It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of American Airlines. Among the major U.S. airlines, they rank last. And that’s hard to do, given how often United lets me down.
While my most recent trip with American was uneventful, it helped illustrate a stark contrast between their product and that of a mainland Chinese airline.
When Economy Service Beats First Class
It’s been a while since U.S. airlines have offered full meals in economy class. All the major airlines still offer meals in first class, but only on flights over a certain length. I gave us 50/50 odds on whether anything better than the snack basket would be offered on the hop from SFO to LAX. Turns out that snacks only was a safe bet.
The flight covers 337 miles and is typically blocked for around 90 minutes. Actual flight time is shorter, of course, but it is more reasonable than the CRJ hop to SFO from Arcata, and certainly better than the shortest flight in the continental U.S. into SFO. It makes reasonable sense that no meal service would be offered.
But then I recalled my flight with Xiamen Airlines from Taipei to Xiamen. It is of a similar length. Actually, it is shorter. The hop from Taipei Songshan to Xiamen is just 218 miles.
On that brief journey, the flight attendants served hot meals to an entire 737. Not just first class. Everyone. It surprised me at the time. Actually, our flight in Xiamen Air 737 economy class was excellent. Xiamen delivered above and beyond all expectations that flight.
It makes me wonder…if a Chinese airline can manage to serve honest-to-goodness hot meals consisting of rice, meat and veggies to well over 100 people on a 218-mile hop, can’t a U.S airline offer hot meals in first class on a similar journey?
Given the typical service on U.S. carriers, I should not be surprised that they forego this sort of service. Especially at American. If American is truly going for great, they might consider differentiating themselves here. But they haven’t. And they won’t, of course. They just follow the lead of the other major carriers, a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses attitude.
Conclusion
I guess I shouldn’t pick on American Airlines, as I doubt any of the carriers serve a full meal on this short hop. But the flight with AA just illustrated what a difference you can expect on some foreign carriers. It’s not that I really needed a meal on that flight. I didn’t. But it would certainly be nice to think that U.S. airlines might learn a thing or two from the excellent service offered by foreign carriers.
As a retired flight attendant with 40+ years of experience, I see several fatal flaws in trying to serve food on such a short flight. First, meals are boarded from the flight kitchen chilled to prevent food-borne illness. After loading in an airplane high-speed convection oven, they take at least 20 minutes to cook at 350 degrees. Rule One of Airplane Food Service: NEVER start your ovens while still at the gate! Most airlines do not want a lot of galley power being drawn on takeoff (Yes, galleys are one of the most electricity-intensive areas). If a mishap occurs on taxi or takeoff, you do not want additional spark-producing hazards. As we have all learned the hard way, if you try to precook meals, sure as sunrise, you will have a mechanical and have to change planes or cancel. It is dangerous for caterers to try to haul hot oven racks full of meals out and try to move them to another airplane. Second, since virtually all US carriers stopped serving hot meals in domestic economy years ago, the ovens are long gone. Since they were removed that empty galley space was some very expensive real estate that was not producing revenue. My own airline has redesigned the aft galleys and moved lavatories and added more seats. Much better business model. Besides, for years we heard “Airplane food is so bad we would rather have nothing.” Surprise! They listened. I remember back in the 70’s flying from DFW to Kansas City on a full 727-200 with cocktails, a hot meal, beverages and coffee on flights of about 50 minutes. Granted, I was much younger and more nimble but I still landed many times sitting on the cabin floor, hanging on to a passenger seat because I could not make it to my jumpseat. You are thinking “Well, tell the pilots to circle so you can be ready to land.” Not gonna happen. Fuel is expensive and I was expendable.
Now that I fly for pleasure I like stopping somewhere in the airport and buying a snack for myself. If I don’t like it I have only myself to blame.
Safe flights and good weather, my friends, as we enter the holiday week.
Thanks for reading and the comment, Jonathan!
Why are you looking for food on 30 minutes flight? I it is an AIRPLANE.
Tap, British, Iberia sells e erythinf on-board on intraeurope.
Latam and Avianca give you water and juice on domestic.
It has a lot to see with the operational cost of the airline and how cheap Americans are. The they will bid for the lowest fare.
Let’s just say that I’m impressed that meal service is part of what is offered in short-haul economy.
And being “cheap” is certainly not solely an American trait…
Keep in mind how many choices you probably got on this flight. Based on the picture it seems everyone got the SAME box, hot meal, and maybe drink. In the US market, customers would be expecting a choice of meal and a choice of a full beverage cart of drinks; all of which takes a lot more time to serve. I’m sure they also have way more crew to get the job done. Sometimes, it’s like comparing apples and oranges.
Correct. Same meal for everyone. But there was a choice of a couple beverages. But as far as the crew goes, I thought they were fantastic.
TPE to Xiamen is an “international “ flight!
In my mind it is. But to the PRC, it wouldn’t be. Plus, U.S. airlines likely don’t serve hot food in economy on flights to the Caribbean, maybe not even in first if super short.
To the PRC it absolutely is an international flight, you go through customs for flights from the mainland to Hong Kong/Taiwan/Macau. Chinese carriers do still serve hot meals on domestic flights, but they’re utter and complete garbage. Did you actually eat the food? Inedible rice and “meat” that’s likely to ruin the rest of your trip if you know what I mean
Thanks for the comment, Ethan. We did eat the food, and I considered it pretty middle of the road from my international economy experiences.
I totally understand it’s treated as an international flight from a visa and transit perspective. What I was more getting at is the way China frames mainland/Taiwan as “one China”.
Qatar serves a full multi course meal in business and a hot meal in economy on those short one hour gulf flights… or at least they did until they got banned by most of their neighbors.
I’m not surprised they do/did, given how excellent of a carrier they are!
Food is what you judge to make it better than first class? Not the improved seats? Gimme a break. That food looks like crap anyways, and different market different demands. Why are you comparing this just to American also? Delta nor United offer hot meals in first class on short domestic flights either.
I’ve had some pretty mediocre offerings in domestic first (overcooked chicken with kale pesto??!). I’d take this over that.
I do mention the other carriers at the end. But AA is my only experience on that hop.
Let me see: biz class on intra-country (Colombia) Avianca was better than any of the US3, outrageous efficiency and professionalism, along with food, with Bangkok Airways, checked bags free on Interjet, I could go on and on. The US3 seem to dearly wish to become Spirit or Frontier.
The more you fly international airlines, the more you realize how poor our “Big 3” are!!
You fail to compare the FARE from TAIPEI TO XIAMEN and SFO TO LAX as I’m sure COST is an issue. Also competition comes into play.
Well, economy is ~$100 one way, which is roughly twice the cheapest economy between the SF Bay and LA. But I am comparing XMN economy to U.S. *first*.
It’s not just Chinese carriers, but Air Canada also serves a hot meal on a short hop flight as well, albeit only in business class.
Interesting. I get on *super* short hops that they can’t offer anything. The Taipei-Xiamen flight just opened my eyes to what is possible for airlines. They don’t need *that* much time for service.
I agree that economy on many airlines in other countries are better than first in the US, especially for short hops. It’s amazing that the airlines can serve a substantial meal in economy for flights where in the US, first class might just get a small water or if very lucky, a very limited choice of a predeparture beverage OR one in the air.
Just a note about TPE-XMN – while it is < 200 miles direct, the flights route via Hong Kong air space which pushes the distance to over 500 miles with flight time of around 1:15. Still it's great to have a real meal.
Happy travels! 🙂
Ah. Interesting. That I didn’t know. I knew we took off in the “right” direction from TSA, which made the length of the flight even more odd.