Discussion: AA Catering still Disgusting (separate from description / menu threads)
Jun 13, 2015, 8:44 am
#76
Join Date: Apr 2010
Programs: AA Platinum, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 731
Domestic/short haul catering doesn't have to suck
I call Stockholm Syndrome on anyone who (a) has a well traveled set of tastes and (b) really thinks AA Domestic F catering is worth a damn. The new chicken entrees are universally disgusting. I find myself taking the much unhealthier pasta entrees just so I have something to eat.
9W has some great catering. Flew a sub-400 mile sector out of DEL with chicken curry or kidney bean wrap, bottle of water, and fruit cake for each pax in Y on fully loaded 737. That crew worked hard. Relatives on SIN - DEL (similar length to a transcon) in J said food was excellent.
BA on LIS - LHR served a half decent chicken wrap in Y, not Pret quality but decent.
9W has some great catering. Flew a sub-400 mile sector out of DEL with chicken curry or kidney bean wrap, bottle of water, and fruit cake for each pax in Y on fully loaded 737. That crew worked hard. Relatives on SIN - DEL (similar length to a transcon) in J said food was excellent.
BA on LIS - LHR served a half decent chicken wrap in Y, not Pret quality but decent.
Jun 13, 2015, 9:46 am
#77
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: LAX
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold but PlatPro thanks to LPs
Posts: 4,439
Folks, it's AIRPLANE FOOD. There is a limit at what anyone can do at 35,000 feet given the tiny ovens and cramped galley.
Did you expect anything other than Airplane Food? Did you buy into the hype?
Pah. Forget the hype. Airplane Food varies from delicious (I still remember a chef's salad I had in Coach, once) to truly horrible. If you find you really can't stomach Airplane Food, then get something of your own choice while still on the ground, then pass on the inedible disgusting food while in flight.
Did you expect anything other than Airplane Food? Did you buy into the hype?
Our cuisine is prepared by award-winning, internationally renowned chefs to delight your senses...
Jun 13, 2015, 9:51 am
#78
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
Folks, it's AIRPLANE FOOD. There is a limit at what anyone can do at 35,000 feet given the tiny ovens and cramped galley.
Did you expect anything other than Airplane Food? Did you buy into the hype?
Pah. Forget the hype. Airplane Food varies from delicious (I still remember a chef's salad I had in Coach, once) to truly horrible. If you find you really can't stomach Airplane Food, then get something of your own choice while still on the ground, then pass on the inedible disgusting food while in flight.
Did you expect anything other than Airplane Food? Did you buy into the hype?
Pah. Forget the hype. Airplane Food varies from delicious (I still remember a chef's salad I had in Coach, once) to truly horrible. If you find you really can't stomach Airplane Food, then get something of your own choice while still on the ground, then pass on the inedible disgusting food while in flight.
Jun 13, 2015, 9:54 am
#79
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: NYC/PSP
Programs: AA EXP, A3 Gold
Posts: 4,106
Absolutely. If other airlines can offer quite decent meals onboard, that fact that AA doesn't means it's not trying hard enough.
Jun 13, 2015, 12:38 pm
#81
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: NYC
Programs: AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTT, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,640
I think you are missing the point. Domestic F catering was never this bad. I wasn't expecting CX F/J but at least it was always edible. The piece of chicken I got was a piece of rubber.
Jun 13, 2015, 1:32 pm
#83
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: SAN
Programs: AS MVP 100K, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Lifetime Titanium Elite, UA 1MM,
Posts: 1,710
They hardly spend $20, keep in mind most airline meals are on par with "TV dinner" food, they are just presented differently. Consider the transportation, storage time, and temperature variances that this food has to endure. To prep it, it has to use warmers, not microwaves, but the food is the equivalent of a microwaved dinner. And that it still has to be "fresh tasting" after many hours, in the event of a delay. That equates to tons of preservatives and sodium. From talking to a friend who worked in onboard catering, the cost was much lower than you would ever expect.
Jun 13, 2015, 1:56 pm
#84
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: IAD/DCA/BWI
Programs: AA Executive Platinum
Posts: 579
It was better on average than it is now (and way better then it was the first week of September), but "fine" is a revisionist history even I can't buy into. 
Actually, I take that back... If you had a fetish for canned fruit cocktail (Eagle), consider nuts and a cookie a meal at odd times, and think the "P" in PDB means "post", then pre-9/1 was peachy. In fact many days, it was canned peachy.
Jun 13, 2015, 1:57 pm
#85
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 810
Part of me knows that it's not that hard to create great tasting food, they just have to be extremely cost conscious about the whole thing, to the detriment of the food itself. They absolutely could create and serve amazing food, they just don't want to (for financial reasons). It will never change, but that won't stop us whining about it (and rightly so...)
Jun 13, 2015, 3:55 pm
#86
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
Part of me knows that it's not that hard to create great tasting food, they just have to be extremely cost conscious about the whole thing, to the detriment of the food itself. They absolutely could create and serve amazing food, they just don't want to (for financial reasons). It will never change, but that won't stop us whining about it (and rightly so...)
Jun 13, 2015, 6:19 pm
#87
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: OGG
Posts: 55
The food on AA in F is generally, over the past few months, absolutely revolting, smelly, inedible and so forth. There are bizarre exceptions, such as a lovely shrimp salad served at 3:30 in the afternoon on a 90 minute flight from ORD-BDL. Go figure! Was certainly glad to see it, but my strategy is always to take plenty of food onboard and assume the worse.
The really awful (mushy this; rock-hard that) catering seems to be out of DFW, in my experience.
As a practical suggestion, if enough letters are mailed to the Chairman of AA, it may well get a response. Physical documents get treated completely differently internally; e-mails and so forth are usually just a waste of time and easy to ignore.
The really awful (mushy this; rock-hard that) catering seems to be out of DFW, in my experience.
As a practical suggestion, if enough letters are mailed to the Chairman of AA, it may well get a response. Physical documents get treated completely differently internally; e-mails and so forth are usually just a waste of time and easy to ignore.
Jun 13, 2015, 6:28 pm
#88
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 1999
Posts: 12,097
No Michelin stars here, but so good I ate it all. The style of cooking (meat in sauce, steamed rice, steamed vegetables) reheats very well.
Had it last month, on a 4 hour flight leaving at 2145 (almost 10pm). In Y. Yes, it is possible to have edible food, not only in F, but also in Y.
Hint: I was not flying AA!
Had it last month, on a 4 hour flight leaving at 2145 (almost 10pm). In Y. Yes, it is possible to have edible food, not only in F, but also in Y.
Hint: I was not flying AA!
Jun 13, 2015, 6:46 pm
#90
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Vail, CO
Programs: AA EXP/1mm, Marriott Titanium/LT Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 626
I will second this. I have had the duck twice this year to LHR and am a fan. Ordered it this week again to SCL as a matter of fact