American Airlines stopped catering the espresso machines on board their Boeing 777, Boeing 787, and Airbus A321T aircraft during the pandemic. The “frothing wands, cups, saucers, brewing pods” were taken off of planes, according to the airline.

This returned to some aircraft in spring 2022. However, Boeing 777-200s didn’t get catered, and Boeing 777-300ERs only got espresso in first class. That’s changed, as reported by aviation watchdog JonNYC.

AA: espresso pic.twitter.com/D2wdJWtvyQ

— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) January 1, 2025

Espresso is very important as a differentiator for American Airlines. United doesn’t have, and Delta has it onboard only some of their aircraft. And American’s regular coffee is inferior.

• United serves Illy coffee.
  
• Delta serves Starbucks.
  
• But American uses FreshBrew. That’s the stuff United moved away from in one of former CEO Oscar Munoz’s first moves to distance himself from the cost-cutting Smisek era (it’s also when United introduced stroopwafels).

If you want drinkable coffee on American, it needs to be espresso. Now you’ll be able to have it in business class on all of their widebodies, as well as in first class on their premium cross country A321T that’s set for retirement and their Boeing 777-300ER widebodies. Hopefully espresso machines will be installed on new Airbus A321XLRs that will replace A321Ts and serve East Europe-Western Europe from places like Philadelphia.

Regardless of the grounds, though, the biggest problem with inflight coffee is the water – and this is universal for airlines that don’t make their coffee with bottled water. Bottled water than tank water should be the standard because coffee is a serious investment – something where major US airlines spend $5 to $10 million a year.

American’s espresso machines tended to be used more by employees than by customers who often didn’t realize the option existed. However investing in better coffee for both employees and customers has a business case even aside from customer preference.

• Improved operational efficiency and reduced delays, by eliminating pilots stopping at Starbucks in the terminal on the way to the aircraft.

• Improved employee morale, which in turn affects customer service. Better coffee is a product flight attendants can be proud of and reduces complaints they receive from customers. American has long said they’re investing in employees, who will take care of their customers. This is a crucial area where they’ve lagged.

One Mile at a Time offers, “I hope that the crews actually consistently offer to make these when requested, rather than claiming the machines are broken. For that matter, I hope crews don’t use all the espresso pods for themselves, before passengers are able to request them.”

Bear in mind that widebody aircraft should only receive espresso catered on long haul and transcon flights. I’m flying a midcon hub-to-hub route on a widebody in the morning in a few days and won’t have this option.

Also note that while American serves espresso in business class on these aircraft, they do not offer lattes or cappuccinos. That’s fine with me. I’ll often start my day with four shots and – depending on the roast – a small dallop of half and half to cut excess bitterness.