It’s been some time since I’ve flown domestically in the United States and I had forgotten about the problem they have with dinner. You see, you book a first class ticket and on flights after 8pm you’re not getting dinner at all.
This is in stark contrast to the people at British Airways who serve you food all day in Club Europe. Is your flight departing at 10:25pm? No problem, dinner will be served!
Why Pay Extra When There Is No Dinner?
I have a flight departing at 8:20pm from Chicago to Denver coming up which is scheduled for 2 hours and 38 minutes. Unfortunately it is outside the dinner window. What if I don’t have time to eat beforehand at home or at the airport?
Considering you can pay hundreds of dollars extra for first class, I think it’s pretty parsimonious not to be given a full meal throughout the day. Having the seat and free drinks does not make it worth it.
All Major US Airlines Are The Same
Whether you are flying with Delta Air Lines, United Airlines or American Airlines, it’s all the same. You would think that in order to actually compete, one of them would come to the party and actually do something different. Perhaps it is an issue of food waste and people being offered food and not eating it?
Is It Just Me?
Quite frankly, I love eating when I am flying. Reading my flight reviews clearly show I am all over all of the food all of the time. Airline food is generally good quality and I enjoy it.
The other major aspect is the time. Eating makes the flight pass a lot quicker… and when you’re jammed into 1A on an ex-US Airways A321 any distraction from that godawful cabin is welcome!
Overall Thoughts
While British Airways give you dinner all night, the people at Qantas switch from dinner to refreshments. Their take on refreshments is usually a hot meal of some kind. They realise people pay a lot to sit up front and treat them accordingly.
Airlines in the USA should have a meal service on flights after 8pm. I could probably understand more it if it was restricted on flights after 10pm because there’s no real excuse not to have eaten beforehand by that hour of the night. Unless you’re Spanish, where that could well be dinner time!
What do you think? Is it fine to pay extra for first class in the USA and not get fed? I’m overlooking the whole distance issue, which is an entirely different kettle of worms. Thanks for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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I’m with you. The food quality may not always be the best, but I do enjoy a meal while flying. I’ll say, the warm nuts on AA are my favorite. There’s just something nice to the experience to have a nice meal and basically be wined and dined while flying. I enjoy the experience more than anything. I’ve had some really nice meals on board.
The food may not always be top notch, but the experience itself is one of the last shreds of decency on airlines these days.
BA will serve a meal even on a 1 hour intra-Europe flight regardless of the time of day. I’ve had full dinner service at 1am on Iberia!
On a recent BA flight out of Miami, the 10pm departure was a bit too late for dinner for me so I had a nice meal at the airport instead and simply enjoyed the desert tray on BA. That was a nice little twist. They served it to me quickly then I was able to lay down and go to sleep for the flight to London.
It’s true, the warm nuts are always nice on American. It definitely beats a pre-packaged bag of nuts. You’re exactly right when it comes to the experience – that is what it is all about for me as well.
Good move eating before the flight and having dessert on board. I haven’t done that before. It’s the perfect thing to do on a flight from MIA-LHR to maximise your sleep. Thanks for the comment!
As a point of comparison, I’ve flown out of Vancouver several times on red-eyes (both Air Canada and Cathay Pacific). Both airlines served a full dinner in business class even though the flight departed late at night or even after midnight. Now these are long hall overseas flights, so perhaps that makes a difference?
Usually long haul flights will always give you a meal, that is pretty much standard regardless of the departure time. It’s the domestic first class in the USA where they stop after 8pm. I’m actually flying Cathay Pacific from Vancouver to New York later in the year and I am looking forward to the meal on board. Thanks for the comment!
Completely agree…..it’s even worse if you catch that flight going east to west coast and still don’t get fed. I just don’t get it. A small bag of chips is not a meal. The price of the flight is the same that went out two hours before….just serve the meal!!!
Exactly! I actively try to choose flights where a meal is being served as it feels like I am getting more value for money. Agree with you on the bag of chips! It comes across as so cheap. Thanks for the comment!
While I somewhat agree with the others regarding the quality of the food on domestic airlines, I think the food quality is a non sequitur here. IMO, the reason that the airlines do this is cheapness and a lack of sophistication. The cheapness is pretty self-explanatory, and lately US airlines have certainly been trying to show that they would squeeze a silver dollar until the eagle screams, what with employee lotteries instead of bonuses and trying to put flight crews in Super 8 motels instead of quality accommodations, just to name a couple of the myriad examples. The lack of sophistication part is just a carryover from the small town USA mentality, where you’re in bed by 10:30, not on a plane. Staying up late is for those fancy city types while decent folk are asleep.
I don’t happen to agree with either of these philosophies, but that’s my take on the problem.
That’s definitely an interesting take on things. You may be on to something there. You are right about the penny pinching aspect, that’s for sure. Hopefully it will change at some stage, because I like eating when I’m flying. Thanks for the comment! (by the way I loved the “they would squeeze a silver dollar until the eagle screams” line!)
There is a quote that says “Airline food is generally good quality and I enjoy it” I can only imagine what you eat when you are not on planes. On American Airlines domestic, the food is long frozen (deep frozen I think they call it) Then merely heated up in a microwave like oven on the plane. Every box of Microwave dinners in the grocery store is probably higher quality than what you get on the US airlines domestically. I would say the food used to be fresher and better. It just keeps getting worse… because… THEY CAN!
I understand what you’re saying there. I tend to find the food on board to be pretty good, but then maybe I am not fussy. I do like my food though! When it comes to the reheating and all the rest of it, you’re definitely right. It’s not exactly fresh cooked to order, though I do believe it is made same day in most cases. I think it would be interesting to do a day in an airline kitchen – I’d be fascinated to see what goes into it.
If you’ve ever had food in first class on American Airlines, you would not disappointed to miss it. It’s pretty bad. Yesterday cheese lasagna was a tasteless blob of carbs. No thanks!
I have had the food on American and it was quite alright, except once when they had polenta – I don’t like polenta at all I’ve discovered. Your lasagna sounds terrible, so I hear you!