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Airline: American Airlines (AA)
Flight Number: AA170
Route: HND-LAX
Class: Business Class
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
Registration: N833AA
Delivered: December 2017
Flight Duration: 9 Hours 15 Minutes
Distance: 5,487 Miles
Overall Impression:
For this transpacific journey, we flew business class with American Airlines aboard their Boeing 787-9 from Tokyo to Los Angeles. While American’s long-haul product isn’t the newest on the market, it’s a well-established offering that focuses on comfort, consistency, and practicality.
With a strong ground experience in Tokyo, a solid hard product, and generally reliable service, this flight provided a good opportunity to see how American’s business class holds up on a long-haul route across the Pacific.
What I liked:
The Seats – American Airlines’ Boeing 787-9 on this Tokyo to Los Angeles flight features 30 Collins Aerospace Super Diamond business class seats arranged in a reverse herringbone 1-2-1 layout. It’s a well-established product that continues to deliver a comfortable and practical experience.
The seat offers generous space along with plenty of storage, making it well-suited for both lounging and dining. In bed mode, it provides a reasonably private sleeping environment. Taller passengers may find their knees brushing against the pullout table when shifting during sleep, though at 5’7”, I didn’t experience any issues. A standout feature for me was the presence of personal air nozzles, which made it much easier to stay cool throughout the flight.
The onboard service – Service from the Los Angeles-based crew was better than expected. The flight attendant assigned to our section was friendly, attentive, and made an effort to address us by name. Pre-departure beverages and hot towels were offered, adding a nice premium touch. While the service was solid overall, there’s still room for a bit more polish to elevate it further.
The IFE – American Airlines’ Panasonic inflight entertainment system remains one of my favorites. The interface is responsive and easy to use, with a wide selection of content available. I also found myself frequently checking the Voyager moving map, which is always a great way to pass the time on a long-haul flight.
The JAL First Class Lounge in Haneda – Thanks to our oneworld Emerald status, we had access to the JAL First Class Lounge Haneda—and it continues to impress. The lounge offers a calm and spacious environment, with plenty of comfortable seating.
A modest self-service beverage and food buffe spread is also available, but the highlight here is the freshly prepared Japanese dishes. We enjoyed sushi, ramen and JAL’s signature beef curry rice, both of which felt closer to restaurant-quality than typical lounge fare. It’s easily one of the best pre-flight experiences you can have at Haneda.
The Amenities – American offers a solid range of business class amenities, including an amenity kit, slippers, Bang & Olufsen noise-canceling headphones, bottled water, and a full-size pillow and duvet. Notably, pajamas and mattress pads are also provided on this route, which is a welcome upgrade and adds to the overall comfort for a long-haul flight.
What I didn’t like:
Expensive and Unreliable In-flight Wi-Fi – Wi-Fi pricing on American Airlines remains difficult to justify. At $35 for the full flight, expectations are understandably high—but the performance didn’t deliver. The connection was slow and inconsistent, making even basic tasks like checking email frustrating. Hopefully, this improves as newer high-speed systems are rolled out.
It was OK, I guess…
The catering – Catering out of Tokyo was a bit of a mixed bag. Service began with drinks and a ramekin of warm mixed nuts, followed by the starter tray.
My appetizer featured seasonal greens and a mushroom panna cotta, while my companion opted for the Japanese set, which included a selection of cold appetizers.
For the main course, I had pre-ordered the blue cheese-crusted beef filet, which unfortunately was a miss—the meat was undercooked and served cold, making it largely inedible. In contrast, the Japanese meal looked far more appealing, featuring grilled salmon, beef tongue stew, pickled vegetables, miso soup, and steamed rice.
As is often the case on American Airlines, the highlight of the meal was the classic ice cream sundae, which was indulgent and satisfying.
Mid-flight, the crew set up a self-serve snack bar behind the forward business class cabin, offering a selection of pre-packaged snacks and drinks.
About 90 minutes before arrival into Los Angeles, breakfast was served. I opted for the All-American breakfast—scrambled eggs, Canadian bacon, roasted potatoes, mushrooms, and herbed tomatoes—accompanied by fresh fruit and pastries. It was decent enough, though ultimately not very memorable.
Bottom Line:
This flight with American Airlines delivers a comfortable and largely dependable business class experience. The Super Diamond seat remains a strong and practical product, the Haneda lounge experience is excellent, and the inclusion of pajamas and mattress pads is a welcome touch for a long-haul flight.
However, inconsistent catering and expensive, underperforming Wi-Fi continue to hold the experience back from feeling truly premium. Overall, it’s a solid way to cross the Pacific—but there’s still room for improvement if American wants to compete with top-tier Asian carriers.
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