Video | American CRJ-700 First Class Seat 1A

Airline: American Airlines (American Eagle)
Aircraft: Canadair CRJ-700 (CR7)
Seat: 1A
Class: First

The Seat: Seat review sites don’t give us much reason to believe this American Eagle bulkhead seat is anything special but the promise of a little extra legroom made us curious. As expected the extra room was stilted by the lack of any sort of cutout that would allow for further leg extension. That said, there is plenty of room for someone of average height (or shorter).

If you’re under 6′ you may enjoy full extension of your legs or even push them forward far enough to rest on the wall. Not exactly classy, but comfortable. The other seats in this cabin appeared to have less in the way of knee space but give you the option of stretching your legs under the seat in front of you.

Service: Friendly, personable service but not much in the way of perks on this New York-Minneapolis flight. Warmed nuts and snack mix was the extent of food service (although nuts and beverages were in glassware and not plastic).

Wi-Fi/Connectivity: No wi-fi or power ports will have you flipping through SkyMall (or one of American’s many magazines).

Food: The recipe may change depending on where you’re flying from and choices in first class at mealtime are average at best. A cold chicken salad on one of our flights had a mayonnaise base served over lettuce but still served with a balsamic vinaigrette. Seemed weird to me.

Notes: There’s just one lavatory aboard this aircraft. Advantage: It’s at the rear of the aircraft so there’s no pesky odor or anyone congregating near your seat. Disadvantage: It’s at the rear of the aircraft so you may find yourself awkwardly waiting at the back of the plane to use it.

Summary: Elite level fliers are not-so-quietly rejoicing as more first class seats find their way to regional jets…and for good reason. While  smaller than domestic first class seats aboard larger aircraft, these cabins make regional jet flying a little more tolerable.

Rating: 3 hops (of 5).

How we got it: Upgrade was offered at check-in online for a fee. Plenty of seats were available and on the outbound flight, first class was ALL ours.

Here’s an earlier review we did of this same seat (Original post Dec. 6, 2010)