{"id":5061,"date":"2010-04-23T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2010-04-23T17:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?p=5061"},"modified":"2016-12-17T11:28:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-17T17:28:00","slug":"american-adds-first-class-on-regional-jets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/american-adds-first-class-on-regional-jets\/","title":{"rendered":"American adds first class on regional jets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanBy Joe Brancatelli<\/em><\/p>\n

The 70-seat CRJ-700 series of regional jets is only slightly larger than the 37- and 50-seat RJs operated by the commuter affiliates of the major carriers. And now American Eagle<\/strong>, the wholly-owned commuter subsidiary of American Airlines<\/a><\/strong>, is adding a “first-class” cabin on the planes.<\/p>\n

Matching arch-rival United Airlines<\/a><\/strong>, Eagle will retrofit 25 of its existing CRJ-700s with a first-class cabin and take delivery of 22 new ones with first class already installed. The new cabin, which debuts July 2, will feature nine seats in a 1-2 layout. Seats will have 37 inches of legroom and be 19.5 inches wide between the armrests. (The new cabin meansthe planes will now have 63 or 65 seats in total.)<\/p>\n

Jon Snook, senior vice president of customer service, says Eagle’s first-class service will match that of AA’s mainline cabins. “The mission I’ve got is to make Eagle’s first-class service have the look and feel of the first-class cabin of our mainline jets. And when American serves a meal in first, Eagle will service a meal in first.”<\/p>\n

Most of the two-class RJs will fly from American’s Chicago\/O’Hare<\/a> hub. They’ll be used both as a replacement for larger jets on some routes currently served by American and in combination with full-size American jets on other routes.<\/p>\n

Related Orbitz resources:<\/strong><\/h3>\n