I like the American Airlines pre-order system, as it’s nice to select a meal before flying. At the moment it is restricted to Flagship First and Flagship Business class, but is due to return imminently for domestic flights.

How it works is that you get to select your meal up to 30 days before travel. You just select it online in My Trips, or ask over the phone if you haven’t yet mastered a computer.

American Airlines Pre-Order

When the window of opportunity opens, you will see an option in your booking under the heading “Reserve a meal”. It also has a handy knife and fork logo to help identify it. When you click “Place your order” you should get a menu with options like this.


All you need to do then is choose what you want and save it. You can change it up until 24 hours before departure, or indeed select nothing. You’ll still get to make a selection on board.

When Is It Coming Back To Domestic First Class?

The system resumes for domestic First Class passengers from 13 April 2022. I’m sure that will be appreciated by all and sundry on those flights with meal service (which I choose when I can as I find the Snack Basket insulting in a premium cabin!).


Personally I am quite disappointed, as my next American Airlines flights are before the changeover. No brand spanking new multi-course service to Hawaii for me! Still, something to look forward to in the future, that’s for sure.

Overall Thoughts

With food being one of the most, if not the most, important things to me when I am flying, this is all good news. Things are returning to normal and it’s high time it does so.

No doubt AAdvantage frequent flyers and their oneworld alliance counterparts will be happy. Now to see what delights they’re going to offer on board! What they served in business class from London to New York in January was pretty decent, so it bodes well.

Do you use the American Airlines pre-order system before you fly or do you prefer to order on board? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Eric Salard via Wikimedia Commons.