American Airlines no longer consistently flies between Los Angeles and Toronto. However, for a brief period this September, American will be relaunching the route. Not just with any plane, but rather with the carrier’s ultra-premium Airbus A321Ts, which are typically used for premium transcontinental routes.
In this post:
American Airlines’ special Los Angeles to Toronto service
American Airlines will be bringing back service between Los Angeles and Toronto… but only between September 6 and September 12, 2023. American is operating this route daily for seven days in order to fly the Hollywood crowd to Toronto for the Toronto Film Festival, which is being held over those dates.
The flight will be operated with the following schedule:
AA148 Los Angeles to Toronto departing 9:49AM arriving 5:44PM
AA148 Toronto to Los Angeles departing 6:40PM arriving 9:06PM
So not only is American bringing back this route for a week, but American will use its specially configured A321T aircraft for it.
This isn’t the first year that American is operating this special service. The airline has been operating this route every year since 2016, except it was suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
What are American’s A321Ts like?
American’s Airbus A321T has just 102 seats. First class features 10 reverse herringbone seats with direct aisle access from all seats.
Business class features 20 fully flat business class seats, in a 2-2 configuration.
Economy class features just 72 seats, half of which are Main Cabin Extra seats. So it’s a pretty comfy configuration.
Since this is now a “premium” route, business and first class class passengers will be eligible to use American’s excellent Flagship Lounge at LAX. Unfortunately American’s Flagship First Dining at LAX seems to have permanently closed, or else first class passengers would get access to that.
Bottom line
American Airlines will bring back its special Toronto Film Festival flight, as the airline will fly its specially configured Airbus A321Ts between Los Angeles and Toronto for one week in September. I find this to be a pretty cool route, and I imagine it’s pretty popular with the target audience.
Anyone planning on flying American’s A321T between Los Angeles and Toronto during the Toronto Film Festival?
I wish American would fly the A321T between LAX and MIA. The regular A 320/321 neo family of jets is really sad, with no TV screens and pretty poor "first class" seats. I'm happy they fly the A321T to JFK and sometimes Boston and now Toronto, but given how key Miami is to American's Caribbean, South America and even European market, they really need to upgrade their service from LAX!
The equipment on that route normally depends on the time of year. During the off peak months (not summer), AA operates multiple widebody frequencies between LAX and MIA (on all planes, 778, 779, 772 and 773). These planes are needed for Long Haul routes during the summer months, which is why all flights are on narrowbodies during that time. In the years before this summer, AA would operate its' A321s with IFE on the non-widebody...
The equipment on that route normally depends on the time of year. During the off peak months (not summer), AA operates multiple widebody frequencies between LAX and MIA (on all planes, 778, 779, 772 and 773). These planes are needed for Long Haul routes during the summer months, which is why all flights are on narrowbodies during that time. In the years before this summer, AA would operate its' A321s with IFE on the non-widebody frequencies. However, this past summer, it seems AA subbed all of them for it's A321neos.
I guess they want to make this sound new and like big news, even though they can copy/paste from last year. This happens for a few days every year, always for TIFF.
Hey! Know who wasn't paying attention to this last year? Me. I try to keep up, but can't consume all the news. Glad to see this.
Is the flagship even open? Paid 2700usd to fly one way from LAX-BOS and the flagship dining was closed!!! Had I known, I would have chosen any other option for half the price!
If all you cared about was the dining why wouldn’t you just spend that $1000+ at a restaurant with friends/family and have a significantly better experience?
Flagship Lounge *is* open. Flagship First Dining is not. IMO, Flagship First Dining is on par with the best airport food I’ve had - equal to Qantas F and The Pier sit down downing.
But as Alec wrote - I would never spend money *just* for the dining. It may be the best airport dining, but it pales in comparison to even a $200 meal outside the airport. Using expiring SWUs is worth it for FFD. Spending $2700 is not.
“Sit down dining.” Not downing.
They operated the route daily well before 2016. I used to fly it weekly for many years back in the 2000’s.
(the usual ex-LAX First FA has a bit of a thing for me, and upon disembarking would always hand me a bag of every remaining small liquor bottle in the airplane…always hilarious)
Though this year the planes will only be flying studio execs and directors since actors and writers are on strike and won’t be on the red carpet to hype their films being screened at the festival. The only actors attending will be those featured in non-Hollywood studio films.
I’ve flown these F seats on their usual US transcon routes and will miss that front cabin after it’s eliminated.
It's pretty simple. The Toronto Film Festival lands at a time when demand for transcontinental flights (that use the 321T regularly) which are JFK-LAX/SFO and BOS-LAX drops. The plane can be used for these routes to cater to the Hollywood contracts AA has which also regularly fill the premium seats. AA is also using a 321T for the Las Vegas NASCAR event.
With all the filming going on in Toronto I am surprised AA doesn't make more of an effort on this route. AC have 5 flights a day, and of course actors / execs / crew could fly them but surely AA would attract a significant customer base for those flying out of LAX with studio contracts, etc?
With AC flying DreamLiners with flatbeds daily LAX-YYZ it's understandable AA doesn't want to compete on this route. AC's market (Canadians, often with Status) is much more interested in this route than AA's market. AA tried for years and gave up, even after downgrading to narrowbodies.
Not every flight on the route has those aircraft. And, those in business have a traditional domestic first seat. For that duration, it's not so great. Separately, for all the complaints about AA, it offers a hands down better ground and in-flight experience than AC.
With only 10 first class seats who gets those? The celebs or the execs? I wonder how they agree/ decide.
Given that most celebs are on strike and won’t be attending TIFF, I imagine it will be execs.