Last edit by: JY1024
2015 Combined AA/US International Meals - menu / photos / etc.
PLEASE: DO NOT POST OVERSIZED IMAGES; PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE AND REPEAT IMAGES IN YOUR QUOTED POST.
PLEASE: DO NOT POST OVERSIZED IMAGES; PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE AND REPEAT IMAGES IN YOUR QUOTED POST.
For domestic meals, please see: 2015 Combined AA/US Domestic Meals - menu / photos / etc. (Consolidated)
PLEASE SEE 2016 VERSION OF THIS THREAD HERE: 2016 Combined AA International Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)
2015 Combined AA/US International Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)
#31
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#32
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Flew CLT-SJU and back on US today and the flights were fantastic. The aircraft was an A332 which was a plus to begin with, but the crew were awesome! PDB offered on the way down but not the return, I suspect due to door L1 being used for boarding in SJU. Going to SJU was a breakfast flight and choices were French toast soufflé or cheese omelette. Had the omelette and it was fine, nothing to write home about.
On the return was a dinner flight, choices were:
Penne pasta with marinara sauce
Or
Thai chile chicken with noodles
I chose the chicken and it turned out to be pretty good. A bit over salty but tasty nonetheless. Never seen this dish before but it turned out well, I was surprised. Wasn't the low-quality, grainy chicken of the past.
Desert was an apple pie thing, not great but not bad either.
On the return was a dinner flight, choices were:
Penne pasta with marinara sauce
Or
Thai chile chicken with noodles
I chose the chicken and it turned out to be pretty good. A bit over salty but tasty nonetheless. Never seen this dish before but it turned out well, I was surprised. Wasn't the low-quality, grainy chicken of the past.
Desert was an apple pie thing, not great but not bad either.
#33
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#34
Join Date: Dec 2014
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Unless the Feds grant the four and five star carriers unlimited ninth freedom flights in this country, we will be stuck flying with this slop and a mediocre soft product. Could you imagine Emirates trying to open up a hub in Dallas or Etihad in Atlanta? That force some real enhancements.
#35
Join Date: May 2010
Location: TPA
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Just fly foreign-flag carriers for all your int'l flights....
#36
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It's seeming like some of the Caribbean meals are better than the domestic options these days (though that's not really a highly set bar).
#37
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Dallas, Texas
Programs: AA, Southwest, Hilton, Hyatt
Posts: 237
I wonder why people dislike Hector so much these days. The poor guy can't go against DP. Seriously, if your boss tells you that you need to cut your catering expenses and you will be fired if you do not, it's only logical that he tries to please DP. As head of Inflight Services, if Hector were to go tell the cabin crews what a horrible CEO they have and how he wants to destroy the premium aspects of the airline, he would only be making the situation worse and I have to give him credit for trying to be professional. We all know that when he stated that the merger wasn't about cost reductions, he couldn't keep a straight face.
#38
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I cannot stand DP, but I do think that Hector is trying and before the merger, he was doing a great job with the enhanced Envoy meal service.
#39
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: DCA
Programs: AA Executive Platinum
Posts: 2,085
Envoy meals and presentation in the past were superior to the very average meals I just experienced flying in J ORD-NRT. The main course was served in the same casserole dishes as domestic, with paper tray liners for the second two meals. The entire experience from start to finish had me missing Envoy, especially the nice Mandarin Oriental tray linens.
#40
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I agree with your post 100%, however, if you see the man in person and the way he responds to questions you would not feel the same. He may be doing a great job of towing the new management line but he is very arrogant in his tone and demeanor. They have all admitted there was a directive to cut X from the budget and that it back fired. After the reversal of the changes everyone at AA still complains but no changes are made. There is much song and dance that "we listen" but the follow up statement is change is hard and we understand but but people will get used to it. It will not change back to what it was. The new management believes AA's food service was a relic from days gone and the competition are not doing it so why should we. Hector said "the 80's are not coming back".
I didn't know Hector was that arrogant. Then again, the D+ pmUS management team was never customer friendly overall.
#41
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Envoy meals were incredibly basic and overall poor (in some years, the US-Europe flights didn't even offer dessert) for nearly a decade until they announced the enhancements to the Envoy service a couple years ago and I can honestly say that the new Envoy meals were terrific.
#42
Original Poster
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Location: USA
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I agree with your post 100%, however, if you see the man in person and the way he responds to questions you would not feel the same. He may be doing a great job of towing the new management line but he is very arrogant in his tone and demeanor. They have all admitted there was a directive to cut X from the budget and that it back fired. After the reversal of the changes everyone at AA still complains but no changes are made. There is much song and dance that "we listen" but the follow up statement is change is hard and we understand but but people will get used to it. It will not change back to what it was. The new management believes AA's food service was a relic from days gone and the competition are not doing it so why should we. Hector said "the 80's are not coming back".
I'd say AA midcon and transcon service was more of a relic from the 2000s, maybe early 2000s, but for sure not the 80s.
F&B767, are you saying we shouldn't expect to see any improvements moving forward? Are USdbaAA management really that arrogant and closed-minded? It just baffles me, especially as pmAA management was probably one of the most open to feedback and complaints, especially for F/J meal service. I was also told by a pmUS flight attendant (cannot disclose the name, sorry) here on FT that Hector was a very classy man and would definitely bring improvements to the table. Biased or not, I'm not sure, but that's the information I received.
#43
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Cheers,
AA777
#44
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#45
Join Date: Sep 2014
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I'd say AA midcon and transcon service was more of a relic from the 2000s, maybe early 2000s, but for sure not the 80s.
F&B767, are you saying we shouldn't expect to see any improvements moving forward? Are USdbaAA management really that arrogant and closed-minded? It just baffles me, especially as pmAA management was probably one of the most open to feedback and complaints, especially for F/J meal service. I was also told by a pmUS flight attendant (cannot disclose the name, sorry) here on FT that Hector was a very classy man and would definitely bring improvements to the table. Biased or not, I'm not sure, but that's the information I received.
F&B767, are you saying we shouldn't expect to see any improvements moving forward? Are USdbaAA management really that arrogant and closed-minded? It just baffles me, especially as pmAA management was probably one of the most open to feedback and complaints, especially for F/J meal service. I was also told by a pmUS flight attendant (cannot disclose the name, sorry) here on FT that Hector was a very classy man and would definitely bring improvements to the table. Biased or not, I'm not sure, but that's the information I received.
IMHO, if he did say the 80's aren't coming back could be a response to multiple things. Yes, (as much as I liked it) pmAA's domestic catering program was ready for a refresh... It hadn't gone through the New American rebranding the way International had, and was dated. But that quote -- especially context of the terms that the current management team thinks in -- can also mean that the budgets of the 80's aren't coming back. I know we like to pretend that if AA offers a great premium product then that will drive revenue to support it... And certainly in some markets it does. But what about the rest? What about all the pmUS markets where US has successfully competed against low fare carriers by offering a (sort of) full service product delivered cheaper?
pmAA and pre-HP US both did a good job of cutting and running from markets where revenue dried up, and that strategy becomes unsustainable at some point. Eventually, you realize that you have to adapt your costs to meet the revenue that you're realistically going to bring, and that you can't just strong-arm lower fare airlines out like the legacies did in the 80's and 90's. Americans are too used to no-frills flying at this point.
To me, what happened here was a cost mitigation move that backfired. pmUS meals were actually very good, but they were funded by the stingy window. Directly lowering the window to 1000 miles was probably unsustainable, given the revenue on the pmUS side, so some of the cost was offset in part by lowering quality. Lowering it to 900 miles again required more money, but again was offset in part by dropping afternoon meals (pmAA style) from some flights.
From everything I've seen in his time at US, I feel Hector is the king of the "cost neutral" improvements... He's pretty good at making a silk purse out of a sow's ear if given enough time to see where he can steal from to improve something else.
My experience tells me that they'll make improvements, including increasing his budget slightly (as PART of the formula to pay for improvements), as long as complaints continue. As soon as the complaints stop, then it's up to Hector to juggle within what he's got if he wants to make something happen...
So keep logging complaints with AA.