American Airlines discontinues first-class

We’re flying first class, up in the sky…or not. After months of speculation, American Airlines has officially done away with its first-class section on international flights.

For months now, there have been rumors that the airline would be discontinuing its first-class section. American largely avoided the rumors, instead choosing to announce the expansion of its business class product dubbed Flagship Business Plus back in June.

Now, the carrier is officially getting rid of its first-class section on transcontinental flights because there simply wasn’t enough demand for the seats. Instead, they’ll replace the seats with more business-class seats.

“The quality of the business class seat has improved so much. And frankly, by removing [first class] we can go provide more business class seats, which is what our customers most want or are most willing to pay for,” said American Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja. 

While the change only applies to international flights, it wouldn’t be a shock if the same were to happen to domestic routes, given that the Flagship Business class seats have virtually the same perks at a slightly lower cost. American also noted that it’s increasingly selling more business class seats to leisure travelers as opposed to just companies.

American’s far from alone here. Rivals Delta and United eliminated international first class options years ago, instead shifting their focus to improving their business class sections.