American Airlines passengers flying across the Atlantic may have noticed a wealth of improvements across the board recently. Not only in the shape of their newest flagship 777-300ER product, but also on AA’s retrofitted workhorse 767 now flying on a variety of routes from the US to Europe and beyond.
The new upgraded 767s are a worthy mention on TheDesignAir, with the Thompson Vantage seats (similar to those found on Brussels Airlines, Aer Lingus and Finnair) making a marked improvement on the existing product. Starting with Zurich-New York JFK in March last year and just only recently Manchester-New York JFK, passengers, especially in the pointy end will see drastic changes, including fully flat bed seats, all-aisle access and large personal IFE screens. Due to the width of the 767, the new seat configuration also offers passengers by the windows solo seats, and those in the centre section 2 seats together, but distant enough to be private enough as a solo traveller. Here’s a tip, for those wanting the most privacy, head for an even number row by the left hand window (J) as you couldn’t be further from another passenger if you tried.
Passengers in the back won’t see such great improvements, but can still expect new LCD drop-down monitors onboard, new digital audio systems, refreshed lavatories and new seat covers and cushions that mirror the design of American’s Boeing 777-300ER fleet, for a more consistent wide body experience.
With routes recently launched from Birmingham and Edinburgh in the UK to New York, and yesterday the launch of Frankfurt to Miami, American passengers are getting more point-to-point options for crossing ‘The Pond’ with convenient flight times, although not all 767s have yet been retrofitted, so best check before your flight using the seat map function. American really are upping their game and we salute them for lifting the US carrier stock to an international standard.
TheDesignAir 
It was about time American started to offer a world class product. I usually fly to the US from South America, and I just hate it when I have to travel on American, or United, as they both offer a much poorer experience than LAN, TAM, Avianca, or even Aerolineas Argentinas. I hope they bring these new configurations to planes flying to and from Latin America as well.
Sadly uninspired design. Companies should beware of emulating “best practices” when it comes to customer experience. The category has achieved much of the functional objectives and the industry has achieved parity through emulation of function. It seems like a space is being created for an airline experience that does not begin with Compromised as a core value.
The business class seats not only don’t have “large personal IFE screens” but the seats don’t have any inbuilt IFE. What you see in the screenshot is a tablet that gets handed out.