This time, our contributor is Lizi—the so-called biggest Lizi in the world. I’ve known him for quite a while. Lizi is not only very good with cards, but also deeply knowledgeable about aircraft. He’s very active in our chat groups, and every now and then he sends a voice message that cracks everyone up. He’s truly one of our mood-makers. Hopefully, in the future, Lizi can bring us a true aviation feast from a more professional angle.
Lizi joined the train-enthusiast crowd in 2005 while in college. In 2009, after graduating from his undergraduate program, he went abroad and, like many train enthusiasts, joined the group of flight fans as well.
These were his 55th and 56th takeoffs and landings since he started flying in 2009.
2016.01.07 AA292 Airbus A321 LAX-JFK
2016.01.07 AA4355 ERJ-175 JFK-CLE
As early as two years ago, we learned that American Airlines had bought a large number of Airbus A321s to replace the 757-200s, which are roughly the same age as Lizi’s first aircraft.
Between JFK and LAX/SFO, American even launched the unusual three-cabin A321T layout. Although American has long operated a 777-200 on the LAX-MIA route with three cabins too, that sort of seat architecture is very rare in narrow-body aircraft. (By the way, that LAX-MIA 777-200 was never actually flown by Lizi because AA never routes me through MIA.)
PS: The seat map below is from Seatguru.
Taking advantage of a trip to Los Angeles around Christmas and New Year, Lizi was lucky enough to spend 32500 AA Miles + 5.6 USD and a 911 Security Fee to get an A321T ticket. Under normal circumstances, it’s usually no big deal to get a two-cabin A321 Business Class award, but getting the three-cabin A321T is much harder. The route was LAX-JFK-CLE, giving a “fly past and then turn back” kind of déjà vu.
As train fans and flight enthusiasts, we have one rule: if we can tinker, we tinker; if we can connect, we never choose non-stop. A bit of aircraft mischief is definitely worth it.
This was Lizi’s first opportunity to sit in A321T First Class, but it was likely also his last. The reason is simple: after AA’s mileage devaluation at the end of March last year, the required miles for First Class on this route jumped from 32500 to 50000, and Business Class went from 25000 to 32500—its value disappeared instantly.
Lizi has been a train enthusiast for years on Hai Zi Rail Net. People from that community have the habit of posting with lots of pictures, and each post usually has at least 25–30 images. For this style, readers’ reactions are mixed. But Lizi firmly believes that one strong photo can be worth several paragraphs of explanation. So he keeps posting in his own image-first style.
The story starts on the morning of 2016.01.07 at LAX Terminal 4.
Lizi is just a basic AAdvantage White Card member and does not have the $450 annual-fee Citi AAdvantage Executive Card, but on A321T with its three-cabin setup, First Class is treated as international First Class, so he can access Admiral Club simply by scanning the boarding pass. Upon arriving at the airport, it was still early, so he checked out the Admiral Club at LAX. It looked solid overall—much more premium than the one I visited in Denver.
It was time to head to the gate. Flight AA292 was likely the first A321T flight of the day on the LAX-JFK route.
First group, move in! The A321T boards through the first gate on the left, so even Business and Economy passengers pass the First Class area during boarding. Some may be shocked by this 1-1 seat configuration (normally, three-cabin 777s and 330-family widebodies board through the second door, and you turn left to Business and First after stepping in). This is probably a necessity: A321’s second gate is too close to the engines, and if the jet bridge isn’t handled carefully, it could damage them.
Lizi’s seat was 1A. Although Seatguru marks this seat yellow with the note: “The proximity to the lavatory, galley, and closets maybe bothersome,” Lizi chose it anyway, sticking to his motto that life doesn’t give you many chances at 1A.
Here are the controls next to the seat, as shown left to right, top to bottom: remote control, reading light, seat controller, USB charging port, and in the right frame there are Bose noise-canceling headphones, bottled water, and above is a 110V AC charging outlet.
The Bose noise-canceling headphones offered in First and Business make the whole world go quiet—no engine whine, no air noise at all (though you can still hear a faint electrical buzzing hiss).
Because it was a very early flight, Los Angeles airport was not busy yet. The flight had no delay and departed on time. The A321T seemed to climb quickly, probably because the load was light.
This is how the menu looked. Breakfast came not long after takeoff.
Coffee with two cookies, then fruit and a butter biscuit, and then Omelet with sausage to really fill you up.
After eating, I walked around the cabin to pass the time and then toured from front to back, chatting a bit with the flight attendants near the tail. On the LAX-JFK route, it was even unusual that Economy was not full. American Airlines A321T uses a standard 3-3 Economy layout, with 72 seats total: 36 regular Economy and 36 Economy Plus (E+). Business is 2-2 with 20 seats and fully flat, while the famed First Class has a 1-1 layout with only 10 seats. Honestly, one First Class seat is roughly the space of four to six economy seats.
First Class occupancy that day was not great either; 1F next to Lizi was empty.
After looking around, I laid back to watch PTV for a bit and then dozed off.
Honestly, Lizi found that 180 degrees was not very comfortable. During flight the nose often sits slightly up, so with full recline the feet end up higher than the head, which creates a blood-reflux feeling and a bit of head pressure (this may just be my own case and not everyone’s). To solve this, he set the recline to about 165–170 degrees, which was much more comfortable.
When he woke up, there were still more than forty minutes to landing.
Flying from the West Coast to the East Coast includes a three-hour time difference, so it can feel like a lot of time passed—by the time we arrived at JFK, it was already afternoon.
There was still more than an hour before connecting to CLE, so I went straight to JFK’s Admiral Club to take a look.
It was time to head to the next flight. Lizi’s connecting aircraft, an ERJ-175, felt much less impressive than the A321.
While taxiing, you could see Manhattan in the distance, and the new World Trade Center was already up.
After takeoff, the sunset over Jamaica Bay came into view.
Somewhere over the rainbow we are high...
Keeping to his “How many times in life can you sit in 1A?” principle, Lizi stayed in 1A.
First-Class occupancy in front of him before Business was also not great—mostly empty seats.
No issues all the way, and we arrived in CLE on time.
Parked beside us was a newly acquired Frontier A321 with sharklet winglets. As a low-cost carrier, you can guess this is all-Economy high-density seating.
After baggage claim, I headed home with a classmate who came to pick me up.
By the time we got on I-480, it was already dark. A whole day had gone by.
This trip ends here. Before AA devalued miles, it was a no-brainer value to use 32500 Miles for a three-cabin A321T First Class—one could say it was domestic-level comfort on an international-style product. After the devaluation, First Class redemption now costs 50000 Miles, a huge 42% jump, which instantly removed the value proposition.
Business Seat redemption is now 32500 Miles, up 30%, matching the pre-devaluation First Class requirement. A standard Business Seat in the Contiguous 48 U.S. states requires 25000 Miles, while this three-cabin Business Seat “Will be 7,500 miles higher.” But since A321T Business seats also recline flat and even offer temporary Bose noise-canceling headphones in flight, whether paying an extra 7500 Miles is worth it is up to personal preference.
I’ll end with a final image from the Train board on Lilybbs: We are train enthusiasts moving toward the horizon, with rail tracks guiding the way. Along these never-intersecting parallel lines, we’ve crossed mountains and rivers, stations, airports, and seaports all over the world.
Lizi’s famous saying is “人生能有几次 1A.” It sounds poetic, but I can’t fully agree. Since I prefer sleeping on the right side, when I say it, it becomes: “人生能有几次 1F.” It’s a joke, but it also reminds everyone: pick your seat based on your own sleep habits.