Review: American Airlines A321T First Class

On my trip to Singapore I had the chance to fly from JFK to LAX on American’s 3 class Airbus A321T First Class. I was excited because I had heard great things from reading One Mile At A Time and The Points Guy, who both had positive reviews of the product.

A321T First Class Seat

For a transcontinental plane, the seat was great! It reminded me a lot of the British Airways First Class seat on the 747 that I flew from New York to Dubai. The seat was comfortable, reasonably private and could turn into a fully flat bed. There was both USB and regular power outlets. The amenity kit was labeled an international business class kit, so I’m not sure if that is the norm, or if they ran out of the typical kits for the transcon journey.

Transcon First Class seat

My seat 1F

The Food

Leaving New York at 7PM gave me time to eat dinner and grab a quick nap so I wasn’t completely dead upon arriving in Los Angeles. The food menu looked pretty good, but because I’m allergic to shellfish I couldn’t enjoy one of the appetizers or the beef entree. I decided to go with the Edamame Hummus, Salad with chive vinaigrette, and the coconut lime chicken.

Edamame Hummus

The hummus was not good. The toasted bread that came with the hummus was even worse. The best part of the meal was the vinaigrette on the salad. When the chicken came out I couldn’t really believe how unappetizing it looked. Gordon Ramsey on MasterChef would not have been impressed. I’m not sure why they called it coconut lime chicken because the only flavor I got was a briney olive taste. When the food service was finally over I settled in and tried to watch a movie.

Salad with chive vinaigrette

Coconut Lime Chicken

In Flight Entertainment

Bose Noise cancelling headphones to use on the trip

The size of the personal in flight entertainment (IFE) system on the A321T first class was great. The selection of new movies was decent, I chose to watch Money Monster with George Clooney first. The entire time I was watching the movie, it kept skipping and rewinding itself. I chose to watch Keanu after Money Monster and luckily the IFE system cooperated. I fell asleep for a quick nap about halfway through and was woken up by the flight attendant about 10 minutes before landing in LA.

Good size IFE screen

First Class Service

Although the food was awful, and the IFE system was slightly glitchy, the service in AA’s A321T First Class was top notch. The head flight attendant Vania was very attentive and made sure the flight was comfortable for the four of us who were in the first class cabin. The flight was said to be oversold, but the First Class cabin was only half full. I appreciate getting the accidental double upgrade, but had much higher hopes for the food. Hopefully the food on the LAX-HKG flight will be better!