American Airlines’ business class fliers to be offered pyjamas

American Airlines is all set to boost its business class offering on its newly-launched Sydney-Los Angeles route. The airline said that it will start providing pyjamas with matching slippers to its premium customers booking business class flights to Los Angeles from Sydney being launched from December 17, 2015. By upgrading its offering on the route the airline wants to complement a similar initiative by its codeshare and joint venture partner Qantas Airways.

Kurt Stache, American Airlines’ Senior Vice President International Strategic Alliances, while talking to media persons said that pyjamas with matching slippers are usually offered to first class customers travelling with the airline. He said that the very idea of offering such amenity on long-haul flights would prove to be a litmus test for the airline on Sydney-Los Angeles route.

Stache further indicated that among other possible routes on which the airline is considering to offer pyjamas in business class include Los Angeles-Auckland and Dallas-Hong Kong routes. It may be noted that the flights on Dallas-Hong Kong route is the airline’s longest, which is only five minutes shorter than Qantas Airways’ long-haul Dallas-Sydney service.

Australia’s national carrier Qantas Airways has been offering pyjamas for quite a long time to its business class customers travelling on overnight international flights. Another Australian carrier Virgin Australia is also providing the same facility to its premium customers travelling on Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi routes. However, US airlines are lagging behind in the race and are slowly adopting this much-appreciated amenity. The reason for this slow adoption is that most flights from the United States are of eight hours or less, in comparison to the 14-hour flight from Australia to USA’s west coast by Australian carriers.