Originally Posted by
fender5787
That would make sense to an extent, but the return MEX-JFK flight is a red eye without any meal service. I think the only flight AA flies ex-MEX that’s over 1300mi and during meal hours is MEX-CLT and I haven’t seen any reports or flown that segment myself. I will say when I flew CUN-JFK (which is still 1300mi+) the dessert was plated on the main tray.
Just out of curiosity, was that CUN-JFK dessert served on the flat bread plate or in the taller square bowl? That's another thing I've seen consistently -- the desserts served on the flat plates have been always served on my trays regardless of flight length or mileage band (thinking of domestic exceptions like CLT-SLC-CLT), but even composed desserts in the bowls have been served separately on the 1300+ mile flights that I've had those. I know the small plated desserts are pre-loaded on the trays and the bowl-plated desserts I've had were loaded on a separate tray, so the FA's were just following instructions, but I suspect the bulk spoons only being loaded when the larger bowls are would probably stop a FA from trying to freestyle and hold the small-plated desserts for a separate course.