New 757 International Routes

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eolesen

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Jul 23, 2003
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American Airlines Announces Plans to Use Boeing 757s on International Routes
--American Provides Updates on Additional Refurbishment Efforts

Last update: 11:10 a.m. EDT May 7, 2009

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 7, 2009 -- Customers onboard American Airlines Flight 172 from New York (JFK) to Brussels (BRU) on Thursday, May 7, will be among the first to experience American's newly-reconfigured Boeing 757 international aircraft on a trans-Atlantic flight.
American is in the process of reconfiguring 18 of its 124 Boeing 757s for use on international routes, and Thursday's JFK-to-Brussels flight is the first to make an international journey with the new configuration. Featuring new seats, new cabin interiors and updated inflight entertainment systems, the reconfiguration - slated for completion by the end of this year - will offer customers a comfortable international travel experience.
"American Airlines fleet of Boeing 757 international aircraft will be well-suited to serve select international routes following the refurbishment initiative," said Lauri Curtis, American's Vice President - Onboard Service.

The 757 Business Class cabin, with a 2-2 seating configuration, features 16 next-generation, angled lie-flat seats with drop-down armrests; the ability to slide forward interlocking tray tables that create one of the largest workspaces in the industry; on-demand audio/video in-seat entertainment systems providing 28 movies, more than 33 hours of television programming, 16 audio channels, 50 audio CDs, 15 interactive games; and new lavatories.

The Economy Class cabin, with 166 seats in a 3-3 configuration, will receive new seats, new lavatories, new LCD monitors that replace CRT monitors, and digital media file servers that will provide better inflight video and audio entertainment quality.

The 757 international fleet will serve select trans-Atlantic and Latin American routes. Routes are subject to change, but may include New York to Barcelona, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Brussels; Boston to Paris Charles de Gaulle; and Miami to Salvador, Brazil, to Recife, Brazil.
 
No matter how they spin it...this is a downgrade in service. They forgeot to mention how passengers will not be able to buy duty free items because there is no space.
 
Not to mention...

That one of the aft lavs will become a trash can! We already run out of space for trash on transcons, just imagine a transatlantic!!
 
As long as the >3 oz liquid ban remains in place, duty free has very little value for me.

Get rid of crap like newspapers and the extra trash related to BOB packaging, perhaps it won't be as bad?...
 
Your chances of getting a newspaper has been cut in half because the number of available Business Class seats has been cut from 28 to 14.
 
Your chances of getting a newspaper has been cut in half because the number of available Business Class seats has been cut from 28 to 14.

Your chances of getting a pillow and blanket on this new route have also been reduced.

Should the original turn off a domestic, or Carib, with minimal ground time and personnel available chances are there are no Blankets/Pillows on board and no time to restock.

Adding to this fiasco, single- aisle cleaning, with F/Aa, Caterers, Mechs, all needing access to the A/C, really slows things down.

:censored:
 
As I said in a previous post, I have worked many 757 transatlantic flights out of BOS, it really wasn't too bad, the passengers rarely complained about it because truthfully most people don't even know what kind of plane they are on when they book by price anyway.

Trash wasn't an issue, you just pick up with the same carts you serve from, however I'll give you that was in an all coach servce. I'll bid it, the way I look at it is, AA could just cancel the service if and this is the lesser of two evils, at least for me. That's the beauty of this job, your trash is my treasure. Just don't bid it, if you're on Reserve well it sucks no matter what trip you get, at least for me.

As for the number of seats getting cut in half, I would venture that most of the front cabin was upgrades anyway and so if you have the same amount of people actually paying for Business class on a 757 as you did on the 767 this is actually a good move.

MikeBOS
 
As I said in a previous post, I have worked many 757 transatlantic flights out of BOS, it really wasn't too bad, the passengers rarely complained about it because truthfully most people don't even know what kind of plane they are on when they book by price anyway.

MikeBOS

Even if people happen to read what type of aircraft it is most won't know what the diffrence is.
 
As I said in a previous post, I have worked many 757 transatlantic flights out of BOS, it really wI would venture that most of the front cabin was upgrades anyway and so if you have the same amount of people actually paying for Business class on a 757 as you did on the 767 this is actually a good move.

On the Europe routes, I would think there will be more actual fare paying business class customers compared to upgraders. Absent an eVIP, the upgrades for coach customers is still steep at 25,000 points + $350 each way (for non Y/B coach fares), and even those buckets © will probably be heavily capacity controlled. For full fare coach, it's not a big step up $$$ wise ("only" 15,000 points and no copay).
 
Oh, don't go confusing ignorance with facts... it ruins the fun.

Sure, some people will upgrade with miles, and others will use EVIPs. But don't forget just how much money is behind either one of those.
 
Flying a 757 transatlantic is certainly not my first choice, but if it makes specific routes viable and brings profit to AMR, they should pursue it.
 
Case and point... I'm supposed to go to NCE in a couple weeks. AA can't find enough people to justify flying JFK-NCE with a 767, but supposedly with the 757, it's a viable route.

I'll probably wind up connecting on an IB CRJ via MAD instead, but I'd much rather be on AA the whole way.

Given the choice of seven or eight hours on the 757 or seven hours on a 767 and two hours on an RJ, I'll take the six hours on the 757 any day...
 
The good news is that 757s, even with winglets, don't have a lot of range, meaning that most long routes will have to be flown with 777s, 763s or (eventually) 787s, all of which are much more comfortable for longer flights. So short European flights from BOS or JFK or short S America flights from MIA and maybe ORD-DUB or SNN are about the limit for the 757s.

That said, I can certainly survive any of those flights in a NGBC seat that actually reclines and maybe even in a row 9 exit row seat.
 
The good news is that 757s, even with winglets, don't have a lot of range, meaning that most long routes will have to be flown with 777s, 763s or (eventually) 787s, all of which are much more comfortable for longer flights. So short European flights from BOS or JFK or short S America flights from MIA and maybe ORD-DUB or SNN are about the limit for the 757s.

That said, I can certainly survive any of those flights in a NGBC seat that actually reclines and maybe even in a row 9 exit row seat.

The 757s can fly quite far. From Miami, it can reach Dublin even.

Also, because there is no major headwinds going to South America, it can handle any current MIA-South America route, including EZE. Obviously it won't be flying to EZE, but its a good plane to open Cordoba or re-open Asuncion.

As for new destinations, returns to Birmingham and Glasgow have been talked about, as well as Nice, which was supposed to be announced with Moscow but was put on hold with the rise in fuel prices and, now, with the economy.

I personally think that the 757s will play a big role in the AA/BA/IB ATI. Maybe, for example, opening up DTW-LHR, replacing IB on BOS-MAD or replacing BA on BWI-LHR
 
The 757s can fly quite far. From Miami, it can reach Dublin even.

Also, because there is no major headwinds going to South America, it can handle any current MIA-South America route, including EZE. Obviously it won't be flying to EZE, but its a good plane to open Cordoba or re-open Asuncion.


I personally think that the 757s will play a big role in the AA/BA/IB ATI. Maybe, for example, opening up DTW-LHR, replacing IB on BOS-MAD or replacing BA on BWI-LHR

Pushing a 757 with full tanks might get you 7:30-7:45 in the air at best to a clear weather, no alternate destination. No sure what that does to the payload either.
BOS/JFK shouldn't be a problem for it to western Europe. MIA would be out of the question. Maybe downwind, not return wiht typical winds. MIA-ASU might be possible, but I think summer TRW's might cause problems for divert fuel needs. EZE/SCL/GRU/GIG/CNF are out of the question from my rough review of the fuel and distance. Those places are about 8:30 in a 767, 9+ to EZE. B777 can break just under 8 from MIA to GRU assuming ATC cooperates. As I said, the 757 starts looking like a glider near 8 hours.

Winds can be "funny" down south. A few times I've stared at 50-75 knots on the snout for 8 hours coming north to MIA, rare, but sometimes happens enough to shut down a marginal fuel flyer if scheduled on the route.

I hope these agreements generate some additional city pairs to Europe. Having the ground/agent infrastructure in place with IB/BA could make more cities profitable.
 
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