There’s a strange reason that American Airlines serves meals in first class between Chicago O’Hare and Denver.
- American’s standard policy is to serve meals in first class at meal times on 900 mile flights or longer.
Snack basket on flights 500-899 miles during meal times
Meal service on flights over 900 miles during meal times - Before the pandemic there were ‘exception markets’ that were shorter, like Chicago O’Hare to Washington National airport and New York LaGuardia, that got meals up front. These were considered premium business routes, with greater revenue potential and were highly competitive.
- However, there are officially no longer any ‘exception markets’.
- Yet Chicago O’Hare – Denver is 888 miles and still gets a meal!
How is it possible to square the circle of (1) no meals on flights under 900 miles, (2) no exceptions, (3) one flight under 900 miles receives a meal?
I had heard that the reason was American Airlines still treats Denver as being located at the old Stapleton airport, which is 901 miles from Chicago O’Hare. Stapleton International Airport in Denver closed on February 27, 1995.
An American spokesperson confirms this to me,
ORD-DEN isn’t an exception market as the mileage is over 900 miles. This is based off the mileage to the original DEN airport, as you mentioned.
I suspect that, in fact, since Chicago O’Hare and Denver are United hubs (this is a ‘hub to hub’ route) it’s as much about competition as it is an artifact of a highly outdated route calculation. American is ‘choosing’ not to fix this anomaly.
At a minimum, if in some sense this is a convenient fiction, it allows American to provide meals on another route without opening the floodgates of more exception markets and case-by-case distinctions, and that may benefit customers.
@Dever Refugee — Bring back Stapleton! (All hail Bluecifer!)
Flying from DTW to DFW yesterday on American Airlines, I avoided eating any airline meal because of the current cyclosporiasis outbreak in Michigan, Texas, New York, and other states. It is caused by the parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis, also known simply as cyclospora, and is usually contracted through contaminated food. According to WXYZ news, Cyclosporiasis cases in Michigan have jumped to 1,562 since June 22, according to the latest information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Hopefully, flights will carry extra toilet paper to accommodate passengers’ explosive diarrhea in flight.
Clinical Presentation: The incubation period averages approximately 7 days, with a range of 2 to 14+ days. Clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for patients presenting with: • Watery diarrhea (median six stools/day). • Anorexia, fatigue and significant weight loss (median ~3.6 kg or 7.9 pounds). • Abdominal cramping, bloating, nausea and low-grade fever. • A “waxing and waning” course in which symptoms may appear to resolve before returning days later.
More info:
https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/-/media/Project/Websites/mdhhs/Keeping-Michigan-Healthy/Public-Health-Admin/Bulletins/Cyclosporiasis-Provider-Bulletin-NB-Copy.pdf?
Please bring back meals on what were the exception routes! So tired of no meals from ORD>NYC.
@Brian — For real, NYC-MSP thankfully gets a meal (1,000 miles), but poor Chicago… just under the time/distance (700ish). Clearly, a few extra Biscoff just ain’t enough for 2+ hours! (And, if you’ve spent 1-2 hours taxiing at ORD, this is especially egregious!)
@Brian The US3 are all racing to be the second airline to announce the exception routes ex-NYC/CHI.
@Ken A — Seriously. What’s going on with that cyclosporiasis-thing. Like, is it lettuce, berries, hard to tell. Probably shouldn’t have put a doofus in-charge of public health. Oh well. Hoard TP!
@1990 — You said: “Seriously. What’s going on with that cyclosporiasis-thing… Oh well. Hoard TP!”
Speaking of hoarding toilet paper, WDIV Detroit Channel 4 reported yesterday that people with cyclosporiasis can have watery diarrhea with frequent, sometimes explosive bowel movements. I wonder if the American Airlines Pilot-in-Command or the first officer on my last flight kept an emergency roll of toilet paper on the flight deck. That way, they could keep flying while pooping in their seat without leaving the cockpit.
@Ken A — 10/10. Sir, you are a prophet. Praise be!
If AA is serious about trying to turn this ship around, they could lower the 1st class meal threshold to 850 miles, which would add meal service in the following 9 markets, some of which are highly-competitive / business-oriented:
DFW-MSP
DFW-PHX
PHX-AUS
LAX-DEN
MIA-MEM
PHL-MEM
ORD-BOS
DCA-LIT
DCA-DSM
@Joe — Just a reminder about the DTW-to-DFW route. On this epic 986-mile odyssey, American Airlines pampers first-class passengers with a continental breakfast so basic, you’ll wonder if you accidentally wandered into coach.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME. I FLY THIS ROTUE OFTEN. DO NOT GET RID OF MEAL IN FIRST