ksweeney

My recent experience has been that I have had to ask for a drink. On mainline flights the Flight Attendants have been very responsive. I did have a flight attendant on an Eagle flight operated by Sky West last Friday from Columbia MO to ORD who said that she was not allowed to serve drinks in First (I was the only passenger on the plane). I didn't press, but I think she was misinformed.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

I've flown several times. Some of it is FA dependent. On most flights they seem offer a big bottle of water as a PDB (the other night with 10 paxs on the entire flight the FA offered all paxs a bottle of water pre flight). Some will come around and take drink orders, some will require that you approach them, some will probably tell you no can do.

I too wonder how many these "temporary measures" will be permanent post COVID-19. For example no meals on flights under 2,200 miles or no alcohol served as PDBs. The airlines are going to be financially hurting for awhile to come so I expect to see cuts in service.

BTW the pilots are being served BOB food now. I know because the other night coming home from PHX the pilots weren't hungry so the F FA offered the BOB to myself and the one other pax in F. Much better than the actual food normally served.

mcrw00

Has anyone flown to LHR or NRT under these new policies in J? Is the meal quality and size akin to the pre-COVID J offering, just on one tray? Is the roll fresh or packaged? How about warm nuts, pre-dinner drinks, snack bar, etc?

I understand that none of these elements should matter to anyone who needs to fly internationally at the moment, but I want to know what to expect should they still be in place after it becomes safe to travel again.

robertablake

​​​​​​I flew to NRT 2 days before the new food policy, so can't help you there, but flew JAL back to the US 6 days ago and the food service was normal, which was very good.

CMK10

I took my first flights since this was instituted today.

- CHO-PHL ER4: A flight that in normal times would likely be too short for a beverage. The FA came over to me and thanked me for being EXP and apologized for not being able to serve me a drink. That was nice.

- PHL-MCO 321: Okay this one is really bizarre. No PDB but after we took off I was offered my choice of a steak with twice baked potato or ravioli. This flight isn't a meal flight when things are normal. Odder still it was an 8:10 AM departure. The FA told me as I was the only passenger in F (all of 17 total on board) I could have both meals. They also kept refills, including mixed drinks, coming the whole flight.

PDXPremier

Wow, that is odd indeed....I always thought PHL-MCO was normally long enough for a meal flight. It's obvious by all the wrappings that this is intended to be served during this pandemic, but I just checked the AA website the other day and they still say they aren't serving meals in domestic first so maybe things are loosening up in this area. The other option is that the catering companies have a ton of food stock from cancelled flights that need to be either used or thrown away (or better yet, donated).

CMK10

PHL-MCO is 861 Miles which puts it under the 900 mile meal threshold. Some routes (ORD-DCA/RDU, LGA-ATL) retained meals due to competition but routes like this did not. Weird to think I got more food today than I would have two months ago where this would be a snack plate at best or snack basket at worst.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

It may be those were pilot meals that the pilots refused (some pilots will not eat the meals provided to them). Possibly the FA decided to offer to you instead since you were the only one in F and EXP. Last week I had a FA serve me BOB that was catered from the pilots but the pilots weren't hungry. I've noticed that some FAs sans food will still serve as normal. The only exception is PDBs (one FA actually offered me something on the ground but I didn't want him to do anything against corporate policy and I could wait until in the air for my Tito's).

CMK10

Two flights yesterday:

- ATL-CLT (CR9): Three total passengers in First, two revenue. No drink service offered to us, the uniformed pilot was asked if he wanted anything to drink
- CLT-PHF (CR7): I was the sole F passenger. The FA asked me if I wanted a can of soda. I got a can of Dr. Pepper. No cup, no ice.

Jet Ranger

I know this question was posted a little while ago, and saw no one had replied, so I just thought I would add my experience to it if it helps anyone.

2 weeks ago I flew MIA - LHR in Flagship First.
Only 2 of us in the cabin of 8. Very empty plane in general - maybe 50 odd at boarding gate, I reckon - there were lots of Filipino crew heading home I guess via LHR from cruise ships.

We were served a PDB of fizzy wine.
After take off we had our beverage of choice from the bar, served in plastic cups. Nuts in a single serve sachet. I had a G&T - the FA brought me 2 additional miniatures and the can, and said shout me when you want more ice!!

The meal was served as follows.
Single tray with everything wrapped - salad, roll, and the starter, and dessert all in the same tray, with a bottle of water.

After finishing the starter, the main was brought out separately, wrapped again, and the crew (who were absolutely super throughout - husband and wife team looking after first class) apologised profusely for it being wrapped and said this wasn’t their normal service standard in First - we said - please, its totally fine. We are just thankful to be on board and getting something, having heard horror stories about BA’s sandwich and bottle of water in their F.

I asked if they had any wine on board, and the FA brought all bottles to me and asked which i would like which was kind of him. I chose one, and top ups were as frequent as requested.

PJ’s were provided, as were amenity kits.

I didn’t have breakfast as I wanted to sleep through, but about 45 mins before landing the FA brought me a cup of tea, and a glass of OJ.

All in all, it was a great experience, and above and beyond what I was expecting.

I imagine J will be similar - but maybe the whole meal on one tray, rather than what I received - but I’m sure it will be ok.

Hope that helps anyone flying on one of the international long haul AA flights coming up. Cheers, and safe healthy flying everyone.

enviroian

Unacceptable.

cmd320

Bank error in your favor...

HeadInTheClouds

Any updated experiences of anyone receiving liquor in F recently? With all lounges closed, that was the one AA bright spot compared to UA (beer/wine only) and DL (nothing).

AANYC1981

I haven’t been flying but there are reports of most FC FAs doing full beverage service most of the time.....there are also other flights with nothing offered.

tismfu

My recent flights (four DFWMCO segments in past 10 days), have all had cheery FAs offering full bar service.