lt1GM

Oh joy. It certainly can't be much worse than what we currently have. Or can it? Was in F on LAX-SFO this weekend and my "Horseradish Encrusted Salmon" piece was no more than two inches in length and barely one inch wide. Not kidding.

Jacobin777

Been doing a lot of "mid-transcons" (ORD-SFO/LAX/PHX) in F recently and I have to agree, can't say the catering is anything special. Service has been good however. ^

JonNYC

Let's put it this way; this is the last, great push.

If they don't get it right this time (and I believe they will) then you'll know it's truly, definitely not gonna get any better and the pre-9/1-grade AA catering will never come back.

They claim "message received" (they don't admit it, but I'd bet at least some of that "message" was from Jetbue Mint) and this is their resounding answer.

no1cub17

Interesting - any improvements to Hawaii service? Or int'l J/F? Or is USdbaAA just so proud of their current offering that they just don't know what to do with themselves! Thanks for the update though.

Longboater

The transcon changes sound like a response to Mint and Delta One. (Delta execs have admitted they spend more on transcon meals than international meals). If the meal changes on non-MIA-LAX/JFK-SFO/LAX involve moving away from the frozen meals in meal preparation, then we'll know they are serious. This is the biggest problem far and away with the post 9/1 meal changes. As been reported earlier, when the lunch salads came back, most here agreed they were close to pre-9/1 quality. Meal preparation means everything here.

Stripe

That's a pretty nice meal for such a short flight.

MAH4546

Where I work basically everybody has abandoned American to JFK thanks to jetBlue mint. I'd be surprised if people go back to AA.

no1cub17

Nm - jonnyc also just posted that improvements are coming to int'l J/F. How pathetic. Just shows the true colors of the regime. They have no interest in being elite or even "great" - the only thing they care about is the bottom line (we already knew that though). Clearly these changes are nothing but trying to save face amid B6 and DL (and even UA) vastly upping their games.

JonNYC

Bizarre.

no1cub17

Good stuff. Not only does the product suck but AA miles are significantly harder to use, even in the past few months, than before. I thought that was always the trump card AA had in a way was a superior FFP - but that's quickly going down the drain with the rest of the airline.

no1cub17

I thought so too - US management took an airline which was pretty good (even by int'l standards) and made it into what it is today, all the while convincing us they were "going for great." Pretty strange way to do business IMO.

AANYC1981

I had a very tasty and healthy lunch on DL today that blows AA catering away. Add that to FAs who actually appreciate the customer, open bar PDB, attentive service and this is my last year caring about requalifying on AA.

JonNYC

Respectfully, by "bizarre" I meant your rant was bizarre in light of what's happening right now.

cmd320

Unfortunately, today AA's catering has slid below that of UA and even DL. There's a sentence I never expected to say in my life... If two years ago someone had told me that today I would be more repulsed by AA's meal offerings than DL's I would have laughed in their face. Hard.

Will this be similar to the late September, November, March, and May "improvements?"

That's what happens when someone like Drunk Doug takes the helm. Let's just hope there aren't any icebergs ahead. The "War on Food" marches forward...

This was my experience a couple weeks ago as well. Multiple PDBs delivered by an energetic young crew, decent entree salad with some surprisingly fresh fruit, smiles, engaging conversation, awareness of drink levels, not slamming the overhead bin doors like baboons, etc. It made for a somewhat pleasant flight.

no1cub17

I figured as much - I just figured I would pretend otherwise.

I hope you're right and the new food is actually edible - would be definitely a baby step in the right direction!