How To Fly American Airlines' Best Business (and First) Class Seats Within the U.S. (2024)

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Usually, you'll have to fly pretty far to fly in American Airlines' best lie-flat seats. However, the world's largest airline sometimes operates its internationally-configured aircraft on domestic routes. Plus, American Airlines is the only airline to still offer true first class on U.S. routes — offering lay-flat seats on select cross-country flights using its “A321T” aircraft.

Adding up these options, American Airlines is operating a total of 1,678 domestic flights in August 2024 with lie-flat seats in business and first class. Let us show you where American Airlines operates these planes and how you can book them.

American Airlines Routes With Lay-Flat First Class Seats in August 2024

In August 2024, American Airlines scheduled an Airbus A321T or Boeing 777 or 787 (Dreamliner) on 29 domestic routes. Don't care which aircraft type you fly on? Here's the full list of all domestic widebody and A321T flights for August 2024, along with filters and sorting:

Credit: Great Circle Mapper

But you don't need to be an AvGeek to care about which aircraft type you fly on. As the onboard product can vary between aircraft, let's break down these routes by aircraft type.

Airbus A321T

One of the most unique aircraft configurations flying the U.S. skies is the American Airlines “A321T” aircraft. Unlike its other Airbus A321 aircraft — which have 190 seats — the A321T has just 102 seats, including 30 lie-flat business and true first-class seats.

The first five rows of the plane consist of just ten lie-flat Flagship First Class seats — arranged with just one seat on either side of the single aisle.

As if that wasn't enough premium seats, American Airlines installed another 20 lay-flat Flagship Business Class seats across the next five rows — arranged in a 2-2 configuration.

That leaves the back half of the aircraft with 72 economy seats — half of which are extra legroom “Main Cabin Extra” seats.

In August 2024, American Airlines is flying this unique aircraft on just four round-trip cross-country routes between:

• Boston (BOS) and Los Angeles (LAX)
• New York Kennedy (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX)
• New York Kennedy (JFK) and San Francisco (SFO)
• New York Kennedy (JFK) and Orange County (SNA)

Credit: Great Circle Mapper

Here are the exact flights that are operating in August 2024 using the A321T, according to American Airlines' schedule:

Boeing 777-300ER (77W)

American Airlines' true “Flagship” aircraft is its Boeing 777-300ER. On international flights, this aircraft operates with four different cabins: economy, premium economy, Flagship Business class, and Flagship First class.

On domestic routes, the options are condensed to economy and (domestic) first class. Passengers who book early enough may be able to select one of the eight Flagship First Class seats in rows 1 and 2.

If you can't snag one of the first-class seats, the business-class seats in rows 3-15 are excellent too.

On shorter flights (such as between Miami and New York), you won't get any of the amenities you would get on long-haul flights — such as the Casper bedding, noise-canceling headphones, and other amenities found in the picture above. That said, you will get some of these amenities on transcontinental flights (e.g. Miami to Los Angeles) and on flights from Dallas/Fort Worth to Hawaii — when those flights operate.

In August 2024, you can find the American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER operating on just one round-trip route:

• Los Angeles (LAX) to Miami (MIA) — and reverse

According to American Airlines' schedule, here are the exact flights that are operating in August 2024 using the 777-300ER:

Boeing 777-200 (772)

American Airlines' Boeing 777-200 aircraft are arranged with three cabins: economy, premium economy, and Flagship Business class. However, business-class seats vary between aircraft. Some are situated with a combination of forward- and rear-facing seats:

Others have all forward-facing business class seats in a reverse-herringbone seating arrangement:

You can find the American Airlines Boeing 777-200 operating on four round-trip domestic routes in August 2024:

• Charlotte (CLT) to Miami (MIA) — and reverse
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Honolulu (HNL)
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Los Angeles (LAX) — and reverse
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Miami (MIA) — and reverse

Plus one-off flight from New York (JFK) to Miami (MIA) on August 6.

Credit: Great Circle Mapper

According to American Airlines' schedule, here are the exact flights that are operating in August 2024 using the 777-200:

Boeing 787-8 (788)

Business class on American Airlines' Boeing 787-8 generally have the same forward- and rear-facing seats that you'll find on some of the 777-200s:

However, the newest American Airlines 787-8 Dreamliners have much better Super Diamond seats:

You can find the Boeing 787-8 operating on six round-trip domestic routes in August 2024:

• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Honolulu (HNL) — and reverse
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Miami (MIA) — and reverse
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Maui (OGG) — and reverse
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Philadelphia (PHL) — and reverse
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Phoenix (PHX) — and reverse
• Miami (MIA) to Philadelphia (PHL) — and reverse

Credit: Great Circle Mapper

According to American Airlines' schedule, here are the flights that are operating in August 2024 using the 787-8:

Boeing 787-9 (789)

Meanwhile, business class on American Airlines' Boeing 787-9 has all forward-facing seats just like you'll find on the other 777-200s:

You can find the American Airlines Boeing 787-9 operating on four round-trip routes in August 2024:

• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Chicago O'Hare (ORD) — and reverse
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Honolulu (HNL) — and reverse
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Los Angeles (LAX) — and reverse
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Philadelphia (PHL) — and reverse

Credit: Great Circle Mapper

According to American Airlines' schedule, here are the flights that are operating in August 2024 using the 787-9:

Related:Which Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Credit Card is Right for You?

Best Ways To Book American Airlines Lay-Flat Seats With Miles

American Airlines AAdvantage^®

It's a good idea to start your search with American Airlines. AAdvantage uses dynamic award pricing for award flights on American Airlines. So, you may be able to book some of these flights for pretty cheap using AAdvantage miles. However, AAdvantage may charge a premium for nonstop flights — particularly on these nice aircraft.

The best option that we could find in August 2024 was Miami (MIA) to Charlotte (CLT) for 18,500 AAdvantage miles. Surprisingly, American Airlines is pricing this lie-flat flight no more expensively than the recliner-seat options on the same day:

Credit: American Airlines

Qatar Airways Avios

Speaking of nonstop flights, your best option to book shorter nonstop American Airlines flights with saver award availability may be Qatar Airways Avios. After a recent British Airways partner devaluation, British Airways is now charging at least 24,000 Avios for short-haul business class awards on American Airlines.

But, Qatar Airways hasn't gotten the memo that its Avios partners have devalued these awards and is still charging just 12,500 Avios on short-haul routes — such as the route between Boston (BOS) and New York (JFK).

Don't have Qatar Avios on hand? No worries. You can transfer bank loyalty program points to Qatar Airways to take advantage of this sweet spot:

Or, you can transfer bank points to British Airways first and then transfer Avios 1:1 between British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Privilege Club. Here are the British Airways transfer partners:

Related: How to search and book British Airways Avios award flights

Chase Ultimate Rewards

The cash rates for business class aren't cheap. But, using Chase Ultimate Rewards to book a cash flight through the Chase Travel Portal could be the best way to snag one of these lie-flat seats. Just do the math to ensure you're getting the most use out of your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Learn More: Benefits of Booking Award Flights via the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal

Final Thoughts

It's always nice to try out a lay-flat seat when flying domestically, and American Airlines offers some of the best options. If you're traveling this month, look out for these internationally-configured and specialty aircraft when booking flights. And make sure to consider all of the ways — miles, points, and cash — that you can use to book these tickets.