Time for another snapshot – this time focusing on American Airlines 47 between London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare.
For those who haven’t encountered how I do trip reports on this blog:
- Trip Reports – These are full deep-dive reports taking you deep into the passenger experience looking at the big things as well as the small things
- Snapshots – These are bite-sized reviews that show you the basic product in some nice gentle headlines.
So, let’s do American Airlines 47 first.
The Plane
It’s an American Airlines Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. This is a recent swap to the Chicago network which used to be a mix of anything AA wanted to send to Heathrow
Yup… A 787.
Seating
This Boeing 787-8 is fitted with a mixture of Business Class, Main Cabin Extra and Main Cabin. Both Main Cabin Extra and Main Cabin are fitted in 3-3-3 formation.
Business Class seats
Main Cabin Extra seat
Cabin.
Food
Three services were offered – A breakfast service, a mid-flight ice cream service and a snackbox service before arrival
Breakfast service.
Ice Cream service
Pre-arrivals service
In-flight Entertainment
These planes are fitted with the Panasonic ex3 In-Flight Entertainment System. There seemed to be a good amount of content loaded on the system
Shame there weren’t enough headphones to go around in Main Cabin… (I requested mine too late…and I only had my Bluetooth headphones on me).
USB and 110v mains power were at each seat.
Connectivity
In-Flight WiFi was provisioned by Panasonic Aerospace using their Ka band service. Prices varied from $12 for 2 hours to $19 for the full fight.
Speed was reasonable, with reasonable coverage until entering the USA, where connectivity was reduced.
Running Speedtest against the connection.
Browsing Wikipedia in the dark…
The cabin
The cabin is a standard 787 cabin, with the dimmable windows. However for the majority of the flight ( from the end of the meal service to about 30 minutes before landing of the cabin was mostly kept in darkness.
Views
With the cabin in darkness/blueness, getting pictures out the cabin was more than a frustrating experience.
A full review of American Airlines 47 in the coming week or so.
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Just a quick shout-out that I recognize the airfield in your approach picture: my local general aviation facility, Dupage Airport, KDPA
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for this post. I’m looking at going to London for a date with my wife this summer. Likely through Seattle but it’s nice to see this as an option. Nothing to special but again always great to see insight inside the plane. Thanks for a recount of your experience.
Cheers,