AA Adds 787-900 to Fleet in November...MAD, GRU

American Airlines said flights in November between Dallas and Madrid and Dallas to Sao Paulo, Brazil, will mark the first uses of the Boeing 787-9 as well as the first international flights with premium economy seating.


Starting Nov. 4, American will operate the 787-9 on DFW-Madrid as well as DFW-Sao Paulo.


"The 787-9 is going to be a fantastic addition to our widebody fleet," said Andrew Nocella, American's chief marketing officer, in a prepared statement. "As the first U.S. airline to introduce premium economy seating on international flights, we continue to innovate new ways to meet our customers' expectations with the products and service they value."

Really interesting that now that booking has opened the number of non-revs listed for the Nov 4th flight to MAD is only 3. The day after, Saturday, nobody has listed at all. That's in stark contrast to the inaugural flights to SYD, HKG and AKL where you saw non-revs early on listing themselves. I believe SYD was up into the 50s or 60s.

I'm eager to try this product as I was not at all impressed with the J class seats on the 788. That front/back alternating configuration and the wobbly seats was a terrible idea. Incredible considering the 773ER was a total win in terms of business class product. I flew the 787 to PEK from DFW and wondered the whole time at what the fleet types at AA were thinking. This was after flying HKG-DFW in J on the 773ER which was awesome.

The 789 looks to fix some of those problems I hope. It also looks like a win for non-rev types who usually book into economy as the chances of getting seats in that fabulous looking premium economy seem great.