AA no longer providing meals...
 

Last week when I called American Airlines to request our meals for our April trip I was told beginning Feb. they will no longer provide meals-even on extended trips, such as Hawaii. They said you can buy a boxed sandwich/wrap from them, if you like.

Has anyone heard anything contrary to this little surprise? We gotta get really creative packing food for lunch & dinner.

I didn't realize there were airlines still serving meals.

We always take our own food for long hauls.

I haven't had a meal on an airline in quite awhile. Even when they did serve food, I generally brought my own. Who wants to eat airline food anyway?

I generally bring a sandwich, some cookies, fruit, some munchies like nuts, a bagel with cream cheese, and that sort of thing. How much I pack depends on the lenght of the flight.

A friend from Atlanta told me this morning that Delta would no longer provide meals for their flight crews.

You know it wouldn't be so bad if we're just talking about lunch but this is a LONG flight! I wonder if the flight attendants will heat up some soup for me if I bring it? I'm a foodie, so this is going to take some serious thinking...

I'm flying Continental to Maui at the end of the month and my itenerary shows lunch on one flight and dinner on our return.

Maybe it depends on the airline?

DD

We recently flew from LA to Minneapolis and back (during meal times) on NWA and we were given lunch and dinner. It wasn't great but it was food. Don't know if they have changed in the last week or so tho.

If you're a serious foodie then I'd think it would be worse if they <b>did</b> serve a meal. ;)

But soup will keep hot in a thermos for quite a long time.

There was an article in the business section of the local news paper about 3-4 weeks ago that outlined American's new meal plan. Only meals in first class will be provided at no charge.

Bryarsmom, I think you simply cannot qualify as a foodie if not having an airline meal would cause you to change carriers. A foodie loves great food - other than First Class (and rarely even) does airline food qualify.

Here's a suggestion, make yourself a few gourmet sandwichs for a long haul flight. Try either a Fresh Roast Turkey with Cranberry and Brie or a Roast Beef with Caramelized Onions, Provelone and Dijon Mustard. Easy to make - and far more enjoyable than the AA offering.

Sounds like good news to me!

Ryan--yum!!! Do you use cranberry relish? Define cranberry, please--thank you! :-)

For my purposes, I've made them using canned. If I owned a restaurant, I'd go for the fresh. But, I've made them for my wife and I for a quick dinner.

If I feel like waiting, I might stick them on our sandwich pressand make a panini out of it.

I am dying to try www.skymeals.com. For $25, they will prepare everything for me in a cooler type thing that actually may come in handy for the rest of the trip.

Does this mean more stinking tuna cans will be opened on flights?

Gee, I'll miss picking up my AA Bistro Bag from the big container as I get on the plane. Everybody always complained about those, but I preferred the sandwich, chips, and a piece of fruit and cookie to the lame attempt at regular meals. Frankly, I'm fine with nothing, and if it's a long flight will take my own.

I'm fine with having the option to buy or bring a meal BUT I really hope that airport restaurant/carry-out places start to get smart about this and open in time for the early flights leaving from either coast.

Otherwise, who wants to start the thread where we exchange perfect plane-picnic menus -- for foodies, families, people who want to annoy the whole plane (corned beef, pickled onions, and bananas), etc.?

This thread is cracking me up!

Soup on an airplane? All I can think of is turbulence and a potential mess. Doesn't sound too appetizing. Yea! Soup on a plane!

bugswife, if I get a meal from Skymeals.com will the airline make me count it as carryon?

bugswife.........pray tell.........what type of bug are you married to?????.......perhaps a Daddy longlegs????!!!!!!!!!!!

=D&gt; =D&gt; =D&gt; =D&gt; =D&gt; =D&gt;
R5

OK, I keep passing this thread and I can't ignore one comment any longer.
AA no longer providing meals? I thought at most of their meetings they only offered coffee and maybe cookies!!

Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Patrick, touch&eacute;!

I always think it's funny when they announce that they are &quot;no longer providing&quot; something. Like it was free before, and now they just can't afford it anymore. Uh, you pay for everything you get, from any business. If you stop getting extras, you're just paying that much more for what's left. Not that airline meals were much to look forward to, but I agree with Patrick. The little Bistro Bags were kind of a good idea, I thought. They eliminated all the food heating gear on the plane and the cost of loading it (where I figured the expense really was) C'mon, what's the cost wheeling a bin full of brown bag lunches to the gate? Shoot, I though brown bag was what you did when you couldn't afford to buy lunch.

Personally I would like Ryan to pack my take on food for me - sounds like a great sandwich Ryan!!

On my way home from Italy last trip my friend made me meat sandwiches. Put them in a McDonalds type box, wrapped in saran.

What a joy. I would order a glass of wine, enjoy that, eat the sandwich and than the grapes. Hours later the same thing, glass of wine, the sandwich and more grapes.

Sure beat airline food! ((*))

Before leaving Honolulu, an exboyfriend once bought a plate lunch from a Vietnamese Restaurant--the main part was shrimps skewered on sugar cane sticks. He said that he opened his lunch just as everyone around him was getting their bland airline food, and the gorgeous aroma from his lunch filled the air. Everyone around him was soooo jealous.

I try to bring my own meal or eat before I leave, if I have time. So it's not like I'll miss the airline meal.

Those sandwich handouts. How much more disgusting can it be than getting an ice cold ham sandwich? I have opened those things up to de-ice and it didn't work.

Ugh, the only problem I can see is if you have a tight connection or something and can't find a place to get food. Stuck for hours without food, nobody will want to be near me, I get CRANKY when I'm not fed.

First: yes, I know that American will drop most food service except for purchase options. There will still be drinks, I think. I believe that business/first class might still get food, but since I usually fly coach, I'm not that sure. Given their cafe boxes in the past, I don't hold out much hope. At least Midwest Express knows how to do food you might WANT to buy!

I was lucky enough to book first class award travel on AA for a trip to Hawaii for the Christmas holidays. The direct flight from Chicago wasn't too bad for food, but it is 9 hours and it was, well, first class. On the way back, I booked a first class trip where I had to change planes in San Francisco. The Honolulu-San Fran leg had okay food (mostly okay, but dry fish.) But on the San Fran-Chicago leg, all the FIRST class folks got on this 4-hour flight was complimentary drinks, including alcohol, and a nice nut dish. Yes, it was a red-eye, but REALLY!!!

Frankly, folks, the major airlines are in tough enough shape that they really don't seem to care about real service -- they just want to deliver the minimum at an acceptable price, and stay alive.

I have no problem packing food for trip to destination - but it is sometimes the trip home that has me stumped. Although I usually could stand to diet a little on the way back, it is usually not convenient to find something packable and edible for the trip home.

Regarding the cold ham sandwiches - in the winter, hang them out the window of the plane when they are deicing the plane and it will help heat them up.

good one Gail! Remember when they served hot meals to Everyone on the plane? As for the hot meals only being served in business or first class, I think it sucks because people in coach can smell the hot meals knowing they can't get any. Maybe they should put a few micro wave ovens in coach so us peasants could heat up our ice cold ham sandwiches and carry-on food. How much does a micro wave cost?

Wait for it: after a little while &quot;allowing&quot; us to bring food we didn't purchase from then on board, they will soon start requiring us to consume only what they are selling, following the lead of movie theaters who don't &quot;let&quot; us bring candy, food, etc. in from other sources. Their arguments can easily be applied to the airlines: creates added mess, exposes others to things they might be allergic to, etc. etc. etc.

I have to say that Delta, who has been selling food to coach passengers for a while, generally provides a reasonable but overpriced menu -- but it gets VERY old if you have more than one flight every few months. I'm waiting for Delta to bar outsiders' food..... any day now....

Not only are they charging for food, they are charging an additional $5.00 for reservations not made on line.

I had some AA vouchers and wanted to use them to make a reservation, so I couldn't do it on line -- I got charged $10 for the two round trip tickets.

Not only are we taxed to death, we are &quot;fee'ed&quot; to death. ((b))

Aw Budman, why'd you have to slide the political comment in there. Diff. between taxes and fees, at least theoretically, is that taxes are supposed to go for services to us, while the fees are just to keep shareholders and upper management happy.

That said, American has been &quot;fee-ing&quot; its passengers to a fare-thee-well, between the ones you mention, the $100 penalties to change itineraries or restore unused miles to your account, and the whopping $250. to use miles to upgrade on international flights, their contempt for those loyal to them is hard to miss.

No political comment intended. I live in NJ, and between taxes and fees, and I feel the pain. So does everyone else who lives in NJ. ((a)) ((b))

Living in Dallas, we haven't had meal service or even Bisto bags for quite a while because most flights are under 3 hours from here. We will be flying home from Maui on American on Feb. 1 - the first day of NO FOOD. We plan to have a late lunch before leaving. The paper said you can buy a snack tray (cheese, crackers, salami) at non meal times for $3 and a sandwich during meal times for $5. It truly seems that an 8 hour flight would warrant a little more than that :-(

Melissa, perhaps your boyfriend misinterpreted those expressions on the people around him. If someone on my flight opened up such a dish and the smell of sweet shrimp hit my nostrils, it wouldn't be &quot;jealousy&quot; my face would be projecting.

I've been the victim of the smell of pizza, corned beef, and various other foods on planes, and although I may normally love those foods, I sure don't want to smell them while traveling high in the air.

Hooboy! Nothing like the smell of boiled cabbage to stink up the cabin of a plane and alienate everyone else!

What about when those shrimp tails start to get ripe on a long haul?

Please people, be considerate of what you bring on a plane.

Jor,
&quot;How much more disgusting can it be than getting an ice cold ham sandwich?&quot;

How 'bout a room temperature one with mayo...?

Gyppielou-ah, the tale of the bug. Simple really. We go to the theater alot. By alot, I mean about 3 times per week during the season. So, husband picks aol screen name of stagebug. Thereby making me, bugswife. I also liked that it sounded kind of like Bugs Life, a movie I thoroughly enjoyed.