As part of the carrier’s efforts to reach more high-fare travelers with its new Flagship Suite business class, American Airlines is retrofitting 67 Boeing 777 planes to feature more lie-flat and other premium seating.
Twenty of the Boeing 777-300ER widebody jetliners in the carrier’s fleet are in the process of being equipped with the new Flagship Suites, while 47 of American’s older Boeing 777-200ER are also being retrofitted to include more of the regular lie-flat business class and premium economy seats.
With the retrofitting of all 20 Boeing 777-300ER planes expected to be finished by mid-2027, American Airlines debuted its first glowed-up plane with 114 premium seats on a Sept. 2 flight between its hub at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and JFK.
American Airlines debuts 1st retrofitted Boeing 777 with 70 Flagship Suite business seats
The Flagship Suites, which the airline debuted in June 2025, are placed within the aircraft in a one-two-one configuration and feature a sliding door and lie-flat bed with a width of 22 inches. The Boeing 777-300ER that returned to service after a monthslong renovation has, out of the 330 total seats, 70 in Flagship and 44 in Premium Economy.
Out of the plane’s 216 Main Cabin economy seats, 30 have been equipped with extra legroom. The Premium Economy seats are placed in a two-four-two configuration and feature privacy headrest wings and adjustable calf and footrests while each Main Cabin seat comes with a personal seatback entertainment seat and personal power outlet and USB ports.
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Prior to the retrofit, the Boeing 777-300ER used by American was configured to have eight Flagship First, 52 Flagship Business, 28 Premium Economy, 28 Main Cabin Extra, and 188 Main Cabin seats.
After the celebratory charter flight to mark the plane’s return into service, the first commercial flight on the retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER flew from New York (JFK) to Buenos Aires (EZE) later on the same day on Sept. 2.
As more retrofitted seats reenter service, the airline’s older Flagship First most premium travel offering will officially be retired at the end of November.
American Airlines
What are the new American Airlines Flagship Suites seats like?
The biggest difference between Flagship Suites and Flagship First comes down to offering travelers more privacy from both their neighbor and the aisle through the slide door as well as.
This is in addition to tech upgrades, including larger 4K 17-inch touchscreens and Bluetooth connectivity, a configuration and angling that gives travelers more space to spread out away from the aisle.
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The new fare class could previously be experienced only on select Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and Airbus A321XLRs planes that the airline ordered new from the maker.
This Boeing 777-300ER will be used by American on long-haul routes to cities such as Buenos Aires, London, Tokyo, São Paulo and Sydney. On some of the longer flights, a passenger in Flagship Suites would pay as much as $10,000 for a return flight so the plane is allocated to routes calculated to be most likely to bring in the largest number of high-spending travelers looking to fly in style.
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