Star Trek Star LeVar Burton Unloads on American Airlines. But What Don’t His Twitter Fans Know?

American Airlines has been flying more widebody aircraft domestically. It’s not a huge change, but they’ve scheduled a Boeing 787-8 on Chicago – Los Angeles along with 7 to 8 narrowbody aircraft a day.

Sunday American substituted a Boeing 777-300ER on the route, which in my opinion is an upgrade. But it led to problems on social media.

See, on domestic flights with two cabin aircraft (whether a Boeing 737 or 787) the forward cabin is called “first class.” The same forward cabin product on the 787 is called business class when it flies internationally. Same seats, different name.

But since a Boeing 777-300ER has three cabins, business class is still called business class when flying domestically.

LeVar Burton was on the plane, and the Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation star was in no mood for such distinctions. He went from 787 business class (called first class) to 777-300ER business class and was offended by the downgrade.

Already miffed, he was ready for conflict as soon as he walked off the jetway.

And a flight attendant with a sense of humor? Not gonna fly.

When Andie MacDowell complained about having to downgrade to coach for a short Charlotte – Charleston flight she was crucified in social media over her entitlement. She was booked into a bulkhead seat which doesn’t work when traveling with a pet in cabin (that’s not an emotional support animal, natch).

I suspect that Geordi La Forge’s fans offering up support on Twitter don’t realize that he traded this:


Boeing 787-8 Business Class Concept ‘D’ Seat

For this:


Boeing 777-300ER Business Class

He flew in essentially the same business class seat offered by Cathay Pacific and EVA Air, in the only widebody offered on a route also flown by United, Virgin America, and Spirit.

But it’s a great example of how framing effects work in air travel. I actually prefer the Boeing 777-300ER business class seat over American’s ‘Concept D’ seat (but not over their Super Diamond seat). However in this case:

  • Burton was told he had been in first class but is now in business. (Although it’s clearly a much better offering than first class on every other flight between the two cities.)

  • Burton flew in a plane that had a higher cabin than the one he was sitting in. Being in the forward-most cabin on the plane feels more important regardless of what product you yourself have.

Put another way, coach on Southwest (which doesn’t offer a premium cabin) feels better than coach on Delta. You’re not missing out on anything.

(HT: Rene’s Points)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Comments

  1. Lol. Seems that celebrities are only average people with no knowledge of difference and definition of cabin service. Sure it would be helpful if the gate agent explain to him what you have wrote in this article. Then again, in another boardingarea.com blogs, FAs are referred as LAZY. Maybe gate agent as well? Oh dear….

  2. It is silly that he’s complaining about the change to the same seat, but on the other hand, paid 1st class is paid 1st class. Not his fault there was an equip swap (and if it was an aircraft downgrade, AA would have told him “tough”). Is AA just pretending that the F cabin doesn’t exist on this flight?

  3. Why would AA differentiate the naming of premium cabin between domestic and international flight? Maybe by naming bussines international into first domestic it is easier to sell or more acceptable to the spenders. Maybe.

    Would the passenger care? Absolutely not. I paid for first, I deserved first. Is it the same seat? Passenger wouldn’t care. First is first. Bussiness is second. As simple as that….

  4. That’s the beauty of marketing. Doesn’t matter what the product actually does, it called and marketed as first class and as such Mr. Burton should be due compensation for the downgrade.

    What is the tables were turned and he was in business but wanted to fly in First? Would AA upgrade him for free? There’s your answer.

  5. Just another example of the absurd distortions one gets by “believing” social media posts about airlines. I think this is the world’s number one dumping ground for “fake news.”

  6. This is the industry’s fault for having the different names for the same seat. They need to come up with a better naming convention.

  7. I think LeVar Burton was more concerned he wouldn’t earn his American Airlines frequent flyer first class mileage bonus.

  8. At the end of the day the customer entered into a contract for a first class seat
    At that point American should have deeply apologized and offered a good will gesture or upgrade or the next flight out or get him on another carriers flight
    But agents have no empowerment to help customers
    It’s another United these days with next issue after issue waiting to happen
    Or dragging the passenger off or reaccomdating him could have happened if United hadn’t beat American to it
    Alternatively the customer can freeze dispute the charge on his credit card as goods and services not delivered as promised
    I don’t like the guy but he’s entitled to what he paid for regardless of what aircraft AA decides to use for the flight
    In addition to Americans stinginess with award seats and bad employee morale it suffers from a lack of customer friendly agents empowered to help paying passengers or travelers who suffer from AA created passenger disruptions
    AA the recurring theme is shut up and fly us It’s our way or the highway
    What you get is what you get take it or drop dead even with mechanical delays or lost luggage
    It was always a reasonably good carrier till Parker destroyed it and continues to one day at a time
    Is there a number for elites or First Class passengers to call in such a situation for escalated matters?
    Of course not. It’s like google offering a customer service line
    But airlines should have reasonable customer service
    With shrinking seats horrible food and cranky unhappy agents
    I expect far more meltdowns on and off board American to read about
    After 8 million miles with AA I fly on other carriers except when there is no other choice
    It’s sad and disgraceful.where money is more important than customer relationships each and every day
    Thank god for Jet Blue Alaska & southwest virgin America all unthinkable a few years ago

  9. I wonder, if he was sitting in an A321 “First Class” seat, what his reaction would have been…

  10. Pro tip for LeVar: Just put an automotive air filter over your eyes and the business class seat feels just like first class.

  11. I disagree with you on this one Gary, I usually think you are correct as you do have a great handle on the airline world. What that does however is allow one to feel everyone else should/does. Most people who fly don’t read this blog and don’t know the ins and outs.

    AA has caused this confusion. Different class’ on the same route with the same seat. I think if an AA employee had simply explained it to him without patronizing language like he was a 7 year old child, this would have been fine. Instead one FA gets called out for disregarding his request for a blanket and the one on the door has a bad attitude.

    – Confusing product
    – Poor communication
    – Lack of empathy
    – Lack of even a blanket in business/first class

  12. Too bad they no longer have a flight engineer–they could have offered him that seat in the cockpit. Hell, even on the Enterprise he never got a seat, always had to stand next to the warp core, that must have been tiring.

  13. This is a great example of how airlines really need to work on cabin branding and labels to ensure consistency. To be honest, he probably has a claim for involuntary downgrade. After all, he was ticketed into the first class cabin and was involuntarily placed into the business class cabin. The fact that the seats are virtually the same is, as you pointed out, 100% down to inconsistent marketing from AA. At least Delta One and Delta First Class sound different. Of course, the latter sounds nicer than the former when reality is the reverse. But they at least take the first step in differentiating seating configurations with a special cabin name.

    I remember being on a DFW-BWI flight sitting next to an Aussie who was connecting from QF business and was actively disappointed by what she encountered in AA “First Class.” For my part, the food was edible and the FAs friendly and attentive, so I thought it was an excellent flight.

  14. Oh, LeVar. Just call your publicist, and she will tell you how wonderful you are, and it will all be better.

  15. @Paul S – I agree, I note at the bottom the framing effects and I think that the nomenclature is confusing to customers, American should do a better job explaining their product and even promoting to customers that they are on the only widebody flying the route (and to premium cabin customers, that they are flying the only lie flat seats on the route)

  16. First Class = First Class
    First =/ Biz
    First =/ Premium Economy
    First =/ Main Cabin
    First =/ Basic Economy

    He paid for the top seat available and I say he was entitled to it. Just my opinion.

  17. @DallasStars he got the seat he paid for, though communication here could have been better.

    the original aircraft had 28 seats in the top cabin. the new one had international first with only 8 seats, are you suggesting that 20 people had cause to be angry getting what they paid for?

  18. @DallasStars there is such a thing as a ≠ symbol. You’re welcome

    @Gary Yes, 20 people had cause to be angry. AA could’ve defused this quite easily with a quick explanation and a token amount of compensation. It’s AA’s bad, not Mr. Burton’s.

  19. @Gary
    “the original aircraft had 28 seats in the top cabin. the new one had international first with only 8 seats, are you suggesting that 20 people had cause to be angry getting what they paid for?”

    Yes, exactly: 28 people paid for 1st class, only 8 people got it.

    I’m curious, how did AA pick out which 8 of the 28 got what they paid for?

    No, when you’re paying for 1st class you’re not just paying for a seat, you’re paying for “first class”. you’re paying for first on, first off, first served, and you’re paying for the best the plane has to offer.

    And 20 of the 28 people didn’t get it. So yes, AA owed them payment for an involuntary downgrade.

  20. @Greg D – if American had substituted a 737 for the 787 would the 16 passengers sitting in ‘first class’ have been downgraded?

  21. I’m with Levar on this one. Rows 1 and 2 have wider seats and well better seats in general than Row 3 and up. He was downgraded. Sure it was an equipment swap and Row 1/2 seats wouldn’t have existed on the originally planned plane but it took me even a few minutes to realize what this article was about so I’m sure he was confused. I wonder if he was even allowed to use the F lavs? Bad communication on AA. What was his original seat #? If it was Row 1/2 I’d be pretty pissed.

  22. On most American Airlines domestic flights there are two cabins of service: Premium, referred to as “First” Class, which is booked in J class, and Coach Class, aka the Main Cabin, booked in Y class (or oftentimes in a lower fare bucket represented by other letters ). Very FEW domestic flights have three cabins, mostly the transcontinental flights between JFK and LAX/SFO, where the Main Cabin is still called Coach Class, and is booked in Y. There are two premium cabins, though, Business Class, which is booked in J, but the REAL First Class cabin is booked in F. LeVar Burton’s ticket was for a J class ticket, not F class.

    The problem is in the nomenclature for domestic J class, which AA erroneously calls First Class on two cabin aircraft (the other is Y, Coach Class/main cabin). They ought to call the premium cabin on these flights Business Class. In fact, the premium cabin on AA’s international two-cabin aircraft is booked in J and is known as Business Class — it is NEVER called First Class. The FEW international flights that offer three cabins book First in F and Business in J (the two premium cabins). Main cabin is known as Coach and is represented by Y.

    Airlines are now offering better Coach products, known as Premium Economy on AA (Delta offers Comfort+ on domestic flights, Premium Select on international ones) with slightly larger seats and providing passengers with amenities. They are not booked in Y, but usually in W. A person traveling in Y class (basic coach/main cabin) should never be expected to be seated up front in the more spacious and comfy Premium Economy.

    LeVar Burton never purchased the ultra-Premium First Class (F) cabin ticket, but the Business Class (J) cabin ticket, which is erroneously referred to as “First” Class.

Comments are closed.