I think the American Airlines A321 First Class cabin is quite comfortable

Short flights such as those between Washington DC and New York usually have a regional jet service. Back in 2015, I lucked out and scored an American Airlines A321 complete with video screens on the route. Here’s how I reviewed it at the time, so enjoy!

After 11 days or so in Washington DC and Savannah, it was time to head back to New York so I could get my return flight to London City. I checked out of the Dupont Circle Hotel quite early and I was at the airport by 13:30. This meant I got to spend quite some time in the Admiral’s Club waiting for my flight.

Happily, they had the Roasted Corn and Green Chile Bisque that I had found so seductive during my stay in the Charlotte Admirals Club on the way to Savannah. This comprised of “roasted corn, diced onion, jalapeno, green pepper, red pepper and green chiles blended in a creamy bisque with ancho chile pepper, cumin, garlic, cilantro, and oregano for a southwestern flair”.

It was delicious and I had 4 cups of it. I did the same in Charlotte – it’s just gorgeous! Of course, I also had a cookie (not so great) and a coke.

A Dog In The Admirals Club!

Interestingly, one passenger had her dog in the lounge – the first time I’ve ever come across a pet airside. I had been in the Washington DC Admirals Club before and it was fine. The wireless internet was fast, so I was on that most of the afternoon.

A storm came through and closed the airport which was very spectacular to watch as I do love a good storm! Funnily enough all the phones in the lounge went off with an alarm which was a flood warning! Even I received it. I had no idea that kind of functionality existed. The upshot was that my flight was delayed by about an hour, which made my connection at JFK quite tight. I wasn’t too concerned to be honest.

American Airlines A321 First Class

AA104 – Washington Reagan to New York JFK (DCA-JFK)
27 July 2015
Airbus A321 – N134AN
Seat: First 1A
Departure: 17:55 (actual – 18:55) Arrival: 19:22 (actual – 20:30)

I was looking forward to taking this flight on the new American Airlines A321 and I wasn’t disappointed. Here are the shots of the leg room.

There is ample room to be very comfortable in the first row! In front is a Personal Television (PTV), which is an unusual bonus on such a short flight. That being said, only 1 flight daily was on the larger Airbus rather than a regional jet. The lady was on my welcome screen, a man was on the one for the seat beside me, and across the aisle there was one of each too. All very equal! This is part of the menu when you start selecting things. The screen is a touch screen (from memory) but it’s too far in front in row 1 so it’s easier to use the controller. The aircraft was very full, and soon enough everyone was on board. Our drinks orders were taken before we departed, to save time in the air. Eventually we took off for Washington DC.

First Class Service

I had turned my PTV to the moving map so I could follow our progress.

Service soon began and this time I asked for Sparkling Wine which elicted a response that indicated that they had no idea what I meant, so I asked for Champagne. It was met with, “I’ll see if we have some,” and of course there was. The snack basket was presented and surprise, surprise, I chose crisps again! I do like the new flight symbol on the glass! For once, I remembered to take some of those unusual shots that I do sometimes take in my trip reports, so here is a close up of the bulkhead. Not to be left out, here’s a detail of the carpet. It was a beautiful evening for flying – I had some lovely weather this trip. I had another champagne on this flight, to which the crew member didn’t seem particularly happy about as she replied, “I’ll see if we have… ANY MORE!”. Don’t judge, dear. Of course she did have some more and so I had another small glass. Here we are approaching New York. We landed into JFK and I headed to the British Airways terminal for my next flight.

Overall Thoughts

So how did I find it? I enjoy flying American Airlines and to be fair I think they’re onto something with the snack basket on a flight as short as this. There really isn’t much need for anything else and everyone seems to feed at the trough in the airport anyway. I’m flying AA in October on much longer flights within the US, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the meal services are now they have been quietly enhanced in the past month or two.

I hope you enjoyed the report, and feel free to comment or ask any questions.

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And that’s how I wrote about it back in 2015. It’s always nice to find inflight entertainment screens on a short haul sector. From what I understand, the American Airlines A321 is very rare on the Washington to New York route, so I got lucky!

What do you think of the cabin on this aircraft? Have you flown in it before? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Glenn Beltz from Goleta, USA via Wikimedia Commons.