American Airlines To Add More First Class and Extra Legroom Seats to Narrow-Body Planes

American Airlines is significantly expanding its premium cabins on narrow-body planes, alongside today's news that seat-back screens are returning fleetwide. The airline says premium seating — first class and Main Cabin Extra combined — will grow from about 25% of narrow-body seats today to 40%.

The changes start with domestic first class. American's Boeing 737 MAX 10s will arrive in 2029 with 24 first-class seats, and the airline will retrofit its Airbus A321neos to match starting in late 2028. That's up from a current max of 20 first-class seats on most American narrow-body aircraft. Much of its fleet will also see more Main Cabin Extra seats added, along with refreshed interiors that feature more storage, redesigned seats, and updated lighting.

American hasn't released aircraft-by-aircraft seat maps yet, but the retrofit work runs alongside the seat-back screen rollout, with a similar 2028-to-early-2030s timeline for completion.

American isn't alone here, either — United and Delta have both been growing their own premium cabins recently, so this is very much an industry-wide push.

Andrew's Take

American's Main Cabin Extra rows have been stingy for years, especially on the 737s, and it's long overdue for the airline to catch up to what United and Delta already offer in extra-legroom seating. I'm also hopeful that more first-class seats mean more premium award space and easier upgrades for elites.