You better clarify what you mean by "meal"

UA's dining website is like night and day compared to AA. Extremely detailed, with crystal clear timing/mileage parameters, and costs. AA really should learn a thing or two from UA in this respect.

Here's AA's current website verbiage:

"You can buy alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine and liquor on domestic flights over 250 miles. Snacks are available on select flights over 1,100 miles. Selections may vary and limited quantities are available."

What this means in practice:

Flight from PHL to SFO, which is over 2500 miles, no food for sale and no snacks except pretzels (which they ran out of before the second beverage service). Oh and the flight time is approximately 1600-2230pm EST.

Who is making business decisions over there? Does it somehow save them money to not sell overpriced food to very hungry people?

Back in the day, you always got fed, Please no longer rely on a substantial meal! Bring at least a sandwich, maybe some snacks

its a good thing I dont eat on a plane , even in J

Yes. They don�t have to pay for getting food on board. They can put an extra row of seats in instead of a galley. They don't have to worry about waste from expired food.

Somehow, this makes sense to the C-suite. That's why they make the big bucks for these tough decisions. I think one of the job requirements for any US airline executive should be a transcon in a back row middle seat every other week. And they're not allowed to bring food on board.

If I wee a frequent AA flyer, I would write to AA about this. During the pandemic, everyone understood the lack of food service. However, we are now in 2026. If AA wants to be known as a full-service carrier, they need to bring back adequate buy-on-board options (particularly on the longest domestic flights).

I flew the other “AA” (Air Asia) for the first time last years. Two segments and the package I bought for bags and exit row included a hot meal and drinks. Everyone else also had the option of pre-ordering food and I think they also had some snacks for sale for those who hadn’t ordered anything.

On a recent SFO-MIA flight that we did in row 29 instead of J (thanks, Fern) we were offered a pack of biscoffs and a drink. The second drink service was canceled due to weather.

Agree 100%. For any company, your executives should be using your products, including the "lower end" products. If they aren't doing that regularly, there's a problem. It means they don't understand their product.

These threads always make me laugh... I will work a 12 hour shift without eating. So if you consider time spent sleeping/commuting, I regularly go 24+ hours without food. Are you really saying that you cannot "fast" for 6.5 hours? With that being said, I have the smallest bladder known to man so don't get me started about bathrooms! To keep this somewhat on topic, I guess you can call it a kirby cut!

Is there another thread that discusses why AA doesn’t cater buy on board? I was on LAX-CLT yesterday and the only buy on board was the fruit and cheese plate. Not even the basically non-perishable snacks (chips, tapas box). What’s AA’s reason for not catering items they sell to customers? THere’s probably minimal spoilage since it doesn’t go bad. How am I supposed to get my discounted items from my Citi AA cards if they don’t sell anything on the plane? :-)

Back when I lived in Arizona and used to visit family in PA regularly, the gate agents used to make announcements (at both PHX and PHL) about the length of the flight, the limited BOB (buy on board), and that they would recommend bringing food onboard yourself.

I haven't flown a long domestic since moving to the Austin area. Do they still make these announcements? I know I've brought food on. Even at AUS (and at PHL too) there are multiple vendors near the AA gates, many with online ordering options (mostly eliminating the line).

Any food you buy at the airport will be far better than whatever you can buy on the aircraft. Heck, I'd argue that most of what you buy at the airport is probably even better than the F meal onboard. I've sometimes planned connections at ORD specifically to pick up from the Rick Bayless restaurants.

Asian LCCs do a fantastic job with food service in Y sometimes even things like ordering from their extensive snack (and shopping) menu via the inflight wifi, plus the preorders. I have been impressed also flying Peach and Scoot. If any US carrier could replicate that it would be a huge hit. BOB appears so difficult in the US (sure AA is the worst but it's not like the "leaders" are that impressive) where elsewhere it seems so easy.

IDK why AA doesn't take the existing premium transcon (complimentary) offering and at least offer that exact menu for sale at least at major hub airports on transcons. I guess the cheese is the same.

For all the hate Doug Parker received as <former> CEO, he was known to fly in coach quite often with and without his family. That still didn't seem to change anything about coach seating config.