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2017 Combined AA Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)

Old Dec 31, 2016, 10:45 pm
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Last edit by: JY1024
AA/US Domestic Dining (including Canada, Mexico, & the Caribbean)

Note: this thread is about meals served on AA-US. There is another thread for the contingent that wishes to debate and discuss linens as a primary subject, including related presentation issues: Linens / presentation debate for meal service on AA, US / both.

PLEASE: DO NOT POST OVERSIZED IMAGES; PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE AND REPEAT IMAGES IN YOUR QUOTED POST. /Moderators


Welcome to the 2017 Domestic Dining thread and the resulting discussion/trip reports/photos/shared experiences. Here, in this wiki post, I'll strive to explain what you should expect on AA flights in First and Business, meals-wise. Keep in mind that there are many domestic flights, so there are quite a few parameters to keep track of.

Basically, in its best condensed form, you should expect to receive a meal between 4:59am - 8pm on flights longer than 900 miles, which equals about two hours in the air. From that point, there are exceptions, and specific timing parameters.

What to Expect - Mainline:
Keep in mind that this list is not entirely inclusive, and there may be certain exceptions and/or abnormalities.

  • Up to 699 miles: Light snacks such as a fig bar, cookies, and/or pretzels
  • 700-899 miles: Warmed nuts, a snack plate (fruit/cheese, pita/hummus, or spinach dip/pita), and a cookie
  • 900-1298 miles: A meal (fruit/breakfast entree; salad/entree) followed by a cookie; no meals between 1:30-4pm
  • 1298-2199 miles: A full meal including an appetizer, with cake for lunch desserts and premade ice-cream for dinner desserts
  • 2200 miles and above: Same as 1298-2199 miles, but consists of made-to-order sundaes or a cheese plate for both lunch and dinner desserts

What to Expect - Regional:
Keep in mind that this list is not entirely inclusive, and there may be certain exceptions and/or abnormalities.

  • Up to 175 miles: A light snack mix along with beverage service
  • 176-899 miles: Sweet and savory, organic/healthy snack choices (snack basket)
  • 900-2199 miles: Warm mixed nuts, two meal options, and dessert. (For flights over 2200 miles, you will receive the same selection of snacks from 176-899 miles as a pre-arrival snack. All regional meal flights leaving after 8:00pm will also receive sweet and savory snacks as the only option. Editor's note: A regional jet for 2000+ miles? Hope that never happens!)

All of the meal flights that fall under the above timing parameters will receive two choices; normally, one meat and one vegetarian.

Longer westbound flights leaving from the east coast (transcontinental; non-premium) are not officially exceptions, but some flights after 8pm receive a full dinner service (such as the 8:05pm MIA-SAN flight, or the 8:30pm PHL-LAS flight). Additionally, non-premium transcontinental red-eye flights will receive snack basket service upon departure, then a continental breakfast box prior to arrival.

Official Exceptions:
The following flights all fall under 900 miles, but will receive a full meal service, with the exception of flights leaving between 1:31-4pm. Despite some of the listed flights being over 900 miles, they are remaining listed here, based on the AA website for documentation purposes.

  • Chicago (ORD) - AUS/BDL/BOS/DCA/EWR/JFK/LGA/MSY/RDU
  • Dallas (DFW) - BJX/ORD/MEX/QRO/SLP
  • Fort Lauderdale (FLL) - PAP
  • Los Angeles (LAX) - DEN
  • Miami (MIA) - DCA/IAD/PAP
  • New York (LGA) - ATL
  • Phoenix (PHX) - MZT

Additional Information:
  • JFK-LAX/SFO; MIA-LAX are considered premium transcontinental flights, and as such, receives a more refined service with three meal choices, per-course service, printed menus, and tray/tablecloth linens in both F/J. Those flights now are the only domestic flights in the system to offer special meals as another option (which can be reserved by either preordering online, or calling). Red-eye flights will receive a full "supper/snack" meal service, which is basically a condensed dinner service.

  • Hawaiian meal service is very similar to what you'd expect on 2200+ mile flights, but there also will be Hawaiian rolls served, along with a pre-arrival continental breakfast/snack (dependent on the length of the route). Tropical warmed nuts are also currently served.

  • All flights over 700 miles, regardless of a meal being served or not, will receive warm mixed nuts and a cookie.

Disclaimer: The editor of this Wiki does not guarantee the information presented above will always be accurate or properly followed by AA, given catering mishaps, irregular operations, rogue crews, or mismanagement. For the best up-to-date information, it would be prudent to check AA's website constantly for any updates, or call AA. The editors of this Wiki will keep this Wiki updated as often as possible.
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2017 Combined AA Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)

Old Dec 31, 2016, 10:44 pm
  #1  
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2017 Combined AA Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)

Introduction
Welcome to the 2017 version of the combined AA meals thread, focusing on domestic service. Please post your meal/service experiences, including menus, photos, reports, questions, and service anecdotes.

To help give us a clear picture of your experience, remember to include the route, time, and meal designation (breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack/refreshments/none). Photos are welcome and very helpful. Those are rudimentary guidelines, but of course, the format/style is up to you.

Format Sample
This is a format you can use when introducing your meal report. This is just a sample format; deviations are expected.

AA1: JFK-LAX: 3pm
Dinner
A321
First Class, 2A

(from here, share the menu and/or experiences and/or photos)

Historical Meal Reports
Throwback mode? Go crazy!


For the 2017 International Meals thread, click here.

Enjoy!

(H/T to MrAndy1369 for the original text)

Last edited by JY1024; Dec 31, 2016 at 10:52 pm
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Old Jan 2, 2017, 5:22 pm
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two pieces of poop on a plate
01/01/2017
SAN to ORD
AA1296

This was the stuffed pepper. It looked awful and smelled even worse. Didn't even eat a bite. Seriously though... the smell was similar to what the pepper looked!

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Old Jan 2, 2017, 6:07 pm
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Peppers don't freeze well; they tend to turn to mush. I'd have tried the rice though. The corn salad looks awesome!

Last edited by lobo411; Jan 2, 2017 at 6:14 pm
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Old Jan 3, 2017, 1:42 pm
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AA 1539 RDU-ORD 0739-0859 MD-80

No PDB





Pre-orders were not acknowledged. Choice of the omelet or oatmeal. The omelet was decent enough, though it's really similar to one UA has. Potatoes were meh and so were the sausage. Still better than the strata was.
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Old Jan 3, 2017, 1:44 pm
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AA 1257 ORD-BOS 1025-1325 737-800:



PDB of OJ or Water ^





Choice of quinoa salad or salmon salad. Is the salmon supposed to be cold? This was okay but kind of a mess to eat on a plane

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Old Jan 3, 2017, 2:13 pm
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Originally Posted by surftb15
two pieces of poop on a plate
01/01/2017
SAN to ORD
AA1296

This was the stuffed pepper. It looked awful and smelled even worse. Didn't even eat a bite. Seriously though... the smell was similar to what the pepper looked!
I agree with you that it looks awful, but I ate it and it was actually pretty tasty. It pairs well with the corn salad.
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Old Jan 3, 2017, 2:37 pm
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Sorry to hijack of sorts...

Where do I go back in to choose food now? I've got a couple of flights next week and when I booked they were outside the window. They're definitely meal flights all ways (JFK-MCO-LGA and a JFK-LAX-JFK)

I've looked in all the nooks and crannies when I have the reservation pulled up and don't see them.

thanks!^
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Old Jan 3, 2017, 2:41 pm
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Originally Posted by Fraser
Sorry to hijack of sorts...

Where do I go back in to choose food now? I've got a couple of flights next week and when I booked they were outside the window. They're definitely meal flights all ways (JFK-MCO-LGA and a JFK-LAX-JFK)

I've looked in all the nooks and crannies when I have the reservation pulled up and don't see them.

thanks!^
Directly below the itinerary details should be an area that says Reserve a Meal
and below that a link titled Review or Change Your Order
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Old Jan 3, 2017, 2:49 pm
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Originally Posted by wrp96
Directly below the itinerary details should be an area that says Reserve a Meal
and below that a link titled Review or Change Your Order
Thank you, that's where I thought it was! Weirdly it shows in IE but not in Chrome, for me at least.

Amusingly my JFK-MCO and MCO-LGA options are identical. Ugh.
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Old Jan 3, 2017, 2:50 pm
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Originally Posted by Fraser
Thank you, that's where I thought it was! Weirdly it shows in IE but not in Chrome, for me at least.
It was unavailable in one of my reservations a few days ago, and showed back up the next day. It's buggy - like the rest of aa.com
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Old Jan 3, 2017, 3:44 pm
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Originally Posted by surftb15
two pieces of poop on a plate
01/01/2017
SAN to ORD
AA1296

This was the stuffed pepper. It looked awful and smelled even worse. Didn't even eat a bite. Seriously though... the smell was similar to what the pepper looked!
Is there feta in every dish on that tray? Hate feta cheese so that doesn't look like anything I could ever order. Must be cheap these days.
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Old Jan 4, 2017, 12:12 pm
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JFK-LAX
A321T
Dinner

Beef carpaccio starter was good. Not a fan of the Fuji Apple dressing for the salad though.



My main was a spaghetti squash dish and had very little flavor. I would not recommend this dish. My brother had the chicken which he said was good.



Really nice service flow from the J FA's. Everytime one FA came through with a meal service element, the other FA was right behind with the beverage cart which made getting refills very easy for all.
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Old Jan 4, 2017, 4:26 pm
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01/03/2017
AA3659 EWR-ORD E75
Dinner

The choices were salmon salad (salmon was served separately from the greens) or veggie/cheese plate (pictured below).

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Old Jan 7, 2017, 4:06 pm
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Breakfast Report

AA1099: ORF-DFW 7am
MD-88
Breakfast
First, Seat 6A

Here's a nice picture of the First breakfast from an airport with no catering services. The meal is brought the night before from DFW (arrival around 10pm) and stored overnight on the plane. FWIW - it was all really filling. Not pictured is the warmed fresh cinnamon roll I devoured ASAP after the nice FA gave me 2!!!!

https://goo.gl/photos/DfmQfuUpj89t7kvM8
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Old Jan 7, 2017, 5:09 pm
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Originally Posted by c2u4ze2im
AA1099: ORF-DFW 7am
MD-88
Breakfast
First, Seat 6A

Here's a nice picture of the First breakfast from an airport with no catering services. The meal is brought the night before from DFW (arrival around 10pm) and stored overnight on the plane. FWIW - it was all really filling. Not pictured is the warmed fresh cinnamon roll I devoured ASAP after the nice FA gave me 2!!!!

https://goo.gl/photos/DfmQfuUpj89t7kvM8
I'm skeptical of shelf stable yogurt, but otherwise seems fine. It's too bad though they can't get catering in ORF.
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