American Airlines First Class: “Chicken Comes Out And It’s Not Good, And, There’s A Dead Beetle” [Roundup]

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • American Airlines Flagship First inflight dining: “The chicken comes out and it’s not good, and, there’s a dead beetle in it.”

    After my dessert is collected, the FA disappears for…. FOUR hours.

    Yes, Four Hours. I had an empty glass sitting on my table from the conclusion of dessert until we were about to land. The [flight attendant] hid behind the F[irst class galley] curtain and didn’t walk around one singular time. I know, I was awake. I had to get water from the [business class flight attendants]. Then upon landing, she gave out cookies to 3 people but not everyone? Didn’t even get an offer.

  • At McKinsey, they hire Delta Platinums. Heh. (HT: Rakesh)

  • Bilt Dining has added Austin for an extra 2-3 points per dollar, and what’s notable is that nearly every place on the list is good and somewhere that I actually go. That’s what’s different about their program from the Rewards Network-driven dining programs of the airlines and hotels (where it’s largely struggling bad restaurants in need of capital).

    Austin restaurants include Kemuri Tatsu-ya (a personal favorite); Uchi and Uchiko (good but overrated); Monger Market (a sleeper); Dai Due (arguably best burger in Austin but not only that); Salty Sow; Foreign and Domestic; Emmer & Rye; L’Oca d’Oro; Lenoir (50% off wine nights!); Peached Tortilla; Odd Duck; Olamaie; Jeffrey’s.

  • Tour of Washington Dulles air traffic control tower paper flight strips and all

  • Defunct airports of Southeast Asia

  • An optimistic take on the Next Boeing Airplane

  • New Washington Dulles concourse A replacement about to begin construction still not progress on replacements for the ‘temporary’ 1980s concourses where United operates from.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. If they just added some more windows to the “temporary” terminal and removed the carpet in favor of tile, it wouldn’t be that bad of a terminal.

  2. AA catering quality used to be “they don’t care”. Now, it’s “they’re actively trolling us”.

  4. It is transportation, not fine dining. I expect to arrive alive, not with a belly full of savory food that was served by Barbie type. When I spend an absurd amount of money at restaurant with mediocre service, I’m stuck paying the large bill and not getting the bonus of an airplane ride. That is how it works.

  5. People like Maxine are why service has become so lackluster to abysmal. Just because you don’t value yourself more highly doesn’t mean everyone else should have such low self-worth.

  6. Maxine, it is transportation when purchasing BE, or it’s equivalent, as advertised by the carrier. It is NOT JUST TRANSPORTATION when purchasing (and using an award is a purchase) a ticket in a premium cabin. And Those who are able to choose the premium cabins do not expect ” a belly full of savory food” but do expect to be presented with the choice that was made prior to the flight as a benefit that the carrier offered and promoted. Without knowing what actually happened, I would suggest the FA possibly ate the meal or offered it to another crew member .
    I have much sorrow for those AA F/A’s who do work very hard and are “something special in the air” and then get lumped into terrible employees such as this example.

Comments are closed.