In addition to launching pay with miles for buy on board on March 18th (for which they’re expected to offer actual buy on board at some point), American is promoting new food and beverage choices in their clubs, new first class domestic breakfasts, and pre-order burger and fries up front.

New Admirals Club Offerings

This doesn’t begin to approach what a competitor like Delta offers in its lounges, but I anticipate a taco bar and beef empanadas will be popular, at least I look forward to trying them and seeing how they fare.

Lounge	Breakfast	All Day
Austin, Texas (AUS)	Maple strawberry chia overnight oats	Roasted jalapeno hummus
Boston (BOS)	Banana caramel bread pudding	Honey miso shrimp, vegetable yakisoba, crispy onions, hoisin sauce and scallions
Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT)	Mixed berry French toast	Sweet and sour pork with pineapple, brown rice and quinoa, toasted sesame seeds, scallions and chili crisp
Chicago (ORD)	Mediterranean breakfast egg scramble	Green goddess cabbage feta salad
Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)	Cheddar omelet fold with chipotle chimichurri sauce	Argentina beef empanada with roasted red pepper chimichurri
Denver (DEN)	Maple strawberry chia overnight oats	Honey mustard pork loin with spring onion and sage
Los Angeles (LAX)	Roasted tomato feta breakfast wrap with salsa verde	Orange peel tempura chicken with roasted red pepper and onion
Miami (MIA)	Scrambled eggs with parmesan and tomato	Build-your-own tacos with spicy chicken, roasted veggies, soft tortillas and shredded cheddar
Nashville, Tennessee (BNA)	Southwest salsa verde breakfast wrap	Edamame shrimp teriyaki with carrots and water chestnuts
New York (LGA)	Build-your-own breakfast slider with egg patty and cheddar cheese	Fig and balsamic chicken with caponata brown rice with mozzarella, walnuts, lemon wedges, garlic chips and crumbled blue cheese
Philadelphia (PHL)	Raspberry chia pudding	Chickpea edamame salad with mint and lemon
Phoenix (PHX)	Turmeric blueberry quinoa salad with cashews	Southwest bean salad

Credit: American Airlines

Credit: American Airlines

These options are what they are promoting as exciting and a new level of investment – overnight oats and hummus at my home airport in Austin; cabbage and feta salad; chia pudding; edamame salad and bean salad. The Miami and Nashville clubs look decent, maybe, and so does DFW. Maybe Boston?

But what about Washington’s National airport which looks left out entirely, along with New York JFK, which are ostensibly both hubs?

Delta lounges certainly offer far more robust food. Maybe it’s a good thing that American doesn’t? Because Delta lounges are also more crowded. Outside of American’s major clubs in legacy US Airways hubs (especially the main Charlotte club, which resembles a refugee camp and membership is merely a license to hunt for a seat), you can generally get in.

American Airlines Admirals Club, Charlotte

Offer good food and beverage programs and passengers come earlier and stay longer. Maybe this is the sweet spot – just enough food that you can eat, but not something so good that you go out of your way to do so?

American is also highlighting grab-and-go options like Oatmeal Bars, peanut butter dates, Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Wildway Granola Snack Pack and caramel cheese popcorn. You’re invited to take it. It doesn’t come close to what United offers as takeaway at its Club Fly locations in Denver or Houston, let alone the fantastic options Capital One has encouraging takeaway from their lounges.

What American really needs is capital investment – the main lounges in Charlotte and Philadelphia are just sad, the 2018-era design was ‘modern hospital, while the latest lounges are absolutely gorgeous. The airline needs to refresh the physical spaces along the lines of Washington National E Concourse, Denver, and Newark – and soon Philadelphia Flagship.

Washington National E Concourse Admirals Club

Meanwhile, one area where I recognize I may just be out of touch, American says they served over 420,000 glasses of complimentary sparkling wine alone in their clubs last year. And I’d never drink what they are serving! They have new beverage brands coming into their lounges, “including Still Gin, Casamigos Añejo Tequila, Tequila Ocho Reposado, Kahlua, St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur and Horse Soldier Bourbon.”

New Domestic First Class Meal Choices

Starting Wednesday there will be new breakfast items onboard. I’ve been seeing reference to these in discussion of pre-order meals.

• Biscuit and chicken sausage gravy with cheesy scrambled eggs
  
• White cheddar and Monterey Jack omelet with chicken sausage and seasoned wedge potatoes
  
• Smothered veggie and cheese frittata with tomato wedges and everything seasoned potatoes
  
• Swiss and veggie omelet with Italian chicken sausage and seasoned wedge potatoes
  
• A three-cheese omelet with seasoned wedge potatoes

I’ll never understand why U.S. airlines do such a poor job with breakfast, other than perhaps that it’s the same reason British Airways tried to extend breakfast to cover many lunch flights – it’s an excuse to spend less on catering. I’m not big on biscuits and gravy but I suspect that’ll be a hit with many.

They’ve also announced – as expected – that American’s burger option moves out of Chicago O’Hare-only trial to nationwide a pre-order option.

Credit: American Airlines

I look forward to trying this as well. They claim that the fries come out crispy! United’s don’t, and Delta isn’t even trying fries going with chips instead (which American offered back in 2019). We’ll see!