I don’t often have the need to fly cross-country (from coast to coast). Since I live in the middle of the country (Ohio), most of my flights either originate or end there. So it’s rare that I have to fly all the way across the country, and it doesn’t usually make sense to fly over Ohio only to double back. But I have an upcoming trip to Los Angeles, and on the way home, I decided to book one of American Airlines Flagship Transcontinental flights, in business class.
What Is American Airlines Flagship Transcontinental?
American Airlines runs a few transcontinental flights that they market as “Flagship”. Normally, American Airlines Flagship is reserved for transatlantic and transpacific flights, but there are a few transcontinental flights that are marketed as Flagship. I believe currently those routes are:
- Los Angeles (LAX) – New York (JFK)
- San Francisco (SFO) – JFK
- JFK – Orange County (SNA)
- LAX – Boston (BOS)
- LAX – Miami (MIA)
I have not flown an AA Flagship Transcontinental flight, but I have flown American Airlines Flagship Business Class from Dallas to Frankfurt, Germany. These routes offer “true” business class, with lie-flat suites and “chef-inspired” dining. You’ll also get access to the AA Flagship lounges if available.
Booking My AA Flagship Transcontinental Flight
I have an upcoming trip to Los Angeles, and have been making plans for that trip. I am flying out with one of my sons, and meeting his brother in Los Angeles. On the way out, from Cincinnati to Los Angeles, we decided to book the direct Delta flight from CVG-LAX. That was 22,000 Sky Miles, which is not a great price but I decided to pay the premium to get a direct flight. I also paid a few extra Sky Miles to book Main Cabin, since Delta may have the worst basic economy out there for award flights. There were a few American Airlines flights (where I often get 4 cents or more of value), but for this trip, I decided I didn’t want to connect.
On the way back, I was looking at a few different options and there weren’t a ton of great ones. We are flying on a Sunday night (or possibly Monday morning), which means a) flights are relatively expensive and b) lots of red-eyes. While I have tips on how to fly a redeye in economy, I gotta say I wasn’t looking forward to it.
So I decided to look to see what business class options might be available. I used PointsYeah to set up an alert, and they found a flight from LAX to Boston for 35,000 Alaska Airlines miles.
But even better, when you add the segment from Boston to Cincinnati, the price dropped to only 30,000 Alaska miles!
While that’s still a decent chunk of miles, I thought it would be worth it, plus it would be a fun experience. I mean it’s only 7500 more miles than my 4.5 hour economy flight from Cincinnati to Los Angeles! We do have a 9 hour layover in Boston, but I figure we can add that to the trip – we’ll take the subway from Boston Logan to Downtown Boston and spend the day exploring Boston. I’ve been to Boston a few times, but my son hasn’t, so I’m sure that he will enjoy the trip.
The Bottom Line
While I’ve flown American Airlines Flagship Business a few times, I’ve never flown it on a transcontinental. Finding a transcontinental for 30,000 miles in business class seemed like a pretty good way to try that out for the first time. We are excited for the trip and I will be sure to report back!
Flown an AA transcontinental before? Any tips for us like which seats are best? Leave them in the comments below
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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