American Airlines KODIAK Airbus A321S First Class Trip Report | Philadelphia to Chicago

Hey, all! Thanks so much for checking out my newest Trip Report! Hope you all enjoyed it!

I was super fortunate to be able to catch American's Brand New Project Kodiak Cabin on their Airbus A321S (Sharklets) aircraft! There are currently roughly 219 American A321's in the fleet, and out of those, roughly only 10 aircraft currently feature the Kodiak Configuration. And merely 3 A321 Sharklet aircraft feature this awesome interior! Nonetheless, this interior will eventually become standard across LUS A321 and LAA A321S planes! Retrofits for the A321 are expected to pick up in speed soon, starting with the older LUS A321's.

Kodiak is a project housed within American's Project Oasis, which is their fleet harmonization plan for the Boeing 737 and Airbus A321 aircraft. Kodiak fixes issues with the first generation of the Oasis first class seat. It includes enhancements such as more drink storage, more under=seat storage, a tablet holder & USB port on the seatback, and more.

What are your thoughts on this brand new interior for American Airlines? It will eventually become the standard for all 737 and A321 birds. Are you in favor of them taking out the IFE screens for this product? Let me know below! I was highly impressed, and I view it as a major upgrade across all cabins.

Here is my flight information:
Friday, February 19th, 2021
American Airlines Flight 1680
Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)
Flight Time: 1 hour 48 minutes
Departure: 8:35pm EST (Concourse A; Gate A4)
Arrival: 10:11pm CST (Terminal 3; Gate K18)
Aircraft: Airbus A321-231(S) - Sharklets -- (AA's "code" for this aircraft is the A321R)
Registration: N930AU
Class: First Class
Seat: 5A

Thanks again so much for watching, and I hope you enjoyed! 😊

I'm also on TikTok! Follow me: @Sussman_Aviation

[ASAviation]

Awesome review Charlie! Kodiak doesn’t seem too bad, but tbh I’ll never be able to get over the fact that AA had to sacrifice the PTV’s.

[ryanridder]

Great video! I do miss the Seatback IFE screens as American opted for BYOD entertainment which I don’t think is as special!

[GabeAnderso]

I flew on the Neo and 737K. And tbh it wasn’t as bad as i thought! I’m 6’ and i still had a good amount of legroom and the wifi streaming service worked flawlessly. I watched about 3 movies on my macbook on the neo flight to peru. Their wifi streaming service is awesome they have many movies. I think it’s honestly a upgrade from the previous A321S the interior is wayyyy more modern and seats are a lot more comfortable.

[wcmaster]

Love the seats wish they had screens for long haul. But they have WI-Fi. Also flew them from DFW to Maui and back on the 787-8 and 777-200ER

[markusschult]

WOOW!! As a very big single-aisle Airbus-NEO/CEO-family Enthusiast, very deeply I have enjoyed this really very, very stunning and awesome trip-report. DELTA has equipped all their single-aisle Airbus fleet with this same interior. Perhaps did you know, if only AMERICAN will call this gorgeous, brandnew cabin-environment "Project Kodiak"? Or use for example DELTA this name too onboard their fleet? Surely AMERICAN is a very good U.S. airline but my favourite U.S. airline is DELTA.

[Kananspotter]

Outstanding review as always! That roar tho 🤤
Hope to see the aruba-chicago one soon 🙌🏻

[robertpoitier]

I hope to see a trip report on American's E170 aircrafts Republic & Envoy two of Republic own are flying now N821MD & N826MD but they really start flying out of LGA on 5th May

[marioimori]

Needless to comment on your excellent American accent! As far as English is concerned, the captain of that flight had a "pillow voice" (we call a pillow voice here in Brazil when the person wants to make a sexy-like voice hahahahaha). The Kodiak project has made the planes more beautiful indeed. I loved the soft seat colors. Thanks for sharing, kid! You rock!!

[markusschult]

Always onboard an US-Airline, like AA, UA, DL, during their inflight-service, I recogniced these so called "Minute Maid"-drinks. Is this a sort of lemonade or organic juice? And always onbard an US-Airline I noticed, that the crew will give almost a full cup of ice-cubes. I think US-Amercan-people fall deep in love with frozen drinks. This isn, t good for your tummy. This plane looks indeed so very brandnew and nice. But like almost all other US-Airlines, this aircraft hasn, t big TV-screens in the back of their seats.

[IMStrawman]

Does row 5 recline fully (as much as 1-4)?

[MattHandy]

Charlie Thank you so much for another great video You have taken so many Flights over the years I’m shure The Folks At American Airlines All must know you by name. Have you ever had the same flight crew once or twice? thank you again Charlie and keep up the great work 😊👍🏻

[coashddjj]

I just went on an A321 from Denver to Dallas (2-22-21) and it had the IFE screens in the seats, which I love, although American gave me the worst set of ear buds I've ever used. I was pleasantly surprised that American didn't even take our temperatures before boarding. I flew First and all we got was a drink. How can you tell if you'll be getting a Kodiak flight before you board?

[jcspotter]

I recently flew in the 737 kodiak mod, here's my take:
The device holder on the seatback is pointless unless you have a tablet, you can't position the phone correctly. On the same trip, entertainment wasn't even available, and the system was extremely slow to even get the screen to choose entertainment options.
The seat itself (first class) was mediocre at best with the padding being minimal, however I did enjoy aa finally adding power and usb ports to even their first class seats.

[mobileonegaming]

Man, you have come such a long way on YouTube, I remember when you posted your first ever YouTube Trip Reports!! Keep up the hard work Charlie!

[Blank]

Before Oasis/Kodiak, were Legacy AA A321s able to change the color in the lighting? If so, what happened to the color-changing lighting for the Oasis/Kodiam Legacy AA A321s?

[luizgustavolima]

Hi, Charlie! Just find out your channel...but I noticed that you only post AA material( not a problem)! Intentional? Cheers from Brazil!

[Violinvelocity]

I get the IFE screen removal. It seems that every 5 years, tech advances and they would become obsolete anyway. Nice to have, but people can bring their own tech. If the wifi is fast, you can stream/watch your own stuff!

[funclepooh]

Why you keep switching from window to cabin every 5 secs

[johnblong]

Is WiFi free in first class ? If not it should be. I’m going from PHX-LIH in May

[alexneo]

Will the A320’s get the same configuration?