What do you get when there’s no meal in first class on AA?

The Flight Detective
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The arbitrary dinner cut off time for American Airlines domestic flights in first class is 8:00pm. Instead you get the usual warmed nuts plus something called Lite Bites.

American Airlines doesn’t stand alone here. Most of the US carriers seem to have no full meal in domestic first class on flights after 8:00pm. Perhaps this is a good thing? Let’s see.

AA1432 – Chicago to Denver (ORD-DEN)
27 May 2018
Boeing 737-823 – N839NN
Seat: First Class 3A
Departure: 20:20 Arrival: 21:58

After spending some time in the Flagship Lounge at O’Hare, it was time to board. Unusually enough, I was on exactly the same aircraft as the previous flight, just in a different seat.

The Bulkhead Row on American’s 737

Being a petite sort of guy, when I stretch my legs out fully in the bulkhead seat my toes just hit the divider. Therefore if you’re over about 5’7″ tall, you will have less room to stretch your legs than if you had sat in other seats further back.

Missing in this row is the little table that flips down from between the seats in front. Still, if you want no-one reclining into you and you’re not tall, the front row is very comfortable.

Before departure the cabin crew serve pre-departure drinks. They will make you whatever you like it appears. I already have a note to in future not have the sparkling wine on American as it really is awful.

Video announcements periodically play during boarding too, about carry-on luggage and what not. I’m used to these announcements being made by the crew in Europe as opposed to a video so it was nice to see something different.

Is No Meal A Good Or Bad Thing?

Our sector between Chicago and Denver was timed at two and a half hours. Imagine sitting there that long and not having a nice meal served? Trepidation all round.

Drinks are served first and I took a wine – again, terrible – and a water. It’s a thing on American Airlines domestic first class to have warmed mixed nuts served in a ramekin, so nothing unusual there as they’re always nice. After this is the main event which I’ll detail below and after eating you get a mint. But what is served as your Lite Bites snack on a flight with no meal?

Snickerdoodle All Round

Forking out hard earned cash for a seat in first class on a flight with no meal gets you a cookie! Being a premium cabin, you get to choose between something called Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Chip.

When the flight attendant offered me the choice, my look of bewilderment at the word Snickerdoodle and frozen expression caused her to offer both cookie types to me if I wanted. I wanted – anything to recoup my investment on the ticket!

Served lovingly on individual paper napkins, the cookies are warm from the oven and tasty. I really like sweet things, so I found them to be really nice. Turns out Snickerdoodle tastes like cinnamon, but why use a boring name like cinnamon when you can Snickerdoodle? Really though, this is the food served on a two and a half hour flight in first class? Are we all 10 years old here? By comparison, above is the food offered on a British Airways flight in Club Europe – the equivalent to American’s first class – departing at 10:25pm. That’s more like it!

Overall Thoughts

There is nothing at all wrong with warmed nuts and there is nothing wrong with warm cookies. However, when you’re paying for a seat up the front of the aircraft it would be nice to get something more to eat than a cookie. If it was a one hour flight, fine but not for two and a half hours.

Perhaps the best thing about this flight is the fact I learned all about Snickerdoodle cookies and how they taste. I guess it was worth the price of the flight after all.

What do you think of the cookies served after 8:00pm on American in domestic first class? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Miamispotter via Pinterest.

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Tyler Costello

What is really annoying is when AA lists your flight time at 2:58 mins. Conveniently just under the 3 hr mark for serving a full meal. Do they think we are all morons who won’t notice the cutoff? Do they EVER actually arrive within that time frame? Shame on you American Airlines!

John Bucher

You should never travel on US airlines in the US in any other class than economy. Its just not worth it. Even a slightly larger seat for a few hours is too much unless you are using points. Still you have to weigh the value with the cost. While most of my domestic flights are within Canada and these are the same low value, it makes me shudder at actually spending money for such poor value returns in domestic “ first”.

Mike Anderson

The sparking in a plastic cup , come on .. no first class here

Lara S.

Don’t even get me started on the random timing for when a United flight has a hot meal, vs a cold snack vs a basket of crappy snack options (banana or bag of chips?). Like 1-1.5 hours its basket-o-snacks, 1.5-2.5 its a cold snack (fruit plate and cheese or half a sandwich or wrap) and 2.5 and longer its a hot meal. I haven’t even gone into the weirdness that some planes don’t even have ovens so sometimes you get bupkiss even on a longer flight. Almost any flight in Europe gets a meal. No matter how short. I think… Read more »

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