Review of American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Auckland in Premium Eco

Introduction

Welcome to a new series of flights taking us down to beautiful New Zealand. Taking advantage of a fare sale, we were able to book nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Auckland for only $770 round-trip–a great deal on a route that regularly sells for more than $1500. We were later able to take advantage of upgrade offers in the American Airlines app to upgrade to Premium Economy for about $600 each way–again a very good deal considering that Premium Economy on this route is often priced well north of $3500 round-trip. 

Routing

Flights in this series

Check-in & Lounge

We arrived at American Airlines' Terminal 4 around 3 hours before departure time. Thanks to our oneworld Emerald status, we were able to use the small and private Flagship First check-in area. 

Staff were very friendly and we were the only ones using the facility at that time, which made the service feel personal and exclusive. 

An agent offered to escort us through security–which is apparently protocol at the Flagship First check-in–however, I declined the offer as I wanted to head straight to Tom Bradley International Terminal, rather than go through security at T4 and then walk to TBIT using the connector walkway. 

No need for an escort to the front of the queue here! As usual, there was absolutely no line at TSA pre-check in TBIT. 

It took all of 15 seconds to get through–I don't think we ever stopped walking except to place cabin baggage on the belt. 

Another valuable perk of oneworld Emerald status is access to separate First class lounges, rather than standard Business class lounges. 

As usual when we have flights departing from TBIT, we headed to the lovely Qantas First lounge. 

The decor and aesthetic is very similar to Qantas First lounges in Sydney and Melbourne, though without the natural light and beautiful tarmac and city views of the SYD lounge, unfortunately. 

There's a large restaurant section towards the rear of the lounge. It wasn't terribly busy at this hour and we were seated promptly. 

Here's a look at the menu, with some very nice options. 

There's also a children's menu, which I always appreciate. 

Started things off with a nice cold glass of Taittinger champagne. 

My son was apparently very hungry as he asked for both the Kids' chicken tenders and Cheeseburger! 
Surprisingly…he actually managed to finish most of it.

For the adults, we started out with the squid appetiser to share–it's a classic dish that's been on the menu for years in Qantas First lounges on both sides of the Pacific. 

Salt & pepper squid green chilli dipping sauce and aioli

For the first course, I selected the Tuna sashimi. It was absolutely delicious and restaurant quality. I'm always impressed with the upscale food and beverage options in Qantas First lounges, making it a true First class experience. 

Tuna sashimi with green apple aguachile, avocado, jimaca, and tostadas

For the main, I stayed with the Asian-fusion vibes with the Korean pork belly. Again, very tasty and the perfect level of spice.

Korean Bossam slow roast pork belly with kimchi, rice and ginger shallot sauce

And dessert:

Sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and brandied prune mascarpone

With such a late departure just before midnight, the lounge was mostly empty by the time we left to head to the gate. 

Boarding

Luckily the boarding gate was in the main TBIT terminal–not the satellite gates–so it was quick getting there from the Qantas First lounge. 

There weren't many flights operating this late so the concourse was mostly empty. 

Boarding had just begun as we arrived at the gate so we were able to board right away with Groups 1 and 2.

The Premium Economy cabin on the AA 787-8 is immediately to the right when entering through the main boarding door. 

There are 28 seats laid out in a spacious 2-3-2 configuration over 4 rows. 

As usual, we selected seats in the last row of the cabin.

At each seat was a large comfort kit containing a blanket, a neck pillow, noise-cancelling headphones, a small amenity kit, and a bottle of water. 

Here's a look at the contents of the amenity kit. 

American Airlines' long-haul Premium Economy seat is the same model as their Domestic First class seat, the Collins MiQ seat.

There's plenty of legroom. With a 38 inch seat pitch, 19" seat width, and double armrests, it's essentially the same dimensions and space as Domestic First/short-haul Business class. 

Seats in the bulkhead row have full integrated leg-rests, while seats in all other rows have an adjustable footrest. 

The in-flight entertainment remote and recline button are on the side of the center console. 

Under the central armrest you'll find a conveniently placed 110v universal power and small storage space that can hold tablets or small laptops. I like that MiQ seats have the charging point under the armrest like this as it avoids having a mess of cables causing a potential tripping hazard for other passengers.

The central armrest can be flipped up for easier access to the power outlet and storage space.  

There's also a USB-A port integrated to the entertainment screen. 

Boarding wrapped up quickly on this mostly full flight. There ended up being 2 empty seats out of 28.

The cabin was still looking quite fresh and new on this four year old aircraft. 

The cabin was bathed in pleasant blue mood lighting after the boarding doors were closed. 

Checking out the In-flight entertainment while waiting for departure, there is a ton of content including hundreds of movies, TV series, documentaries, music, audio books, and children's programming

There's even a large selection of non-US films. 

There's of course a moving map, which is very modern with nice graphics. Flight time tonight is estimated at 12h29min. 

The Flight

The safety video played as we pushed back from the gate for an on-time departure. 

And we're off for a 12.5h transpacific crossing. 

Wi-Fi was available after the aircraft was above 10,000 ft in altitude. 

I was shocked to see that Wi-Fi was actually free on this flight! I later found out that AA were testing free Wi-Fi on a few routes and we were one of the lucky few. 

AA are known for normally having very high Wi-Fi prices, so this was a pleasant surprise. What was not a surprise was how poor the connection was for most of the flight–good thing it was free! I would not have been happy had I paid the normal price of $35. 

While the Wi-Fi wasn't great, it was free so I can't really complain. One nice feature available through the Wi-Fi portal that did work well was streaming entertainment. 

The content is the same as you'll find on the seatback IFE. At first I didn't see the point of having streaming IFE when there are monitors at every seat, but as we all know, hardware can break! One of the passengers in the Premium Economy had a non-working monitor, so the wireless entertainment to personal devices came in very handy on such a long flight! 

I stuck with the main screen and had plenty of time on this long flight to re-watch several of the Lord of Rings films in honour of travelling to Middle Earth. 

Dinner was served almost an hour into the flight. I had pre-ordered the beef brisket option in the app–I believe there were 4 pre-order options, while there were only 2 options onboard for those who hadn't pre-ordered.  

While it was nothing terribly fancy, it was a pretty decent meal by Premium Economy standards considering that many airlines serve similar meals to Economy. The meal service in AA's long-haul Premium Economy is very similar to their domestic First class standards. 

The cabin was completely darkened as the meal service wrapped up. I had a nap for a few hours, falling asleep in the middle of one of the LOTR movies, which I'd seen a million times already. 

I woke up about halfway through the flight. I thought it was interesting that our route took us right over Hawaii. I assume we were avoiding some weather as I believe the route is normally further south. 

Cabin crew handed out hot snacks in the middle of the flight consisting of a warm ratatouille-filled wrap. There were also self-serve snacks and drinks available in the galley between Business class and Premium Economy throughout the flight. 

After sleeping on and off for the rest of the flight, lights were turned back on for the breakfast service prior to landing. 

My son's child meal was served first. As usual with AA there wasn't really anything that stood out as being much different than standard meals, whereas other airlines make more of an effort to differentiate with items more appealing to kids. 

For the standard meals, there were two choices for breakfast an "American breakfast" or fruit plate. I always find it odd when AA serve fruit plates as a main course with a side fruit plate. I went for the hot option.

 It was fine, again very similar to a Domestic First class meal, the main difference being that drinks are served in plastic cups in long-haul Premium Economy, which feels like an odd choice considering that the meal itself is upgraded and served on real plates with real silverware. 

A video on the customs process on arrival in New Zealand is shown shortly before landing. 

Amazing how almost half of the planet is covered by the vast Pacific Ocean!

Almost there!

Looks like we'll be getting in exactly on time. 

We ended up parking at a remote stand and taking busses to the terminal. 

Deplaning on a remote stand gave us some beautiful views of our aircraft on a very nice summer morning.

The parking stand was very close to the terminal so it only took a few minutes to reach the arrivals area. 

It wasn't too busy as it appeared we were the only international flight arriving at that time so we were through rather quickly. 

After such a long flight we were happy to get to our suite at the Pullman Auckland to freshen up and relax for a bit before exploring the city. 

The hotel was in a perfect location to explore the beautiful and lively central business district and harbour on foot!

Some amazing views of the city from the Sky Tower!

There's even an option to have an even better look at the views from the outside! Nope…I won't be doing that ever 🤣