Can’t afford first class? Wouldn’t want to suffer the embarrassment of flying basic economy? American Airlines 737-800 Main Cabin Extra might be for you.
You’ll get all of the legroom of first class, but without the extra seat width. Or the food.
You will get free beer and wine though. Which is gonna come in real handy for distorting the fact that you’re still sitting in a basic economy seat without video screens.
AA1831
West Palm Beach, FL (PBI) – Chicago, IL (ORD)
Friday, April 11, 2025
Aircraft: 737-823
Registration: N980AN
Duration: 2 hours 46 minutes
Seat: 9F (Main Cabin Extra)
Checking in at PBI
The scheduled departure time for this flight up to Chicago was 12:25 PM. I arrived at West Palm Beach International Airport at 10:51am.
This was not because of my hope that Main Cabin Extra passengers get to experience a more streamlined check in process (they don’t). PBI is just a small and efficient airport, that’s all.
The boarding process
One of the perks of being a Main Cabin Extra passenger is the promise of early boarding (immediately after first class).
That promise was broken when I ended up with a Group 6 boarding pass after upgrading to Main Cabin Extra from a basic economy seating assignment. I was basically one of the last to board.
737-800 Main Cabin Extra cabin and seats
There are 30 Main Cabin Extra on the American Airlines 737-800. These seats offer approximately 6 inches of additional legroom over the standard economy seats. It’s a noticeable difference.
Just as it is on all American Airlines domestic aircraft, there are no video screens in the seats here on the 737-800. All you’re gonna get is a seat pocket containing a barf bag, safety card, and an in-flight entertainment pamphlet.
The departure from PBI
Our gate departure was three minutes early at 12:22 PM. However, there was a lot of air traffic congestion in the upper Midwest at the time, so we had to pull off the taxiway and wait for a departure slot.
Our departure off runway 28R was 23 minutes late at 12:58 PM. The captain promised to make up all that time in the air though. The race was on!
In-flight entertainment
Watching video entertainment in American Airlines 737-800 Main Cabin Extra will require the use of your personal device. There are no video screens in the seats, so make sure to bring a device with a really good screen (and functioning Wi-Fi capabilities to be able to receive streaming content).
Streaming content includes movies, TV shows, podcasts, live TV, audiobooks, and Apple Music. All for free – though you will have to sit through a 30 second credit card ad to access any of it.
Although messaging is free, high speed Wi-Fi (to access the Internet) is not. Yet another reason why you should’ve went with Delta 757-200 Comfort Plus instead.
Food and drinks
Alcohol is complementary here in Main Cabin Extra. Snacks are as well, but it’s low quality stuff. Biscoff cookies? Come on, man. That’s some basic economy sh*t right there!
More substantial food items (such as sandwiches, wraps, fruit and cheese plates, etc) were available for purchase. None of it is cheap though, so it would behoove you to pick up something in the airport ahead of time instead.
Seat comfort
The 6 inches of extra legroom is glorious. The lack of extra seat recline (and seat width) is the opposite of glorious.
Despite what American Airlines tells you, these seats are the same ‘ol same ‘ol basic economy variety – right down to the rock hard cushioning and puny armrests.
The descent and arrival into Chicago O’Hare
Although the Captain didn’t live up to his promise of making up all of the time that we lost back at PBI, I have to give him credit for trying. We were only five minutes behind schedule by the time we started the descent.
The weather was absolutely phenomenal, offering equally phenomenal views of the Chicago skyline as they positioned us into the easterly arrival flow for ORD.
Touchdown on runway 10C happened at 2:44 PM. That was still five minutes behind schedule, but kudos to the crew of this aircraft for putting the pedal to the metal all the way up from South Florida today.
Pros and cons
I can only think of three reasons to justify paying more for Main Cabin Extra on the 737-800:
- You’re extra tall, and you need the extra legroom.
- You need to be one of the first off the aircraft because you’ve got a really tight connection to make.
- You need to arrive drunk.
Otherwise? Basic economy is good enough IMHO.
Pros
- The extra legroom thing.
- The perk of being one of the first of the aircraft thing.
- The arriving lit AF thing.
Cons
- The lack of video screens thing (which shouldn’t even be a thing on a full-service airline such as American).
- The Biscoff cookie thing. I want a free cheese plate dammit!
I don’t have a lot to say that I didn’t say comment on the A321 review, which means that American is finally consistent. At what cost, though…
Honestly, it looks like a decent enough extra-legroom economy product, but the lack of IFE screens & “real” food for purchase makes this worse than pretty much all other US airlines (which is unfortunate because they used to have both of those things before Project Oasis & the pandemic). Well, they do serve free alcohol, which I think United doesn’t, but other than that, it lags behind the competition. It’s really only better than the LCC’s, but those are better value, and some of them are similar to this (for example, the Big Front Seat is cheaper than this, and Breeze’s Nicer product has almost the exact same seat, food, and IFE). AA just isn’t trying to differentiate itself in any way for the average flyer.
On a lighter note, it’s interesting how a lot of AA’s 737s have the new Sky Interior but the old cabin walls! I wonder why more airlines don’t do it, since it seems like a cheaper way to refurbish the cabin (given that you don’t have to change the sidewall panels).
Oh yeah – I would totally choose a Spirit Big Front Seat over Main Cabin Extra on American Airlines. Spirit will almost always be the same cost or cheaper than what it would cost on American, so it’s a mostly easy choice.
I say “mostly” because it’s very difficult to fly Spirit in and out of San Diego at decent hours. Trying to get to Florida and back requires red eyes both ways (which is infuriating). Same thing applies to Breeze. The schedule is just too inconvenient to be worth it.
The good news is that this is the last of my American Airlines economy reviews for a while. On to bigger and better things!
Scott, it is always a treat when you post one of these reviews. That first shot looks like you’re walking down the aisle of the world’s longest passenger bus, which, based on your review, seems appropriate. Nothing like a good old mid-America route in modern-day economy. Sometimes I think it would be interesting to find out what sort of service one would receive on a flight like this in say, 1985, or even 1995. I have vague memories of flying on American from LA to JFK in 1980, but of course no photos or anything substantial I could contribute.
But this is a great service you provide. I’m much less likely to want to shell out for premium economy on these routes if this is the actual product. Good grief, I flew American from Chicago to LA in Coach as late as the summer of 2001 and it was like Emirates compared to this!
Thanks for the kind words JCC! These domestic economy reviews are a labor of love (to say the least). They probably aren’t all that interesting to a majority of people seeking out detailed airline reviews, but I enjoy documenting my experiences – even the lame ones. lol
One of my biggest regrets in life is not starting to document things earlier. I too would’ve loved to have a detailed record of flights (and other experiences) from the 80s and 90s. I think about this a lot actually. What a missed opportunity!
If all goes to plan, my next three posts will be Hawaiian Airlines economy reviews (on three different aircraft types). After that, it’ll be back to long haul economy and business class…