I don’t often fly American Airlines, but get ready for my American Airlines business-class flight review from DFW-AKL. This flight was a last-minute flight to bookend with a mistake-fare flight I booked from AKL-DFW. The mistake fare was only $1,000 in business class on United Airlines, which was fantastic—but I had to get to New Zealand first to take advantage of it!  I had all but given up on finding a good award flight to Auckland when I found this one about a month before I needed to fly there. Note: Australia and New Zealand business-class award flights have been hard to find this year. Some of the AA flights I saw were 450K miles!

Thanks to pointsyeah.com, I found two business-class redemptions on American Airlines. Truth be told, they weren’t the cheapest redemption, but they were nonstop flights and worked with my dates. I had enough AA miles, and the flights sold for over $7,000 (who pays for that?), so I decided to pay the 132,500 miles.

 

 

 

Weather Scare

Since I live in Denver and winters are pretty unpredictable, I watched the weather closely for a couple of days leading up to the flight. Everything looked fine until the night before the flight, when the forecasters predicted snow the next day. Yikes! We were positioning to Dallas for our main flight. Usually, I fly in the night before to make sure that I make my award flight. 

I had some anxiety that night worrying about if we would make our flight. Nervous, I even checked the possibility of the flights the next day if we didn’t get to Dallas on time. I found flights to Auckland from SFO for 87.5K on Air Canada. I calmed down a bit at that because at least I knew about a possible backup plan. (More redemption seats often open up at the last minute).

We ended up deciding to change our United flights from Denver for the earlier flight just in case flights were severely delayed. It was stormy with poor visibility and snow the next day. We were delayed about an hour and a half, but we made it to Dallas.

 

Requirements for New Zealand Travel

You need a visa before traveling to New Zealand. We applied for one about a week before travel and were approved in about three days. Within 24 hours of our flight, we also had to complete a New Zealand Traveller Declaration. These were attached to our passports and were easy to fill out. The visa had a fee, but the declaration was free.

 

Pre-Trip Stay

Since we got to Dallas nine hours before our flight, we used Hyatt points to stay at the Hyatt Regency DFW which is a short shuttle ride away. We paid 8,000 points and I received a much-needed elite night stay towards Globalist status. We were able to relax in comfort, take a nap and a shower, and generally relax much better than we would in the terminal for nine hours. 

It was a nice surprise when we were upgraded to this suite which would have cost over $400. It gave us plenty of room to relax and enjoy our pre-departure stay.

 

 

Pre-Departure

We started our trip at the Dallas Airport with not one but two lounges. First, we went to the AA Flagship Lounge, which is quite large but narrow. It had many great food options, but we didn’t try much. (If you’re flying American Airlines business class on qualifying flights (mostly long-haul international ones), you have access to this lounge.)

 

 

Second, the Capital One Venture Lounge is next door, so we headed there. My husband is obsessed with their caramel nut cookies and has proclaimed them the best airport lounge! We stocked up on some cookies, and I filled a bag with their yummy Neapolitan Mix. We had some mac ‘n cheese there and spent most of our time hanging out until boarding our flight. 

 

 

Business-Class Seating

The cabin on our 787 had a 1-2-1 configuration in business class, with aisle access from all seats. I appreciated that the seats are angled away from each other, so passengers have some privacy even without closing doors. The footwells are larger than many. We chose the single seats on the left side because I prefer total privacy on a plane.

An amenity kit (kind of a cheap one, to be honest) and bedding (blanket and pillow) were awaiting me at the seat. There were two places to store items. Both were quite shallow, but they held my phone and my small purse. 

The galley in front was quite large, and there was a bathroom on the left side and two in the back. The seat was so comfortable that I slept for over 8 hours—quite a feat on a plane, even considering the lie-flat seats.

 

 

The Food

Dinner was great. I chose the chicken with a white chocolate/balsamic sauce. It sounded strange, but it was amazing. I finished it with a Häagen-Dazs sundae with hot fudge and caramel. What’s not to love about that?

 

 

Sliders and a mezze plate were available in the middle of the flight if desired. Additionally, the galley had a collection of snacks, including fruit, small sandwiches, candy, chips, nuts, and cookies. No one went hungry on the nearly 15-hour flight.

 

 

Breakfast was served two hours before landing. I chose the fresh fruit bowl and granola over the egg dish. The salted caramel granola was delicious in the fruit bowl with yogurt. 

 

The Service

Service on the flight was good from start to finish. Before takeoff, the flight attendants offered champagne, orange juice, or water. They introduced themselves and took our orders for dinner. (You can order up to 30 days before the flight, but I forgot to.) However, the main options were all still available. Throughout the flight, the attendants were kind and attentive, offering to get us anything we wanted. 

 

Bottom Line

My American Airlines business-class flight review is absolutely positive. I would fly with American any time on this route and this airplane. 

 

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