American Airlines 787-9 Business Class Paris, France (CDG) to Dallas, TX (DFW) – Photo Review

The return from Paris was on an American Airlines 787-9.  In October 2016, I flew on the first flight of the first 787-9 to enter service with American.  That was a domestic flight from DFW to Los Angeles, CA (LAX).   I had been looking forward to getting a ride on this aircraft on a long-distance international flight.

CDG Admirals Club

The trip began with a brief visit to the Admirals Club at CDG.

Admirals Clubs outside the United States are nicer than the domestic ones.  At CDG I prefer the Admirals Club to the Air France business-class lounges.  The CDH Admirals Club is spacious, has a decent morning buffet, and  unlike the AF lounges, the atmosphere is relaxing.

Flight to Dallas

I left the lounge at boarding time.  The scene at the gate was a sharp contrast from the tranquility of the lounge.

Super Diamond Seat Features

After fighting through the crowd I was able to board and take seat 3A, a business-class seat on the port side. 

The Super Diamond seat is my favorite American Airlines business-class seat.  It is roomy and has storage for the personal items that passengers like to have at hand during flight. 

This is the same seat as on the 777-200 from Miami, FL (MIA) to CDG.

I like the storage space that this seat provides.  The console has two enclosed compartments.

There is also storage by the footwell and the armrest on the aisle.

Amenities

Amenities were fairly standard for trans-Atlantic flights, blanket and pillow (pictured above), amenity kit, bottled water, and noise-cancelling headphones.

The best “amenity” of all is the 787 electronically dimming windows.

Food and Beverages

Service started with the usual offering of pre-departure beverages, juice, water, or sparkling wine/champagne. 

Beverage menus:

Food menu:

On the Way to DFW

Meal Service

As customary, American began with beverages and warm nuts.

I asked for the beef to be medium rare to rare.  It was.  Airlines are doing a much better job of preparing beef to individual tastes.

The entree and dessert were very good.  After dinner, flight attendants set out a variety of snacks in the galley for mid-flight munching.  The pre-arricval meal was served about two hours before landing.

I had no complaints about the food.  The cheese toastie was much better than the awful barbecue “slider” served on an American A330-300 from LHR to CLT.  The amount of food on this flight was surprisingly less than the amount served on the shorter flight from MIA to CDG on an American 777-200.

After dinner, the flight attendants dimmed the cabin lights and many passengers took the opportunity to watch entertainment on the video system or recline to full flat and nap.

Final Thoughts

After flying on the 787-9 on its domestic maiden flight with American, it was a pleasure to experience this plane on a long-haul international route that it was designed to fly.  The 787-9 is probably my favorite aircraft to fly because of the higher humidity and cabin pressure and the large electronic dimming windows. Now it would be fun to experience the premium economy seats on this aircraft.