American Airlines Lounges Get An Upgrade: Menu Ordering, Cheese Carts And Bollinger

Three weeks ago I revealed that American Airlines had brought restaurant-style ordering of hot food items to its Flagship lounges. American has now announced this change.

Scan to orer crispy chicken and cornbread waffle, credit: American Airlines

Prior to this, American’s business class lounges offered buffets and sometimes chef-prepared hot items at an ‘action station’, while both United and Delta offer sit down dining from menus. Now American has this new feature, as well as:

• “A wider range of a la carte dishes and small plates” along with “enhancements to our premium wine selection.”
  
• “New action stations, including a cheese-monger cart”

Honestly the cheese display, which was off to side of the buffet in Dallas, wasn’t bad although it got a bit disheveled at peak times and wasn’t replenished well when I was there recently. What I did actually enjoy was the redfish as the chef station item on that visit.

The new QR code ordering isn’t available at every seat in the lounge. Here’s where you’ll find it:

• Dallas – Fort Worth: seating near the buffet, under the chandelier
  
• Philadelphia: At the dining tables at the rear of the lounge
  
• Miami: Near the self-serve bar and windows
  
• Chicago O’Hare: In the semi-enclosed dining area off the buffet
  
• Los Angeles: In the theatre seating and across from the secondary beverage station
  
• New York JFK: This is a joint British Airways lounge project, the SoHo lounge has long featured this already, and no changes are being made to the business class Greenwich lounge.

Dining in American’s Flagship lounges is still a notch below United’s business class Polaris lounge offerings, and a couple of notches below Delta Delta One lounges. But it’s improving! And American makes their lounge available to elite frequent flyers traveling long haul coach (and even oneworld sapphire members of international partner frequent flyer programs traveling domestically).

Plus, QR code ordering may actually be a better solution for managing the volume of traffic in these business class lounges. The dining room waits at American’s competitors can shut out some passengers without a long enough visit.

And American still offers an option in Dallas and Miami that beats both United and Delta – by a lot. Flagship First Dining is an escape from the busy business class lounge, with a real sit down course-based meal and better wines and proper restaurant service.

Dallas Flagship First Dining is probably the best lounge experience in the United States.

DFW Flagship First Dining

AAdvantage Platinum Pro members and higher can redeem miles for access when not traveling on an eligible flight in first class.

American Airlines has Flagship business class lounges at Chicago O’Hare, Miami, Dallas – Fort Worth, Philadephia and Los Angeles. They’re building a new one in Miami (the current space will expand the Admiral’s Club) and one for Charlotte.

I also give American credit for upgrading the champagne to Bollinger. It’s free flowing, indeed you’re offered a glass as you enter the lounge.

In addition to improved business class lounge offerings, American says it is also improving its Admirals Club food.

• “An expanded, frequently refreshed menu brings travelers a steady rotation of new dishes” and “an elevated premium wine selection featuring Veuve rosé and Caymus cabernet sauvignon available for purchase.”
  
• “Two additional hot items” and “[a]n upgraded charcuterie selection” with both better quality “and visual appeal. (I’d say the new black serviceware that I first saw at Washington National several years ago is a huge improvement in presentation).

Admirals Club® lounge menus will include:

• Lemon herb chicken and mac and cheese bar — Denver (DEN), ORD, St. Louis (STL), Toronto (YYZ)
  
• Chipotle lime chicken — DFW; Austin, Texas (AUS); Houston (IAH); Nashville, Tennessee (BNA)
  
• Coconut turmeric chickpea and vegetable curry – MIA
  
• Build-your-own breakfast tostada – Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT); Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina (RDU); Washington, D.C. (DCA)
  
• Rustic zucchini and flame-roasted corn — LAX; Phoenix (PHX); Santa Ana, California (SNA); San Francisco (SFO)

I do think that American needs to provide larger paper plates, though. Small plates limit how much food a guest takes. That limits cost and waste as well. You can go back as many times as you wish. But the extreme that American has taken it to makes it difficult to serve yourself a salad with tongs because food simply falls off the plate and makes a mess. But… baby steps!

These may all seem like a modest changes, and they are. But like improved champagne and also Lavazza coffee (both in the lounge and onboard where it replaces the Fresh Poo) it’s a step in the right direction. And taken together it has the potential to make American much more enjoyable to fly. The airline now needs to really communicate its improvements to the front line, to make them proud of what they offer, which should help translate into happier employees and elevated service.