On Which Routes Do Airlines Offer Lie-Flat Seats Within the US?

Compared to other locations in the world, domestic first class on airlines such as Delta, American, United, and Alaska is pretty bad, at least in terms of their hard products. On most flights, those four airlines usually only have mediocre recliner seats which don’t even have leg rests on the vast majority of their domestic flights, while many airlines in Asia and the Middle East such as Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airways offer lie-flat seats or at least angle-flat seats on most of their short-haul flights, or at least offer high quality recliner seats. Now, the old bulky recliner seats that you find on United’s old 737s is probably better than the economy class seats that airlines sell as business class on intra-European flights, but they are a far cry from fully flat beds.

Fortunately, there are some routes on United, Delta, and American (and all flights with business on JetBlue), which offer fully flat seats in business class on intra-US flights, the seats of which are lightyears better than their old first class seats. In this article, I’ll explore which routes on United, Delta, American, and JetBlue offer fully flat seats in business class within the US and some of the best ways to book them.

American Airlines

Like Delta, Alaska, and United, American Airlines uses recliner seats on all of their 737s, A320 series aircraft (besides a few transcontinental planes), and regional aircraft. Fortunately, American uses internationally-equipped aircraft with fully flat beds in business class on a number of routes within the US which get a lot more out of your money or miles than their recliner seats, especially the “Project Oasis” ones on their retrofitted 737s and A321s which don’t have seat-back TVs and are reportedly very uncomfortable.

American Airlines operates two premium transcontinental routes which always have flatbed seats in premium cabins. Specifically, AA operates three “Flagship” transcontinental routes which are operated by their specially configured A321s which operate on their New York JFK to Los Angeles and San Francisco routes. These aircraft both have their international quality Flagship Business Class and Flagship First Class products onboard, which are technically different cabin classes than what American sells on all of their other domestic flights as ‘first class.’.

Additionally, passengers traveling in premium cabins on these routes have better in-flight services than on their standard domestic flights which only have ‘first class,’ which include bedding, better food, and lounge access to their Flagship Lounge, which normally is reserved for international business or first class passengers. In business class on their flagship transcontinental routes, American uses 20 Rockwell Collins Diamond seats in a 2-2 configuration, while first class uses 10 Safran Cirrus seats, similar to their business class on their 777-300ERs.

While their New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco routes are the only two routes to actually have better in-flight service than their standard domestic flights, they do also operate a number of domestic flights which use internationally configured aircraft that have fully flat seats in business class which are sold as first class on domestic flights. While the seats you get are a lot better than flights which are equipped with standard domestic seats, you won’t get any better in-flight or ground service.

However, this is possibly a good thing because flights which are operated by internationally configured airplanes which have flatbed seats are not necessarily going to be priced higher than aircraft which have standard recliner seats. That means that you could end up paying the same price for a vastly superior product with lay-flat seats. The following routes (the list may be incomplete) have one or more daily flights with aircraft with fully flatbed seats in first class either seasonally or year-round on at least one of possibly many daily flights (I won’t list the specific flight numbers since they change frequently):

• Dallas to Honolulu – Boeing 777-200
• Dallas to Kahului – Boeing 777-200
• Dallas to Chicago – Boeing 787-8/-9
• Dallas to Miami – Boeing 777-200
• Dallas to Las Vegas – Boeing 787-8/757-200
• Chicago to Honolulu – Boeing 787-8
• Chicago to Las Vegas – Boeing 787-8
• Charlotte to Orlando – Airbus A330-300
• Charlotte to San Juan – Airbus A330-300
• San Francisco to Philadelphia – Airbus A330-200
• Miami to New York JFK – Boeing 767-300/777-200/757-200
• Miami to Las Vegas – Boeing 767-300
• Miami to San Juan – Boeing 767-300
• Los Angeles to Dallas – Boeing 787-8/-9
• Los Angeles to Miami – Boeing 777-200
• Los Angeles to Chicago – Boeing 787-8/9
• Philadelphia to Las Vegas – Boeing 767-300/Boeing 757-200
• Philadelphia to Orlando – Boeing 767-300/Airbus A330-200
• Philadelphia to San Juan – Airbus A330-300
• Philadelphia to Miami – Boeing 767-300
• Phoenix to Honolulu – Airbus A330

If your flight is operated by one of the following aircraft below, you will end up with a flatbed seat in business class. Listed below are the seats on each aircraft from best to worst:

• Boeing 777-200/Boeing787-9: Rockwell Collins Super Diamond – reverse herringbone in a 1-2-1 configuration
• Boeing 777-300ER: Safran Cirrus (newer variant, same as on Cathay Pacific) – reverse herringbone in a 1-2-1 configuration
• Airbus A330-200/300: Safran Cirrus (original variant): reverse herringbone in a 1-2-1 configuration
• Boeing 767-300: Thompson Vantage – staggered in a 1-2-1 configuration
• Boeing 757-200 (select aircraft – make sure the aircraft has flatbed seats depending via the seat map)/Airbus A321 Transcontinental: Rockwell Collins Diamond – 2-2 configuration. Note: American has a sub-fleet of 757s which don’t have flatbed seats; make sure the aircraft has based on the seat map (planes with flatbed seats have 16 first class seats and not 12).

As you may have noticed, the vast majority of the routes which have lie-flat seats in first class are either on positioning flights between hubs or on high-density flights to vacation destinations which have the capacity for wide body jets, which ordinarily have flatbed seats in business. When selecting a flight on one of these routes (there could be more), make sure that if the price isn’t much more expensive to choose one of the flights on one of the aircraft listed above, as you’ll probably have a much more comfortable flight.

Some of these flights can be great deals as you sometimes can score a fully flat bed seat with all aisle access for only a couple hundred dollars. American sometimes only charges as little as $600 for their New York to San Francisco flights, which is one of their routes with enhanced service, and charges even less on some shorter and non-premium routes. Additionally, American charges 25,000 miles, valued at about $375, for one-way business class flights within the US, which is a great deal for transcontinental flights, especially those with lie-flat seats.

Delta Air Lines

Delta Airlines also uses recliner seats on most of their short-haul aircraft (such as all of their 737s, A320s, A220s, etc.), although they also do use internationally-configured aircraft with flatbed seats in business class on a handful of routes. Like United and American, Delta does have enhanced service in business class on a handful of domestic routes, although unlike them, they have a much larger network of premium routes. However, Delta doesn’t use internationally configured aircraft on as many routes as American does, although on the vast majority of the routes that they do (besides any one-offs), they provide international quality onboard service and label the class as Delta One, like they do on long-haul flights.

Now, this sometimes is a bit confusing as there are some routes, such as their New York to Las Vegas route, which use both domestically configured aircraft and internationally configured aircraft on the same route. That means that on one plane on the same route, you will receive Delta’s standard domestic service and on another, you will get both a flatbed seat and international quality bedding, food, and receive lounge access. When booking the flight, always make sure that you select Delta One (unless the price is much higher), which ensures a flatbed seat instead of ‘First Class,’ which is Delta’s standard domestic premium product.

The following routes (the list may be incomplete) have one or more daily flights with aircraft with fully flatbed seats in first class either seasonally or year-round on at least one of possibly many daily flights (I won’t list the specific flight numbers since they may change over time):

• New York JFK to Los Angeles – Airbus A330-300/Boeing 767-300
• New York JFK to San Francisco – Boeing 767-300/Boeing 757-200
• New York JFK to San Diego – Boeing 757-200
• New York JFK to Seattle – Boeing 757-200
• New York JFK to Salt Lake City – Boeing 757-200
• New York JFK to Las Vegas – Boeing 757-200
• Washington DCA to San Diego – Boeing 757-200
• Boston to Los Angeles – Boeing 757-200
• Atlanta to Los Angeles – Boeing 777-200
• Atlanta to Honolulu – Airbus A330-300
• Salt Lake City to Honolulu – Airbus A330-300/Boeing 767-300
• Detroit to Honolulu – Boeing 767-300 (seasonal)
• Minneapolis to Honolulu – Boeing 767-300 (seasonal)

If your flight is operated by one of the following aircraft below, you will end up with a flatbed seat in business class. Listed below are the seats on each aircraft from best to worst:

• Boeing 777-200/Airbus A350-900/Airbus A330neo (A350/A330neo not used on domestic flights): Thompson Vantage XL with closed doors – staggered in a 1-2-1 configuration
• Airbus A330-200/300: Safran Cirrus: reverse herringbone in a 1-2-1 configuration
• Boeing 767-300: Thompson Vantage – staggered in a 1-2-1 configuration
• Boeing 757-200 (select aircraft – make sure the aircraft has flatbed seats depending via the seat map): Rockwell Collins Diamond – 2-2 configuration. Note: most of Delta’s 757-200s don’t have flatbed seats, so make sure based on the seat map that they do (ones with flatbed seats have 16 seats in Delta One)

Based on the routes, the vast majority of premium domestic flights are transcontinentals out of New York JFK or are to Hawaii, which makes a lot of sense given New York being a premium market and Hawaii being, well, far away from the mainland. Unfortunately, Delta does charge a premium on flights with Delta One as you do get both better seats and a vastly superior in-flight service. That means that Delta charges more on most flights in business class that either only are operated by aircraft equipped with Delta One or that both have Delta One equipped aircraft and aircraft only with first class. However, some are reasonably priced, such as their JFK to San Diego flight which costs a little over $500 on most days or their Boston to Los Angeles flight which runs consistently at about $550 one-way. Unfortunately, most of these flights aren’t easy to come by with miles as Delta Skymiles prices in Delta One are generally through the roof and not many other programs have access to domestic Delta One flights.

United Airlines

United Airlines also uses recliner seats on most of their domestic flights in first class but also has flatbed seats on a large amount of domestic flights. Like American, United has only a couple of premium transcontinental flights where business class passengers have access to lounges and receive superior bedding and in-flight service, which includes their Newark to Los Angeles and San Francisco flights and their Boston to San Francisco flights where its premium cabin is marketed as business class. The rest of United’s flights within the US don’t have superior service and are marketed as first class, which is really far inferior to international business class.

United uses aircraft equipped with lie-flat seats in business/first on a large quantity of routes, although mostly on hub to hub flights or flights to Hawaii. Unfortunately, United doesn’t use their Polaris seats on many domestic flights, as they rather would use the Polaris equipped aircraft on their flagship international routes and use some of their aircraft with their older international business class products (which still are fully-flat) on some of their domestic flights. The following routes (the list may be incomplete) have one or more daily flights with aircraft with fully flatbed seats in first class either seasonally or year-round on at least one of possibly many daily flights (I won’t list the specific flight numbers since they may change over time):

• Newark to Los Angeles (premium route) – Boeing 787-10 (with new Polaris seats)/Boeing 777-200/Boeing 757-200
• Newark to San Francisco (premium route) – Boeing 787-10 (with new Polaris seats)/Boeing 777-200/Boeing 757-200
• Boston to San Francisco (premium route) – Boeing 757-200
• Boston to Los Angeles – Boeing 757-200
• Honolulu to San Francisco – Boeing 777-200
• Honolulu to Los Angeles – Boeing 777-200
• Honolulu to Denver – Boeing 777-200
• Honolulu to Chicago – Boeing 777-200
• Honlululu to Houston – Boeing 777-200
• Honolulu to Newark – Boeing 767-300/400
• Honolulu to Washington Dulles – Boeing 767-300
• Honolulu to Guam – Boeing 777-200
• Lihue to San Francisco – Boeing 757-200
• Lihue to Denver – Boeing 757-200
• Kahului to Denver – Boeing 777-200
• Kahului to Chicago – Boeing 777-200
• Kahului to San Francisco – Boeing 777-200
• Kona to Denver – Boeing 757-200

• Orlando to Newark – Boeing 757-200/Boeing 767-300/Boeing 777-200
• Orlando to Houston – Boeing 767-300/400
• Orlando to Chicago – Boeing 777-200
• Washington Dulles to San Francisco – Boeing 787-8/Boeing 777-200/Boeing 757-200
• Washington Dulles to San Francisco – Boeing 777-200
• Washington Dulles to Houston – Boeing 767-300/Boeing 757-200
• Washington Dulles to San Diego – Boeing 757-200
• Washington Dulles to Denver – Boeing 757-200
• Newark to Chicago O’Hare – Boeing 777-200
• Newark to Denver – Boeing 757-200
• Newark to Houston – Boeing 757-200/767-300/400
• Newark to San Diego – Boeing 757-200
• Newark to Fort Lauderdale – Boeing 757-200
• Newark to Las Vegas – Boeing 757-200
• Newark to Phoenix – Boeing 757-200
• Newark to San Juan – Boeing 767-300/400
• Houston to Denver – Boeing 777-200
• Houston to Los Angeles – Boeing 777-200
• Houston to San Francisco – Boeing 777-200
• Chicago to Denver – Boeing 777-200
• Chicago to San Francisco – Boeing 777-200

If your flight is operated by one of the following aircraft below, you will end up with a flatbed seat in business class. Listed below are the seats on each aircraft from best to worst:

• Boeing 787-10/Boeing 777-200 refit (not on many domestic flights)/Boeing 777-300 (no domestic flights)/some Boeing 767-300: Zodiac Optima/United Polaris seat – staggered seats in a 1-2-1 or 1-1-1 configuration
• Boeing 767-300/Boeing 767-400/Boeing 757-200/Boeing 787-8/9 – B/E Aerospace Diamond – fully flat seats in a 2-2/2-1-2/2-2-2 configuration
• Boeing 777-200 (domestic configuration – most domestic flights operated by the 777) – IPTE (International Premium Travel Experience a.k.a.). These seats were introduced in the mid-2000s and were United’s first fully flat seat. While featured on very few international aircraft, all of their domestic 777s use these seats. They are in a 2-4-2 configuration on the 777s which is one of the densest configurations out there.

United is leading among all airlines in the amount of domestic flights which have flatbed seats in business/first class, despite having the smallest domestic fleet among United, Delta, and American, so kudos to United. As you probably noticed, United has a ton of domestic routes operated by both 777s and 757-200s, both of which have flatbed seats. This is because all of United’s Boeing 757-200s have flatbed seats in business class (they retired their last one with recliner seats in 2016. Additionally, United operates 19 Boeing 777-200s which fly almost exclusively on domestic flights, especially between the mainland and Hawaii and have flatbed seats in business class.

Domestic flights on United in first class can be booked for 25,000 United miles on all domestic flights besides premium transcontinental flights, which cost 35,000 miles one-way in business class, although most first class award availability is only released a few days prior to the flight. However, a better deal is to pay with Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, which can be transferred from Citi points. It only costs 12,500 Turkish Airlines to purchase a one-way domestic flight in business class within the United States, which is an absolutely fantastic deal, especially as it includes United’s flights to Hawaii and their premium transcontinental routes.

JetBlue

JetBlue, unlike United, Delta, and American doesn’t have business/first class on the majority of their aircraft and in fact only has business class on a small subset of their fleet. Instead, onboard a subset of their Airbus A321s, JetBlue has what they call Mint, which is basically the same thing as business class. JetBlue flies their specialized Mint aircraft on a handful of routes to the Caribbean and on transcontinental routes. Their Mint product has been critically acclaimed and is probably the single best business class product on domestic flights within North America.

JetBlue uses the Thompson Vantage seat on their Mint configured Airbus A321s which is in a staggered configuration and alternates in rows between a 2-2 and 1-1 configuration. The seats are extremely similar to the seats on Aer Lingus’ A321LRs and A330s, TAP’s A321LRs and A330-200s, or SWISS’ long-haul aircraft. What makes this configuration even more spectacular is that in the cabin, the four single seats have fully closed doors which provide near to full privacy to the seat (in fact, JetBlue was the first airline to have closed doors in business class). JetBlue also provides international quality bedding in their Mint business class along with full hot meals (although unfortunately, JetBlue doesn’t provide lounge access).

The following routes (the list may be incomplete) have one or more daily flights with aircraft with fully flatbed seats in first class either seasonally or year-round on at least one of possibly many daily flights (I won’t include their flights to the Caribbean as I am focusing exclusively on domestic flights in this article):

• Boston to Las Vegas 
• Boston to Los Angeles 
• Boston to San Diego 
• Boston to San Francisco 
• Boston to Seattle 
• New York JFK to Las Vegas 
• New York JFK to Los Angeles 
• New York JFK to San Diego 
• New York JFK to San Francisco 
• New York JFK to Seattle-Tacoma
• Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles
• Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco

The best part about JetBlue Mint is that they are relatively cheap, compared to other airlines. Transcontinental routes such as their flights from Boston or New York to Seattle or from $450 one-way, which is a great deal for a six hour flight in a top quality business class product. You can also often find round-trip transcontinental flights in business class for $900, which is a great deal, considering how good the product is. Even their flagship route from New York to Los Angeles often go for $600 one-way. You can also purchase JetBlue flights in Mint with JetBlue miles, although the price in miles is more or less proportional to the amount it costs with money.

Conclusion

American, Delta, United, and JetBlue all offer a fair amount of routes which have lie-flat seats in first/business class within the United States. While their normal first class seats within the United States are mediocre at best, fortunately they offer quite a few routes which have flatbed seats, often times which are combined with superior in-flight service, in business class which can often be a much better use of miles or money than their standard first class seats.