite American’s effort to de-emphasize the bad news. Yes, on the 777, coach passengers get better in-seat entertainment, but they also get narrower seats with one more per row. On the 767 in coach, it seems to me that nothing changes at all. The 767s won’t even get wifi. Main Cabin Extra is nice, but on the 767 there are so few seats that I bet it makes people more angry than not because they can’t get it.

In other words, this looks like the airline has put together a nice show for the court to make it look like it’s really making big changes, but there are some real negatives here. Even forgetting about those issues, the retrofit doesn’t begin for two more years, so this announcement is quite premature from a traveler standpoint.

When American announced it would roll out a slew of new features on its new 777-300ER aircraft in December, I was left with more questions than answers. Now, just a bit more info has been released, and we have some answers but not all. Oh, and we have pictures.

A picture of the new First Class cabin shows that it’s not much different than what’s out there today. It’s just cleaned up, new fabric, etc. That’s ok, because much of a change wasn’t necessary. In Business Class, however, it’s a different story.

As you can see, American is using the same reverse-herringbone style of seat that US Airways has on its airplanes. (Calm down, conspiracy theorists. This has nothing to do with a potential merger between the two.) We can now be sure that the “fully lie flat” seats are going to be flat beds. Whew.

There are also a few things we can glean from the new coach seats.

The above picture shows coach seating, and American confirms that there will be a premium economy section with the exact same seats but more legroom. It’s like American is bringing back “More Room Throughout Coach,” but not actually throughout coach.

In this picture, there are at least 4 seats uninterrupted by an aisle. That can mean one of two things. It could mean that American is sticking with the 2-5-2 configuration that it has on its 777-200s, but that would be surprising. Most airlines have moved away from 2-5-2 to 3-3-3 instead because it requires fewer video power units and it allows for standardized seat sets. (United has switched to 3-3-3 as it renovates its 777 fleet.)

But this can’t be 3-3-3 because there are four together. That would most likely mean that American is moving to the increasingly popular 3-4-3 layout. I say “increasingly popular,” but I mean that only on the airline side. Passengers hate it because, naturally, it means narrower seats. That hasn’t stopped several airlines from going this route, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see American do the same.

We could try to do some math to figure out the number of seats across if American would release its planned configuration on the airplane, but it won’t. My requests were met with the response that no further information is being given at this time. What’s with all the secrecy? I don’t understand why they want to keep pushing out dribs and drabs of info.

Anything else we know? Yep. American had been saying that London would be the first to get the new 777-300ER, but now that’s not happening. The first market will now be Dallas/Ft Worth to Sao Paulo. This market is apparently doing so well for American that it’s throwing a ton of capacity into it. In June, the market goes from a daily flight to 12 weekly. And then in December, the 777-300ER will go on to the route, bringing even more capacity to the market.

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that Latin America gets it first. After all, that’s really where American excels. It’s almost non-existent in Asia, it’s pretty weak in Europe, but it is the king of Latin. Stick to your strengths, right?

I decided to hold the last Emirates post from Nate until I was on paternity leave. You can see his report on the flight out to Dubai, Dubai Airport, and the flight back if you haven’t seen them.
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Probably the best thing about my trip to Dubai was building an itinerary that put me on the Boeing 777-300ER one way and the Airbus A380 the other. Not many travelers have a keen sense of their surroundings when they fly, so this presented a great opportunity to discuss the differences in the two aircraft as Emirates expands and offers both types on routes. I flew the 777 out of San Francisco for 15 hours to Dubai in Business and First Class, and then returned to New York JFK from Dubai on the A380 in Business Class. I found some fairly interesting differences in the two planes the way Emirates configures them.

Seating layout/arrangements
The 777 was in a typical 2-3-2 layout while the A380 had a very interested staggered layout of 1-2-1. Some rows had window seats with a small walkway to the aisle and others had an aisle with no seat in the window. The middle section either had two seats next to each other or two sitting on the aisle separated. The seats then rotate their position, giving each customer access to the aisle. This was a very nice feature as the A380 gives customers much more overall “area” for their individual seat, whereas the 777 you still had a neighbor – and the privacy screen really didn’t block much.

I could still watch my neighbor’s TV for most of my flight. I did select the bulkhead on the 777 and I had more wiggle room to get in and out, but the A380 still wins hands down. The 777′s “traditional” layout is much better if you are traveling with a group of friends or family, as the A380 seems to be designed more for the solo traveler. The other downside to BOTH aircraft is the aisle seats – there is still traffic up and down the aisle, so there’s a risk of getting interrupted while trying to sleep.

Service
One problem Emirates faces with the A380 is that there are a LOT of flight attendants . . . 26 to be exact. The Business Class galley is located in the back of the cabin, so you get a lot of foot traffic. While that can be nice (always someone going by that can you something) it did take time to do a full service for the 55 passengers (out of 76) in my cabin. I also can’t tell you the name of the flight attendant assigned to my section. The 777 provided excellent service as only 2 or 3 flight attendants worked my side of the airplane and I can remember their names. Overall, the 777 service seemed much more efficient.

Boarding/Deplaning
One would think boarding 500 people on an A380 would take awhile, but Emirates seemed to have this one down pat. Most of us in Business Class were in the lounge up until about 30 minutes before departure and found a short line for the premium cabins versus economy. In the A380, I didn’t see a single economy class customer. On the 777, while we had separate lines, we boarded through the same jet bridge. There was a lot of foot traffic through the 777 cabin while boarding, but the flight attendants kept the economy customers moving through, and were able to serve a pre-departure champagne service without any issues. Deplaning was equally fast, as Emirates holds back each respective cabin until those passengers are clear, and in New York we deplaned by the 2nd level. Its hard to pick the 777 or the A380 has both were very efficient.

Sleep
The A380 has a fully flat bed while it’s an angled lie flat bed on the 777. Both seats appear to be the same design and configuration except for the footrest on the A380. On the 777, your seat drops then extends out, and at 6’1″ I slept like a baby. I also really enjoyed the storage space/cut outs in the seat that also meant I had shoulder room. The A380 had a cubby hole for feet which probably helped keep rusty-sock smell from the cabin. But on the 777, it was hard to tell you weren’t lying completely flat. I’d also like to point out that I departed San Francisco at 5p and arrived in Dubai at 7p (next day) and did not feel jetlagged. I only preferred the A380 seat over the 777 because I didn’t have someone directly beside me.

Economy Class
Here’s where it can get painful.

The 777 was originally designed for 9 seats across the cabin, but Emirates has 10. So your butt and shoulders may be making contact with your seatmate for the next 13 hours. At least your knees and feet will be comfortable, as Emirates provides a few more inches of legroom. The A380 has standard seat width, but the legroom isn’t nearly as good as on the 777. In the row I tried out on the A380, the window felt a little more cramped. Both Economy cabins offer in seat video and universal and USB power ports, so even if you are stuck in the 777 in coach, you will still have plenty to keep you busy.

Here are some more pieces for comparison.

The Winner
Interestingly enough, I really enjoyed the 777 flight over the A380 flight. The A380 bar really stands out, but the service was much more consistent on the 777. The foot traffic on the A380 can (and does) stand out, so if you want to avoid it, then try to sit in the forward section of business class. Anyone who pays for Business Class (or upgrades) will not be disappointed. This airline does an amazing job and if I had the budget, I’d gladly fork out $12,000 for this type of service.

Uh oh. It looks like United has decided to delay its refurbishment of the premium cabins on the 777 once again. Now they won’t even start until February 2010, so the problem of dramatically different premium cabin experiences is bound to continue for quite some time.

The 767s are complete, and the 747s are almost there. They say 18 out of 24 aircraft are done with the full 747 fleet being finished by October this year. But those 777s, well, they’ll continue to limp along with the old product. Here’s how things will look when the 747s are done in a couple months.

So what’s the excuse this time? Money. In an internal memo, they blame two things, but I’m not buying the first.

While our International Premium Travel Experience (IPTE) aircraft continue to double our customer satisfaction scores, and the modifications continue to progress well, the B777 program is more complex than the B767 and B747 programs, given the three different B777 sub-fleets. In addition,
we are facing a challenging year due to the global recession, changing market demand and increasing fuel prices.

Uh huh. This thing has been delayed so many times that I find it hard to believe that the complexity is still causing the problem here. Instead, I’ll put my bet on the little blurb that followed:

The decision to postpone the start of the work also allows us to better control our costs in 2009, helping us maintain a stronger cash flow through the historical trough period of the fourth quarter.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! They say you have to spend money to make money, but how does that work when you don’t have money to spend? Sadly, the 777s make up a bit more than half the fleet, so the cost savings here are likely to turn into revenue pain as people look toward other airlines with better options.

I’ve seen many people criticize Delta for what it puts on its blog, but they’ve been putting more and more useful information on there lately. I’d encourage those interested in Delta to go back and give it another chance. My favorite posts are those from Marie Force, Delta’s archive manager. But in the last couple days, there have been a couple of posts with some current developments that are worth noting.

1) Upgrade and Standby lists on Delta.com and Soon, Mobile

Delta was the first that I can recall to invest in flat screen monitors to make all sorts of information available to the people waiting around at the gate. Included in that was the standby list. Did you make it on the earlier flight? Had they even cleared the list yet? What about the upgrade to First Class? The screen had all the info. It has taken them several years, but they’ve finally brought this functionality to the website.

Now when you’re flying, you can go online and make sure you’re on the standby/upgrade list. More importantly, you can see how many seats are available, and you can learn where you are on that list. Nice, huh?

This is only on the website right now, but they say it will be on the mobile version “shortly.” Then it will become much more valuable.

2) Wifi Progress

If you’re one of those people rejoicing at having wireless internet onboard, you’ll be happy to know that Delta has made some real progress. Just yesterday, they said 44 aircraft were outfitted, but this morning they said it was up to 59. As of today, 53 of the MD-88 aircraft (out of 113), 5 757s (out of 128), and the very first MD-90 (out of 16) have been outfitted with wireless internet. One more MD-88 and one MD-90 go in tonight.

If you include all 78 737s, all MD-88s, all MD-90s, and all 757s in the calcuation, that means that 17.6% of the domestic fleet is outfitted. Some of those 757s, however, are part of the international fleet, and some of the 767s are part of the domestic fleet, so it’s not exact. Of course, this doesn’t (and won’t) include regional aircraft.

Still, if you’re on an MD-88, you now have a 47% chance of getting a wireless-enabled aircraft. That’s very good, and it’s progressing quickly.

3) More Room for Crap on 757s

The rest of the updates weren’t exactly earth-shattering, but they’re still kind of interesting. And the blogger who wrote about them writes in pretty technical language, so I thought I could serve as a translator.

One update was on the “75E” aircraft. That’s actually just their internal code for the 757s that fly over the Atlantic. So what did they do? They added larger lav tanks. Apparently, people were cooped up a little too long on those 757s and they must have been running out of room in the lav tanks. Yuck. The modifications will be done on all the international 757s by June 1. Might want to avoid drinking too much water on those planes until then.

Other good news: they put headrests on the coach seats while this was going on.

4) More Business Class on 777-200LR

Delta’s longest haul aircraft, the 777-200LR, is slowly entering the fleet. The third aircraft was just delivered, and they’ve apparently found a way to squeeze in another two business class seats. So instead of 43, there will now be 45 onboard. The first two aircraft will be modified to have two more business class seats in the next couple months as well.