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American Airlines Adds Its Premium A321T to Another Transcontinental Route

JT Genter
JT Genter
Contributor
JT is a location-independent digital nomad traveling 250,000+ miles each year with his wife Katie.
Nov. 29, 2018
•
3 min read
Airbus A321 First Class
American Airlines Adds Its Premium A321T to Another Transcontinental Route
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While American Airlines is densifying many aircraft in its domestic fleet, there's one AAircraft that's like no other: the Airbus A321T. With the "T" designation indicating transcontinental, these Airbus A321s are specially arranged for premium transcontinental routes.

Currently the aircraft is only operating flights between New York's Kennedy (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) -- as well as short hops between Boston (BOS) and JFK. But, now Boston is getting a lot more A321T love from American Airlines. Starting April 2, 2019, American Airlines will run twice-daily flights between Boston and Los Angeles:

  • AA 156 — Los Angeles (LAX) 7:45am Departure ⇒ Boston (BOS) 4:16pm Arrival
  • AA 2455 — Los Angeles (LAX) 9:55pm Departure ⇒ Boston (BOS) 6:22am Arrival
  • AA 211 — Boston (BOS) 7:24am Departure ⇒ Los Angeles (LAX) 11:10am Arrival
  • AA 2542 — Boston (BOS) 5:45pm Departure ⇒ Los Angeles (LAX) 9:28pm Arrival

Although the announcement was made Thursday, flights aren't yet on sale. If you want to be one of the first to experience the new route, tickets go on sale on Dec. 3.

This isn't the first time we've seen this aircraft on this route. For just three weeks at the end of Dec. 2017 and into Jan. 2018, American Airlines ran the A321T on this route -- opening up an opportunity to book economy and fly in the lie-flat business class seats. It seems that test went well, as American Airlines is now making the route permanent.

What makes this AAircraft so special? Instead of 181-187 seats like on AA's other Airbus A321 aircraft, the A321T only has 102 seats. And that's because the aircraft is one of just two aircraft in AA's fleet to have a true first class cabin. (The other is the Boeing 777-300ER used on premium international routes.)

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Up front, there are 10 lie-flat first class seats arranged in five rows of just 1-1 seating:

First Class on American Airlines A321T. Photo by Kevin Song / The Points Guy.
First class on American Airlines A321T. Photo by Kevin Song / The Points Guy.

Behind first class, there's 20 lie-flat business class seats arranged in a 2-2 configuration:

Business class on American Airlines A321T. Photo by Kevin Song / The Points Guy.
Business class on American Airlines A321T. Photo by Kevin Song / The Points Guy.

In the back half of the aircraft, there's 72 economy class seats -- half of which are extra-legroom Main Cabin Extra seats:

Economy class on American Airlines A321T. Photo by Kevin Song / The Points Guy.

All three cabins have in-flight entertainment screens, power outlets and benefit from truly high-speed satellite-based ViaSat Wi-Fi.

Featured image by First Class on American's A321T