Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
I haven't taken the AA daytime service from ORD but I imagine that's also sleep central. So some people don't take the first meals, and reject or picking at the second meal means very little food get taken - many passengers are in a pseudo-zombie state.
I've only ever used the daytime ORD-LHR flight in economy, most recently at the start of the month.
The meal at the back was a lunch/dinner affair, not breakfast (fortunately: breakfast is not a good meal in the USA on most occasions and AA economy breakfast even less so). So, salad of lettuce and (traces of) carrot, bread roll, cheese and crackers, a brownie, and (in my case) a hot dish of chicken in mildly spicy sauce, carrots and couscous. Later, a snack of a pizza roll affair (labelled as a "Stromboli", if you imagine a pizza formed into a cylinder with the filling inside you've got the idea). This is all very similar to what you get going LHR-ORD. I'm afraid I didn't see what went on at the front.
Some people slept on the flight, others stayed awake - it is definitely a daylight flight, leaving at 09:15 local time should have anyone on the US timezone fully awake. The crew locked the (economy) window opacity to 80% dark (787, so they can do that) almost the whole flight - something so irritating it would put me off that flight. That's actually the first time this has happened to me.
If one has access to the Flagship lounge at ORD, the breakfast there is quite sufficient for all needs and the concourses of ORD do not lack for places to buy food either. Anyone arriving on board without already having had breakfast has either had a very unfortunately compressed morning or didn't want to eat.