American Airlines has a plan for first class meals. They are going to be smaller, with fewer items heated. And expect the bread to be served room temperature, though I’m not sure how they expect you to spread butter on rolls that haven’t been warmed. That’s according to explanations that were given to employees at question and answer sessions held last week by airline President Robert Isom, recordings of which were reviewed by View From The Wing.
Jodi Spicer, American’s Managing Director of Onboard Dining and Service explained that “for the longer term…let’s not just bring back everything that we had prior. This is a unique opportunity for us to look at what do our customers value, and what’s easiest for [flight attendants]?”
Here are some more of the explanations she offered around what to expect for first class meals going forward,
- “The team is looking at ways where we can introduce a cold service on shorter flights with maybe only one hot component and other options that bread that maybe doesn’t need to be warmed.”
- “We were thinking about during the pandemic, how can we come up with something that our customers value but that [flight attendants who want to limit contact with customers] feel comfortable serving? This is our fresh bites if you haven’t flown a 2200 mile flight, that’s where these are flying now, and later this summer we’ll be expanding to other mileage bands…we have 16 versions of these boxes.”
- “The idea here is: easy to serve, value, quality maybe not as much quantity. Making it look a little bit different in our delivery methods.”
- “Our customers’ expectations have just changed entirely…you’re gonna see in the fall..it might be a little lighter fare and only at those longer distances will you see those traditional stay setup meals. Doesn’t mean that we’re going to go on the cheap side, but just change the look make it more valuable and quality versus quantity…hopefully later this year.”
Credit: JoeyE
Vice President of Flight Service Brady Byrnes explained their focus has been to “greatly reduce our customer touch points inflight, some of our major competitors continued beverage services even in main cabin, we didn’t think that was right for our colleagues or our customers.” He also offered that “when we re-introduce elements of our service moving forward, will it be different? Yes. Should it be different? Absolutely.”
Talking to pilots about crew meals – and crew meals generally track first class passenger meals – they noted that “later this summer…some other things on the docket that will come forward for some shorter flights in the 900 mile range.”
The head of inflight service head at the time, who made the decision to eliminate inflight meals in the first place, stated that the airline wouldn’t ever bring back the old first class meals and instead would offer something that still “has a premium feel but is different and more modern.” We’re now getting of an inkling of how that works out in practice.
They seem to think that customers want less interaction with crew and that translates as reduced meal service. However,
- Cold food doesn’t mean less contact with passengers than hot food. Ovens haven’t been shown to be a vector of spread for Covid-19.
- Less food means more contact, not less, for customers. That’s because passengers still need to eat, they just have to forage in the crowded airport instead of having it brought to them on board.
Ultimately for passengers and crew who are vaccinated there’s limited concern about the pandemic. And quality hot meals don’t involve more contact than delivering better meals on a single tray. When the person delivering the message about the plan for future meals has to proactively offer that this isn’t about being “on the cheap side” you know that this is about being on the cheap side.
United Airlines just announced that they’re bringing some meals back to domestic flight class, focusing on flights over 1500 miles and flights between the airline’s hubs that are 800 miles or more. These comments from American Airlines about inflight meals were made right as United was making their announcement on Wednesday. I have to think American will respond competitively, albeit with a little less, at a minimum they need to match meals on routes where both United and American offer non-stop service.
Absolutely pathetic. If AA doesn’t offer hot meals, and a similar or better product to United, I will gladly switch all of my business to United since they are more convenient where I live anyway. I have been a multi-year Executive Platinum flyer on American because they offered a superior mileage program, soft-product (on certain planes), and better meals…but if AA continues its race to the bottom, there is absolutely NO reason for me to stick with them.
I don’t know who would fly AA in their right mind if at all given the choice. They demonstrate it’s time and time again.
Just another reason after 7y of Exec Plat I don’t fly AA anymore
Has anyone flown J or F class on an international AA flight recently? This article refers to premium *domestic* meal service but what is going on with *international* service?
Just another reason not to fly American anymore. Many years ago my dad was an executive and I have flown more miles on American than any other. Now I will avoid American and United for tgat matter. I prefer Delta and support their moves coming out of the pandemic.
Looks just fine to this EXP. The fresh boxes pictured looked far better than the slop AA was serving in standard domestic F pre-pandemic. They are right – I don’t want that slop coming back.
Didn’t fly AA for the food pre-COVID….
AA excels at only making Orwell relevant. This makes the former NWA super.
I can never forget my last FC flight on AA: SAN-ORD. First, AA gamed the clock, calling a 2:55pm departure from SAN “lunch’ when it was obviously a dinner flight. But the garbage served was pathetic–a Vietnamese salad with nothing to eat but strands of something green. As I told the FA, “this crap was not ever served in Vietnam; if it was, the VC would have spent more time searching for toilet paper.
Ironically, Amtrak shares the same race to the bottom with AA re F&B services. Amtrak spent almost $4M for new dining cars, only to strip out their new, unused galleys in order to serve frozen bowls of food to simply heat-up. Perhaps if such a critical component of on-board services to enhance the customer experience was not so deliberately neglected, Amtrak would require more sleeping cars to meet travel demand.
Unlike Amtrak, AA must deal with the competitive world it flies within, which is why I would fly DL in FC from ORD-LAX via SLC just to avoid AA; or to rely upon LH ORD-FRA-MAD in BC to avoid AA and its partner, IB.
It’s not the Soviet Union yet; we still have choices.
” Doesn’t mean that we’re going to go on the cheap side”
Oh, really…. ?
But ya know… I don’t fly for the food.
Here’s the deal. I am an EXP and fly some crazy competitive “short” routes for business. More often than not, I have had to board without having eaten much all day.
The full hot meal that AA served on the BOS-ORD-BOS route was my only meal of the day at times over the past five years. I will absolutely consider UA on this route (same pricing and frequency as AA) if they bring back hot meals.
I know I am just one person but there’s many more like me who will pay more for full service. No brainer.
What a joke – only this time Delta is even worse. Why are we trying to make things ‘easier’ for flight attendants. And why as a passenger do I care about touch points. We all have ready access to vaccines. The market will speak – it’s not what AA thinks – and AA will be forced listen.
What a short sighted low ball move.
How about modernizing to the standard of its OneWorld partner BA for short haul flights. Their FAs have no problem with that ‘easy’ service.
Last time I flew in Asia (pre-pandemic): 90 minute flight sitting in coach in a completely full widebody jet. With a hot meal. Lord, I wish they would open up US skies to more foreign airlines.
I’m good with the change, if, and a big if, they run with what they are showing in the pic above. Outside of international long haul I could give two shits about airline food. Booze is far more important than the slop that was served in the past. I’d rather eat a corn beef hash MRE.
Sounds like they are in tune with customers wants now as much as they were when they determined customers didn’t want IFE.
Not sure how they conduct research but it’s certainly not using any academically accepted method.
Definitely an attempt to lower costs. But honestly they will change this by the summer when more people start flying and things get back to normal. It’s delusional to hold onto a pandemic mindset when we’ve got it under control now and people want services again.
The AA Cheeseburger might have been the worst food ever served in the air or on the ground. No one will miss that.
This is as much about labor relations as anything. Flight attendants have been vehemently against any resumption of service.
I’ll let you figure out why.
The domestic midcon hot meals were garbage. I welcome the refreshed lighter fare. Pre COVID, the cold charcuterie platter was the best meal in domestic first.
I would be fine with cold sandwiches and cold salads. Just let me choose my own condiments.
Just adopt Jet Blue style and quality cold box. All happy.
Looks fine to me. This is just domestic flying almost people refuse to get vaccinated putting everyone at risk.
It’s the selfishness in Americans that makes everything worse than it suppose to be.
On international flights vaccination and test are going to be required and hence easier to serve hot and bigger Meals.
I fly just to get from point A to B . The meal is not Important. I can get a meal at the lounges at the airport . Eating on flights make you bloated because the aircraft and the pressurized cabin makes your body expand
AA fails yet again. Trash airline with trash service. I swore them off years ago when an FA couldn’t be bothered to get me a Coke Zero when I asked because she was too busy on her phone. She eventually brought me a room temperature can about 10-15 minutes later and didn’t even set it on the tray so it fell off and rolled across the the aisle. She didn’t even look down or at me, literally turned back immediately around and into the galley to her phone. This is how they treat their first class customers — note no customer should be treated in such a manner regardless class of service. F_ck AA and especially their management.
AA sucks and so do their worthless flight attendants.
United used to offer a deli plate 15 years ago and honestly it was the best meal they ever served.
Onion bun, cold cuts, lettuce, pickle, tomato and chips.
Never disappointed.
Butter pats not frozen rock hard would be an exciting innovation they could look into…
“This is a unique opportunity for us to look at what do our customers value, and what’s easiest for [flight attendants]?”
What the customers value and what’s easiest for the flight attendants are almost always the exact opposite. How can they try to sell such an obvious lie? Truly pathetic.
Hot food is better. Zap the coronavirus or bacteria.
Less handling, like handing out full cans would be good. Also food that doesn’t have to be assembled or handled very much by the flight attendants.
Executive Platinum here and I do not believe a word of the AA “bulls**t”
AA claims they wNt to listen and deliver what the customer wants…more “bulls**t” if the serve cold processed food in first class I will stop flying AA. Truth is AA FA are by and large lazy. They treat first class customers very poorly. I have witnessed it over and over. All the spin AA attempts to put on their obvious desire to cut costs and raise prices while still using pre covid post covid BS excuses is getting so old!! AA you suck so bad for trying to put a spin on this atrocious even asinine policy!!
American Airlines is pure Dog Shit!! Period.
I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just go back to serving the Zoe’s charcuterie plate. It was crazy popular and looks better than the boxed crap in that photo. I can’t imagine the Zoe’s plate was particularly expensive or hard for the FAs to serve.
Come on, I think you can figure it out. You put the butter packet into your pocket while eating the rest of the meal and once it is warmed up, you spread the softened butter on the cold roll. Us economy passengers have been doing this for years already.
Hot airline meals pretty much suck across the board. I’d rather have a good sandwich, salad, or other simple meal or snack. America West used to serve a bag lunch consisting of a fresh sandwich and a banana. The operative word is “fresh.” Most hot airline meals taste like they’ve been in storage for six months. Airlines exist primarily to provide transportation, not entertainment or meals.
I actually had one of those pictured boxes on a recent CLT-SEA flight. The plastic boxes inside are the same as those given in Admirals club so the salad was tiny and it was worse than the one I had in the club. There was nothing coming to “good quality”. Then there is a tiny cold sandwich. It is actually OK if you warm it up in a panini maker next morning. Overall, the box is nothing to be excited about. It is marginally better than what Garuda gives you on the Lombok-Denpasar flight in coach (76 miles and clocked at 45 min). I am not sure how the new AA food in the domestic F/J is better than shelf-stable sandwiches they have offered just after the merger. Those were quite remarkable products – you can keep them for a month at room temperature without visible changes in color and texture!
Cold food is bad for COVID. COVID virus can linger in cold environment and stay active for days. Heating up the food actually would eliminate the virus.
If AA is serious about reducing touch points, stop serving drinks. Hand out individual bottles of drinks instead!
However, I think the passengers are not missing much, given how terrible first class food is on AA pre-pandemic. The hardest and worst ice cream I have ever had in my life was the strawberry sundae in AA first class.
@Lu
Hard icecream in First Class? No problem, @Johosofot (see above) recommends you put any cold/frozen items in your pocket until they soften!
It’s what they do in Economy he assures me.
@Greg – Have you flown BA short-haul business class (Club Europe) any time in the past 5 or 10 years? Not sure how you concluded that’s the standard AA should seek to emulate.
Probably one of the most insufferable articles and comment sections I can recall in recent memory. If you’re on a plane so often this is a travesty you can’t overcome, it’s kind of hard to believe you’ve never encountered soft butter you can spread on a cold roll. I truly hope you can find the strength to overcome these life altering problems like having to eat a salad.
AA seems to forget that many of it’s first class passengers on domestic flights connected from international flights. After doing the immigration and connecting thing, there is often little time to have a full meal. I guess I could grab a Big Mac on the way through. mmm.
Mark .. How is Delta’s food and beverage been? I think the only words are Non-existent.
“Pathetic” is one description for AA’s plan; “cheap” is another! And no one is mentioning how much MORE plastic we are putting into landfills, oceans, etc. with all this pre-packaged food.
I flew J LHRORD a few days ago on UA. Everything delivered on one tray. Hot plate beside the ice cream beside the salad and roll etc. And a plastic cup for beverages. No tablecloth.
AA has nothing to worry about as far as competition is concerned.
Do none of y’all have tastebuds!? It’s not like you can’t eat a proper meal before and/or after your flight. I never thought I would see people so upset over the 50c crappy meal being taken away
Kevin is blaming the unvaccinated for the crappy food because as he says unvaccinated put everyone at risk. Explain that to me how an unvaccinated person puts a vaccinated person at risk unless you believe vaccines don’t work.
I contend it’s ignorance displayed by people like Kevin that keeps us all from resuming normalcy not the unvaccinated
I agree this is pathetic! UA is becoming the premium airline of the big 3! They have a far better app, much more flexible same day change policy, and it appears they are poised to lead in catering services. AA instead of going for great, is tyring to lead the industry in the race to the bottom. What customers told them they wanted a subpar or no meal?
Well, that’s one way to not extract a revenue premium.
Because nothing says “quality” and “premium feel” like eating your meal out of a cardboard box.
As a former flight attendant for Piedmont Airlines at that time meals were served very nicely especially in the 60s so it’s just a cheap way of putting food to people who are hungry they are getting cheaper and cheaper but the prices of the ticket for getting higher and higher let’s bring back the real meals but then the flight attendants would have to work and they would rather just give you a box lunch and smile and it’s all not because the covid. They use this excuse all the time when they want to go around serving the public. I do know that the public is different than it was in the 70s and late 60. But then I wore a structured suit I looked professional so did all the others PanAm American Airlines but things change I do understand but our look was Dynamite
If we don’t like the product, we will choose the competition. Simple, really.
The doublespeak rationalizations must amuse the PR team. Fools, as guests/passengers/customers/team members/union staff can see through them.
Watch this pendulum swing, folks, especially if the premium cabins a fly empty, now that we have discovered the charms of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and WebEx, accompanied by a hot home made café latte, and the delights of the nearby full kitchen!
I’ve flown AA multiple times in F since Sept 2020 and was lucky enough to get the “try me” boxed meal CLT-SLC. While not bad I would have preferred a pre-covid meal. I suggested to the FA the box meal would be acceptable now and in the future on ATL-DFW or CLT-BOS type routes but hot meals should return based on the previous pre-covid plan. I somewhat expected (ok maybe wishful thinking) that AA would include a survey or reach out to me for the box meal impressions. Never happened.
Regarding adult beverages in F, the FA’s tried to minimize contact. I was always offered 2 minis, an unopened can and a cup of ice.
I did get the opportunity to fly F on DL back in Nov and AA beat them hands down on the service and offerings upfront.
Flight attendants have nothing to do anymore except make an announcement which can be prerecorded
Please seek an electrical outlet to receive that refreshing jolt. Seriously, people need a shock to think clearly and stay off the social media shit!