American Airlines’ London business class is now serving wine from a box, a detail that would be unthinkable in a premium cabin when everything is running normally. It’s the latest visible symptom of the Heathrow catering breakdown that has forced this airline into bare-minimum service levels.
The carrier abruptly halted its catering out of London Heathrow airport. Instead, they’re “double catering” flights out of the U.S., flying the food across the Atlantic, and serving half of it on the return flight to the United States.
Since that means food is onboard their planes for far longer, they have to restrict options. There’s no ice cream, and no seafood. And because there’s not enough room in the galleys to load provisions for full service for two flights, they’ve cut back significantly on what they’re giving to customers.
Here’s a Flagship First Class, single tray service meal from London Heathrow to Los Angeles right now. Passengers have also reported being served only one meal instead of two, and not receiving the expected business class amenities.
Flagship First Dinner LHR to LAX
by
u/SpecialistOne9509 in
americanairlines
Aviation watchdog JonNYC shares this front line report of catering on board an American Airlines flight from New York JFK to London. The passenger received their pre-order meal, so there’s a chance it happens (althogh crew have been told not to expect pre-order meals to be fulfilled) and business class passengers are being served box wine. The advertised Bollinger champagne has been replaced with Cava, though it’s not clear why this would be necessary because of catering or galley constraints.
a single data point on current catering:
"Currently on AA142 to LHR in J. Pre ordered meals honored but wine is boxed wine and bollinger is Cava. I couldn’t believe it when I saw boxes wine on the cart."— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) March 5, 2026
JonNYC tweets the receipts:
Honestly box wine isn’t worse than what American Airlines usually serves. While Bollinger is an excellent business class champagne choice, the rest of their wine program is arguably among the worst in the airline industry, on par with SriLankan Airlines.
There are wines you can drink at the $6 price point, but somehow American not to select even those.
All of this is reportedly because of hygiene issues with their caterer in London, dnata. A photo is circulating of mice in a bag of bread that flight attendants discovered when they placed it in a basket in the galley, as shared by JonNYC.
The belief is that a mice infestation at Dnata’s London Heathrow catering kitchen prompted American to immediately halt local catering and fly in minimal meals from the US for their London departures.
Update: dnata responds,
dnata firmly rejects recent claims regarding alleged hygiene issues within our catering operations at London Heathrow. These allegations are entirely false.
Independent audits confirm that our facility meets all food hygiene and safety requirements, with robust processes in place to ensure full compliance at all times.
One of our airline customers has temporarily adjusted its catering arrangements as part of its own internal review, and dnata is fully supporting them throughout this period.
dnata continues to operate normally for all other airline customers, with no changes to service delivery, safety protocols, or quality standards.
Our teams remain committed to delivering safe, high‑quality catering services and supporting our partners with transparency, reliability, and operational excellence.
You’d think that do&co might have some extra meals lying around with all of the planes not going to the middle east. Any reports from the back of the bus? Saw 10k miles being offered by AA proactively – hardly seems like enough. I got 5k the other day because I complained that the fruit they gave me was moldy (not this route).
Box wine? Meh, there is some decent box wine. Bur mice in a basket of bread? This protein craze has gotten out of hand.
@Peter — Somewhat related, I’m finally expecting to fly on the 789 in J with the Flagship Suites on LHR-JFK in a few months… unless, of course… *gestures broadly* …war. Shall I bring my handy dandy measuring tape for a first-hand evidence of MCE pitch on the new-ish bird?
That looks like the same box wine I saw being served in economy on my flight from AMS-PHL on Tuesday, so it seems like it could be an unrelated “enhancement” (though a good box wine is better than a poor one from a bottle)
Often as with hotel points as well we put up with crappy options to save miles and points to redeem as better partners. I always use BA to LHR, first class lounge access and a reasonable buy upgrade policy at check in. Thirty years ago the idea that the Brits would offer better service was not believable! Same with Bonnvoy, use points at partners in Venice etc. for a much better experience. Got to save that dollar for the executive comp?
Peter,
Who knows whether 10,000 or 5,000 miles is enough but… if you believe in a mile having a monetary value, many blogging sites value AAdvantage miles at $0.015 per mile.
Gary, is it me or have you not updated your page on this since 2021?
https://viewfromthewing.com/value-of-frequent-flyer-miles/
So I don’t know about your past experiences flying AA internationally, but I’d happily take the boxed wine, cava, and crappy food in business class in exchange for $75-$150 of value in AAdvantage miles. Of course there’s breakage and such involved with those miles but if you fly relatively often those miles are worth a decent amount of monetary value. I’ll use those miles another time and buy myself a pretty decent dinner when I land or just eat at the LHR Lounges and not stuff myself with a second meal an hour later in flight.
Perhaps your meals have been better than mine, but I’ve never seen a US3 offer a business class meal worth $75 to $150.
@Simon
BA is great but not a better redemption partner unless you just love excessive fuel surcharges to fund a surcharge that has lasted… years…
but a great airline! agreed
@1990 – ha, enjoy! Finally secured a fourth MCE seat today for the 787-9P next month after AA downgraded me from the 777 and didn’t have enough MCE seats for us. Expertflyer seat alert for the win. Not easy with only 18 of them, and with the family, only 12 given exit row is not an option.
By the way I noticed EF switched over to aeroLOPA seat maps. Overdue.
If anyone is flying the XLR and wants to bring their tape measure for regular economy though -would be interested!
Snagged a cheap jfk lax in J for 39k for the summer, but T not XLR. Maybe will try for a same day flight change we will see.
Good grief. Might as well serve Five Guys burgers in J than attempt to double-cater a pair of 10 hour flights. This should be the last straw in Isom’s disastrous tenure…
When disruptions mess up business, some CEOs will go the extra mile to make it up to their customers so that they walk away still feeling good — or even better — about your company. Other CEOs appear to use the disruption as an excuse to simply deliver less and save money (looking at you, Marriott).
No surprise as to which approach AA would choose.
@ 1990
One tip for your upcoming daring AA 789 J adventure : DO NOT pack your appetite and board that “fright” with even a HINT of peckishness !
Confused about the whole “mouse in the breadbasket” kerfuffle … Is it because the mouse was deceased and not frolicking among the tantalizing artisanal treats ?
LMAO @ the visual of the trolley rolling down the J aisles overflowing with boxed vino proudly displayed while anxiously anticipating a 1 tray ( with cling-wrapped meager portions ) plopped down on my ( partially functional & uncleaned ) tray table !
ba is big in London. Why do they not own their own service and the also serve one worlds also ?
@Peter — Score on the 789P MCE!! I still need to book something on the new a321XLR, but I’ve struggled to find the reason or the deal to do so.
@bossa — I hear ya, but I’m also used to pizza-rat in NYC, so… eat up!