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2017 Combined AA Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)

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Old Dec 31, 2016, 10:45 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: JY1024
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PLEASE: DO NOT POST OVERSIZED IMAGES; PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE AND REPEAT IMAGES IN YOUR QUOTED POST.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 2017 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.
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Old Sep 20, 2017, 12:56 pm
  #976  
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Join Date: Nov 2007
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SNA-ORD
AA 2517
737-800
7:00a-1:00p
September 20, 2017


Excellent crew offered PDBs and multiple passes thru the cabin throughout the fight. Alas, it's been 6 months since my last midcon meal and who'd have thought that #GoingForGreat could get even worse. Choice of Continental Fruit Plate or something called the Breakfast Sandwich.



The fruit was good, but the Sandwich? Yikes. Peeling back the layers. My, doesn't that look inviting.





The non bread part.



Chobani Vanilla yogurt? Yuck. Why bother?



I'm thinking that someone in catering gets a bonus for reducing midcon meal costs to less than $1 per meal. You know it's bad when you long for UA's old Jeff McMuffin.
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Old Sep 20, 2017, 12:59 pm
  #977  
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JFK-LAX
First Class
LAA A321T
Lunch

Flagship check-in at JFK wasn't open since they didn't have anyone there....WTH?

Had a delicious made to order omelette in Flagship First Dining



Very nice FC service on this flight. Full PDB offered in glassware.







I skipped the salmon plate





Thai beef was good and much better than the version I had in Business a few months ago.



Sat across the aisle from Judy Dench and a couple of rows ahead of Lonnie Anderson :-:
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Old Sep 20, 2017, 1:04 pm
  #978  
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Well, if it must be said (to SFO777 - forgot to quote his post), these things were on a super sale. The caterer made a bunch of Continental Fruit Plates without realizing there was no more Continental. Apparently AA bought them.
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Old Sep 21, 2017, 12:30 pm
  #979  
 
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA
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AA2029 LAX-DEN
7:55 p.m. - 11:20 p.m. 2:25
A319 (ex US/HP)/2D/Dinner
September, 2017


PDBs were offered at the gate (53, which still seems like a DL gate but that's another story). The crew was great, including the F flight attendant, named Sam, who was just a hoot. She was so friendly and just worked non-stop.

Warm nuts (very warm to the point of being overdone) and Chardonnay to start.



Dinner was a choice of chicken with herbs de Provence or an enchilada-type dish. The chicken was rubbed with a spice blend and came with green beans, red pepper and a vegetable risotto. Quite nice (and not much liquid at the bottom of the dish as seems common). Also on the tray was a roll/butter and a salad with goat cheese, cranberries and oranges, served with olive oil/vinaigrette.



Dessert was a choice of a warm chocolate-chip or snickerdoodle cookie. I chose the latter. Very nice flight; we arrived a few minutes early.

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Old Sep 22, 2017, 1:20 am
  #980  
 
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Flew LAX-MIA on the 77W in business with a breakfast choice of oatmeal, the breakfast burrito or chicken waffles.

Had the waffles and regretted it. Why can't they just serve normal breakfast? This isn't Flagship.
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Old Sep 22, 2017, 8:32 am
  #981  
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LAX-JFK
Flagship First
A321T LAA
Redeye Snack

Used the new AA Priority check-in area at LAX-T5 which was private and kinda cool. Although if you have Pre-Check you have to walk over to the main security lane.

Full PDB in glassware

Nuts and drink of choice after takeoff

Had the meatloaf





Never saw the scones before arrival, but could have missed them due to me sleeping.

Hot towels on descent

Kate Hudson sitting one row in front of me
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Old Sep 22, 2017, 10:26 am
  #982  
 
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Originally Posted by Schwann
Flew LAX-MIA on the 77W in business with a breakfast choice of oatmeal, the breakfast burrito or chicken waffles.

Had the waffles and regretted it. Why can't they just serve normal breakfast? This isn't Flagship.
I recall reporting on the waffles upthread: they are to be avoided... always!
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Old Sep 22, 2017, 11:46 am
  #983  
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Originally Posted by Schwann
Why can't they just serve normal breakfast? This isn't Flagship.
Amen to that. I have a (non Flagship) 4.5 hour flight coming up in first and the breakfast choices of oatmeal or the eggs in a biscuit with gravy thing both sound disgusting to me (a colleague of mine recently had the latter on AA and confirmed my suspicions in that regard). An omelet or scrambled eggs with a breakfast meat and breakfast potato should always be on offer as one of the choices IMO!
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Old Sep 22, 2017, 1:47 pm
  #984  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Originally Posted by PremiumSeat
Amen to that. I have a (non Flagship) 4.5 hour flight coming up in first and the breakfast choices of oatmeal or the eggs in a biscuit with gravy thing both sound disgusting to me (a colleague of mine recently had the latter on AA and confirmed my suspicions in that regard). An omelet or scrambled eggs with a breakfast meat and breakfast potato should always be on offer as one of the choices IMO!
IMHO, the biscuits and gravy are great (if it's still the same buiscuits and chorizo gravy meal I had last year). It's high in sodium, but it's something I'd actually order in a restaurant.
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Old Sep 22, 2017, 2:31 pm
  #985  
 
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Originally Posted by brewdog11
IMHO, the biscuits and gravy are great (if it's still the same buiscuits and chorizo gravy meal I had last year). It's high in sodium, but it's something I'd actually order in a restaurant.
Agreed. My husband and I both had this meal earlier this month (ORD-LGA), and we both commented on how it was one of the best non-transcon breakfasts we've had on AA in a while.
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Old Sep 22, 2017, 3:42 pm
  #986  
 
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Originally Posted by AANYC1981
LAX-JFK
Flagship First
A321T LAA
Redeye Snack

Used the new AA Priority check-in area at LAX-T5 which was private and kinda cool. Although if you have Pre-Check you have to walk over to the main security lane.
Can you expand on this? Does the AA Priority Check-in have its own TSA screening lane?

And even if you have TSA Pre-check, what prevents you from proceeding through the regular screening lane?
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Old Sep 25, 2017, 12:23 pm
  #987  
 
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Does anyone have any experience on what "lunch" is on the PSA DCA-MSP flight lately? I guess you can't pre-order on Eagle flights as nothing comes up, yet aa.com says there is indeed a lunch meal service.
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Old Sep 25, 2017, 6:08 pm
  #988  
 
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Originally Posted by USFlyerUS
Does anyone have any experience on what "lunch" is on the PSA DCA-MSP flight lately? I guess you can't pre-order on Eagle flights as nothing comes up, yet aa.com says there is indeed a lunch meal service.
My last time on this flight was about a month ago, so data could be dated, but I seem to recall I had a choice of salad (I think cobb) and a sandwich wrap (I think chicken). Honestly, I don't recall much so couldn't have been that great. Typical Eagle catering though.
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Old Sep 25, 2017, 6:29 pm
  #989  
 
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Originally Posted by USFlyerUS
Does anyone have any experience on what "lunch" is on the PSA DCA-MSP flight lately?
I can't say anything about this particular route but found on my recent trip that catering generally is sub-par on Eagle flights and am still having nightmares of those awful chilled cold nuts. No pre-ordering either, that is correct. As someone has said already, expect a choice of salad, wrap or antipasti platter or similar- all as icey cold as their nuts
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Old Sep 25, 2017, 6:50 pm
  #990  
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Originally Posted by jcatman
Can you expand on this? Does the AA Priority Check-in have its own TSA screening lane?

And even if you have TSA Pre-check, what prevents you from proceeding through the regular screening lane?
Even if you have PC you can still use the more private Priority security lane which is right where the elevator drops you off and appears to be just for the Priority check-in experience only (it was empty at 9pm). I didn't feel like going through normal security and walked over to the PC line so I didn't have to take my shoes off etc. It's only like 30 seconds of more walking to the PC line.
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