In American's New Business Suite, the TV Blocks Dinner
The screen is meant for watching head on, but in that position it walls off the tray table from the crew serving it.
UpgradedPoints.com · I Just Flew the New American Airlines Flagship Suites on the A321XLR. Here’s What It’s Like.The bread basket came around, and nobody knew what to do with it.
The flight attendant stood in the aisle holding the tongs with a roll. The traveler, a journalist reviewing the new seat who had paid his own way to be aboard the first commercial flight from New York to Los Angeles, was just a few feet away. But the roll was too far to set on his tray, and there was no clean way to hand it over. So he reached out and plucked the bread from the tongs with his fingers.
That small, awkward exchange captures the flaw in American Airlines' newest business-class suite. The private suite is built around a large video screen that swings out from the side wall so a passenger can watch it head on. In that position, the screen forms a wall between the seat and the aisle.
Crew members are told to avoid passing food or drinks above or below the screen, with almost no space to slip items around either edge. The practical result is that the screen has to be swung closed every time the crew needs to hand a passenger something.
On a full dinner service, that is a lot of swinging. There is a drink round, followed by an appetizer, an entree, and dessert, and each course requires access to the tray table. Multiply that opening and closing by 20 business-class passengers, many of whom have never sat in this kind of angled seat before and find the mechanism confusing, and service slows to a fumble.
On this first flight, the frustration was visible. The crew at times ignored the rule and passed dishes over the screen anyway, because setting a plate on a tray was otherwise too difficult. The fix may have to come from how the meal is served, with fewer handoffs or a different order of operations, if the airline wants to keep the cabin feeling premium while the television keeps getting in the way of dinner.
Questions people ask
What is an A321XLR and why is American using it?
It is a single aisle plane designed to fly longer routes, up to transatlantic distances, that used to require a larger widebody jet. American is using it to replace a premium heavy transcontinental plane, with 20 business suites, 12 premium economy seats, and 123 economy seats.
Why does the TV have to swing out in the first place?
The seats angle inward, so passengers sit with their feet pointed toward the aisle and their heads closer to the window. That layout gives everyone direct aisle access and more privacy, but it means the video screen cannot be fixed straight ahead and has to swing out.
Could flight attendants just close the screen themselves?
Yes, and usually quickly. Crew can stow the screen in a second once they know the seat, but the issue is repetition. Doing it for every handoff, for every passenger, across four courses, adds constant interruptions for both diners and servers.