First class. It has a certain cachet to it when flying, doesn’t it? Visions of smiling flight attendants serving interesting curated hot meals to feast on throughout your flight. American Airlines, on the other hand, thinks a box meal of cold packaged items is perfectly acceptable.
It hardly says first class or premium to get food served in a cardboard box. Everything inside the box is then individually packaged in plastic, and you can bet none of this is recycled post flight. I’ve taken issue with the packaging of food items on American Airlines before – it’s not pretty.
The New AA First Class Box Meal
I’ve been served inflight meals in a box before, so it’s not that unusual. The Aer Lingus breakfast in economy class on European flights comes in a box. Low cost carrier Ryanair also serves their “food” in cardboard packaging. All well and good, but neither of these are first class.
-
- An example of the box and contents.
-
- Even quite long flights will see these.
You have to wonder what happened at American Airlines to make them think this would be a good idea. It’s not like they have super large first class cabins either, so I can’t see there being much of a time saving from a crew perspective. Perhaps it’s just cheaper to create a box of cold items and hope that people enjoy it.
Food Is A Differentiator
Why do so many people writing about flights mention the food? Because it’s very important and is a differentiator between airlines. I actively avoid airlines based on the food. For example, Swiss served me better business class food on European flights when compared to Lufthansa. One is an airline I actively consider when booking travel, the other is not. I wonder why. It’s the same for me for Aer Lingus and Ryanair.
-
- Swiss served this on a 2 hour 25 minute flight of 771 miles from Zurich to Dublin. Now compare it to what AA are offering. Which would you choose?
It’s all about the perception really. You could serve similar food presented on a tray with plates and proper cutlery and it would feel like a more elevated experience. You have to wonder what people will say to all their friends after flying first class on American Airlines and getting a box meal.
Overall Thoughts
When you’re paying potentially hundreds of dollars extra for a ticket, you don’t expect a box meal with plastic cutlery. Proper food on plates is the least the airline can do, and that is really the point of all of this.
What American Airlines is going to serve in first class gives the impression that they don’t give a rats about their customers. “Just chuck ’em a box of crap, they’ll still keep paying for tickets!”. It just doesn’t give the appearance of respect for the extra cash people pony up for the experience and that is very, very sad.
What do you think of the American Airlines domestic first class box meal pictures? Will it make you more or less likely to fly with the oneworld alliance carrier in future? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
Like planes? See my “Does anyone remember” series.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Featured image by BriYYZ via Wikimedia Commons.
Box images via TheFlyGuy2 on FlyerTalk.
Oh, where to begin. Since 9-11, some would argue before that, US domestic “First Class” has been anything but, outside of a few trans-con flights to/from LAX/SFO/NYC/BOS/WAS. Since the advent of Economy+ I haven’t seen the need to spend money on domestic first. A little extra legroom in E+, I can indulge my fast food cravings at the airport. I rarely eat fast food except when I travel, to me that’s part of the fun. Living in St. Louis, I’m 4 hours or so max from any point in the lower 48 states so there really is no justification to… Read more »
While we will never get back to the halcyon days of hot meals in economy, it is a bit of a misnomer to call something first class and then give people as little as possible. Food is cheap, and I believe it is the perception that counts. These boxes are certainly not first class. Sounds like you’re in a good location to be that close to everywhere you’d want to go within the US!! Now all we need is the Whopper with cheese to be sold on board and everyone would be happy 🙂
They don’t care. Why should they? Most everybody up front is a free upgrade so why care what they think. Only those of us who actually pay to be there try to choose other carriers but in spite of all the blather, there are usually few competitive carrier choices in most markets.
What American Airlines is going to serve in first class gives the impression that they don’t give a rats about their customers. “Just chuck ’em a box of crap, they’ll still keep paying for tickets!”.
Yes, I’m one who is generally paying for my tickets when I am flying first class domestically in the USA. Agreed, there often isn’t much of a choice, depending on the market. I know I am sometimes restricted in that way too. Thanks for the comment!
Considering that 85% of domestic first class are passengers with upgrades. I think upgrades should be discontinued and let people buy first class tickets to get the rose class experience. Buying economy is different.
You know, that thought had crossed my mind. It would save so much hassle, work and stress to do away with “the upgrade list” altogether and just sell the seats. Won’t happen though, because people would scream bloody murder over it, even though 90% of the time they never get upgraded anyway.
I’ve read that United has recently announced new aircraft orders with seatback tv’s. They’ve also announced new inflight services which feature hot meals. I already have achieved lifetime status on AA so that’s not going away. Therefore, once I start traveling again (always in First or Business) my choice of carrier is going to be solely on I who has the best inflight services and components. I’m not settling anymore. Life is too short
Yes, I recently saw their very well produced promotional video about the seatback TVs and all the rest of it. I thought it was very well done! You’re in an enviable position, having lifetime status. That really opens up your options – and you may as well spend your money on the airlines that give you what you want, rather than being stuck to something that isn’t working for you. Thanks for the comment!