American Airlines 777-200 “old” Business Class: EZE-JFK

I had a quick trip down to Argentina and flew American's premium economy on the 777-200 from DFW to EZE and had the choice to fly the same product on the same route back or fly through JFK in business class. Although this meant an out-of-the-way layover and going through customs in JFK, I went with the option I’m fairly certain most travelers would choose if given the choice. Off to JFK!

Buenos Aires (EZE) – New York City (JFK)

AA954, 777-200

21:55-07:53+1 – 10 hours 57 minutes

Seat 10L (Business Class)

Note: We arrived several hours early for our flight and decided to spend our time at the Admirals Club. There’s nothing over-extraordinary about the lounge at EZE, however I found it to be rather well maintained/appointed. It never got crowded, seating options were solid as were the dining options. It also had two showers, and although they were a little dated, they did the trick after a day of walking around Buenos Aires. The lounge is close to all AA gates, and the staff keeps passengers up to date on boarding times, so there’s no worries of allotting time to show up for boarding (This was a big plus as our flight was delayed 30 minutes).

Entryway to the Admirals Club

777-200 awaiting its flight to JFK

American (at the time this was written) flies from DFW, MIA, and JFK to EZE mostly on a 777-200, the one exception being a 777-300ER on one of the daily flights from MIA. However, JFK’s one flight a day is on a 772 with a slightly older Zodiac business class seat. It’s not a bad seat, but it is inferior to the newer B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seat found in most of the fleet. Additionally, the “zodiac 772’s” don’t have a premium economy section, taking it down another notch.

One of the biggest hits for the zodiac cabins are that there are both front and rear facing seats. This flight was rather empty so seats were almost a pick em’, but if you aren’t a fan of the rear facing seat you’ve got a 50% chance of avoiding them (you can always check the seating chart before selection). Another dig I found was the seat gets pretty narrow toward your feet. Being 6’5” I felt a little cramped when lying flat, but in the end I did sleep like a baby, so…

10L, a Forward Facing Window Seat

Footwell and fold-out IFE screen

Service was pretty average as well. Since the cabin wasn’t nearly full, we moved fairly quickly from snacks and drink to the meal where I ordered the salmon. It was (you guessed it!) average!

The usual mixed nuts pre-meal snack

Business Class Menu

The Sesame-Crusted Green Tea Salmon

Last but not least!

I went for a movie after the meal, but fell asleep not too far into it. Thanks to the partially unoccupied cabin it was very quiet! I woke up a few minutes before breakfast, and we landed shortly after in New York.

All Business rows behind me were empty, and Economy passengers were scarce as well!

Not a buttermilk pancake with the omelet like the description on the menu, but it was still a suffice breakfast!

The "old" business class has its flaws, but it still gets the job done. It's not something to avoid or scoff at if you end up on it, but most carriers (even American itself) do have better to offer. The service and meal is treated no differently than an opposing AA flight, take that as you will, and it's still a comfortable lie-flat seat. Lastly, although the lack of Premium Economy appears to be a flaw, it does provide a nice loophole if your looking to upgrade from economy with points, since these upgrades are valid "to the next cabin of service".