In December 2019, United Airlines placed an order for 50 A321XLRs, which is Airbus’ new ultra long range and fuel efficient evolution of the A321. The plane entered commercial service in late 2024, with Iberia and Aer Lingus being the launch customers. United is expected to get its first A321XLR in the coming weeks, and it should start flying by this summer.
In this post, I’d like to take an updated look at United’s A321XLR plans, as the airline has just formally unveiled the interiors of these planes, as part of a much bigger passenger experience announcement (which it’ll take me a few posts to cover).
How United will use its Airbus A321XLR aircraft
Before we talk about cabins, let’s talk about United’s route plans for Airbus A321XLRs:
- United will primarily fly A321XLRs across the North Atlantic and to Latin America, so you can expect the planes to largely be on “long and thin” routes, like Newark to Bogota and Edinburgh
- United will not only use A321XLRs to replace Boeing 757-200s, but also to expand to some markets where the economics didn’t previously make sense, given that the A321XLR is more fuel efficient than the 757
What’s interesting is that separately, United will also be introducing some premium Airbus A321neos, with similar interiors to A321XLRs. The idea is that the A321XLRs will be used on international flights, while the A321neos will be used on premium transcontinental routes, and will therefore be a bit higher density.
American was the first US carrier to take delivery of the A321XLR, so it’s interesting to see the different approaches the airlines are taking, as American is using A321XLRs for both international and premium transcontinental flights.
United’s Airbus A321XLRs will be in a three-cabin layout
United’s Airbus A321XLRs wil boast a total of 150 seats, including 20 Polaris (business class) seats, 12 Premium Plus (premium economy) seats, 36 Economy Plus (extra legroom) seats, and 82 economy seats.
The plane will have just one lavatory in the front (which will be challenging, since it’ll be shared between all business class passengers, plus the pilots), and three lavatories in the back (shared between premium economy and economy), along with a small snack bar.
In Polaris (business class), United will be introducing an all-new product, given that wide body business class seats often can’t be efficiently installed on narrow body aircraft. So the airline will (unfortunately) be going with herringbone seats, meaning that seats will face the aisle, rather than facing the windows (this is more space efficient, but generally considered to be less comfortable). Seats will have privacy doors.
Seats will face the aisle at a 49 degree angle, and will boast just 28″ of pitch, so this is a rather dense layout. On the plus side, seats will convert into 75-78″ beds. I believe this seat is based on the Elevate Altitude product, and that United has a patent for this exact product.
For a narrow body business class, United’s new product looks totally fine, but it shouldn’t get anyone excited. I understand why United chose a product like this, but it’s kind of unfortunate how we’re seeing the return of herringbone seats, which are otherwise quite outdated on wide body planes. Ultimately it’s because reverse herringbone seats take up a bit more space, so couldn’t be installed as efficiently.
On the plus side, I tend to think that Premium Plus (premium economy) on the A321XLR is a nice experience, given the 2-2 layout, and the new premium economy seat being introduced. The lavatory situation won’t be ideal, but other than that, I think this is about as good as premium economy gets on a US carrier, as this will be comparable to domestic first class (the same is true on American’s A321XLRs).
As expected, economy will be in a 3-3 configuration, and the most noteworthy feature there is that there will be a little snack bar in the back of economy.
Bottom line
In the coming weeks, United Airlines is expected to start taking delivery of Airbus A321XLR aircraft, which will be in a three-cabin configuration, and will primarily be used for flights to Europe and South America. The plane will boast 150 seats, including 20 business class seats, 12 premium economy seats, and 118 economy seats.
While the A321XLR is a great plane in terms of opening up long and thin routes, from a passenger experience standpoint, it’s definitely not a wide body experience. It’s certainly a better product than what’s found on the 757s that are being replaced, but the reality is that United will also significantly expand narrow body long haul flying.
What do you make of United’s Airbus A321XLRs?