Jan 1, 2016, 11:58 pm
Last edit by: Genius1
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PLEASE: DO NOT POST OVERSIZED IMAGES; PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE AND REPEAT IMAGES IN YOUR QUOTED POST.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 2016 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.
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.
2016 Combined AA Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)
Feb 11, 2016, 7:48 am
#466
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: DCA
Programs: AA Executive Platinum
Posts: 2,085
Feb 11, 2016, 11:41 am
#467
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 224
Sorry but what is a double-catered continental breakfast?
Feb 11, 2016, 11:47 am
#468
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SAN
Programs: AA Gold, Bonvoy Gold, DL Gold
Posts: 1,197
Someone will post a link back to a picture in a prior post but it's cereal/granola, some type of breakfast bar, and shelf-stable room temperature milk.
Feb 11, 2016, 11:52 am
#469
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: los angeles, calif.
Programs: Alaska Airlines Gold MVP
Posts: 7,170
There are definitely some out stations where catering is not at all available. PIT, SMF and CLE probably are not those, but I wouldn't be surprised if ORF, where for a long time AA was the only mainline carrier, is.
Feb 11, 2016, 12:01 pm
#470
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
Basically it's only shelf-stable products catered on the inbound flight the night before.
Feb 11, 2016, 12:12 pm
#471
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: New York
Programs: AA EXP 1.0mm, not sure where I am with hotels these days
Posts: 2,795
LGA-ORD
738
AVOD at seat
450pm Dinner flight
Nuts drinks and hot towels
Shrimp and grits or the five cheese tortellini. Neither were onboard as there was a catering mistake so the only option was the Asian chicken salad. FA came to me specifically to make sure that was OK since I had preordered but she didn't do that to anyone else that I could tell.
No PDB since we were late
Linens pre-placed on the tray!
No cookies.....just the Eagle cheesecake on the tray....did we get a meal flight that should have been ATL?!
Amazing we are at ORD given the snow here right now.
Edited with photo of our miscater: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...6-img-0358.jpg
738
AVOD at seat
450pm Dinner flight
Nuts drinks and hot towels
Shrimp and grits or the five cheese tortellini. Neither were onboard as there was a catering mistake so the only option was the Asian chicken salad. FA came to me specifically to make sure that was OK since I had preordered but she didn't do that to anyone else that I could tell.
No PDB since we were late
Linens pre-placed on the tray!
No cookies.....just the Eagle cheesecake on the tray....did we get a meal flight that should have been ATL?!
Amazing we are at ORD given the snow here right now.
Edited with photo of our miscater: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...6-img-0358.jpg
Feb 11, 2016, 12:21 pm
#472
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Durham, NC (RDU/GSO/CLT)
Programs: AA EXP/MM, DL GM, UA Platinum, HH DIA, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 33,857
AA 1455 ORD-RDU 0840-11:30
No PDB
Choice of french toast strata or egg strata. Potatoes were okay, sausage good and the egg thing was fine but it didn't really taste like anything. Biscuits or raisin bread were also offered.
No PDB
Choice of french toast strata or egg strata. Potatoes were okay, sausage good and the egg thing was fine but it didn't really taste like anything. Biscuits or raisin bread were also offered.
Feb 11, 2016, 12:33 pm
#473
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: SLC
Programs: DL PM, Hilton/Marriott Gold
Posts: 971
Feb 11, 2016, 1:41 pm
#474
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Boston, MA (BOS)
Programs: AA PLT Pro 2MM, DL Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Ambassador + LT Plat, COFC Venture X, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 5,587
Someone can certainly correct me here if I'm wrong about this, but I believe the lunch and dinner options are the usual domestic fare and can be double catered on the inbound flight without perishing whereas the breakfasts would be sitting overnight on the ground.
Basically it's only shelf-stable products catered on the inbound flight the night before.
Basically it's only shelf-stable products catered on the inbound flight the night before.
Feb 11, 2016, 4:18 pm
#475
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: WAS/TYO
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP (3MM), DL PM, BONVOY TITANIUM, HYATT GLOBALIST, HILTON DIAMOND, IHG DIAMOND AMB, et al
Posts: 5,912
Feb 12, 2016, 12:19 am
#476
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP (2MM), HHonors Diamond
Posts: 443
RDU-DFW
RDU-DFW AA 168
2/11/16
DINNER
An hour late due to a late inbound aircraft and no PDB
Once in the air, Karen was quick to take orders. Choice of Shrimp and Grits or pasta in a four cheese sauce (as described by Karen, but not quite accurate).
It was quite tasty and followed with the overused choc chip cookie.
Overall service was great. All three F/A's were passing through the cabin regularly for refills.
2/11/16
DINNER
An hour late due to a late inbound aircraft and no PDB
Once in the air, Karen was quick to take orders. Choice of Shrimp and Grits or pasta in a four cheese sauce (as described by Karen, but not quite accurate).
It was quite tasty and followed with the overused choc chip cookie.
Overall service was great. All three F/A's were passing through the cabin regularly for refills.
Feb 12, 2016, 4:09 pm
#477
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: PDX
Programs: AS 75K, BW Plat, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 10,721
I know the West coast (SEA/PDX/SFO/LAX)-DFW/ORD red-eye flights just get the usual snack basket, but do they also get the continental breakfast box like the transcon red-eye flights?
Feb 12, 2016, 4:31 pm
#478
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 224
Actually, all the airlines have had mainline service to ORF for as long as I can remember, but ORF-DFW is their longest nonstop. Thanks for educating me on what double catering is. It's just hard to believe that they can't come up with a nicer double catered breakfast than that granola spread.
Feb 13, 2016, 5:54 pm
#479
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Illinois
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 13
What is served at flights that are 900-1299 miles but depart between 1:30-4:00. I am booked on aa 1703 departing at 3:55, and based on what I can get for food will make the difference between I try for a sticker upgrade or not.
Feb 13, 2016, 6:34 pm
#480
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: ORD
Programs: AA EXP,2MM, DL Gold,Starwood PLT
Posts: 3,876
RDU-DFW AA 168
2/11/16
DINNER
An hour late due to a late inbound aircraft and no PDB
Once in the air, Karen was quick to take orders. Choice of Shrimp and Grits or pasta in a four cheese sauce (as described by Karen, but not quite accurate).
Attachment 1848
It was quite tasty and followed with the overused choc chip cookie.
Overall service was great. All three F/A's were passing through the cabin regularly for refills.
2/11/16
DINNER
An hour late due to a late inbound aircraft and no PDB
Once in the air, Karen was quick to take orders. Choice of Shrimp and Grits or pasta in a four cheese sauce (as described by Karen, but not quite accurate).
Attachment 1848
It was quite tasty and followed with the overused choc chip cookie.
Overall service was great. All three F/A's were passing through the cabin regularly for refills.