I’m a bonafide aviation geek. I love plane spotting, and my friends sometimes joke that I act like Rain Man. We’ll be playing volleyball near LAX, and when a widebody plane takes off, I’ll tell everyone to look. I’ll say something like, “Check it out, there’s an A350 Air Tahiti Nui on its way to Papeete (or Paris),” or “There goes an Emirates A380 on its way to Dubai.”
98% of my friends just roll their eyes because they could care less. But even though I know a lot about planes, some of the narrowbody aircraft confuse me — and I’m not alone. Recently, one American Airlines (AA) passenger took to X (formerly Twitter) to ask a great question, and AA’s response was surprisingly honest. Here’s the dialogue:
Javier Manjarres
Paging @Americanair: Just out of curiosity, what is the difference between a A321 and a A321 neo aircraft?
@AmericanAir
Hello there! Our A321 has less pitch in the seating from First Class cabin to Main Cabin, has six fewer seats total and holds 96 fewer bags in the overhead bins. The neo aircraft has AC/USB power ports at all seats which the regular A321 doesn’t offer.
Hello there! Our A321 has less pitch in the seating from First Class cabin to Main Cabin, has six fewer seats total and holds 96 fewer bags in the overhead bins. The neo aircraft has AC/USB power ports at all seats which the regular A321 doesn’t offer.
— americanair (@AmericanAir) January 15, 2025
Wow! You have to love AA’s social media team’s brutal honesty. For those who aren’t familiar with the term “pitch”, it refers to “the distance between a point on one seat and the same point on the seat in front of it.” In simpler terms, it’s basically legroom.
SeatGuru, which provides detailed seating information for most airlines and aircraft types, backs up AA’s response. Here are the seating details for both aircraft:
Pitch Width Seating details
First 37 21 20 recliner seats
Main Cabin Extra 33-38 17-18 47 standard seats
Main Cabin 30 17-18 129 standard seats
American Airlines A321
Pitch Width Seating details
First 38 21 16 recliner seats
Main Cabin Extra 34-35 18 36 standard seats
Main Cabin 31-32 18 129 standard seats
Well, you heard it straight from the horse’s mouth: If you want more space (which, let’s face it, everyone does), you might want to avoid American Airlines’ A321neo.
