As far as trans-Atlantic options out of Philadelphia go, American operates the A330 on the longer routes (London, Rome, Paris, Athens) and legacy US Airways 757s (LUS) on the shorter routes like Lisbon, Shannon, Glasgow, and Amsterdam.

The A330s have been getting a refresh and the new interiors are very nice. Though, the LUS 757s that American uses out of PHL are garbage. They do not have lie-flat seats, just weak recliner seats in business. Hardly something you’d want to fly for 6-7 (sometimes 8) hour flights across the Atlantic.

a screenshot of a computer screen

Twitter user @xJonNYC, who is always spot on with his AA news, tweeted the following:

Back in June, Gary wrote about a leaked internal AA memo to employees detailing plans to move LUS airplanes off of the shorter PHL-Europe routes noted above. These airplanes will be moving to fulfill Hawaii flights typically based out of Phoenix (PHX). In turn, AA will be staffing the existing shorter PHL-Europe routes with legacy AA 757 and 767 aircraft. In fact, the Philadelphia — Lisbon (LIS) route has already been loaded with the 767-300 for Summer ’18.

How does this affect you?

The changes above mainly benefit premium passengers. The LAA 757s and 767s coming to Philadelphia have lie-flat seats and (for the most part) retrofitted interiors. If you are booking a flight on the 767, you want to make sure the seat map is the same as this one. On the 757? Make sure your airplane has this seat configuration.

Interestingly enough, the memo said there would also be two new seasonal routes launching for Summer ’18 using 767s. There is some speculation that American could be re-establishing routes to Milan (MXP), Brussels (BRU), Zurich (ZRH), and/or Geneva (GVA).  Personally, I think MXP would be a lock as the demand for Italy flights in the summer is there. No new routes have been loaded yet, but this is typical as the company will most likely issue a press release announcing the moves. Stay tuned …

 

(H/T: View from the Wing)