[Award Alert] Book American’s New Business Class Suites to London From 55K Miles

American Airlines’ long-awaited Flagship Suites product is set to go into regular service next month on board the airline’s new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

The new product represents a giant leap for the airline, as it features cutting-edge technology, high-end appointments, suites with fully-closing doors, and more.

Best of all, flights featuring the new cabin have a solid amount of award availability throughout the summer, and you can book a one-way flight from just 55,000 miles each way.

Let’s take a look

Award Alert — The Details

As View From the Wing points out, there’s an incredible opportunity right now to use your points and miles to try out American’s all-new business class product on long-haul flights this summer for just 55,000 miles and minimal taxes each way:

• Program: Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
• Airline: American Airlines
• Class: Business
• Route: Chicago (ORD) and Philadelphia (PHL) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
• Cost: 55,000 miles plus $19 in business class
• Travel Dates: June through August 2025

The first international route to see American’s new Dreamliner is Chicago (ORD) to London-Heathrow, beginning on June 5. However, until all 3 of American’s frequencies on the Chicago-London route start seeing the new 787 in July, just 1 flight a day will have the new aircraft, with the other 2 being operated with older versions of the 787.

To determine whether the flight you’re looking at will have the new plane, look for “78P” in the aircraft details on American’s site. This is the airline’s moniker for the new plane, with the “P” standing for “premium.”

The next route to see the new plane is Philadelphia (PHL)-London, starting in August, and availability seems to be quite good on those flights.

How To Book

American’s AAdvantage program no longer has an award chart, which means prices for its own flights can vary tremendously by day.

This is precisely why you should turn to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program, which allows you to book business class flights on American Airlines from just 55,000 miles each way, plus just $19 in taxes and fees.

While you’ll ideally book through Alaska Airlines, you’ll want to use AA’s search engine to confirm you’ll be on the right plane, at least for flights before July departing Chicago. For example, we found availability between Chicago and London on July 15 on Alaska’s site for 55,000 miles. However, Alaska’s flight details page only says “Boeing 787-9” in the aircraft information field for flight AA46.

To confirm it was the right aircraft, I quickly searched AA.com for nonstop flights from Chicago to London on July 15 and located flight AA46. Sure enough, the site showed “78P” as the operating aircraft, meaning it’s the correct plane with the new suites.

However, AAdvantage wanted 89,000 miles for the flight, compared to the 55,000 required to book through Alaska — that seems like a no-brainer! However, if you don’t have Alaska miles, you should be able to find flights through American’s search engine and might find better prices if you have flexibility on dates.

Options for accruing Alaska Airlines miles include a pair of co-branded credit cards from Bank of America, point transfers from Bilt Rewards, transfers from Marriott Bonvoy, and transfers from Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot of business class availability on American’s new 787-9 Dreamliners equipped with its brand-new Flagship Suites on select flights to London this summer.

Even better, you can book your flight on the airline’s all-new business class product for just 55,000 miles and minimal taxes and fees when you do so through Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.

If a summer trip to London is on your radar — or you just really want to try out American’s new Flagship Suites — now is the perfect opportunity to book your ticket!