Our Best American Airlines Business Class Flight

We usually fly American Airlines. I know Southwest Airlines is usually a little cheaper, and their processes are better since the “cattle call” days. That said, I usually don’t enjoy flying that carrier. We have had good luck with AA, and we just had one of our best experiences flying American Airlines business class.

We don’t always get to fly business class. Sometimes the tickets are already sold out, or it’s too expensive. Let’s face it, for long flights it can be astronomically expensive. For shorter flights, it might not be much more than coach, depending on the carrier, destination and day you are flying.

The days of dressing nice and hoping for an upgrade are long passed. For most carriers, unless you are a member of the airlines mileage club, or have an airline branded credit card, the chances of you getting an upgrade are slim. This is especially true for a popular flights like most are between Phoenix and California. Even having a mileage number or credit card are not always helpful. I have both, but people with a higher tier status are always given the upgrade first.

When my Grandpa recently passed, we knew we were going to have to fly last minute. If you have ever tried to buy an airline ticket less than two weeks out, you know how insane the prices can be. For this trip, we were having a hard time finding ANY seats that were reasonably priced, even in coach.

We checked multiple airlines, and I even begrudgingly checked Southwest. Did I mention that I am no longer a fan of Southwest? Luckily we had a little flexibility on the days we could fly. In the end, we purchased a pair of American Airlines business class seats for less that some of the coach fairs we were quoted.

The flight into California was good, a pretty standard business class experience. The stewardess was friendly, we got our pre-flight cocktail; it was a good flight and a good experience. We rarely have a bad experience flying business class on AA.

Oh, but the flight back to Phoenix was spectacular. Taunya and I were the first to board the plane. The steward greeted us warmly, and we started to get settled in. There are only 8 business class seats on the flight between Phoenix and Sacramento, so the group 1 boarding goes quickly.

Immediately, the steward begins offering to take people’s coats as they board. He took our pre-flight drink order before we were even fully settled in. I was sipping my whiskey before I even got my phone charger plugged in.

Once all of us were settled in, he gave us a flight briefing. A storm had hit Northern California earlier that day, so he told us we’d probably have “a lot of fun” taking off, but he’d take our in-flight orders and bring snacks as soon as he could.

Due to the weather and rough take off, service was delayed a little bit. He remembered what we were drinking, so only had to confirm that was we wanted. The steward brought us the snack basket and choose what we wanted. He came back and refilled my drink and Taunya’s wine, and brought the snack basket back before we had even finished the first!

I knew we were getting close to descent because I heard and felt the changes in flight. So I called the steward to get each of us a refill while we could. When he came over he apologized, saying that he couldn’t because he needed to close everything out since we were too close to landing.

Getting a final drink is usually not a problem, however I think that with the tailwind we were going to arrive around 20 minutes early. American Airlines stewards are generally quite accommodating, and he was not any different. He thought for a second, then asked if we were continuing on, or if Phoenix was our destination, which we told him it was.

He said, “I think I have a solution, be right back”. I thought, a solution for what? He came back a few minutes later, and handed us an unopened bottle of wine and said “Happy Thanksgiving”. He went on to say that it was the wine Taunya was drinking on this flight, and to take it home and let it breath for about 10 minutes before drinking.

Taunya and I were both stunned to be honest. We were not even upset or angry, he just felt like he needed to make up for the shortened snack and beverage window. Talk about service! It was definitely above and beyond my expectations, and honestly more than what I think a lot of stewards would do on any airline.

Have we had better experiences in First or Business class? Sure, our flight to Fiji earlier this year comes to mind. Thinking back though, I don’t think I can find one negative thing to say about this particular flight. An airline cannot control the weather, yet they can still make it an enjoyable experience.

If anyone has an experience they would like to share, good or bad, feel free to comment below. If you are interested, please check out our other articles regarding business class. In the future we’ll share more tips on ways to travel first class for less. For now, go out and live life, love life, drink life, and travel for life!

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Derek