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On a whim, I booked this American Airlines flight from Dallas to Auckland, New Zealand. I found the experience excellent and much better than anticipated. The flight only ended up being around 30% full due to weather cancellations in Dallas.

I enjoyed AA’s Flagship Business class cabin and soft product. While I was disappointed, I didn’t get my Qatar Q Suites I originally planned, I was glad I was able to salvage my trip and not deal with a potential cancellation the next evening.  

American Airlines 787-9 Flagship Business Dallas/Fort Worth to Auckland: Review

Booking

After seeing my Qatar flight to Doha was changed to a non-Q Suites seat, I called Qatar to see if I could move up my flight a day. Qatar wouldn’t accommodate that request. With ice continuing to fall, I started looking at other flights out of DFW for that night that would get me to Australia or New Zealand.

Lucky me when I found a seat to Auckland. It departed five hours later! I grabbed my bags and rushed out of my hotel to the shuttle. I finalized the booking on the hotel shuttle to the terminal.

American Airlines uses dynamic pricing. You can expect points pricing to be as high as 300,000 points for a one-way ticket. It wasn’t that high on for my flight. The web special ticket I booked was only 78,000 AA miles.

These tickets can easily go for over $6,000 round trip from the US to Auckland.

Check-In

Because of all the weather cancelations, check-in was chaotic. It took nearly two hours to get through the line. There were only two agents able to help customers in Terminal D this evening. Thankfully, I got there four hours before boarding.

Once I did get to an agent, he was friendly and quickly got me checked in. With ticket in hand, I headed off through an empty security.

Boarding

Boarding was organized albeit with a delayed start of about 15 minutes. It helped the flight was only 30% full. A lot of people missed their connecting flights into Dallas due to the ice storm.

Once boarding began, they called Concierge Key members. Group 1 was called next. This is where I boarded with all the business class passengers.

Flagship Business Seat

This was my first-time flying Flagship Business internationally. The seat was spacious and private. I could not see anyone across the aisle while seated.

Waiting for me at my seat when I arrived were a couple of items. Bedding was from Casper. You got a blanket, pillow and a mattress pad. I fully believe this mattress pad was what helped me sleep for six hours on the plane and not feel jetlagged arriving in Auckland. The blanket was pretty substantial. It did help me keep warm throughout the flight. The pillow was small. I wish more airline provided larger pillows for business class and first class passengers.

An amenity kit was also at my seat. It contained your standard items like socks, eye mask, ear plugs, and face cream. It wasn’t that great.

Noise cancelling headphones were brought around after boarding was complete. AA does pick these up as the flight begins their descent to land. This is another area were AA could improve. I always use my own headphones so I don’t have to worry about it.

The IFE was amazing. It was at an angle that made it easy to watch if you were sitting up or laying down. The monitor itself was responsive to touch. There was a remote since the monitor was slightly too far away to easily touch. I loved how the remote could double as a second screen. I used it to monitor the flight path so I could continue watching my movie.

Storage at the seat wasn’t plentiful, but it worked for small items like your phone or charging cables. I liked how the power was in a little cubie so all the cables were contained.

Individual parts of the seats could be controlled. This was great if you wanted to sit up but have your legs outs. The controls were super responsive.

Overall, the seat was perfect for the flight across the Pacific.

Bathroom

Even with a nearly empty plane, the bathroom was disgusting every time I visited it. Water (at least I hope it was water) and toilet paper was everywhere. I will spare you the images.

Remember to always wear shoes when walking around a plane.

Flagship Business Food and Drink

Dinner service began about an hour after take-off. It started with a flight attendant placing the linen tablecloth across the tray table. Then warm nuts were brought out with a drink.

An appetizer was brought out. It included shrimp and some sort of cream cheese thing. I didn’t try this as I’m allergic to seafood. This is a place where AA could improve. At least ask if a passenger would like the appetizer.

For my entrée, I chose the beef filet. It came with potatoes and sautéed garlic spinach. The beef was chewy. The spinach was wonderful even if the tons of garlic. I definitely needed to brush my teeth after eating.

Breakfast service began about ninety minutes before landing in Auckland. It started with your drink of choice. I chose coffee. I was also offered a berry smoothie. It was delicious! Probably my favorite part of breakfast. The rest of breakfast was all served on one tray. I chose the scrambled egg option. It also came with ham, tomato, potatoes, fresh fruit and Greek yogurt. A breadbasket came around with croissants. Sorry for the lack of picture! I devoured it the moment it landed on my plate.

American Airlines 787-9 Flagship Business Dallas/Fort Worth to Auckland Bottom Line

It’s worth spending part of my review speaking about the flight attendants. They were awesome. Some of the best flight attendants I’ve encountered on an international flight before. I got to talking with a few during the flight. American Airlines used to give their elites little coupons to hand out to employees to recognized them for their good work. I did reach out to AA via twitter to inform them of their great crew on the flight. It’s important to recognize for good work and not just the negative interactions.

This flight just flew by. I don’t know if it’s because I was excited to head to New Zealand or because I got a ton of sleep. This was a great flight.

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The opinions in this article are the author’s and not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.