I just flew from Los Angeles to New York in American Airlines A321XLR Premium Economy. While far from being the most luxurious flight of my life from LAX to JFK, it was an enjoyable and comfortable experience that I’d totally do again. No arm twisting required!
Not only are the seats are wide and spacious, they are semi private as well. The included amenities (omg that pillow) are impressively generous. And the food? Tasty, somewhat plentiful, and creative(ish).
Unlike nearly everything else happening at American Airlines these days, they put some effort into this. You can tell that this is a product that they are proud of. And they should be. It’s kinda good!
AA238 Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – New York, NY (JFK) Wednesday, February 25, 2026 Aircraft: A321XLR Registration: N303NY Duration: 4 hours 55 minutes Seat: 13A (Premium Economy)
American Airlines A321XLR side view illustration by NorebboStock.comOur route from New York to Los Angeles today as AA238
My full review of American Airlines A321XLR Premium Economy from Los Angeles to New York
The American Airlines A321XLR features three classes of service:
Business Class
Premium Economy
Regular Economy
Gone is Flagship First and Flagship Business Class on the A321T (which the XLR is replacing). That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I personally like having a proper premium economy option now in place of the old Flagship Business Class. Not everyone will agree with me on this, I know. Sorry y’all.
Arrival / checking in at LAX
Because of ongoing renovation of the American Airlines terminals at LAX (T4 and T5), my flight to JFK was scheduled to depart out of Terminal B at 10:10 AM. Having just arrived on a flight up from San Diego on United, it took about 15 minutes to make the walk from Terminal 8.
The moment when you’re just casually walking between terminals (you haven’t even started getting content for the review yet), and something interesting catches your eye. “Oh shit that’s my plane!”Welcome to Terminal B at LAX (which probably would’ve been the very first pic of this review if I hadn’t been paying attention during the walk over here).Is it even necessary to show you a picture of the airplane again? If you squint really hard, you can see the American Airlines A321XLR that’ll be taking me to New York today. I’d walk over there and get a better pic, but I think you get the idea.Gate 151 is where this flight to JFK will be departing from this morning. Never mind the bullet holes in the wall surrounding the flight information display.Bullet holes or not, it’s never not fun to frolic around TBIT before a long flight to an exotic destination on a world class airline! Or in my case, a medium length flight to a cosmopolitan destination on an airline whose employees just voted no confidence in the CEO.Premium economy on the A321XLR baby! Why is nobody else in my immediate vicinity as excited as I am about this?
The boarding process for flight number 238 to JFK
Boarding at gate 151 commenced at exactly 9:40 AM. It’s worth noting that Premium Economy passengers board with Group 4, which isn’t exactly being first. Or second. Or even third. Standing there watching everyone board before you was easily the most economy class part of this entire experience.
Wait, wut? It’s not until half the plane gets to board before you that you realize that maybe premium economy isn’t as hot shit as you think it is. Group 4 life can be humbling.Ahhh, the smell of a brand new airplane fresh phthalates, aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, styrene, phenol, and flame retardants! Reaching premium economy on the American Airlines A321XLR will require a humiliating stroll through business class. If ever there was a way to be knocked down from the high of feeling like a baller premium economy passenger, this’ll do it.
American Airlines A321XLR Premium Economy seat overview
There are 18 Premium Economy seats arranged in a 3-3 layout on the American A321XLR. This cabin consists of three rows (rows 11, 12, and 13) and is separated from business class and economy class by bulkhead walls. It’s never not cozy and nice to fly in a smaller walled off cabin on any size airplane IMHO.
Welcome to Premium Economy. Looks like Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 first class isn’t the only baby shit brown premium cabin in the US anymore, is it?To be quite honest with you I really like the brown. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I know, but I like what I like (and I like poop-colored airplane seats I guess).Waiting for you on the seat is a huge cloth bag (with a blanket and pillow inside) and a little bottle of water hiding in the crack of the seat as if it’s terrified of what I might do to it. Relax bro. My bladder isn’t that disgusting.Legroom and under seat storage space looks pretty good. And see how nicely I’m treating that bottle of water? He’s slowly coming around.Basically, these seats provide the typical amount of width and legroom you’d expect in US domestic first class. So far so good.Good news: Huge video screens! Bad news: There’s some sort of privacy coating on them which prevents you from being able to look over and see what your seatmate is watching. How am I supposed to judge the person sitting next to me if I can’t see what kind of content they consume?Not only that, these eye-level side wings will make inconspicuous peeking difficult. I think what American Airlines is telling us here is that we need to mind our own damn business.“Hey Scott, are there enough storage compartments in these seats for my (*insert the weirdest most oddly shaped thing you can imagine here*)?”“Yes. There is.” This phallic-shaped pillow (included in that bag that I showed you earlier) is a really good example of something that will fit in one of those storage compartments.Depending on how good you are at stuffing phallic-shaped things into tight spots, you’ll have no problem getting it into this little storage compartment (containing 110 V electrical outlet, USB-C port, and remote for the video entertainment system) next to the seat.Not everyone appreciates my somewhat crude sense of humor it seems. Oh well. But at least we’re all comfortable here in row 13!
Amenities
Upon arrival at your seat, you’ll find a large bag containing a full-size blanket, a pillow, and a pair of noise canceling headphones. Smooshed under that bag will be a bottle of water.
So about that bag. It’s a big one, and it will get in the way of everything you’re trying to do as you get situated. But trust me – the soft blanket and (phallic-shaped) pillow inside is worth the initial inconvenience.I’ve already shown you the pillow, but here’s the blanket. Not everything looks like a penis in here you guys.They even somehow managed to stuff a pair of full-size noise canceling headphones in that bag as well. I’m just glad I wasn’t required to put them back in there, cause there was no way I was gonna figure that out.
Amenity kit
Getting an amenity kit in premium economy is one thing. Getting it in premium economy on a domestic US flight is another thing altogether. The ones they provided on this flight were both beautiful and highly useful (containing the usual useful goodies).
Sunglasses holder? Or amenity kit? Both actually. It’ll serve as a nicely equipped amenity kit for the next few hours, but after the flight, it’ll be the colorful new home for my prescription shades.The contents of the amenity kit (socks, dental kit, lotion, face mask, and cleaning cloth). Everything one needs for a flight across the country on an airline who basically just told their own CEO to go F himself (presumably with the pillow).
Our departure from LAX
We pushed off the gate 22 minutes late at 10:32 AM. And you know what? I didn’t even notice the delay because of how enamored I was with the seat that I was sitting in. They’re pretty neat.
And we’re off! Let’s just hope the pilot in command has more confidence in his airplane than he does in his CEO.
Things were going smashingly well until (after sitting for 10 minutes on the taxiway not moving) the captain announced that we had to return to the gate because of a “seating issue”.
Long story short: we docked at the nearest gate (not the one we departed from), an American Airlines gate agent boarded the plane, and walked to the back. One minute later, he came back up the aisle escorting one passenger off the plane. No yelling, no arguments, no nothing. They shut the door, and we were on our way. OK then.
The plot thickens. Seems as if the CEO had no confidence in Terminal 5. Why is nobody happy at this airline?At least there are smiling happy people in the safety video (who, let’s be honest, are all probably paid actors).
The taxi over to runway 25R took 56 minutes (which included the time to return to the gate), and we were in the air and on our way at 11:26 AM. Oof.
Whheeeeeeeeee! (Not the actual sound of an Airbus A321XLR at full throttle).
In flight entertainment
Say what you will about American Airlines (and I know that some of you can say a lot), but the in-flight entertainment product here in Premium Economy on the A321XLR is darn near world class.
Love, This In Flight Entertainment System. Excited, I Am To Experience It.
The amount of movies and TV shows on tap is impressive. I didn’t even realize how many options were available until I found the well-hidden arrow button which allowed for pretty much limitless scrolling. Yeah, the UX is a little confusing at first, but the catalogue of content is impressive.
Bluetooth connectivity is available (as it should be in a product as premium as this). That said, I didn’t have the need to connect my AirPods since the wired noise canceling headphones that they provided were good enough.
Bluetooth audio available. SANspotter not try.While not quite as nice as the Bang & Olufsen headphones that everyone up in business class is enjoying at this exact moment, it’s hard to complain about these. They sounded good enough and they didn’t hurt my ears. Would wear again.I love it when I get to remind everyone (yet again) that “they didn’t even provide noise canceling headphones in Lufthansa A350-900 premium economy for crying out loud!”
And yes, Wi-Fi is available for free. The only caveat is that you need to be in American Airlines AAdvantage member to access it (which requires logging in and all that jazz).
Food and drinks
Maybe it was because of the lackluster meal I was recently served in United 787-9 Premium Plus, but I wasn’t expecting much on this flight. I’m happy to report that this meal exceeded my expectations.
There were no printed menus provided. The flight attendant simply walked down the aisle presenting two options (beef or vegetable curry). She only had the beef left by the time she got to our row.
Ask for the beef, get told that the only thing left is the beef. Then eat the beef. Not before getting pictures of it first!
As I noted in my American Airlines 737-800 review, this is an airline that does an excellent job with the presentation of food during the meal service. You can always expect interesting looking food on American IMHO. This experience was no different.
This looks a lot spicier than it actually was BTW. I’m happy to report that it was white boy friendly and no delicate stomach linings were damaged during (and after) consumption.The entire meal was flavorful and filling, although the main entrée could’ve used a pinch of salt IMHO. The TLDR: “Yummy yummy in my tummy!”
Seat recline and comfort
Seat recline is pretty good. Nothing that I’d call amazing, but at least it’s better than what you would get in American A321neo first class. Slightly better. And yes, my seat (in the very last row of Premium Economy against the rear bulkhead wall) reclined just as much as any other Premium Economy seat. There was no limitation.
Notice how the seatbacks pivot at the center (opposed to the bottom) when reclined. This does an excellent job of preventing the person in front of you from slamming their seat back into your face as they disregard your comfort over their own. Halle-freakin-lujah.It’s not all sunshine and roses though. That seat recline can get pretty steep depending on the mood of the person doing the reclining.
These are comfortable seats, very similar to Delta A321neo first class. I especially liked the retractable leg rest. For reasons I cannot explain, it was probably the most comfortable leg rest I have ever experienced in any airplane seat. I don’t normally use those things, but my legs were happily supported all the way across the country.
Highly adjustable headrests in the most erect (and ready to please) position.Even the blanket is brown. I suspect they would prefer if say “mocha” instead, but I’m willing to bet they’re just happy that I didn’t mention anything about baby shit this time.And just so you know, I had every bit of confidence in this blanket (unlike certain CEOs I know of). Let’s just say that I didn’t freeze to death all the way to New York this afternoon.It’s also worth noting that they kept the cabin temperature nearly perfect on this flight. Not too hot. Not too cold. Juuuusst right.
Premium Economy lavatories
What Premium Economy lavatories? When you gotta go, it will require going all the way to the back of the airplane to one of the economy class lavatories. Or (depending on how brave you’re feeling), you can sneak into the business class cabin and use theirs.
Sittin’ on the can (deeeeeep inside economy class territory). LOL if you thought American Airlines cared enough about premium economy passengers to give them their own dedicated shitter.
The descent and landing into JFK
The flight attendant came by with Biscoff cookies approximately an hour and 10 minutes prior to landing. She was also taking drink orders, but I declined the offer. Thanks anyway!
The pre-landing snack? Biscoff cookies à la mode. And you thought that I had no more baby shit brown objects to show you in this review.
The sun had completely set by the time we began the descent. As always when flying into New York, I was excited for the opportunity to get a good look at the city during our approach. Our downwind approach for 22R was just north of the city unfortunately, so there were no views to be had this time.
If you recall from my American Airlines 777-200 business class review, this is an airline that saves the mood lighting ’till the very end. What a tease!Then, just moments before landing, they hit you over the head with the hot pink stuff. Welcome to the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York (I say calmly, as a fully fueled widebody from a competing airline nearly plows into us as we vacate runway 22R).
We touched down and exactly 7:21 PM, which was 53 minutes behind schedule. From there it was an 11 minute taxi over to gate 5 in Terminal 8. There wasn’t a whole lot to see here on the ground either.
Seriously. I don’t even care how odd this pillow looks. It was probably the best pillow I have ever had (Used? Experienced? Fooled around with?) on an airplane. Like, ever.“How is it even possible for the employees to hate the guts of a CEO who had the good sense to sign off on a pillow like that?!”
Pros and cons of American Airlines A321XLR Premium Economy
I’ve been doing a lot of premium economy flying lately (both domestic and international) and I’m here to tell ya: the American Airlines A321XLR product was one of my favorite experiences yet.
Pros
I don’t care what everyone says. I love the way that these seats look. Baby shit brown FTMFW!
The privacy features (headrest wings and anti-peekaboo coatings on the video screens) are a nice touch for solo flyers.
Very generous amenities. The pillow and blanket would’ve been nice enough, but they had to go and include a full amenity kit as well.
Pretty good food! No complaints from me.
Cons
No printed menus. I know this sounds petty AF, but they went really hard on all of the other amenities, so…
Seat pitch and legroom isn’t generous enough for window seat passengers to be able to exit to the aisle without asking the person in the aisle seat to stand up.
Boarding with group 4 doesn’t seem all that premium IMHO. Just sayin’.
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8 Comments
I was looking foward to this one, Scott. Great review. Is the food and seats better than what you get in domestic first class? Btw, was there an equipment swap on your return flight, because I thought you’ll also be in first class on the A321XLR.
Thanks Connor! Yeah, this the seats are a lot better than domestic first class (although I think this is the exact same seat as Delta A321neo first class – at least they look very similar). Food is about the same which is fine because it’s always been pretty good.
And yeah, it was supposed to be XLR business class on the way back. At first I thought it was an equipment swap, but I was just looking at the history for that flight, and at no point in the past two weeks has it ever been an XLR. So I’m not really sure what happened.
The seats AA uses on the XLR are Recaro R5 seats — Delta uses the Recaro CL4710. Their business class seats (if you couldn’t tell) are super similar to JetBlue’s Mint products, but the Mint seats are based on a platform from a different company. Its a bummer that you weren’t able to get to review the XLR business class, but will you get a review up on the Transcon?
I don’t follow the specific brands/models of seats all that closely, so this is interesting. Thanks for the clarification! And yes, I will be posting a full review of the return in first class on the A321T. It was a great flight despite not being exactly what I went to New York to get.
Hey Scott, I would highly recommend AeroLOPA for seat maps. It’s super detailed, and the maps are drawn almost to scale, and depictions of seats with blocked windows. It also shows the exact seat model, and its much better than most airline seat maps.
Yep, I’m a big fan of AeroLOPA (although though I much preferred seatguru). I didn’t realize they had information about seats without windows however. I was recently booking a flight where I needed to know if the row that I wanted had a window or not, and there was no info about it. Maybe it’s something they don’t have for every seat map yet.
Pretty cool that you could get one of the first reviews on this plane!
I was looking foward to this one, Scott. Great review. Is the food and seats better than what you get in domestic first class? Btw, was there an equipment swap on your return flight, because I thought you’ll also be in first class on the A321XLR.
Thanks Connor! Yeah, this the seats are a lot better than domestic first class (although I think this is the exact same seat as Delta A321neo first class – at least they look very similar). Food is about the same which is fine because it’s always been pretty good.
And yeah, it was supposed to be XLR business class on the way back. At first I thought it was an equipment swap, but I was just looking at the history for that flight, and at no point in the past two weeks has it ever been an XLR. So I’m not really sure what happened.
The seats AA uses on the XLR are Recaro R5 seats — Delta uses the Recaro CL4710. Their business class seats (if you couldn’t tell) are super similar to JetBlue’s Mint products, but the Mint seats are based on a platform from a different company. Its a bummer that you weren’t able to get to review the XLR business class, but will you get a review up on the Transcon?
I don’t follow the specific brands/models of seats all that closely, so this is interesting. Thanks for the clarification! And yes, I will be posting a full review of the return in first class on the A321T. It was a great flight despite not being exactly what I went to New York to get.
Hey Scott, I would highly recommend AeroLOPA for seat maps. It’s super detailed, and the maps are drawn almost to scale, and depictions of seats with blocked windows. It also shows the exact seat model, and its much better than most airline seat maps.
Yep, I’m a big fan of AeroLOPA (although though I much preferred seatguru). I didn’t realize they had information about seats without windows however. I was recently booking a flight where I needed to know if the row that I wanted had a window or not, and there was no info about it. Maybe it’s something they don’t have for every seat map yet.
Pretty cool that you could get one of the first reviews on this plane!
I was actually hoping to do it sooner, but I couldn’t find the time.