Traditional Meal Times on AA?
 

AA says on flights over 2 hours that operate within traditional meal times, B,L or D will be served in First Class. Flights over 2.5 hours that operate outside of traditional meal times will be served a snack.

I'm booked on AA 2081 from DFW-YYC in F. The flight leaves at 10:45 am and arrives at 1:35 pm (2:35 pm DFW time). The meal is a snack. This is a 4 hour flight so I guess AA must consider 10:45 to 1:35 outside traditional lunch time. When do you suppose Arpey traditionally eats lunch?

I guess I'll just pack a lunch and be done with it.

Other posters will have to correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe 'snack' is usually something like a turkey croissant with a small salad. Which, to me, is a light meal. It's just not a hot meal.

It still would be nice to get a reasonably reliable list of what counts as "meal time" to AA.

There's really not much (any?) difference between a mid-con lunch and snack flight.

I completely agree. I am tired of getting screwed by random meal times on the TUS->DFW (and return) which on most occasions means NOTHING but nuts and alcohol with a cookie to wash that down.

W T F times does Arpey and the bean counters use for meal times? Is it DMT (Dallas Mean Time) or some other random time used??

The masses want answers AA!

--DD73

I did an MR in June where I went:
SFO-DFW-FLL-DFW-SFO in one day, upgraded to F on all 4 segments.
AA520(757) 6:00-11:35 the usual F bkfst choices
AA1494(MD) 12:45-16:45 the usual F lunch
AA509(MD) 17:20-19:25 typical F dinner
AA1575(757)21:20-20:50 snack

3 of these were inside of typical meal times, wouldn't you say (DMT or not ;-) but the last segment was a bit late for dinner in the USA, so a snack was served... makes sense to me.

Agreed.

Wed: DFW-BDL a scheduled "lunch" flight - warm nuts & beverage, then Turkey Croissant Sandwich w/salad or Cold Salmon salad; both came with cheese and crackers, warm cookie

Sun: BDL-DFW, a scheduled snack flight (2:20 pm departure) - warm nuts & beverage, then Turkey Wrap w/salad of BBQ chicken salad; both came w/cheese and crackers and cookie on the same tray

FWIW, this was the "snack" on a PHX-ORD flight that left around 3:30PM. So I think "lunch" and "snack" are interchangeable.

Got burned on this....flew STL-TPA last week 15:10-18:20 , asked twice about meal was told SNACK = light wrap of some kind. asked two gate agents at different airports just to check. Boarded flight and was served a soda and a cookie. very disappointed to waste 2 credits for that, and dang good thing I bought a sandwich in the airport because I was suspicious....

Was it "snack" or "refreshment" B/c the cookie + drink is usually refreshment.

Refreshment also includes warm nuts. Sadly, "beverage service only" does not (e.g. DEN-DFW).

The gate agent said the code was 'R', so I think we found the culprit. I was lead to believe that I should expect a light wrap, but now I know. Thanks for the information.

Traditional meal windows used to be, and may (or may well not, given we are generally served breakfast on AA 1612, Lv SFO 09:30, Arv ORD 15:35) still be:

First Class Domestic Meal Windows:
Breakfast: 4 a.m. – 9 a.m.
Lunch: Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Dinner: 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Flights under 2 hrs must depart in or be in air during window.

Main Cabin Meal Windows:
Breakfast: 04:00 – 09:00
Lunch: 12:00 - 13:00
Dinner: 17:30 – 19:00

Thanks for posting this. Now on a note of personal experience, I wonder how these flight taken recently fit into the formula:

AA1520 LAX-MIA Dep 1145AM - Served Lunch in F & J
AA295 MIA-ORD Dep 400PM - Served Dinner in F

Thanks for the meal windows JDiver.

Since AA2081 (10:45 - 1:35) is clearly within the lunch window, it must just be an anomaly. AA has no competition on this route which probably explains everything. They could probably run it as a beverage only flight and not lose too much business and they know it.