American Offers First Class Meals on Shorter Flights
Jeff Edwards November 18, 2014
American Airlines and US Airways are now providing meal service in First and Business Class on flights more than 2 hours and 30 minutes long.
There is still work to be done before American Airlines and US Airways are fully integrated and operated as a single airline. Union contracts need to be negotiated, loyalty accounts must be combined and merging reservation systems may prove to be a challenge. It will be months before the two airlines are able operate as a single carrier under the same name, but since September, US Airways and American have been operating under the same inflight dining menu.
Starting Tuesday, that menu will be available to more passengers in First and Business Class cabins on North American flights.
On flights longer than 2 hours and 30 minutes (900 miles), the airlines will offer three-course meals to passengers in premium cabins. Previously, First Class meals were only offered on flights longer than 2 hours and 45 minutes (1,000 miles) in duration. Both carriers will continue to offer snacks for First and Business Class passengers on flights less the 2 hours and 30 minutes long and enhanced dining options on flights over 3 hours and 30 minutes (1,299 miles) within North America.
The airlines will also offer full First Class meals on select flights of less than 900 miles from American Airlines hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Miami International Airport (MIA) as well as certain flights from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Port-au-Prince International Airport (PAP) in Haiti.
[Photo: American Airlines]
Very nice to see an airline NOT follow DL in their race to the bottom. AA is showing more and more signs of wanting to achieve strong customer satisfaction. Everything from rebooking me via Twitter during a late connection (from the AIR over GOGO no less!) to just being very accommodating and (gasp) POLITE! After a VERY long run with DL, I switched to AA earlier this year. Now I'm just wondering why I didn't do it sooner?
I hope DL and UA are reading this!