American Airlines changes aircraft for JFK: Here's the only First Class bookable between Rome and the U.S.

Starting from April 1 there will also be a First Class cabin available to those flying between Rome and New York. It will be the American Airlines' 'Flagship First', which will make its debut on Fiumicino-JFK. aboard the Boeing 777-300ER which will take the place of the Boeing 777-200ER with the start of the summer schedule.

American has a Exterminated fleet of 777s, consisting of 67 aircraft. Of these, 46 are -200ER to three classes of service., with 37 seats in Business, 24 in Premium economy and 212 in Economy. The remaining are -300ERs equipped with four different cabs: an 8-seat First, a 52-seat Business, a 28-seat Premium Economy and a 218-seat Economy.

The latter are aircraft delivered to the American carrier between 2012 and 2016 and 'Flagship First' is certainly not one of the 'freshest' products in the shrinking global First Class landscape available, primarily being an 'open' seat, not a suite equipped with a door that provides top privacy.

The 777-300ER is the only long-haul aircraft in American's fleet to fit four different cabins and a First Class. The configuration is on two rows with 4 seats per row (1+2+1), with the special feature that the seat can be rotated 90 degrees and be placed in front of a small desk on which you can work with your PC.

The seat is a Safran Flagship Suites (but don't be fooled by the name) with a seat 55 centimeters wide and one 15.4-inch IFE screen (which is certainly not huge and is the same size as the one installed in Business on the same plane. The distance between rows is 156 centimeters (109cm the one in Business) and the bed length of 198cm (190cm in Business).

First will be available between FCO and JFK throughout the summer season. From June 6, a second daily connection will be added on the route, operated until Aug. 5 with Boeing 777-300 aircraft configured in four classes of service and then switched to Boeing 777-200 aircraft configured in three classes of service.

The first daily connection will see an aircraft change from B777-300 to B777-200 between July 20 and August 5, and then return to the four-class -300ER for the rest of the summer.

In fact, American Airlines will offer First Class on one of two flights per day between Rome Fiumicino and New York JFK throughout the 2024 summer season.

Many award places available

This is a great chance to take advantage of British Airways Avios points and book aboard AA's flagship. First class costs 103k avios points + tax, business drops to 77,250 avios points, and premium economy costs just over 50k avios points, again plus tax.

• B777
• first class