travelmom4

I fly AA only a couple of times a year, usually on short flights of an hour or two. This week, I flew ANC-DFW-MSY (economy). Departure from ANC was at 6:15am with scheduled arrival at DFW 6.5 hours later. Onboard, there was a drink service with Biscoff cookies. When I asked about snack boxes for purchase (I had done a little research in anticipation of being hungry) I was told by the friendly crew that there were none onboard. They had almonds and potato chips on offer which is "what we usually have on this flight". Fortunately, I had packed a few snacks but I was pretty hungry by the time we landed and have rarely appreciated an airport Chick-fil-A so much!

I am accustomed to being able to purchase a snack box (JetBlue, Alaska, etc) on a long-ish flight which is really handy when I am traveling from somewhere without a kitchen in which to prepare something to eat. I know that many of you are regular AA customers with many flights under your belt and am curious if this is typical of AA or some sort of fluke?

PHL

Considering this is longer than a coast to coast transcon, and their web site notes that meals are available on flights 2200 miles or longer, they should have had something more substantial than biscoffs on board. Send a note to customer service and ask them how they stock food for a 3042 mile flight with next to nothing, which also goes against what they advertise "Meals and non-alcoholic drinks available". And then let them know the FA said it's a common practice.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...cabin-food.jsp

carlosdca

What the FA said does not seem to be in contradiction to what they advertise

FlyingEgghead

I misread that OP was offered only the tiny free snacks, but I now see that "almonds and potato chips" were available for purchase, which does seem to barely meet the "snacks (for a fee)" language.

carlosdca

Almonds are snacks
Potato chips are snacks.
They were offered for sale.

The flight detail when purchasing the ticket does not say "snack box", "sandwich" or "meal" or "adequate" for a 6 hour flight. It simply says "snack(for a fee)".
Not defending AA's practices.
But I don't see any false advertising anywhere.

FlyingEgghead

I think it has already been commented elsewhere that that part of the webpage is misleading. The coach meals on domestic flights over 2,200 miles are only on premium (Flagship) routes. Larger buy-on-board snacks are not what they mean by meals -- as is indicated by how the charcuterie tray, etc., are listed under "Snacks...available on flights over 1,300 miles". However, they don't promise there that all snacks are available on all eligible flights.

FlyingEgghead

I agree, as indicated by my revised post that you quoted and replied to.

PHL

Where am I missing that on the main cabin food page? I only see that any flight over 2200 miles has a meal offered. I think we all agree that a few biscoff packs don't constitute a meal. It says nothing about this service only being available on a Flagship route. There are more domestic >2200 mile flights that AA operates which are *NOT* Flagship. And, in fact, if you scroll down on that main cabin meal page, they have a separate call out for flagship transcon service.

mvoight

The info icard n the seat back pocket indicates in the snack box info on which flight lengths and times they are available.
I am sure the ANC-DFW flight should qualify. However, they usually run out of snack boxes. Maybe they ran out. for the ANC to DFW leg

Pinned

AA has been very inconsistent with buy on board food options since the pandemic. I can't discern any rhyme or reason, but more often than not they have nothing available to buy in economy.

FlyingEgghead

That's why I said that webpage is misleading. AA actually doesn't provide meals in coach on domestic non-premium routes over 2,200 miles (e.g., PHL-LAX and PHL-SFO which you may have experience with). The offering there is the same as for domestic flights between 1,300 and 2,200 miles -- it is just the limited amounts of buy-on-board snacks listed elsewhere on that page.

If they really meant "over 2,200 miles = meal", they wouldn't even include the Flagship meal entry because it would be redundant -- all Flagship routes are over 2,200 miles!

james318

Is AA not selling alcoholic drinks in Y? Or is this just describing what is free? I haven't flown in awhile, much less in Y, and I also don't drink anymore, but I am just wondering.

Athena53

After one long-ish flight with snacks available for purchase I learned not to count on anything. I try to keep healthy eating habits and wanted the hummous/olives/crackers snack box. By the time they got to my row the only snacks available for purchase were the junky things like Pringles.

I always travel with a stash of protein bars.

wrp96

They still offer alcohol for sale in coach.

salut0

Join the fun on the BA board where people are discussing LHR-CAI and LHR-AMM — long flights where the free snack in economy is now (and has been since they retired the mid-haul ex-BMI aircraft) a small package of pretzels and a tiny bottle of water for a flight of slightly shorter length.

BA made a huge deal about bringing back free cups of tea and coffee for these long short haul flights (but only a couple of days later have now squandered the good PR by announcing a move to spend based mileage earning…)