American’s transition to a premium airline took another very big step forward today as it has decided to reverse course. Not only will the airline be bringing back in-seat video on the domestic mainline fleet — eventually — but it is also going to add more extra legroom seating.
This move to put screens in each seat is symbolically very important, even if the timing is rather odd. After all, the airline is just now getting around to removing the screens from its final pre-merger A319s, the last narrowbodies that had them. US Airways had no screens, but American did, and as we all know, the new American adopted the US Airways strategy.
American had stuck to that plan to be a lower-cost, lower-frills network carrier for years. As financial results continued to sag, it finally changed its tune, suddenly deciding it wanted to be a premium network airline like Delta and United. It has already made some moves in that regard, pouring money into lounges, improving coffee and liquor, and refitting some narrowbodies with more premium seats. But nothing is going to be as visible as adding back in-seat video.
I’ve talked about this over the years, and originally, I didn’t see a need for seatback screens on domestic flights. But over time, I waffled, and to this day, I still waffle. But increasingly I see the value. It is a much more premium look and feel for travelers. Boarding an American aircraft is a stark reminder that sitting in coach on that airline feels more like flying Frontier than it does flying United, Delta, or JetBlue. Screens have become the most visible sign that you are flying on a full-service airline.
Obviously the goal is to justify the screens by gaining share, personalizing the experience, and improving revenue… all that good stuff. But there is a monetization angle as well that Delta and United have pursued. Free wifi gets the airline your data, and then there’s a screen right in front of you which the airlines can use to advertise whatever they want. This hasn’t been wildly successful yet, but we are just scratching the surface. United has set up Kinective to do that work. American will soon learn, if it hasn’t already, that adding seatback screens is now a whole lot more than just putting a screen on a seat.
But listen, I want to temper your excitement. Don’t expect to see this on your airplane tomorrow. The release says that new deliveries won’t even see seatback screens until 2028. Retrofits were somewhat less clear, but I get the feeling 2028 is the timeline on those as well. And when will it be done? “Early next decade” is what American says about the entire mainline narrowbody fleet. That is very far away. What I don’t know is how that will be phased in.
For example, the A320 fleet is down to only 48 aircraft, and 44 of those are more than 20 years old. (The newest of the other four is 16.) With such a long timeline for installation, I think it’s safe to bet this fleet won’t get the screens before it retires. So is it possible most of the fleet will be done quickly, but there will just be some quirky outliers until retirements are done in the early 2030s? Maybe, but I did not hear back from American with an answer.
Beyond adding back screens, American is also going to add more premium seats onboard. What that means isn’t entirely clear. We do know that American says about 25 percent of its narrowbody seats today are premium (meaning extra legroom coach or better), and that number will climb to 40 percent.
Some of this comes in the form of already-announced retrofits to existing aircraft like the A319s and A320s. We will also see what I expect to be an extra row of First Class added to the A321neo fleet, raising it from 20 to 24. The airline has also now confirmed that the B737-10 MAX will have 24 First Class seats when that airplane shows up.
American is also going to fix a long-standing problem by adding more Main Cabin Extra seating to its fleet. The details weren’t given at all, but the release did say the airline would be “retrofitting the majority of the narrowbody fleet to expand the number of MCE seats.”
This has been a problem for ages. Look at the A321neos. Everyone has 20 in First Class, but American has only 35 in Main Cabin Extra while United has 57 in Economy Plus and Delta puts 60 in Delta Comfort. Or look at the B737-800 where everybody has 16 in First Class. In Main Cabin Extra, American has 24 while Delta has 36 in Delta Comfort and most of United’s fleet has 54 in Economy Plus.
So yes, American is again playing catch-up to the other airlines it wants to emulate. This requires spending a fair bit of cash on putting all-new seats onboard, and there will presumably be fewer seats overall thanks to these expanding premium cabins. That is a big change in strategy.
But for now, American is still just paying the price of admission. It’s necessary and helpful, but I’m really waiting for the eventual timeframe when American starts innovating on its own instead of just copying everyone else.
