It seems the midcons did not suffer that badly. The appetizer, salad, entre, and bread choices are good. The china they are served on are nice, the normal size silware is great, and the new nut dishes make for a great presentation. The snack basket on shorts flights is a great addition to the "premium snack mix" served previously. It's the paper tray liner and paper napkin ring holder that are pretty cheap and not needed, the original linen and no napkin ring were fine the way the were. Although apparently the linen was traded out because the plates were sliding all over the place.
The real changes no one can understand are the new snack baskets and red eye service. Why do this? It's not first class and the presentation is awful. Why remove the large pillows, duvets, and tablets from non JFK/MIA/LAX transcons?! Where is the large budget they were given to become a leader? Where is the understanding of premium passengers? All I see is USAir taking over AA inflight and slashing the service to medicore. International is next and I hate to see what "enhancements" will be rolling out.