Review: American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin DFW-FCO

In a previous blog post, I mentioned that I booked this trip back in November 2024 because that was when the Vatican announced the date for the canonization Mass of Carlo Acutis, which I really wanted to attend. Unfortunately, Pope Francis passed away and that changed my plans to attend the canonization Mass, and I almost canceled this trip. But I still ended up going. I figured that it was still a good opportunity to be part of the crowds paying their respects to Pope Francis. And I still got to review this American Airlines B777-200 flight in Main Cabin.

Flight Info

Date Traveled	April 23, 2025
Flight No.	AA240
Aircraft / Tail	B777-200 / N780AN
Flight Time / Distance	9 hours, 45 minutes  / 5614 miles
Departure / Arrival	2:40PM DFW / 8:05AM+1 FCO
Class / Seat	Main Cabin / 21D (left side, center aisle)
Type / Cost	Award / 50,800 AAdvantage miles + $64.31 USD for round trip  (63,500 -12,700 AAdvantage miles due to employee 20% off discount)
Loyalty Status	AAdvantage Gold

Summary

• Decently comfortable seat for 9.5 hour flight with functional features and enough knee room
• Onboard meals were pretty decent; service was friendly and efficient
• WiFi was inoperative the entire flight

Booking American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Knowing that there’s only one flight a day between DFW and Rome on American Airlines during non-peak season, I just used AA’s website to search for the flight after logging into my AAdvantage account.

When searching for the flight, I made sure to check the “Redeem miles” box so that I would get results to be able to use my AAdvantage miles.

Given that I wanted to arrive a few days before the canonization Mass set for Sunday April 27, 2025 (way before I found out about Pope Francis’ funeral) to be able to figure out on-the-ground logistics in Rome beforehand, I made sure to set the date for the Wednesday or Thursday before.

I ended up booking Wednesday April 23, 2025 for my departure date because it was a little cheaper miles-wise than Thursday.

Because I am an active airline employee, I can get a 20% discount on paid and award tickets for myself. The cost to book this as a round trip ticket in Main Cabin was originally 63,500 AAdvantage miles, but it ended up being 50,800 AAdvantage miles after my discount. The taxes/fees remained the same.

Packing for American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin and Rome

This flight had a 2:40PM departure time, but it was basically an overnight flight since the scheduled arrival time in Rome was 8:00AM. This meant that my goal for the flight was to try and sleep so that I could hit the ground running once in Rome.

To make the flight easier, I brought my usual eye mask and noise cancelling headphones. 

Also, I had bought waterproof athletic shoes after seeing that Rome was expecting rains during my trip. My plan was to wear these shoes on the plane, but waterproof footwear typically aren’t very breathable (I learned this the hard way on my Rio de Janeiro day trip). So I also packed the AA slippers I got in Flagship First Class from my day trip to Buenos Aires.

I know Roman streets and sidewalks are full of cobblestone so bringing a carry-on luggage with wheels was not an option. Therefore, I only brought my backpack and a larger cross-body bag.

Check In at DFW Airport

Because my flight wasn’t until 2:40PM, I actually went to work in the morning. I had to wrap some stuff up anyway with suppliers and teammates.

The nice thing about working at an airlines’ headquarters building is that it also has a travel desk that functions like the ticket counters at the airport. Minus the checking in of checked luggage, of course. 

So at about noon, I visited the travel desk at work and got my boarding pass printed out. There was no line. The agent verified my passport and printed out my boarding pass. I do like collecting paper boarding passes and having them as backup in case the mobile boarding pass doesn’t work. 

I had my housemate pick me up to take me to the airport as he had just landed from his own trip.

When I was in the car, I doublechecked the DFW Airport app to see how busy the A21 security checkpoint was as that is where TSA PreCheck is for Terminal A. It wasn’t busy according to the app. And when I got dropped off, I found it had about 5 people in line, but moved along quickly. I was through security in less than 5 minutes.

Admirals Club

After passing through security, I beelined to A24 where the Admirals Club is in Terminal A. Again, I have access because of the Citi Executive card—the only credit card in AA’s portfolio that includes Admirals Club membership.

I’ve visited the Terminal A Admirals Club multiple times (here and here), so I’ll just talk about this particular visit.

I got in at about 12:35PM.

In terms of how busy it was, I saw that it looked like most of the seats were taken, but I didn’t have trouble finding an empty one. Being midday in the middle of the week probably helped.

Once I found my seat, I had a look at the food available:

For food and drink, I saw that Argentinian empanadas were the main option (!). I made sure to get a few, and I paired this with naan bites and the jalapeño lime hummus. To complete the lounge experience, I grabbed a glass of brut from the bar too, but it took a while because they only had one bartender and lots of people in line.

I found the empanadas to be pretty good, but the meat filling lacked some flavor. I thought that maybe it could’ve used chimichurri or something. And the hummus was good, but didn’t have a spicy kick like I thought it should’ve had. The naan was fluffy and savory with the garlic.

Maybe they were on lunch break, but I didn’t see the usual chips and guacamole station set up. That was a little disappointing.

I also noticed from this trip that the Thai coconut broth soup is back in rotation. Probably my favorite soup I’ve had in the Admirals Club! But I didn’t get any this time.

Boarding and Departure for American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Boarding was scheduled for 1:50PM. So AA recently updated their app and changed how it looks and works. Now the (iOS) app utilizes widgets to let you know boarding info and other flight updates. I liked this so I could quickly glance at my phone and know what time boarding is and how much time I have left.

I arrived at Gate A24 immediately after leaving the Admirals Club. How convenient that my gate was right at the club! Haha. 

Weirdly, looking around the gate area, I didn’t see what amounted to be a 777-200’s worth of people waiting around knowing that this flight is supposed to be full. I knew weather within the past day may have affected some, but still. 

Right on time, boarding started at 1:50PM. And also the agents announced that we would be doing the biometric scan (face recognition) to board this flight. Unsurprisingly, once boarding started, a big mass of people grouped up around the boarding lanes.

AA started their new boarding order on May 1 so we were using the old method with preboards and Concierge Key passengers boarding first.

As Group 4 was getting closer to being called, I inched my way past the gate lice and ended up being one of the first few Group 4 boarders in line once called. I scanned into this flight at 1:57PM and by 2:00PM, I was in my seat.

While waiting for other passengers to board, I tried helping my row mates load their luggage up into the bin but can only do so if lying on the wide side and lengthwise. But another passenger kinda wanted to argue with me that I should stand them on the short side like books like on other aircraft. But I know those aircraft have bigger bins that allow that. And this is not one of those aircraft types. I almost wanted to say “trust me, I’m an engineer [that works for this airline]” lmao

Later during boarding (I’m thinking like Group 6 and on), the flight attendants announced that there wouldn’t be room for rollaboards and asked everyone to see about getting their bags gate checked. Oof.

Of course, because I was Group 4, I didn’t have trouble at all and easily claimed the bin above me.

Cabin in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

On American Airlines B777-200, the Main Cabin is split in two areas at Door 3. My seat was in the more forward cabin. In total, there are 212 seats according to Aerolopa.

The seats in Main Cabin are mostly arranged in a 3-4-3 configuration, but some rows are 2-4-2, typically at the front bulkheads or rows in the tail section. The 3-4-3 configuration on a 777 makes for a decent seat width, but larger passengers will have trouble, especially at front row seats that have the in-arm tray tables.

Also, the front bulkhead seats do have underseat space from the last row of Premium Economy as the bulkhead does not touch the floor. 

This particular aircraft is pretty old, but the interiors didn’t look too beat up in the Main Cabin. The aesthetic is stereotypical AA dark blue with gray and red accents for the seats, an off-white for the side panels, and grays for the bulkhead partitions and monuments (like closet, lav, and galley walls).

For the temperature of the cabin, I found it to be warm at the beginning, but once we leveled off in cruise, I started to feel cold. Luckily I had a pullover packed with me, and as I mention below, the seat came with a blanket.

Seats in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

My seat number was 21D. It was an aisle seat in the center section several rows forward of Door 3 on the left side.

The manufacturer of this seat was Safran Seats, and this was model 5751. I always nerd out if this is the seat I’m flying in on any flight because l previously worked at Safran Seats (though I didn’t work on 5751, but did work on a new seat model meant to replace it).

5751 is designed for long-haul international flights, and has the following features:

• 9” Panasonic monitor (touchscreen, has headphone jack and USB A)
• Retractable handset (has call button, reading light controls in addition to also controlling the in-flight entertainment system)
• Bi-fold tray table (also extendable)
• Universal power port (110V)
• Literature pocket
• Adjustable headrest (up/down, wings fold in/out)

Since I wasn’t in a Main Cabin Extra row with extra legroom, my seat had the following:

• 3” Recline
• 31” Row Pitch
• 17.1” Seat Width

In Main Cabin on international flights, the usual amenities are:

• Pillow
• Blanket
• Disposable earbuds (handed out by flight attendants)

As far as what I thought about 21D, I was quite grateful that everything about the seat was working. Sometimes things don’t work like when I flew World Traveler class on British Airways 787.

Additionally, I thought it was comfortable enough for a coach class seat for a long-haul flight. I purposely chose an aisle seat knowing that I do like to get up and use the lavatory without bothering anyone. Had I flown non-revenue standby, there would have been a higher chance of me getting a middle seat.

Entertainment and WiFi in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Main Cabin seats have a 9” touchscreen. Premium Economy and Business get larger ones. Regardless of class, it’s the same content available. 

I didn’t really bother thumbing through the entire selection but American Airlines’ widebody entertainment system always has entertainment, flight map, seat-to-seat messaging, kids section, drink menu, and WiFi connection instructions. 

For entertainment content, I recommend going to entertainment.aa.com to see what is showing on your next flight. Note that the content changes at the start of every month.

On this particular flight, I saw that most of the new releases were more obscure movies I’ve never heard of. Luckily, previous new releases that I wanted to watch were still available on the system.

Navigating around the system was very responsive, and I could have used either the monitor itself (touchscreen) or the handset to move around in its menus. 

WiFi Service

This is where this flight fell short. But I should mention that since this was AA’s B777-200 aircraft, WiFi actually doesn’t work on the ground at the gate by design due to system limitations. It only works once up in the air.

I tried multiple times throughout the flight to look for the “aainflight” WiFi signal, but it never showed up. Honestly, I didn’t care since I rather like my time being disconnected when on planes, and I don’t typically work on flights even on a work trip.

But I can understand that some people would want to have WiFi access to the Internet especially on a long flight such as this one.

Starting in January 2026, AA will start offering free WiFi. But for now, had the system been working, it would’ve costed something like $25-$35 dollars depending on length of access pass you purchase.

Service in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

For Main Cabin service on AA B777-200 from DFW to Rome, there were six flight attendants. During meal and drink service, they split between both sides. I found them to be friendly and efficient during their service, but not personal. Basically minimal talking or actually engaging passengers apart from taking food and drink orders.

When they started their meal service, I noticed they actually handed out all the special order meals first and had slips of paper for each. I’m assuming this is some new system to make sure catering got everything correct, which I can appreciate for other passengers. It looked like no one around me with preorders complained.

The standard for AA international flights in Main Cabin, from my observation across different flights, is for the flight attendants to serve Premium Economy first. They get a slightly better hot entree. After serving Premium Economy, the flight attendents then work their way towards the back of the plane.

Also there are separate carts for drinks and meals.

About 55 minutes after takeoff, I got my meal, but then service immediately got suspended due to turbulence. This lasted about 15 minutes, which service then resumed. And that’s when I was able to get my red wine.

For the pre-arrival meal, they turned on the “sunrise” light scene about 8 hours and 19 minutes after takeoff. This meal was served in the same way, but Main Cabin gets a bagged meal that isn’t plated so the flight attendants were able to hand these out faster. 

I got my pre-arrival meal at 8 hours and 37 minutes.

Towards the end of the flight, we faced the kind of turbulence that caused the whole plane to drop and gain altitude relatively quickly in a short amount of time and so they suspended their final trash pick up runs before landing. They announced this, and even recommended leaving trash in the literature pocket. The turbulence was really that bad and not them being lazy by any means. 

Food and Drink in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Due to the length and timing of this flight, there was dinner and a lite breakfast. And in-between, the flight attendants had put out water, juices, and pretzels out in the aft galley area for passengers to take at any time.

Dinner

So when I was at work in the morning, I was joking with my coworkers about the meal choices being chicken or pasta. And sure enough, those were the two options on this flight! 🤣

But to start, the flight attendants handed out those bags of mini pretzels before bustin’ out the carts. 

When I got asked, “chicken or pasta?”, I selected the chicken.

The chicken was good (left side on the pic above). It wasn’t dry or overcooked, and the tomato sauce seemed balanced. Accompanying it was seasoned couscous, and that tasted minty and herbed, but it was good too.

The side salad was not soggy, but was very plain. Just a few peppers with the leafs of lettuce for some crunchiness. The balsamic dressing was decent.

The dinner roll was soft and slightly dry, but the butter made it okay.

The crackers and cheese were good, but the cheese was not very spreadable though soft.

And probably my favorite part was the cinnamon churro bar! It was so good! It was sweet with a cinnamon spice flavor.

Along with my meal, I requested the red wine, which was some sort of red blend from a brand I didn’t quite catch. It was good.

Overall, I thought this was a good meal. None of it made me think, “yeah ew, this is gross airplane food”. And admittedly, I tend to eat every bit of in-flight meals. I didn’t feel sick or bloated after eating this meal.

Pre-Arrival Breakfast

This seems to be AA’s popular way of doing a lite meal for a morning arrival on a long-haul international flight — their “Bite Into Delight” bags with pre-packaged stuff.

Within the bag was a Chobani Greek yogurt, Wildest Coconut Cashew granola, and Nature’s Bakery Fig bar.

For my drink, I requested coffee. I know that airplane coffee is typically considered gross, but I felt like I needed the caffeine in order to be functional enough to get through immigration and over into the city of Rome!

I enjoyed all this, and I especially like putting the granola into the yogurt and mixing it up before eating it.

Lavatories in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Main Cabin has a pretty generous amount of lavatories available. There are three located at Door 3, which include an accessible lavatory on the left side. And there are two located near the aft galley.

The ones closest to me were the Door 3 lavs.

I found them to be spacious enough and not coffin-like like on most of AA’s narrow body fleet.

During the 9.5 hours flight, I only used the lavatories twice. Once after dinner service, and that time the left mid-cabin lav was decently clean looking despite seeing many people use it towards the end of meal service. The other time I used it was about midflight, but I ended up using the aft left lavatory. I saw some sprinkles on the ground with bits of paper debris. 

In-Flight in American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin

Besides eating and attempting to sleep, I also took notes for this flight and watched movies. 

During dinner, I watched Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim. And during the last few hours of flight, I watched Kraven the Hunter.

Sleep

I did attempt to sleep on this flight knowing that we’d be landing early in the morning and I had a full day on the ground in Rome. My first and only attempt was after dinner service. 

To make myself more comfortable, I brought my eye mask. And as I mentioned earlier, I brought my First Class slippers so I put those on. And because I got cold in the middle of the flight, I also had my pullover that I put on.

I wasn’t able to actually fall asleep. Just a lot of dozing off for about 2.5 hours before I decided to just stay up.

But what also made it tough to fall asleep was people bumping into my left shoulder a lot. I couldn’t really explain why that kept happening other than maybe I was allowing my arm and shoulder to spill out into the aisle more than I should have. So in order to somewhat correct that, I felt like I need to scrunch up in my seat.

Stories to Share

For the most part, this was an uneventful flight. Some crying babies at different points, but I had my noise canceling headphones on so that minimized that.

I did notice a Catholic priest sitting in the row in front of me and towards the window. I figured that I’d see more like him given the events surrounding this trip.

But the one major thing to share that was crazy was the turbulence in the last hour of the flight. This was a B777-200. It’s a big plane. But whatever turbulence we flew through caused very noticeable updrafts and downdrafts that were actually kind of scary. I think we flew through some clouds as there was bad weather somewhat nearby. Luckily, apart from some gasps, no one got panicky around me.

Lessons Learned

Aisle seats can suck. That’s the one lesson learned from this flight. I probably should have counted the times people bumped into my left arm and shoulder, but it was kind of a lot lol. I’m not sure why that was the case on this particular flight as I typically like sitting in aisle seats, and this hasn’t been a real problem for me.

Arrival into Rome

The scheduled arrival time was 8:05AM. However the in-flight systems said 7:30AM.

The captain made an announcement at 9 hours and 20 minutes into the flight that we would be landing in about 25 minutes.

I didn’t see much outside since I wasn’t by the window but what little I could see, I saw that it was morning and there were clouds.

We touched down at FCO at about 7:25AM local time then arrived at Terminal 3 a few minutes later. We deplaned via stairs and were bussed to the terminal. 

The total gate-to-gate time was 9 hours and 53 minutes.

Bottom Line

My tolerance for long flights is probably higher than most, and long flights in the back of the plane can be daunting for some, but I didn’t find this flight to be uncomfortable. The seat was adequate and functional enough to keep me comfortable all flight, and it helped that I didn’t have a large bag under the seat for me to take up my leg space so I could actually stretch out decently.

During the flight, there was plenty for me to stay occupied including meals and entertainment. The food was decently good as I didn’t waste any of it. While the service was friendly and efficient, I wish the flight attendants were a little more personable with passengers. The movie selection was okay, but I was still able to find movies I wanted to watch or saw that movies I like were also available on the system.

Turbulence towards the end of the flight was probably the most I’ve ever experienced on a widebody aircraft, and it was actually a little scary. But the pilots got everything under control for a smoother landing into FCO.

I wouldn’t be afraid to recommend flying from DFW to FCO in Main Cabin with American Airlines. For those seeking a less-privileged, no frills-yet-comfortable experience, then this flight was a good way to do it. Especially with using miles for an award ticket! 😁

Would you have paid money or used miles for this experience in Main Cabin? Let me know down in the comments!