When United Airlines announced the inaugural flight of their new 787-10 aircraft for January 7th, 2019 I knew I wanted to be on it. However that flight departed from Los Angeles and I was in the United States 3rd largest city, Chicago.
Shortly after I booked the UA flight I began looking for flights to LA. It’s almost better to find revenue flights between these cities as saver redemptions for Business/First are typically around 25,000 points. There were a bunch available on AA with stops somewhere, even going east to Philadelphia then west to LA. United doesn’t have domestic Saver Awards anymore that I can find. Alaska had a direct flight that could have been booked on their own site or with American at 25,000 points. The flight was $450 I believe. That’s about 1.8 cents value, I value my points to be worth much more than that.
Unless you come up with this for 25,000 AA points and a desire to fly both variants of American’s 787:
AA 2300 was a 787-8 AA 84 was a 787-9 UA inaugural of course was a 787-10
American Airlines 787-8 Business/First Class ORD-DFW - this report
American Airlines 787-9 Business/First Class DFW-ORD - to come United Airlines 787-10 Business/First p.s. Transcon LAX-EWR - to come United Airlines 737-900 First Class ORD-EWR plus Classified dining - to come
Over the last couple years I’ve had 5 or 6 flights that were supposed to be on the 787-8 series of which I canceled a couple and 3 or 4 had aircraft swaps before departure. Last year I gave up the 787-9 to Sydney in lieu of Qatar 777 Qsuites which also got swapped out. At least part of that trip was on a QR A380 in First so definitely no complaints there. Nevertheless I’ve wanted to experience the 2 787 models that American flies. This gave me the opportunity to “kill two birds” with one 25,000 saver award ticket.
American has installed their Concept-D seats in the 787-8. The complaints and negative comments are easy to find with a simple search. I always wanted to sit in 6L, a rear facing seat in the mini-cabin behind door 2. Nice engine view.
Unfortunately American is replacing the Business/First mini-cabin in their 787-8 aircraft with Premium Economy. So long 2 rows of decent privacy and cool engine views. A couple more just for nostalgic purposes.
Boarding was a typical disaster. While I was first inline to board, with all the pre-boardings for handicap (no issue here), families with small children (many parents think their teenagers are still small), people with nut allergies (why?), Concierge Key (sure the deserve it) probably 30-40 people had boarded before “Group 1”. I don’t care, as we all arrive at the same time. But when you want to take some photos of the cabin, well the results aren’t what I wanted primarily because I was in the mini-cabin.
Here is a photo of the front cabin. Being followed by the rest of the passengers on the plane I headed right to my seat.
Rear Cabin.
Seat 6L. Long story short, I actually liked this seat better than I thought I would. Maybe dare I say more than the Super Diamond in the 787? Well that comment would razzle up the nay sayers of Concept D.
These are good size lavs at door 2. Even a changing table.
Air nozzles and oversized bins with warnings not to use unless in the proper cabin.
For long flights this is where they set up the snack bar , door 2 galley.
This is a forward facing seat.
I’ve certainly seen narrower footwells than these.
There is a lot of bad press for these cabins on seeing your neighbor. From 6L the view wasn’t as bad as I expected.
Back to 6L. This footwell is even larger than the forward facing seat.
And it’s got a storage area under the ottoman that fit my computer bag just fine.
In the footwell above the ottoman is a coat hook which keeps your coat out of the way.
Both sides of the 21 inch wide seat had tables for placing items you might use in flight. I suppose the seat might be a little tight for sleeping as nothing can be lowered to provide extra width.
Storage was plentiful around the seat as well. On my left by the window was a place for my phone and multiple power ports.
To my right was a mirror, reading light and the A/V controller.
Between the seat and the tray table was a compartment for a laptop. This was very convenient and something the 787-9 didn’t have.
The serving tray itself is quite large.
The seats were controlled by a touch panel where could even customize a setting for the flight.
It’s amazing how creative they can get to earn some extra income.
It’s time for dinner. Do we have to?
American Airlines has pre-order available 2 weeks in advance. You can order off the inflight menu, presumably so you get your first choice. The only special item you can pre-order is a fruit and cheese plate. My mistake for not taking them up on that offer.
Instead I went with chicken, I think.
The salad. (and the sourdough roll was stale)
The Main. I don’t think I need to comment, do I?
At least Kathy, a nice FA handed me 2 cookies as long as I promised not to tell. Oops.
A photo of the 787-8 on arrival in Dallas.
Flight Path
This aircraft is amazingly quiet. Sitting next to the engine on takeoff I could barely hear the rumble. And the pilot gunned it as we were airborne in under 30 seconds (of course with a lower fuel load). Watch the video!
Hi Mark and thanks for sharing this 787 Odyssey with us. It's rather remarkable to set out to ride on the 787-10 and take the 787-8 and 787-9 in sequence to achieve this.
"Long story short, I actually liked this seat better than I thought I would. Maybe dare I say more than the Super Diamond in the 787? Well that comment would razzle up the nay sayers of Concept D. " -That is surprising to me. There is so much negative pup on this seat and the airline itself stopped installing it. The Super Diamond is rather highly though of. Such the contrarian.
"Both sides of the 21 inch wide seat had tables for placing items you might use in flight. I suppose the seat might be a little tight for sleeping as nothing can be lowered to provide extra width." -I wonder where those measurements are taken... The seat looks so narrow. Otherwise the finishes and controls, etc. all look quite nice.
"The Main. I don’t think I need to comment, do I?" -Oh boy, that looks like unfinished food left by a hotel room door the next day.
"Watch the video! " -I love watching the 787 wing load up on takeoff.
-That is surprising to me. There is so much negative pup on this seat and the airline itself stopped installing it. The Super Diamond is rather highly though of. Such the contrarian.
-Overall the Super Diamond is probably a more comfortable seat, certainly wider, but Concept D has more storage and you can tell they thought through the passenger experience. Like laptop storage, there is nothing like that on the -9. I think the big 2 issues with the Concept D seat are; the movement because pods are connected (I didn't get that in 6L) and the rear facing seeing some in the next row. That's the problem with rear facing herringbone style seats although I didn't find it an issue, again in 6L.
-I wonder where those measurements are taken... The seat looks so narrow.
-SeatGuru, they've never been wrong now have they?
Although I can't say I prefer the Concept D over the Super Diamond seats, I've never really had a problem with the Concept D, except maybe that there's a bit less storage. I had experienced the problem of feeling every time your neighbour behind moves in the early days of Concept D, but I believe they've done something to reinforce the structure because my last few times in Concept D seats, I haven't felt any movement or shaking.
6L is also my favourite seat on the 788. It really is a shame that they're getting rid of that whole 2nd cabin. How crazy to only have 25 J seats on the 788! Clearly a US Airways type of move. AA has historically been a premium-ish carrier--I'm really not a fan of the whole US Airways LCC mentality. There aren't that many long-haul markets with so little premium demand on which to stick these 788s with tiny J cabins. This is probably part of the reason they're running 788s on ORD-CUN right now (and DFW-CUN I think??). Seems like a waste of a 788s long legs!
While I'm clearly not happy about the reduction in size of the J cabin, I am happy about how quickly AA has been installing a W cabin throughout the long-haul fleet.
That meal looks so cheap and nasty! AA can be really hit or miss with domestic F catering.
Hi Kévin, apologies for taking so long to respond, another RTW trip got in the way :)
Concept D could have been a fantastic seat with a little more refinement. Dealing with privacy, maybe a little more storage as you mention but some of the innovations were great. Like the laptop storage and phone storage with power ports. Of course I like reverse facing seats, many people don't I guess.
Totally agree with you on US Airways, or should we say America West ideology. The whole 737 fiasco, what's it called Oasis? When everyone from passengers to cabin crew to your own pilots panning the layout, you'd think they might listen instead of plowing on to put a product in all their 737's that everyone hates!
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4 Comments
"Long story short, I actually liked this seat better than I thought I would. Maybe dare I say more than the Super Diamond in the 787? Well that comment would razzle up the nay sayers of Concept D. "
-That is surprising to me. There is so much negative pup on this seat and the airline itself stopped installing it. The Super Diamond is rather highly though of. Such the contrarian.
"Both sides of the 21 inch wide seat had tables for placing items you might use in flight. I suppose the seat might be a little tight for sleeping as nothing can be lowered to provide extra width."
-I wonder where those measurements are taken... The seat looks so narrow. Otherwise the finishes and controls, etc. all look quite nice.
"The Main. I don’t think I need to comment, do I?"
-Oh boy, that looks like unfinished food left by a hotel room door the next day.
"Watch the video! "
-I love watching the 787 wing load up on takeoff.
Thanks again for sharing and happy flying.
-Overall the Super Diamond is probably a more comfortable seat, certainly wider, but Concept D has more storage and you can tell they thought through the passenger experience. Like laptop storage, there is nothing like that on the -9. I think the big 2 issues with the Concept D seat are; the movement because pods are connected (I didn't get that in 6L) and the rear facing seeing some in the next row. That's the problem with rear facing herringbone style seats although I didn't find it an issue, again in 6L.
-SeatGuru, they've never been wrong now have they?
Going to read MH now. Thanks again
6L is also my favourite seat on the 788. It really is a shame that they're getting rid of that whole 2nd cabin. How crazy to only have 25 J seats on the 788! Clearly a US Airways type of move. AA has historically been a premium-ish carrier--I'm really not a fan of the whole US Airways LCC mentality. There aren't that many long-haul markets with so little premium demand on which to stick these 788s with tiny J cabins. This is probably part of the reason they're running 788s on ORD-CUN right now (and DFW-CUN I think??). Seems like a waste of a 788s long legs!
While I'm clearly not happy about the reduction in size of the J cabin, I am happy about how quickly AA has been installing a W cabin throughout the long-haul fleet.
That meal looks so cheap and nasty! AA can be really hit or miss with domestic F catering.
Thanks for sharing!
Concept D could have been a fantastic seat with a little more refinement. Dealing with privacy, maybe a little more storage as you mention but some of the innovations were great. Like the laptop storage and phone storage with power ports. Of course I like reverse facing seats, many people don't I guess.
Totally agree with you on US Airways, or should we say America West ideology. The whole 737 fiasco, what's it called Oasis? When everyone from passengers to cabin crew to your own pilots panning the layout, you'd think they might listen instead of plowing on to put a product in all their 737's that everyone hates!
Happy reward flying!
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