I haven’t done a flight with the American Airlines 777-300ER in well over half a year, owing to the type being used on a select fee routes from Dallas, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. American Airlines uses its flagship widebody primarily on high-capacity, high-premium routes like JFK-LHR, LAX-SYD, and now DFW-HND. I’ve only done a few American Airlines flights to Japan, either with the 787-8 (Haneda) or the 777-200ER (Narita), so this was a new deal for me. Pleased to say it turned out great, in my opinion!
Server: Solo
Airline: American Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Origin: Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Grapevine, Texas (DFW)
Destination: Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan (HND)
Flight Number: AA175
Route: KDFW-RJTT
Seat: 10L (Flagship Business)
Time En Route: 12 Hours 58 Minutes
Waiting to board our aircraft at Gate D25A in Dallas. Once again, we’re having to race a cold front coming in from the west out of here, albeit on a much bigger aircraft and in a much more comfortable seat this time. We checked the tail number on our aircraft and it turns out it’s equipped with the new Flagship Business suites under Project Olympus. This is going to be our first time in the new business class on an American 777 and we’re pumped to experience it!
Single-engine taxi to Runway 36R as one of American Airlines’s Oneworld-liveried 737-800s gets airborne next to us. Seems like everyone’s in a rush to get out of DFW this morning, and with good reason. Those towering thunderheads on the horizon are looking ominously dark. Fortunately for us, we will be heading north of the weather today, so we aren’t going to have to deal with an extended en route time due to having to go around the storms.
Heavy takeoff from DFW with both GE90-115Bs roaring away. We’re quite impressed with the new Flagship Business suites so far in terms of the physical product. While the older seats were and are still a very, very solid piece of engineering, they’re no longer as cutting-edge as they were when they debuted in 2013. For starts, we have out own enclosed suite, giving us a great deal of privacy, and the seat itself is modern, intuitive, and comfortable. Even the cabin refresh in general is recent enough for this almost 14 year-old aircraft to have that new plane smell.
Climbing over Gainesville, Texas, as we near the Oklahoma state line. We’ve got our shoes off and the provided pair of sandals, which miraculously fit our size 16 wide feet, on. American has provided a very generous amenity kit for passengers in Flagship Business, almost too generous, as we don’t know what to do with half of it. So far, it’s shaping up to be an outstanding flight.
In cruise over the panhandle of Utah. We drove through it half a decade ago and were taken aback by how harsh the landscape was. Fortunately, we will not be driving through a moonscape today. There’s hardly a cloud in the sky today, in contrast to the smoke from the forest fires in Oregon in 2021 that left a grayish-brown haze in the air, and the ride up here is silky-smooth.
Cruising over the North Pacific east of the Kamchatka Peninsula. We had a very, very delicious meal a couple hours ago and have been watching a movie since. As we’ve flown across the Pacific Ocean, we’ve had the opportunity to check out some normally easy-to-overlook features of out suite, such as the angled wireless charger that allows one to watch a movie on one’s phone while charging it, and the lighted cocktail table. However, the doors to the suite functioning as a “Do Not Disturb” sign takes some getting used to for us.
Descending over coastal Japan. The rest of the flight has been quiet and uneventful, although we did get a couple snacks within the past hour. As we prepare for our arrival, we have moved the seat into the upright position and are ready to hand over our trash and drink glass to the cabin crew as they conduct their final sweep through the cabin. Now to sit back and enjoy the scenery as we wend our way into Tokyo.
Arriving on a partly cloudy afternoon at Haneda. The arrival was perhaps the best we’ve ever had with American Airlines, with the nose gear gently touching down after the main trucks. Over a hundred tons of aircraft is slowing from over 150 miles per hour to a bit over 30 in just a bit over half a minute. Fascinating when one thinks about it, but it’s just another landing for the flight crew.
Once again, we’re taxiing on the port engine as thunderheads loom on the horizon. Much like Texas, the Tokyo area has some heavy weather moving in on it, although here it’s predicted to last for at least a couple days. We’re glad to be on the ground, where we won’t have to worry about our flight being delayed or canceled like we would have if we’d stayed in Dallas a bit longer. In anticipation of our arrival at the gate, the sliding doors that we’ve spent much of the flight getting used to are locked in the open position to speed up disembarking.
Looking at our aircraft after deplaning. After this flight, we have somewhat mixed feelings on the new Flagship Business suites, although they lean strongly on the positive side of things. While the seats are certainly more private and more technologically advances than the old ones, the IFE screen seems oddly undersized, as if the space it occupies had been intended for a larger one, and the door position indicating a desire for service also threw us for a loop. However, American Airlines now has a proper business class suite, allowing it to properly compete with Delta One on Delta’s A350-900s and the Polaris Studio on United’s 787-9s. It’ll certainly be something to return to when flying on an AA 777-300ER for sure.