8 Hours of Sleep: Review of a Restful American Airlines Business Class Sydney to LAX (2019)

At the beginning of 2019, I went to Sydney to visit a friend I had not seen since we had both graduated college. The stop was part of a longer trip, and I spent a few days in Sydney visiting the sights, as well as going to a concert that ended late. The concert was the night before I was scheduled to leave, and I pretty much pulled an all nighter between getting back to the hotel at 2am, and leaving for the airport at 6am. The good thing was, however, I got a full 8+ hours of sleep on my flight back to the US! Here is my review of a restful American Airlines business class Sydney to LAX.

Note:

Dear Reader,

Before you begin this review journey with me, I want you to know that this review is a bit dated. It is from before the COVID pandemic. I had planned on publishing this one and others slowly during and after the pandemic. However, my job at the time requested I not write them. As some of the airlines were their clients, they explicitly requested I refrain from writing anything that could imply any conflict of interest. Recently, after starting a new job, I have decided to publish this one and others. I will note wherever I can what has changed, and include a year for when the flight happened, in the interest of clarity. Please enjoy this review!

Arrival at Sydney & Qantas First Class Lounge

As I mentioned earlier, I left my hotel around 6am for my 9am flight. The hotel I was staying at was in the Sydney CBD, so the ride over took about 25 minutes, putting me at the Qantas check in counters roughly 2 and a half hours before my flight. In the past, I have had issues with checking in for flights in Australia. As I have a double last name (not hyphenated, but separated by a space), I usually have to provide an explanation when check in agents see that my passport does not exactly match the reservation. It’s never been a major issue before, but it requires manual override when the computer and the passport swipe don’t exactly match. After clearing that up, I was checked in with two hours before departure.

Going through security at SYD can be a breeze or a pain, and no in between. This morning there were multiple tour groups (I think?) that took forever presenting their documents. My half asleep brain was pretty much zombie walking at this point. By the time I was through security, I walked briskly to the Qantas First Class Lounge for coffee and some breakfast. I had eggs and toast. Once I was finished, I walked over to my gate, about 10 minutes away from the lounge. To my surprise, they were already lining people up for boarding, even though they were not scheduled to start for another 15 minutes.

At 8:10 on the dot, they started pre-boarding, followed by Group 1 and 2.

American Business Class Sydney to LAX 777-300ER Cabin

The American Airlines Business class cabin on their 777-300ERs is set up in two cabins. The famous mini cabin right behind First class, and the main business class cabin. Seats are arranged 1x2x1. It has the same bones as the Cathay Pacific business class seat, just with different finishes. Here is another review of flying in the cabin.

The cabin feels large and airy. Having boarded early, it took a moment for anyone to come down my row. The flight was going out full in First and Business class, but Economy class was about 2/3 full.  Once I was seated, and most business class passengers had boarded, a flight attendant came down offering a choice of pre departure sparkling wine, orange juice or water.

American Airlines Business Class Amenity Kit and Headphones

There were some amenities already available waiting at each seat. The American Airlines business class amenity kit is rather simple, including hand lotion and lip balm from and the basics like eye mask, socks, and a pen.

One place where American really stands out is their headphones. There were some Bang and Olufsen noise canceling headphones . They are some of the best offered on any airline, easily comparable to Bose brand.

Departure out of Sydney

The boarding door was closed about 15 minutes prior to our scheduled departure. At that point, the captain came on the PA system to welcome passengers and announce that we would have a shorter than usual flight thanks to favorable winds.

We pushed back a few minutes before schedule and took off heading northward. This gave us some amazing views of Sydney Harbor and the Sydney CBD. It was a beautiful sunny day.

American Airlines Business Class Lunch out of Sydney

Out of Sydney, they first served lunch. Flight attendants came by asking for drink choice and our preferred meal. I decided to order a beef tenderloin with beurre de Paris sauce and roasted potato. For an appetizer, there was a beef carpaccio and a side salad.

For dessert, there was a mango cheesecake, the typical Sundae, and a fruit and cheese plate. I chose the ice cream Sundae.

I finished off the meal with a Baileys on the rocks. The whole meal was done about 2 hours into the flight.

A Restful American Airlines Business Class Sleep

By this point, I was so tired I was almost delirious. The Bailey’s did the trick and I was ready to take a long nap. American Airlines’ bedding is quite nice, and there were pajamas available on request. I changed into the pajamas and made my bed. The bedding was quite comfortable. The thick pillow was nice, and the duvet, although not very thick, was nice, given the cabin was kept warm by US airline standards.

I put on earplugs and an eye mask I had brought from a prior British Airways flight and fell asleep.

It is usually really difficult for me to sleep on flights. I tend to nap in intervals of about 1-2 hours for most flights. On this flight, however, I slept a full 8.5 hours. It was one of the most restful airplane sleeps I’ve ever had. When I woke up, we were still about 4 hours left to the flight.

A flight attendant came by and asked me if I needed anything or if I wanted some coffee. I asked for some coffee and wet to visit the onboard bar set up between the two business class cabins. There were some water bottles, saran wrapped sandwiches, and packaged chips.

When a Transpacific Flight Feels Too Short

At this point, I tried to connect to the Wi-Fi. American’s 777s have Panasonic Wi-Fi and it was barely usable. I decided to cut my losses and watched a few episodes of Young Sheldon and did some offline work. I was surprised how quickly the time went by, because before I knew it, the cabin lights were turned on to simulate dawn and flight attendants came by asking if people wanted something to drink.

Pre-Arrival Breakfast

The options for breakfast were a continental breakfast including fruit and yoghurt or a frittata. I was not in the mood for eggs, so I asked if I could have anything from the snack menu. To my surprise, the flight attendant said yes, but that it would have to wait until she was done serving breakfast. In the meantime, I asked for the breakfast smoothie of rhubarb, strawberry, and turmeric.

About 15 minutes later, the same flight attendant came by and brought me a roast beef focaccia sandwich. It was surprisingly filing. The crew on this flight were better than most AA crew, and that highlighted the difference a friendly/accommodating crew can be.

About 45 minutes prior to departure, the flight attendants came by to collect the noise cancelling headphones. This has always seemed to be a paranoid/penny-pincher behavior and it’s something a lot of my fellow bloggers agree on. I ended up just reading for the remainder of the flight.

Soon after that, we began our descent into LAX, where we landed with the sunrise just peeking in the horizon.

Final Thoughts

It’s not always that I get to sleep through a flight. Between being exhausted after a few days in Sydney and forcing myself to stay awake through lunch, I was able to sleep for 8 hours. The cabin crew on this flight were fantastic (by US airline standards). The food is still American Airlines, but it was filling. This has always been a good flight to use systemwide upgrades on, and I will not hesitate to use them again.