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ARCHIVE: 2018 AA Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)

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Old Jan 1, 2018, 1:30 pm
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AA/US Domestic Dining (including Canada, Mexico, & the Caribbean)


See here for the 2019 domestic meal thread.


Note: this thread is about meals served on domestic AA flights.

Link to Combined 2018 AA International Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)

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PLEASE: DO NOT POST OVERSIZED IMAGES; PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE AND REPEAT IMAGES IN YOUR QUOTED POST.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 2018 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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ARCHIVE: 2018 AA Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread)

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Old Oct 6, 2018, 7:06 pm
  #871  
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Programs: American EXP; British Airways Gold
Posts: 1,896
Anyone have experience with any of these options (besides the Quinoa...) ?

The red-eye outbound:
  • Choose later Choose later selected for LAX to JFK
  • Wagyu Beef Sliders Wagyu Beef Sliders
    cheddar cheese, chips, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, mayo, mustard, ketchup
  • Sumac Chicken Sumac Chicken
    couscous, quinoa, lentils, baby heirloom tomato and cucumber salad
  • Mezze Plate Mezze Plate
    traditional hummus, dolma, baby eggplant stuffed with walnut and garlic, shanklish salad, pita rounds
  • Grain and Greens Bowl
    red and white quinoa, baby kale, napa cabbage, roasted butternut squash,tomatoes, mesclun mix, roasted walnuts, Parmesan cheese, hot smoked salmon available upon request
The return:
  • Choose later Choose later selected for JFK to LAX
  • Beef Filet Beef Filet
    sautéed mushrooms, fingerling potatoes, honey-glazed carrots
  • Grilled Pepper Chicken Grilled Pepper Chicken
    tomato ragoût, sweet potatoes, haricots verts, pearl onions
  • Katsu-Style Cod Katsu-Style Cod
    Japanese steamed rice, sautéed spinach, katsu sauce
  • Root Vegetable Quinoa Root Vegetable Quinoa
    roasted sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, tomato compote
jcatman is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2018, 8:40 pm
  #872  
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: PNW
Programs: AS 100K
Posts: 1,551
for my flights early next month. On outbound, i've selected the hindu meal since neither brekkie options sounds interesting, On return, I've selected the curry. The chicken option sounds interesting too. Also, wondering how special meals, especially Asian Veg/Muslim/Hindu meals are out of YYZ.

lax-yyz
  • Steel Cut Oatmeal Steel Cut Oatmeal
    with fruit toppings
  • Smoked Fontina Cheese Omelette Smoked Fontina Cheese Omelette
    with Peppadews, herbed potatoes and Italian parmesan chicken sausage
yyz-lax
  • Coconut Curry Coconut Curry
    vegetables
  • Grilled Chicken Grilled Chicken
    haricots verts, cherry tomatoes, yellow pepper, olives, Café de Paris butter
atcanobbio is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2018, 9:10 pm
  #873  
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 361
Originally Posted by atcanobbio
Also, wondering how special meals, especially Asian Veg/Muslim/Hindu meals are out of YYZ.

Bad.
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TheSkyGuy is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2018, 2:25 am
  #874  
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 7
I have many options

I will be taking a trip back home to San Francisco from Cincinnati for the holidays this year. On the way out there, meals will be pre breakfast "refreshments" on an MD-80 from CVG-DFW and lunch on a 787 from DFW-SFO. I will definitely post these. I have a question though, I will be changing my flight on the way back so I have some options as far as meals, planes, and times. One choice would be the 2,200+ mile SFO-PHL A330 flight which but would that be worth it because it is a breakfast flight and they probably won't serve the made to order sundaes or might not have other things that a lunch or dinner flight would. Has anyone been on this flight before? Any feedback would be appreciated. My options are listed below. Which pair of flights should I go with to get the most out of the meals and service? Please forgive me if this post isn't allowed. I figured it would be since we're talking about domestic meal service. Thanks.

SFO - PHL AA 700 Airbus A330-200 (Breakfast)
PHL - CVG AA 5300 Canadair CRJ 900 (Beverage Service)

SFO - ORD AA 2691 Boeing 737 (Breakfast)
ORD - CVG AA 3467 Embraer ERJ-145 (Beverage Service)

SFO - CLT AA 785 Airbus A321 (Lunch)
CLT - CVG AA 5134 Canadair CRJ 900 (Beverage Service)

SFO - DFW AA 1260 Airbus A321 (Lunch)
DFW - CVG AA 2309 MD-80 (Refreshments)

SFO - MIA AA 2548 Airbus A321 (Refreshments)
MIA - CVG AA 3806 Embraer ERJ-145 (Beverage Service)
jawd1203 is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2018, 10:26 pm
  #875  
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Originally Posted by jawd1203
I will be taking a trip back home to San Francisco from Cincinnati for the holidays this year. On the way out there, meals will be pre breakfast "refreshments" on an MD-80 from CVG-DFW and lunch on a 787 from DFW-SFO. I will definitely post these. I have a question though, I will be changing my flight on the way back so I have some options as far as meals, planes, and times. One choice would be the 2,200+ mile SFO-PHL A330 flight which but would that be worth it because it is a breakfast flight and they probably won't serve the made to order sundaes or might not have other things that a lunch or dinner flight would. Has anyone been on this flight before? Any feedback would be appreciated. My options are listed below. Which pair of flights should I go with to get the most out of the meals and service? Please forgive me if this post isn't allowed. I figured it would be since we're talking about domestic meal service. Thanks.

SFO - PHL AA 700 Airbus A330-200 (Breakfast)
PHL - CVG AA 5300 Canadair CRJ 900 (Beverage Service)

SFO - ORD AA 2691 Boeing 737 (Breakfast)
ORD - CVG AA 3467 Embraer ERJ-145 (Beverage Service)

SFO - CLT AA 785 Airbus A321 (Lunch)
CLT - CVG AA 5134 Canadair CRJ 900 (Beverage Service)

SFO - DFW AA 1260 Airbus A321 (Lunch)
DFW - CVG AA 2309 MD-80 (Refreshments)

SFO - MIA AA 2548 Airbus A321 (Refreshments)
MIA - CVG AA 3806 Embraer ERJ-145 (Beverage Service)
Food domestically isn't worth the trouble, but if you can get a wide-body grab that, makes for a nice ride. Also, do not forget you can pre-order special meals, so back 3 or 4 pages there are plenty of photos of special meals people have posted which in my mind is MUCH better then what is normally served.
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FlightNurse is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2018, 8:53 am
  #876  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: California
Programs: AA Gold.
Posts: 158
AA18 SFO-JFK - Business Breakfast. Chicken and Waffles.
-The Chicken had a corn meal crust and was moist. The Waffles had a sugar/butter topping that made them sweet. There was a mandarin orange "sauce" but I did not use it as I used some honey that I had with me. Also I suplmented the biscuits, there was a choice of biscuits, bagel, or croissant, with some jelly from the lounge as well has my supply of tabasco for the chicken.



Chicken and Waffles
MrSyslogd is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2018, 4:20 pm
  #877  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: PNS
Programs: DL FO, UA, AA
Posts: 700
Originally Posted by MrSyslogd
AA18 SFO-JFK - Business Breakfast. Chicken and Waffles.
-The Chicken had a corn meal crust and was moist. The Waffles had a sugar/butter topping that made them sweet. There was a mandarin orange "sauce" but I did not use it as I used some honey that I had with me. Also I suplmented the biscuits, there was a choice of biscuits, bagel, or croissant, with some jelly from the lounge as well has my supply of tabasco for the chicken.



Chicken and Waffles
No syrup for the waffles?
AeRoSpaceman is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2018, 10:29 pm
  #878  
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Posts: 2,440
Originally Posted by MrSyslogd
AA18 SFO-JFK - Business Breakfast. Chicken and Waffles.
-The Chicken had a corn meal crust and was moist. The Waffles had a sugar/butter topping that made them sweet. There was a mandarin orange "sauce" but I did not use it as I used some honey that I had with me. Also I suplmented the biscuits, there was a choice of biscuits, bagel, or croissant, with some jelly from the lounge as well has my supply of tabasco for the chicken.



Chicken and Waffles
That looks terrible!
chrisny2 is offline  
Old Oct 9, 2018, 7:22 am
  #879  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: California
Programs: AA Gold.
Posts: 158
Originally Posted by AeRoSpaceman
No syrup for the waffles?
The waffles had this butter brown sugar topping. It was good, and the waffles were soft so no need to soften it up. I assume the orange side dish was meant to pour on top but was at the digression of the passenger. I would order this one again, maybe put some peanut butter.
MrSyslogd is offline  
Old Oct 9, 2018, 7:24 am
  #880  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: California
Programs: AA Gold.
Posts: 158
Originally Posted by chrisny2
That looks terrible!
It was not the best looking but it did taste good. Way better than a dried out omelette du fromage.
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MrSyslogd is offline  
Old Oct 10, 2018, 1:16 pm
  #881  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: MIA
Programs: AA EXP (AC), DL G (SC), Bonvoy LTP, & IHG AMB
Posts: 1,798
Originally Posted by chrisny2
That looks terrible!
Why spend more than $2 per pax on catering (perhaps the only reason why this dish is still around) when the cabin is filled with NRSAs anyways... Oops, my bad, OP was in J and not in F.

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CHOPCHOP767 is offline  
Old Oct 10, 2018, 1:18 pm
  #882  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: MIA
Programs: AA EXP (AC), DL G (SC), Bonvoy LTP, & IHG AMB
Posts: 1,798
Originally Posted by FlightNurse
Food domestically isn't worth the trouble, but if you can get a wide-body grab that, makes for a nice ride. Also, do not forget you can pre-order special meals, so back 3 or 4 pages there are plenty of photos of special meals people have posted which in my mind is MUCH better then what is normally served.
+1

I ordered the kosher meal for breakfast tomorrow because AA's breakfast offerings are generally atrocious...
CHOPCHOP767 is offline  
Old Oct 10, 2018, 7:33 pm
  #883  
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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 2348 CLT-BOS 1454-1713 737-800

Full PDB on a LAA plane!



Choice of the salami plate or the cheese plate. This was surprisingly larger than expected and I very much enjoyed it on the 90 minute hop.
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CMK10 is offline  
Old Oct 10, 2018, 10:25 pm
  #884  
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Posts: 7,344
Originally Posted by CMK10
AA 2348 CLT-BOS 1454-1713 737-800

Full PDB on a LAA plane!



Choice of the salami plate or the cheese plate. This was surprisingly larger than expected and I very much enjoyed it on the 90 minute hop.
nice! That’s a great offering for a shorter flight of this length.....great to have fresh plated options versus a snack basket only.
AANYC1981 is offline  
Old Oct 10, 2018, 10:26 pm
  #885  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: Delta SkyMiles Gold, Hilton HHonors Diamond, and Royal Caribbean Pinnacle Club
Posts: 1,009
Anyone tried any of these?

MIA to LAX - Boeing 777-200
  • Gorgonzola-Crusted Beef Filet
    balsamic demi-glace, potato gratin, asparagus, blistered tomatoes
  • Tamarind Chicken
    coconut curry sauce, sweet potato purée, sautéed seasoned haricots verts, baby carrot, pattypan squash
  • Chickpea Masala
    coriander-mint basmati rice, sautéed spinach, roasted cauliflower, baby carrot
  • Grilled Sea Bass
    red skin potatoes, broccolini, tomato confit sauce
SkaterJasp is offline  


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