A Japanese article posted today that American Airlines will finally bring back a true First Class product to Japan. It comes as no surprise as the route should have never lost first class to begin with. While American Airlines hasn’t made any official statement yet, from the article anticipate a start date for June 6 in summer of 2019. So far schedules have not been loaded to reflect the change. According to twitter’s xJonNYC the planes are potentially coming off flights from Miami (MIA) – Buenos Aires (EZE) and Dallas (DFW) – Sao Paulo (GRU).
Apparently the plane won’t be on the route for long as this is just a test. The service will end and return back to a 787-9 on October 26, 2019. While capacity isn’t greatly increased with the change, the number of premium seats doubles from 30 total on the 787-9 to 60 total on the 77W.
| Plane | First | Business | Premium Economy | Main Cabin Extra | Economy | Total Seats |
| 787-9 | x | 30 | 21 | 36 | 198 | 285 |
| 77W | 8 | 52 | 28 | 28 | 188 | 304 |
The last First class flights to Japan ended when they reconfigured the 772’s. It’s great to see premium heavy planes coming back into a market. The American Airlines 77W has some of the best onboard product that they offer. If the 77W becomes a permanent stay, which I think it will, I’d be curious to see whether AA add’s Flagship Dining to the soon to be constructed Flagship Lounge in Tokyo (NRT).
As we get more information we will be sure to let you know.