Date: 01 June 2019
Flight: AA72
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Class: Premium economy
American Airlines has launched a new premium economy cabin on its Pacific routes, offering a welcome alternative to being right up the back. The cabin is arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration with generous legroom, seat-back video and USB chargers for each seat.
As a side note, I did experience something particularly unusual during this flight. Upon boarding, I noticed that my seatmate – a fairly large bloke – appeared to be blowing up an enormous inflatable cube. It seemed way too big to be a pillow, and I was worred that it might encroach into my precious personal space! Fortunately all was revealed after about 15 minutes of strenuous puffing, when he placed the gigantic object into the space in front of his seat (we were on a bulkhead). It meant he effectively was creating a sort of flat bed – and he then proceeded to unroll some more paraphernalia, in the form of what looked like an enormous sausage-shaped pillow which he placed along his body against the window – and then promptly went to sleep.
It did seem to be somewhat of an effort, and I’m glad he was on the window so I didn’t have to climb over him all night. But he seemed comfortable, until about an hour before landing when he had to deflate the foot cushion – a process which took some time – and pack up all his equipment into what must have been a very stuffed carry-on bag.
Anyway, onto my experience of the flight: