An American Airlines first class passenger was the only one not to get a meal on their flight, and she’s taken to social media saying it’s because she’s Black.
The influencer believes that she was singled out for her race. This does not make sense to me. She did not pre-order her meal (which any passenger can do until 24 hours prior to their flight) and she was seated in the last row. That put her last on the list to make a meal selection.
- She wasn’t in the last row because of her race.
- There was a catering issue. If they ran out of meals as she says, then the flight was under-provisioned. That’s was done by the caterer, not knowing who’d be shorted a meal – so also not a race issue.
- Where she’s sitting, rather than what she looked like, is clearly why she wound up without a meal.
American Airlines is under fire after the only Black first-class passenger, an influencer, claimed that they conveniently ran out of all their food when it was her turn to be served, and everybody else was served. ️ ✈️
— Rain Drops Media (@Raindropsmedia1) May 15, 2025
The passenger complains that she wasn’t offered anything in lieu of the meal (like ‘chips’). That’s fair – but flights under 1,300 miles don’t have food for sale in economy on American Airlines. I imagine that the flight attendant could have been more empathetic and apologetic, but there wouldn’t have been coach meals or snacks to offer.
1,300-mile flights and longer may have cheese plates for sale in back, with usually only around 4 loaded
Here question of ‘how could this happen’ that American runs out of meals, when they know how many first class seats there are, is a reasonable one! It doesn’t usually happen, but catering is done quickly, and sometimes carelessly. And it happens enough that flight attendants have gotten a memo reminding them to apologize (but not to delay the flight to fix it). A year ago Chicago and Philadelphia flights were frequently having catering issues.
I had one reader ask about the person next to her clearly eating. Assuming that the flight was literally short a meal (rather than being short what the woman making the video wanted) then it’s possible her seatmate had pre-ordered, or just ordered before her when the flight attendant came to their row for meal selection.
There may not have been enough meals (miscatered flight). It’s possible that the flight attendant working the front cabin of this 737 dropped a meal in the galley. There are any number of things that could have happened that are more plausible and more benign than ‘what she looked like’ as the reason for not getting a meal.
My American Airlines first class meal on Thursday
I don’t think I’m known for giving American Airlines a pass on issues. I’d just want more facts in evidence here before suggesting race was a factor, when the balance of probabilities likely leans in a different direction.
If the woman was seated in the first or second row and was the only one refused a meal, then we might have something to at least delve further into.
Reading these posts really confirms that we have a lot of racist white people in this country. @Gary, I am quite sure you do not understand how racism works. Maybe try talking to a black friend for a better perspective
All a flight attendant had to do was get on the intercom and say “will anyone trade their meal for some snacks so this b1tch won’t pull that worn out overplayed race card” I’m sure someone would have volunteered. It’s called problem solving.
@Jill is that true? I had a broken seat on a United flight and I barely even complained about it (it was the footrest on a longhaul in J) and the flight attendant promptly showed up with a little card and explained she was very sorry and I would get points into my account (can’t remember how much, it was a few years ago). Seemed like it was up to her. Or the purser I suppose.
It must be exhausting going through life constantly blaming race for every small problem you run into.
13%
@miguel95 I read this as an indictment of the author shilling unnecessary excuses for AA
@92% Well said.
The airline may have a legitimate reason for coming up short on meals. However, whatever their reason, it does not excuse a complete lack of communication or apology on the matter.
It happened to me on Delta ! (I am caucasian ,sitting in last row)!
The idea of boarding “a few extra meals on every flight” is absurd. They certainly should board the correct amount, but with 4000 flights per day, 365 days per year this is a ridiculous band aid solution to the issue. The cost would be staggering.
“it is always front to back now”
Like how I was taught to wipe.
I hope her crappy attitude also meant that she didn’t get comped any miles for the inconvenience either.
Anytime anything is posted by or attributed to an ‘influencer’ my credibility gadget drops to near zero on its bs meter. It’s all about clicks, not reality.
Always a “look at me” issue. It’s always a 13-14 percent chance that someone will have their feelings hurt enough to make everyone else have to hear about it.
The real shame was that the yacht with 30 “influencers” (of all races, genders, background) that sank a few weeks ago in Miami Beach didn’t result in a recovery operation rather than a rescue situation. The world would be a better place without “influencers”.
Just another mad angry black woman doing what they do best and wanting the world to bow to them and kiss their a** GTFO. BTW when I see the word “influencer” their credibility goes to zero with me.
Tim Done wins the comment of the day. We collectively bow to your sick humor 🙂
My bet would be on a catering or dropped meal screw up. Also, all we have is her claim that there was no apology from an FA. Since that latter claim makes the story better for the influencer’s basic theme (didn’t get a meal or apology because I’m black) I’m unconvinced the cabin crew didn’t serve her and didn’t apologize.