DFW-STL today. The FA brought around a snack basket (a la Delta) after serving drinks. Being AA, the only choice was the blue-bagged crunch mix. A valiant effort... but still no choice of nuts instead... and nothing like the Delta variety. Sent from my iPhone using milepoint
I wouldn't mind maybe a banana, or a granola bar as a mid-flight snack. Perhaps an "enhancement" is imminent?
They have always just done snacks for very short flights. From ABQ-DFW they only offer bags of chips in first.
Yup. And, I mean, come on...that's, what, 500 miles? Is food even really necessary for a flight that short?
Interestingly, having done that flight more times than I can count when I lived in STL, I can recall "way back when" when at certain times of the day there was a meal service....despite what a short flight it is. In due time, this was reduced to the bev & pretzels. I certainly wouldn't expect much on a flight this short, but I suppose it's good that AA's giving it a go.
It's been a couple years since I've flown a mainline AA flight, but I recall hot meal service in first from RIC to DFW--which is only a 2 hour 30 min flight. That was a nice treat considering US doesn't offer meal service unless the flight is over 3 hours. On the other hand, US does have a pretty decent snack basket on flights without meal service - the cranberry nut mix is addictive (especially if the FA throws it in the warmer for a couple minutes).
so instead of upgrades being the forbidden fruit, are they the forbidden vegetable as far as AA is concerned?
No Sunchips, Twix, Peanuts, branded cookies, or any of the rest of the variety Delta offers. But they had a basket. "Where am I going, and what's this basket for?"
I had my first US flight in first the other week. 2.5h, and I was pretty surprised to only get a snack basket out of it. If I fly YUL-YYZ (1 hour) on AC, often there's a cheese plate or chicken salad or something.
I flew IAH-LAS on UA (over 3 hours) leaving at 9:15p. All they offered was a snack basket. It had Pop Chips, pretzels and Toberlerone chocolate. On the flight back (AM) the breakfast option was cold cereal only. *shrug*. Granted, this was UA but I see this happening more and more as airlines re-brand to either BusinessFirst or, in the case of AA, a lower cost F ticket option.
Whether or not AA lowers the price of first class is yet to be seen. So far, there have only been sporadic examples of this and it may be assumed to be a fare sale. I think AA has a different model since AA charges for many lower elites to upgrade, plus the value they offer in first class is one that many people pay for. When I used to fly DL most people there were upgrades. On AA, there have been several flights I've been on where you can see the appeal of the first class service as people actually purchase it... Two different models and I'm hoping AA sticks to what has been working for them.
I'm not sure why some in the thread seem to be talking as if AA has had some change in its catering policy. A short flight like DFW-STL doesn't get a meal and it hasn't for quite awhile. You've got to get over 2 hours on the plane for AA to start serving meals.
My apologies, I didn't mean to imply that AA had made some type of change. My comment was more of an overall industry observation with an AA tangent that seemed to pertain to the general convo. Your mileage may vary I guess.
Oh no worries, I was making a general comment too but had quoted you since you touched the larger theme.
I wonder if that had something to do with the time of the departure? On US, there is NO meal service on any domestic flights departing after 8pm - regardless of flying time. The snack basket is far from sufficient on cross country excursions (e.g. CLT - LAS, CLT - SFO, etc.).
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