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ARCHIVE: Combined 2019 AA Domestic Meal, Meals, menu / photos / etc. (master thread)

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Old Jan 2, 2019, 10:33 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: JDiver
AA/US Domestic Dining (including Canada, Mexico, & the Caribbean)

Link to Combined 2019 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PLEASE: DO NOT POST OVERSIZED IMAGES; PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE AND REPEAT IMAGES IN YOUR QUOTED POST.

MrAndy1369 originated this thread. Other posts in this topic have been merged here, throwing his post to #4. For members’ easy reference, we have reproduced that guidepost in its entirety. /Moderators

Originally Posted by MrAndy1369
Introduction
Welcome to the 2019 version of the combined AA meals thread, focusing on domestic service. Please post your meal/service experiences, including menus, photos, reports, questions, and service anecdotes.

To help give us a clear picture of your experience, remember to include the route, time, and meal designation (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, refreshments, none). Photos are welcome and very helpful. Those are rudimentary guidelines, but of course, the format/style is up to you.

Format Sample
This is a format you can use when introducing your meal report. This is just a sample format; deviations are expected.

AA1: JFK-LAX: 3pm
Dinner
A321
First Class, 2A

(from here, share the menu and/or experiences and/or photos)

Historical Meal Reports
Throwback mode? Go crazy! For the 2019 International Meals thread, click here.

Enjoy!
[COLOR="Navy"]Welcome to the 2019 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!)
American Eagle flights do not offer pre-ordering of meals.

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.

  • At this time, pre-ordered meals are not available on American Eagle flights.

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.

Thanks to MrAndy1369 for starting the thread and for the guidelines.
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ARCHIVE: Combined 2019 AA Domestic Meal, Meals, menu / photos / etc. (master thread)

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Old Jan 24, 2019, 2:43 pm
  #46  
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: SFO/JFK/MGA
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Originally Posted by Brooke.E
Has anyone else recently had a flight where there was no option to order a special meal? I am flying LAX-BNA in a few weeks. It is a lunch flight and the option to reserve an Asian Chopped Salad, Hamburger, or a Fruit and Cheese Plate is available but no special meals. I called last night to see if they could put the order in for me but the system wouldn't accept the request.

I have that same issue on my up-coming MIA-MGA-MIA flights. I just assumed it was because perhaps the plane is double catered in MIA, due to the situation in Nicaragua.
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Old Jan 24, 2019, 3:00 pm
  #47  
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Originally Posted by Brooke.E
Has anyone else recently had a flight where there was no option to order a special meal? I am flying LAX-BNA in a few weeks. It is a lunch flight and the option to reserve an Asian Chopped Salad, Hamburger, or a Fruit and Cheese Plate is available but no special meals. I called last night to see if they could put the order in for me but the system wouldn't accept the request.
No issues here with me. Just requested a diabetic meal for lunch on EWR-PHX this weekend. That spicy calabrian ravioli lunch dish didn't sit well with me last time.
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Old Jan 24, 2019, 9:56 pm
  #48  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Originally Posted by zoegksf
I have that same issue on my up-coming MIA-MGA-MIA flights. I just assumed it was because perhaps the plane is double catered in MIA, due to the situation in Nicaragua.
The agent just told me that the special meals are not always available and stated that the flight was probably too short (at 3hrs 50min). I told her that I reserved a special meal on several flights that were shorter last year and she seemed curious to hear that but didn't really know what else to say.
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Old Jan 24, 2019, 10:16 pm
  #49  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: AA Plat Pro
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Originally Posted by AANYC1981
No issues here with me. Just requested a diabetic meal for lunch on EWR-PHX this weekend. That spicy calabrian ravioli lunch dish didn't sit well with me last time.
Thankfully, I was able to reserve the AVML on my outbound flight CLT-LAX so this problem was just with the one segment of my ticket.

If you get time, come back and let us know how you like the diabetic meal, they've looked/sounded decent from what I've seen so far. I was actually going to suggest to my husband that he try the diabetic meal on the LAX-BNA flight but oh well....

Originally Posted by CHOPCHOP767
I do not have experience and am certainly hoping this is an IT issue and not a situation whereby special meal service is being reduced. The quality and quantity of the special meals IME is far superior to the standard grub.

Glad the agent was “going for great” and helpful
I am really hoping this is IT related as well. I have also found the special meals far superior (with the exception of one terrible AVML breakfast out of LAS) and it is definitely nice to have a choice of something that better meets my dietary needs. I know it is just airplane food and I can eat something before boarding but I am still bummed about not having this choice on my upcoming flight.
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Old Jan 25, 2019, 8:44 am
  #50  
 
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Location: USA
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Did a test booking for SFO-DFW on February 21 and was able to select special meals. Probably an IT glitch.
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Old Jan 25, 2019, 9:00 am
  #51  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: SFO, mostly
Posts: 2,204
I am booked on AA 2095 ORD-PHL departing 11:50 AM on an A321. For "meal" it says "none" on my reservation. Is this accurate? It's a 675 mile flight during lunch-time, so I'd assume at least a snack would be on offer.
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Old Jan 25, 2019, 10:13 am
  #52  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 47
Originally Posted by sltlyamusd
I am booked on AA 2095 ORD-PHL departing 11:50 AM on an A321. For "meal" it says "none" on my reservation. Is this accurate? It's a 675 mile flight during lunch-time, so I'd assume at least a snack would be on offer.
It's under 700 miles so no meal but you'll get a snack basket.
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Old Jan 25, 2019, 10:36 am
  #53  
 
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Location: NYC, BOS, ORD
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Any experience with DBML out of DFW for Lunch? I've seen great looking ones in the thread out of PHL and CLT. Right now it's a choice between the cheeseburger and asian chicken salad neither of which sound too appetizing...
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Old Jan 26, 2019, 1:24 pm
  #54  
 
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Originally Posted by HughMann
It's under 700 miles so no meal but you'll get a snack basket.
AA 2095 ORD-PHL 1-26-19 Depart 11:50 AM

Actually, there was a choice of cold light meals, not just snack basket. Options were Southwest bean dip with chips, or fruit and cheese plate with a dark chocolate. Went with fruit and cheese. Both served with mixed nuts. Full PDB before departure, hot towels and mints pre-arrival. Great flight attendant.


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Old Jan 27, 2019, 1:21 pm
  #55  
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EWR-PHX (PHX based crew)
738 w/ AVOD
Lunch

PDB of choice, nuts and hot towels.

No bamboo sticks, just the prior usual blue straws.

Diabetic meal was pretty bad out of Newark.....no protein and all veggies. Luckily I had soy sauce packets with me which made this tasty:



I guess the rice cakes were my dessert? I was thinking there would be a separately plated dessert for a Lunch flight over 2,100 miles? Couldn't tell if the other meals had a pre-plated dessert or if it was an appetizer (which it should have been).

Mints before landing

AA please chill on the carrots!

Last edited by AANYC1981; Jan 27, 2019 at 1:40 pm
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Old Jan 27, 2019, 6:24 pm
  #56  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
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Originally Posted by AANYC1981
EWR-PHX (PHX based crew)
738 w/ AVOD
Lunch

PDB of choice, nuts and hot towels.

No bamboo sticks, just the prior usual blue straws.

Diabetic meal was pretty bad out of Newark.....no protein and all veggies. Luckily I had soy sauce packets with me which made this tasty:



I guess the rice cakes were my dessert? I was thinking there would be a separately plated dessert for a Lunch flight over 2,100 miles? Couldn't tell if the other meals had a pre-plated dessert or if it was an appetizer (which it should have been).

Mints before landing

AA please chill on the carrots!
AA offers sundaes/cheese plates on 2200+ mile transcons for lunch and dinner flights, IIRC. As this is less than 2200 miles but more than ~1400 miles (Basic Plus service), ice-cream "sludge" is offered on dinner flights; lunch gets cake/pies/cookies.
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Old Jan 27, 2019, 10:09 pm
  #57  
 
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@AANYC1981 did they give you the wrong meal? I see a lot of refined carbs - which doesn’t seem diabetic appropriate. I had borderline gestational diabetes and was told to lower my refined carb and sugar intake.
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Old Jan 28, 2019, 3:42 am
  #58  
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Originally Posted by AtomicLush
@AANYC1981 did they give you the wrong meal? I see a lot of refined carbs - which doesn’t seem diabetic appropriate. I had borderline gestational diabetes and was told to lower my refined carb and sugar intake.
FA confirmed this was my diabetic meal
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Old Jan 28, 2019, 5:48 am
  #59  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
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Originally Posted by AANYC1981


FA confirmed this was my diabetic meal
Yes, but that doesn’t mean catering didn’t screw up. What you were served does not look diabetic friendly. I’d notify customer service so someone can investigate. There’s no way a dietitian or nutritionist would serve that meal to a diabetic. (two rice cakes and half plate of rice pilaf?).
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Old Jan 28, 2019, 7:58 am
  #60  
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Originally Posted by Segments


Yes, but that doesn’t mean catering didn’t screw up. What you were served does not look diabetic friendly. I’d notify customer service so someone can investigate. There’s no way a dietitian or nutritionist would serve that meal to a diabetic. (two rice cakes and half plate of rice pilaf?).
Thankfully I'm not diabetic......just sick of the usual options already. I'll let it slide.......just a warning about special meals out of EWR.
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