Travel Daily flew on American Airlines flight 72 from Sydney to Los Angeles. The carrier operates daily 787-9 Dreamliner flights on the route, offering Business, Premium Economy and Economy cabins. We were lucky enough to be up the front, in seat 4L. All 30 business class seats offer aisle access, a large entertainment screen, USB and power outlets, and a fully flat bed.
Upon boarding, the seat was all set to go, with a water bottle and bedding which was quickly stowed in the capacious overhead compartments along with our carry-on
Our departure on a stunning Sydney day gave us a beautiful view of the harbour bridge and opera house, through the 787’s electronically adjustable windows.
Shortly after boarding the very friendly crew offered a glass of champagne and also these funky pyjamas, which we promptly changed into to make the most of the leisure-wear opportunity.
That also gave us an opportunity to check out the business class bathroom, which is very spacious.
Back in the seat, Bose noise-cancelling headphones did a remarkable job of blocking out the sound of the already quiet aircraft.
The seats are the absolute latest in technology, with an easy to use touch screen allowing adjustment of all functions.
The business class menu has been designed by Aussie chef Sean Connolly. Departure was around 10am Sydney time and the crew were soon working the cabin to get lunch organised. Main course options included beef short rib, Moroccan chicken, herb-crusted blue-eyed cod, potato gnocchi and a mezze plate. There’s also plenty to snack on later during the flight, with an array of chips and chocolates as well as the option of a mid-flight burger. Breakfast is offered about 90 minutes before landing in Los Angeles, with the crew noting preferences of each passenger as to whether they would like to be woken.
Lunch soon came including a delicious prawn entree.
And we opted for the Moroccan chicken – very tasty and a generous portion.
American Airlines makes a big deal of its signature ice-cream sundae, so we felt compelled to give it a try complete with hot butterscotch sauce and nuts. It’s good.
Then it was time for some work – like making this blog post! The AA 787 is equipped with in-flight wi-fi and you can buy a pass to cover the whole flight for US$19 via an easy credit card process. There are also cheaper options for two or four hours of internet access. We checked out the speed, and it looked like there was plenty of download capacity making it ideal for normal emails and web surfing. Some high-capacity applications like YouTube are blocked and the uploads speeds were not great. However the connectivity is a great option to remain productive during the almost 13 hour sector.
For those able to relax there is a huge array of inflight entertainment via the large touch screen, which can also be controlled from a screen-equipped handset adjacent to the seat. Lots of latest release movies, TV shows, audio and more.
There is even live television – ideal for this sector which coincided with the Royal Wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!
AA business class passengers can use the Qantas international business lounge at Sydney Airport, and we had a transit through to Denver so were also able to enter the AA Admiral’s Club “Flagship lounge” at Los Angeles Terminal 4. That was a huge relief after enduring the still tiresome arrival formalities at LAX.
The verdict:
This is one of the best business class cabins we have experienced – as you would expect, given that it’s a very new product on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. A great way to cross the Pacific and arrive refreshed.
Pros: Aisle access from every seat, extremely comfortable bed, pyjamas, good food, very friendly crew, excellent responsive inflight entertainment, wi-fi all the way across the Pacific.
Cons: Only a tiny niggle (and definitely a first world problem), but it would have been nice to get our welcome champagne in a glass rather than a plastic cup!