Returning leg of our flight from Auckland aboard one of American’s trusty 777-200ERs. The Los Angeles-Auckland route was resumed by American Airlines a couple years ago after a pause of a few years due to COVID and the slower-than-anticipated recovery of the New Zealand market for U.S. carriers. American Airlines in particular was affected by this, as COVID both cut down on the airline’s transpacific network and brought about the early retirement of the A330 and 767 fleets before sufficient capacity to replace them was available, leading to the airline to redistribute airplanes to make up the slack. It wasn’t until 2023 that service resumed, initially with the 787-8 Dreamliner, before upgauging to the 787-9 and now the 777-200ER as demand increases. Transpacific 777-200ER flights are a rarity for American, with the type only being used on a handful of routes, mostly out of DFW. As a result, when I looked up this route on FlightAware and I saw that the route was using a 777, I decided to add it to my to-do list immediately.
Server: Solo
Airline: American Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200ER
Origin: Auckland Airport, Māngere, New Zealand (AKL)
Destination: Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California (LAX)
Flight Number: AA82
Route: NZAA-LAX
Seat: 4A (Flagship Business)
Time En Route: 12 Hours 7 Minutes
Boarding at Gate 6, the same one we arrived at in New Zealand. Though we didn’t expect American to start flying the 777-200ER from LAX to AKL, it’s a welcome surprise. Hopefully this one has the more modern Collins Super Diamond seats in business class instead of the older Concept D ones.
Our hopes have not been in vain, as we’re seated in a modern Super Diamond lie-flat seat for our approximately 12-hour flight to L.A.! Right now, we’re backtaxiing to line up with Runway 05R for takeoff. Auckland is perhaps one of the largest airports in the world where backtaxiing is required to take off from any end of the runway.
Switching it up from GE90s this week with some Trent 800 roar. As AKL-LAX is one of the longest routes that American Airlines sends the 777-200ER on and because of the high load factors, we’re treated to an absolutely thundering Trent 800 takeoff.
Got the suburbs of Penrose and Mount Wellington out to our left as we climb out of the North Island. Inside the jet, we’re taken aback by our aircraft. Not only does this have the much more modern interior of American’s 2 777-200ER versions, but our particular aircraft seems to have been freshly out of maintenance, with everything looking almost factory-fresh. Definitely looking forward to what our flight has in store for us.
Leveled off at 33,000 feet on a gorgeous South Pacific afternoon. We’re starting Season 3 of Parks and Recreation as we head northeast to California. Dinner’s going to be in about an hour.
Night has fallen by the time we pass east of Tonga. Dinner this evening was a scrumptious Kona-crusted beef filet with mashed sweet potatoes, sautéed kale, and balsamic demi-glace, presented appealingly and served with a smile. American’s service in its lomg-haul premium cabins has definitely improved!
Descending over Huntington Beach as we cross the California coast. We woke up somewhere near Hawaii after a good 7 and a half hours of sleep. Although the Super Diamond seats are extremely comfortable, they lacked the privacy of the Flagship Suites on the 787-9 from DFW, which made it a bit harder to actually fall asleep.
Landing in the morning on Runway 24R. LAX is humming with life today as the first long-haul departures get ready to head west across the Pacific. Domestic traffic is, as usual, at a rush, with no less than 6 airplanes waiting to take off on Runway 24L when we arrived.
Taxiing by the gap between the main TBIT and the Midfield Concourse as a Delta A330-200 departs for JFK in the background as DL934. At the Midfield, an Air Premia 787-9 is pulling in after arriving shortly before us as YP101 from ICN.
Deplaned at the Main TBIT due to construction at Terminal 4. While American’s 777-200ER business class cabin is not quite up to the level of Delta One or the company’s new Flagship Suites, it’s still a solid product and a good choice for transpacific flying. However, it can sometimes be a crapshoot if one’s aircraft has the Super Diamond of Concept D seats, since one’s impression of Flagship Business can hinge on that alone. Nevertheless, we’ll definitely be back in the Super Diamond when we can for another long-haul flight with American Airlines.