12/26 DCA-DFW: No PDB. Gate agent rushed people onboard and said "We know lots of you have connections and don't want to be responsible if you miss your flights." Charming. Was plenty of time to do a beverage service, but none was done.
12/26 DFW-CRP: No PDB. Boarded with plenty of time to spare.

Complained to AA since I had purchased the DCA-DFW upgrade and received 7,500 miles.

Return on 12/31 from CRP-DFW-DCA had PDBs both ways.

just now....received a couple of thousand miles for my flight with zero service! (including in-flight).
I am glad you got 7500!

I've discovered that I can predict with about 80-90% accuracy whether or not a PDB will be offered immediately when boarding a domestic flight simply by evaluating the age and demeanor of the FA working the first class cabin. Odds of getting full made-to-order service seem to skew heavily in favor of older FAs. Annoying "water only or water/juice" service (especially in the late afternoon / early evening) seems to occur far more often with younger/newer FAs - and especially those who are garrulous with coworkers at boarding. Has anyone else noticed a similar pattern?

While I try to avoid generalizing, I have had similar experiences. On my last BTR-DFW-PHL trip, both the FAs were young (particularly on the first leg) and did not make any attempt to do a PDB service despite the on-time departure.

My girlfriend just flew MTJ-DFW this past Thursday and, even though there were 100 open seats in the back and boarding finished 25 minutes before departure, the young FA offered the "OJ or water" PDB. Perhaps even stranger was the fact that a fellow passenger (traveling with an older gentleman--either a parent or grandparent) was ID'd when she tried to order a drink!

On her DFW-MSY flight that same day, the FAs decided they would not do any beverage service in Y because of turbulence so they sat on their phones the entire flight. Unsurprisingly, there was not a single bump the whole ride.

Based on some of the reports I see on here, as well as my own experiences, it seems that DFW FAs are more likely to provide substandard service than other AA hubs. Maybe I'm wrong.

AUS-DFW-SJC today. Had PBD on both legs. Very very rare IME to have a PBD on AUS to DFW but it happened. Also made it order PBD going to SJC. Lots of brown beverages coming out before the doors closed. FAs we're not young but very good.

Kind of reinforces my hypothesis. Also suggests that training and enforcement (read: check ride write-ups) experiences probably vary significantly by FA age / years of experience.

1/13 DCA-TPA (running a bit late) nada
1/15 TPA-DCA (more or less on time) nada

I do take umbrage with this, as I am sort of senior, and still look pretty young!

Surely you're part of the 10-20% then! ;)

1/14 AA 802 RDU-DFW A-321: Full PDB
1/14 AA 2926 DFW-TUS A-321: Full PDB
1/16 AA 639 TUS-ORD 737-800: No PDB
1/16 AA 1550 ORD-RDU 737-800: Full PDB

I have to count 3/4 as a win

PBD Update?
 

Hit and miss over at Delta....how is AA doing?....

Sometimes it is truly a PBD - Pre Beverage Departure

Had excellent PDB service on ORD-LAX this morning. After the flight we remarked that overall the food and service level were for the first time in nearly 3 years at a true pre-pandemic level.

PDBs last weekend ATL/DCA/ATL, but these were both Republic E75s.

Less than 50%. Most of the time FAs wait until boarding is finished and by then It's T-15 or T-10 and the GA is coming down with the final manifest. So, it's time to yell at Y paxs to sit down so that the door can be closed.