My Impressions of the New American Airlines First Class Meal

This morning I took an early 7am flight from Los Angeles to Dallas Fort Worth (LAX-DFW) on American Airlines. I’m currently on my way to Costa Rica and was worried that my upgrade to First Class wouldn’t clear. Somehow there were many last minute cancellations on my flight and I was able to clear overnight.

I haven’t flown onboard an American Airlines flight since June, so things totally threw me off at LAX’s Terminal 4. First of all, there was something going on at Gate 41. Everything was cordoned off and there were no flights operating from that gate. I thought this was strange since there used to be so much activity there. This is not to be confused with Gate 45 which is now the shuttle to the remote terminals.

My flight was at 7am and I got to the airport at around 4:30am so I could do some work at the American Airlines LAX Flagship Lounge. I had noticed that the Admirals Club opening hours have changed as well. Usually there would be a line to the Admirals Club when it used to open at 5am.

Another positive change is that the LAX Flagship Lounge opens at 4:30am as well. When the Admirals Club used to open at 5am, the LAX Flagship Lounge would open 15 minutes later at 5:15am for some reason. It never made any sense and I’m happy about the new opening hours. By the way, the Admirals Club now closes at 12:30am instead of midnight which is great for that last flight to Dallas.

Last week, American Airlines and US Airways began to align their new meal service times. This change has brought outrage to many of American’s frequent fliers. US Airways fliers are praising the new meals which are now being served identical to American Airlines.

This morning on my LAX-DFW flight, the flight attendant offered a choice between Cheese Blintzes or the Egg Strata. I thought it was weird that there were two hot breakfast dishes being offered instead of a cereal or oatmeal option.

I’ve had the Strata many times before, so I chose the Cheese Blintzes.

The flight attendant also asked if I wanted water or orange juice. I asked for water. Usually the tray would come with a miniature glass for water, orange juice, or wine but this time the tray didn’t even have it. She had to pour my glass of water into one of the larger glasses.

I also noticed that the black tablecloth linen is now gone and has been replaced by a bamboo pattern on printed paper which was tacky. When I opened the set of utensils, there seemed to be a missing fork. Before, there would always be a spoon, knife, and two forks. The point of the two forks is that you don’t re-use the same fork used on the entrée for fruit or dessert.

Downsides

• Tacky paper tray insert
• No miniature glass for water, juice, or wine
• Set of utensils only come with 1 fork instead of 2

Surely these are #firstworldproblems, but it does bring a total downgrade to the whole domestic First Class experience. There have been other reports that the food has been downgraded as well. Last week, Lucky mentioned that he was served shredded lettuce that looked like it was from a Subway sandwich restaurant. Personally, I don’t mind the new changes, but others do.

Have you flown American Airlines or US Airways within the past week and seen differences in the meal service so far?