United Airlines and Delta Air Lines both offer burgers as one of their domestic first class catering options. American Airlines is joining the burger bandwagon, as first reported by aviation watchdog JonNYC.
AA:
S,
…AA will get on the burger-bus and trial "Silders and Fries" pre-order only, domestic short-haul ex-ORD in February (starting tomorrow) and in March and April all Domestic short-haul for pre-order
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Initially the burger will be available on Chicago departures in first class as a pre-order option, February 12 – March 11. Then it will expand March 12th to all domestic short haul flights. The burger is a three-month test that will conclude May 13.
American Airlines tells me,
We are testing a new limited-time pre-order option: hamburger sliders and fries. Customers traveling in Business Class out of Chicago O’Hare International Airport can enjoy the classic American meal in the skies on eligible flights.
The two pretzel-bun sliders will come with American cheese and a side of crinkle cut fries and traditional condiments. Customers can pre-order the meal for a limited-time up to 24-hours before departure on the American app or at aa.com. You can find photos of the offering below.
…American will use customer feedback about the meal option to inform future offerings inflight and deliver on American’s commitment to continuously provide an enhanced customer and experience on the ground and in the air.
Credit: American Airlines
Sliders and fries are heated at the same temperature as the rest of American’s entree choices, for a period of 30 minutes. Condiments apparently do not accompany the meal tray but are available on request. They’re loaded so that flight attendants can access them in the utensil drawer.
Prior to the pandemic burgers were a first class meal choice at lunch. First introduced in November 2018, here’s my spring 2019 report. They did not include fries, which are notoriously tough to manage inflight.
The burger offered at the time came with super-thinly sliced tomatoes, and cornichons instead of pickles (which don’t sit in the burger very well). Pickled onions was an odd choice, as well. Since they used a standard tray setup they also included a bread plate, which made no sense for a burger that comes on a bun. The bun came out rock hard.
Two years ago United started serving a burger and fries and I found it to be disgusting?
Don’t look at the meat. The term ‘grey burger’ has often been applied here. The cheese was melted and congealed. I didn’t want to actually consume it, but opinions vary – millions of people literally choose to eat McDonald’s burgers, after all. The fries were undercooked, limp, and not even served warm. They had the texture of mealy potatoes.
In the fall, Delta launched Shake Shack burgers as a domestic first class pre-order option. It started with flights out of Boston on December 1, and the plan has been to roll out across the rest of the hubs. That’s apparently happening very soon.
I hear rumor that Delta is planning on expanding the Shake Shack burger to LAX, SEA, LGA, and ATL sometime next 1-2 months.
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) February 11, 2025
The bag of chips as an accompaniment feels like a cheap move by Delta to me. Key is going to be not leaving it in the galley oven too long.
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On the ground I’ve always given American a lot of credit for doing a nice burger in Flagship First Dining. It’s much better than the Polaris burger. But inflight poses far greater challenges.
A great burger starts with quality beef and you need to cook it properly, ideally grilling it. You should get a nice char on the outside, while leaving the meat rare-to-medium rare on the inside.
It should have processed cheese that melts well. And it should be inside of a potato bun. Brioche and ciabatta are not well-matched to a burger. The bun is the delivery vehicle for the burger, big enough to contain it but not so large that it overwhelms the contents. Everything you put on the burger needs to fit inside so it doesn’t fall apart when you eat it. You want to balance the flavors inside, getting a combination of everything with each bite.
United first served a cheeseburger in first class back in 2001, shortly before 9/11. It was controversial then, even though it was genuinely a gourmet burger with high quality meat. It was still such a downgrade from the standard of first class fare at the time. I will never forget my very first upgrade on United. I had almond dusted shrimp as an appetizer followed by steak and dessert. These burgers don’t come close to that.
It’s hard to do a good burger, reheated in an airplane galley. If it isn’t good, it’s only a pre-order item and no one has to preorder it. I applaud the attempt, regardless!
Nice! Looking forward to trying it and comparing it to UA/DL’s versions.
@ Gary — These burgers all look gross. I’ll take an Ozempic Shooter instead, thank youm
A lot of interesting information here. I still don’t see any place for a hamburger in First Class! I know standards continue to decline but a First Class meal for any flight over three hours should be more upmarket!
30 minutes in the oven seems to long!
Y’all wanna know why American chose Chicago as its test market for this burger?
Burgers are extremely unhealthy – saturated fats on saturated fats. The educated and classy coastal populace eschews such fare. You know burgers don’t really taste that great, and a well executed lentil quinoa kale salad dressed only with extra virgin olive oil leaves one feeling incredibly satisfied both during and after the consumption?
American Airlines knows the flyover states are full of dumb hicks who will gravitate toward such junk food as burgers. To be sure the coasts are also full of crass people but they also have refined people.
@Dick — Wrong again. Speak only for yourself please. Plenty of ‘educated’ and ‘classy’ folks ‘on the coasts’ love a good burger—we’re Americans, too. And there are ample smart people all across our nation, regardless of city or state or even territory, blue, red, purple, whatever. Haven’t you heard of ‘freedom’? Let people decide whatever they want to eat. Sheesh, you really are a contemptible person, dick.
Sliders are an awful creation. The bun to meat ratio is way too high.
No. Absolutely not.
Is this what they came up when they speak of improving the customer experience. Stopping for a go bag of McDonald’s on the way to the gate beats anything AA, UA or DL can do with a burger.
DOGE needs to get in these airlines’ asses after they’re done with the government.
If it’s anything remotely close to the burger AA had up front in the summer of 2019, this won’t last long. That patty was soaked in grease. FA’s who were smart would heat the patty in a ramekin, then plate it onto the bun. Overall, it was a mess and wasn’t well received by customers or the crew who had to offer it.
@CHRIS — DOGE is not about ‘fixing’ anything–it’s about ‘breaking’ things, then stealing money directly or indirectly for the oligarchs, all the while blaming ‘perceived enemies,’ (like you do in your comments here). So, no, I don’t think we want Elon messing with the airlines or anything else.
Speaking of, did you hear what Sam Altman had to say about your ‘hero’ today: “I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there’s been a lot of tactics…probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy. I don’t think he’s, like, a happy person.”
So, yeah, whatever you’re dealing with, CHRIS, ‘I feel for you,’ man. Cheer up.
Gary Leff writes, “It should have processed cheese that melts well. And it should be inside of a potato bun. Brioche and ciabatta are not well-matched to a burger. The bun is the delivery vehicle for the burger, big enough to contain it but not so large that it overwhelms the contents. Everything you put on the burger needs to fit inside so it doesn’t fall apart when you eat it. You want to balance the flavors inside, getting a combination of everything with each bite.”
Unlike a hamburger bun, the delivery vehicle used for elite client gate-to-gate transfers across the tarmac on American Airlines flights should be the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, a hot dog-shaped vehicle that promotes Oscar Mayer products. When I fly first-class on American Airlines, I prefer eating an Oscar Mayer wiener instead of a hamburger on a brioche and ciabatta bun to honor and recognize the current C-suite management as a bunch of wieners.