Feb 22, 2015, 6:28 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
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PLEASE: DO NOT POST OVERSIZED IMAGES; PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE AND REPEAT IMAGES IN YOUR QUOTED POST.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 2015 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. This Wiki covers both AA and US flights, but as of September 2014, AA and US offers identical meal service domestically, so that part of the merger has its' harmonization completed.
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.
Last updated: 7/26/2015 2:33pm, MrAndy1369
2015 Combined AA/US Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (Consolidated)
Aug 18, 2015, 8:23 am
#1816
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2012
Location: MCO
Programs: AA, B6, DL, EK, EY, QR, SQ, UA, Amex Plat, Marriott Tit, HHonors Gold
Posts: 12,809
As well as the completely random tan color. They should really go back to black linens across the board. I'm not sure what genius decided that tan was a good fit in an all blue/gray cabin.
Last edited by cmd320; Aug 18, 2015 at 9:07 am
Aug 18, 2015, 8:26 am
#1817
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SEA
Posts: 3,955
Thanks for that. Heh, I reported on that upthread and did eat the whole thing and thought the 'wrap' was grilled (there were grill marks) cucumber when it was really grilled zucchini. I didn't find anything really wrong with the appetizer, rather that it was relatively flavorless. If it's supposed to be that way, they succeeded.
The singular form of the aforementioned item is involtino, not involtini. You have one involtino or multiple involtini, but never an involtini. Regarding flavor, grilled zucchini requires a good bit of salt when you're on the ground - so even more when you're in the air. That may have been what they were after with adding feta, which probably wouldn't be the first choice in an Italian kitchen.
It does look good, I'd be happy to have that on a flight.
Aug 18, 2015, 8:54 am
#1818
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
Aug 18, 2015, 9:00 am
#1819
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Los Angeles & Orange County, CA
Programs: Wouldn't you like to know?!
Posts: 23,822
Decided to give AA another try on LAX/JFK over the weekend. Outbound breakfast in F, return dinner in F.
Outbound:
Friendly FA. However, PDB only water and OJ (usually open bar in F LAX/JFK IME, or at least with some cheap $2 sparkling wine). FAs decided to just not serve the fruit plate
Had to ask for it. FAs also decided to not serve the petit fours. They didn't have the lox and bagel plate this time, so I went with the atrocious omelette. FAs were very friendly and came around a few times for refills but were sloppy and could care less about the whole F experience.
Return:
Careless and lazy FAs. No PDB in F. FA took my menu away because he apparently did not know what meal choices they had and had to use my menu to take orders for the entire cabin He came back to pretend to give me back the menu, but wouldn't let go of it. It was a really odd encounter. I told him he could keep the menu if he came back and just told me the wine choices. Then, dinner service was rushed through so they could chat with the D-bag NRSA seated in F.
The food was identical to the ones posted above, except I had the crab sushi rice appetizer. The food was better as I expected on this route, with recently introduced competition like B6, but still was subpar. I asked for the specialty sundae with candied pecan and caramel and FA came back with regular crushed pecan and butterscotch
Menu also listed tart and fruit and cheese plate. Neither was offered to anyone in the cabin.
FA wasn't rude, but service as a whole was atrocious as expected. I had been flying LAX/JFK since the 762 days. F FAs were usually very good. Sad, sad, sad. Right there and then, I logged onto gogo and booked myself B6 Mint for my next trip back to JFK in a couple of months.
Outbound:
Friendly FA. However, PDB only water and OJ (usually open bar in F LAX/JFK IME, or at least with some cheap $2 sparkling wine). FAs decided to just not serve the fruit plate
Had to ask for it. FAs also decided to not serve the petit fours. They didn't have the lox and bagel plate this time, so I went with the atrocious omelette. FAs were very friendly and came around a few times for refills but were sloppy and could care less about the whole F experience.Return:
Careless and lazy FAs. No PDB in F. FA took my menu away because he apparently did not know what meal choices they had and had to use my menu to take orders for the entire cabin
He came back to pretend to give me back the menu, but wouldn't let go of it. It was a really odd encounter. I told him he could keep the menu if he came back and just told me the wine choices. Then, dinner service was rushed through so they could chat with the D-bag NRSA seated in F. The food was identical to the ones posted above, except I had the crab sushi rice appetizer. The food was better as I expected on this route, with recently introduced competition like B6, but still was subpar. I asked for the specialty sundae with candied pecan and caramel and FA came back with regular crushed pecan and butterscotch
Menu also listed tart and fruit and cheese plate. Neither was offered to anyone in the cabin. FA wasn't rude, but service as a whole was atrocious as expected. I had been flying LAX/JFK since the 762 days. F FAs were usually very good. Sad, sad, sad. Right there and then, I logged onto gogo and booked myself B6 Mint for my next trip back to JFK in a couple of months.
Aug 18, 2015, 9:00 am
#1820
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,998
Aug 18, 2015, 9:11 am
#1821
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2012
Location: MCO
Programs: AA, B6, DL, EK, EY, QR, SQ, UA, Amex Plat, Marriott Tit, HHonors Gold
Posts: 12,809
Aug 18, 2015, 9:45 am
#1824
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: USA
Programs: AAdvantage, MileagePlus, SkyMiles
Posts: 4,159
Sadly ironic, because back in the day (as in, pre-merger), US crew were known to be very friendly and warm, while AA crew were often deceipted as cold/unfriendly and doing only the bare minimum (anyone remember Helen and the OJ incident back in 2009?) such as no/few PDBs.
Not saying US is good/AA bad - nope. Just pointing out that surly/lacking crew isn't new, and probably isn't related directly to the merger.
With that said, your crews on JFK seem like they could have done better.
Question: was your sundae served in a goblet or in a cup? There's been scattered reports of goblets only being F now, but there were some pictures of JFK-LAX F with sundaes in the cups. To be fair, pmAA was a bit inconsistent with serving sundaes in the goblets, although it seems much more inconsistent now.
Not saying US is good/AA bad - nope. Just pointing out that surly/lacking crew isn't new, and probably isn't related directly to the merger.
With that said, your crews on JFK seem like they could have done better.
Question: was your sundae served in a goblet or in a cup? There's been scattered reports of goblets only being F now, but there were some pictures of JFK-LAX F with sundaes in the cups. To be fair, pmAA was a bit inconsistent with serving sundaes in the goblets, although it seems much more inconsistent now.
Decided to give AA another try on LAX/JFK over the weekend. Outbound breakfast in F, return dinner in F.
Outbound:
Friendly FA. However, PDB only water and OJ (usually open bar in F LAX/JFK IME, or at least with some cheap $2 sparkling wine). FAs decided to just not serve the fruit plate Had to ask for it. FAs also decided to not serve the petit fours. They didn't have the lox and bagel plate this time, so I went with the atrocious omelette. FAs were very friendly and came around a few times for refills but were sloppy and could care less about the whole F experience.
Return:
Careless and lazy FAs. No PDB in F. FA took my menu away because he apparently did not know what meal choices they had and had to use my menu to take orders for the entire cabin He came back to pretend to give me back the menu, but wouldn't let go of it. It was a really odd encounter. I told him he could keep the menu if he came back and just told me the wine choices. Then, dinner service was rushed through so they could chat with the D-bag NRSA seated in F.
The food was identical to the ones posted above, except I had the crab sushi rice appetizer. The food was better as I expected on this route, with recently introduced competition like B6, but still was subpar. I asked for the specialty sundae with candied pecan and caramel and FA came back with regular crushed pecan and butterscotch Menu also listed tart and fruit and cheese plate. Neither was offered to anyone in the cabin.
FA wasn't rude, but service as a whole was atrocious as expected. I had been flying LAX/JFK since the 762 days. F FAs were usually very good. Sad, sad, sad. Right there and then, I logged onto gogo and booked myself B6 Mint for my next trip back to JFK in a couple of months.
Outbound:
Friendly FA. However, PDB only water and OJ (usually open bar in F LAX/JFK IME, or at least with some cheap $2 sparkling wine). FAs decided to just not serve the fruit plate
Had to ask for it. FAs also decided to not serve the petit fours. They didn't have the lox and bagel plate this time, so I went with the atrocious omelette. FAs were very friendly and came around a few times for refills but were sloppy and could care less about the whole F experience.Return:
Careless and lazy FAs. No PDB in F. FA took my menu away because he apparently did not know what meal choices they had and had to use my menu to take orders for the entire cabin
He came back to pretend to give me back the menu, but wouldn't let go of it. It was a really odd encounter. I told him he could keep the menu if he came back and just told me the wine choices. Then, dinner service was rushed through so they could chat with the D-bag NRSA seated in F. The food was identical to the ones posted above, except I had the crab sushi rice appetizer. The food was better as I expected on this route, with recently introduced competition like B6, but still was subpar. I asked for the specialty sundae with candied pecan and caramel and FA came back with regular crushed pecan and butterscotch
Menu also listed tart and fruit and cheese plate. Neither was offered to anyone in the cabin. FA wasn't rude, but service as a whole was atrocious as expected. I had been flying LAX/JFK since the 762 days. F FAs were usually very good. Sad, sad, sad. Right there and then, I logged onto gogo and booked myself B6 Mint for my next trip back to JFK in a couple of months.
Aug 18, 2015, 9:48 am
#1825
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Everywhere you wanna be
Programs: AA EP | UA 1K
Posts: 1,657
Although its easier to say AA sucks than to have any knowledge of sophisticated non-american dishes.
Aug 18, 2015, 9:51 am
#1826
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Everywhere you wanna be
Programs: AA EP | UA 1K
Posts: 1,657
Question: was your sundae served in a goblet or in a cup? There's been scattered reports of goblets only being F now, but there were some pictures of JFK-LAX F with sundaes in the cups. To be fair, pmAA was a bit inconsistent with serving sundaes in the goblets, although it seems much more inconsistent now.
:At least they put something under my meal, because if they didn't there was no way on earth i would have had a pleasurable flight experience. :
:
Aug 18, 2015, 10:10 am
#1827
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Aug 18, 2015, 2:01 pm
#1828
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: SJC
Programs: BAEC Bronze, AS MVP Gold 75K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 488
Can anyone confirm what is offered in First on PHL-MCO. According to this thread it is a 700-899 mile meal (its apparently 878 miles!).
However, according to AA.com, the type of meal is determined by the flight time. The flight time is booked at 2hour 39mins which AA says mean it qualifies for a main meal and a cookie.
However, according to AA.com, the type of meal is determined by the flight time. The flight time is booked at 2hour 39mins which AA says mean it qualifies for a main meal and a cookie.
Aug 18, 2015, 2:01 pm
#1829
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2012
Location: MCO
Programs: AA, B6, DL, EK, EY, QR, SQ, UA, Amex Plat, Marriott Tit, HHonors Gold
Posts: 12,809
Can anyone confirm what is offered in First on PHL-MCO. According to this thread it is a 700-899 mile meal (its apparently 878 miles!).
However, according to AA.com, the type of meal is determined by the flight time. The flight time is booked at 2hour 39mins which AA says mean it qualifies for a main meal and a cookie.
However, according to AA.com, the type of meal is determined by the flight time. The flight time is booked at 2hour 39mins which AA says mean it qualifies for a main meal and a cookie.
Aug 18, 2015, 3:11 pm
#1830
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: SJC
Programs: BAEC Bronze, AS MVP Gold 75K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 488
Don't give them any ideas...
Nothing is served on PHL-MCO. Depending on what time it is, you may get a microscopic plated snack consisting of some old grapes and cheese, or if you're lucky the spinach artichoke dip, but no meal. If you're outside of the 'snack' window, you'll just see warm mixed nuts (sometimes cold), a snack basket with items such as chips and candy, and you should get a cookie, however these flights are often so variable in what is offered it makes it difficult to say exactly. What you should get and what you actually end up with are often very different.
Nothing is served on PHL-MCO. Depending on what time it is, you may get a microscopic plated snack consisting of some old grapes and cheese, or if you're lucky the spinach artichoke dip, but no meal. If you're outside of the 'snack' window, you'll just see warm mixed nuts (sometimes cold), a snack basket with items such as chips and candy, and you should get a cookie, however these flights are often so variable in what is offered it makes it difficult to say exactly. What you should get and what you actually end up with are often very different.