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American Airlines has taken delivery of its 787 Dreamliners. It is the second US-based airline to do this–behind United.

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Today on Twitter, American announced the first three routes for its Dreamliner.

To familiarize the crew with the plane, American will put it on a domestic route for a month before debuting it on two international routes:

  • Dallas to Chicago, beginning May 7, 2015
  • Dallas to Beijing, beginning June 2, 2015
  • Dallas to Buenos Aires, beginning June 4, 2015

The Dreamliner won’t be loaded onto the schedule until February 14, but I wanted to take a look at award space now on the routes. The international routes only operate once daily, so if you book Business Class award space on them now for travel in June or later, your flight will be operated by the Dreamliner.

Award Space

The American Airlines Dreamliner only features two cabins: economy and Business.

There is literally no MileSAAver Business Class award space between Dallas and Beijing or Buenos Aires from June 2015 to January 2016 in either direction. None.

That means my plan of booking Business Class award space now and having the plane change over to a Dreamliner with my reservation intact wouldn’t work.

I also took a look at the next few weeks on each route to see if award space opens up close to departure. If it does, maybe we can book the Business Class space later in the year when the routes are actually operating.

Dallas to Buenos Aires is showing no Business Class Saver space in either direction for the next few weeks.

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Dallas to Beijing doesn’t begin as a route until May 7, so I can’t check last-minute award space.

I should note that both the Buenos Aires and, especially, the Beijing route do have good economy award space. But I’m not particularly interested in an economy award on such long flights.

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Great Award Space Dallas <-> Chicago

Chicago to Dallas has great domestic First Class (Dreamliner Business Class) award space in May when the Dreamliner will ply the route.

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The space is wide open in both directions.Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 3.06.31 PMUnfortunately there are many frequencies on the Dallas to Chicago route, and we won’t know until Saturday which one(s) will be flown by the Dreamliner. I expect award space to be great on this route, maybe even available for the inaugural flight, because the Dreamliner has a higher percentage of premium seats than the normal domestic aircraft that usually fly the route.

The Product

Business Class on the Dreamliner features aisle access from every 6’5″ long flat bed.

Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 3.35.57 PM Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 3.36.07 PM Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 3.36.17 PMI would fly this Business Class in a heartbeat.

Let’s hope we get the chance with more award availability. We’ll definitely have the chance on the domestic route in May, I think, but so far we aren’t being given a chance on the real prize–the flights to Beijing and Buenos Aires.

Getting the Miles

American Airlines miles are super easy to get, and will be useful when Saver space opens up on these routes.

  • Dallas to Chicago will cost 25,000 miles one way in First Class
  • Dallas to Beijing will cost 55,000 miles one way in Business Class
  • Dallas to Buenos Aires will cost 50,000 miles one way in Business Class

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