Without a doubt, American Airlines’ most lucrative international market is London Heathrow (LHR), given that it’s also a hub for joint venture partner British Airways. London is a market where you’d think American would want to put its best foot forward. However, the airline is currently dealing with a major issue when it comes to catering at the airport, and passengers are noticing.
In this post:
American isn’t locally catering flights at London Heathrow
JonNYC broke the story about how since Saturday, February 28, 2026, American hasn’t been catering flights out of Heathrow Airport, as the airline has (at least temporarily) cut ties with its catering provider at the airport. I didn’t write about this at first because I figured it would be resolved quickly, but nearly a week later, the issue persists.
American has historically used dnata for its catering, and it’s not entirely clear what’s going on. Some reports suggest that a mice infestation at the catering facility caused American to pause the agreement, while the catering company denies that (there’s a picture circulating online of a dead mouse in an American bread basket, though it’s not entirely clear if that’s real and/or when it’s from, so I’ll spare you).
In an internal memo, American simply states that that they “regularly evaluate suppliers to ensure they are providing the best experience and highest level of service for customers and team members.” Anyway, over the past week or so, American has radically altered its catering out of London Heathrow:
- Flights are now roundtrip catered from the United States, meaning that all food and drinks for the return flight are also prepared and loaded in the United States
- Because of the amount of time for which the food sits, the airline has modified catering, with fewer meal choices, no ice cream sundaes or seafood, etc.
- Since galley space is limited, catering has been reduced in both directions, so that there’s enough space for food and drinks
- Drinks have been modified as well, with reports of American now serving boxed wine in first & business class
AA: "Unsure why, but until further notice all AA LHR departures will be double catered from the US. Bare minimum catering, including in premium cabins. Only protein or veg option. No ice cream. Understanding is all food will be flown in from the US." Unconfirmed-ish
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 3:35 PM
“Currently on AA142 to LHR in J. Pre ordered meals honored but wine is boxed wine and bollinger is Cava. I couldn’t believe it when I saw boxes wine on the cart.”
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 11:58 AM
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American seems to be emailing customers before their flights to let them know of these catering issues, with reader David sharing the following email, which even offers bonus miles:
American Airlines is making temporary adjustments to its inflight dining experience on flights to and from London Heathrow (LHR) due to a disruption in our catering operations.
We are working diligently with our local teams and suppliers to ensure our customers’ experience remains as consistent as possible during these temporary adjustments.
While we are making every effort to provide suitable alternatives, some meal items may be substituted, and we cannot guarantee availability of meal choices including pre-ordered and special meal requests.
As an apology for the inconvenience, we’d like to credit you with 10,000 AAdvantage® miles. This adjustment will be reflected in your account.
We encourage Flagship First and Flagship Business customers to visit our premium lounges ahead of departure, where they can also enjoy chef-curated meal offerings before their flight.
We look forward to welcoming you onboard soon.
Stuff happens, but this is going on for quite some time
In fairness, it’s common for airlines to contract out catering to third parties. Sometimes there are indeed situations that require a catering contract to be paused, like if there are any issues with food safety or hygiene.
Assuming American paused this agreement due to some sort of food safety issue (rather than due to something related to lack of planning), then that’s fair enough. However, you’d think the airline would get a bit more creative in resolving this quickly, especially given what an important market this is for the airline. For that matter, you’d think joint venture partner British Airways could help out.
I see some people saying “oh, you’d think they could just divert some of the catering from canceled Middle East flights to these flights,” but it’s important to acknowledge it’s not that simple. Airline catering is incredibly complex, with each airline having their own plates, glasses, cutlery, etc., so they can’t just be used interchangeably. Still, this really is dragging on…
Bottom line
For nearly a week now, American has had major catering disruptions at London Heathrow, as the airline has seemingly paused its catering agreement. It’s anyone’s guess when this gets resolved, but in the meantime, American is roundtrip catering London flights from the United States. So if you’re in business class, expect boxed wine, a generally lower standard of food, and no seafood or ice cream sundaes.
But hey, if American is offering some bonus miles for the trouble, maybe those are worth more than the food or drinks you’re forgoing. 😉
What do you make of American’s Heathrow catering issues?
I fly first regularly and find AA first to be below standard to begin with so this latest mess makes it clearly worse. Hope BA brings first back to DFW!
What I find strange is how this hasn’t hit any other airline. dnata also cater the likes of EK, AI and SQ, the latter of which has incredibly high standards. My understanding is the EK operation is essentially dedicated due to the scale but SQ and AA would be prepared in the same facility. Strange indeed.
Another reason to not fly to Hatethrow. Honestly, the UK is so basic in terms of travel destinations, I have no idea why people still go to that forsaken area. Here's the latest: the sun has set so let go already!
Or you could fly in to the USA and experience the quality customer service and joyous welcome from TSA followed by several weeks in an Ice detention facility.
What an odd comment. The UK is full of amazing places. London is truly a world class city; Edinburgh is delightful; Oxford is a stunning small city; the Lake District is sublime. What are you on about?
You acknowledge the situation is complex, but then expect a complete solution is a little over a week? Seems a bit unrealistic.
Way back in the day, Pan Am used to fly from New York to Tokyo via Fairbanks with a crew change, and there was no catering there. Yet, in the tight 707 galleys, they somehow managed to double provision for two 8 hour flights ex JFK and HND. Yes, triple stacking trays and belly loading perishables which were brought up to the cabin during the technical stop. Same thing on 747 flights from HNL to...
Way back in the day, Pan Am used to fly from New York to Tokyo via Fairbanks with a crew change, and there was no catering there. Yet, in the tight 707 galleys, they somehow managed to double provision for two 8 hour flights ex JFK and HND. Yes, triple stacking trays and belly loading perishables which were brought up to the cabin during the technical stop. Same thing on 747 flights from HNL to SYD via Samoa. Double stacked trays in the galley and entree's belly loaded in cold containers. You'd think somebody at AA could come up with the same idea for double provisioning ex JFK for the London flights. Dah !!
Pan Am was then ; AA is now .
Pan Am had customer service ; AA has MBAs .
You expect AA cabin crew to triple stack? They barely serve peanuts without sulking.
Issues and Heathrow are the norm. Worst airport in the world, bar none. Makes MIA look like an afternoon picnic.
I understand the complexity of catering contracts and pre planned meal service for thousands of passengers....that is done months in advance. BUT, BA is HQ'd at LHR - and they are metal neautral with AA, so half of the passengers on AA are BA revenue'd. You would think that as an emergency, they could be a quick fix on some level....especially when BA must be down an equal number of flights to the Mid East?...
I understand the complexity of catering contracts and pre planned meal service for thousands of passengers....that is done months in advance. BUT, BA is HQ'd at LHR - and they are metal neautral with AA, so half of the passengers on AA are BA revenue'd. You would think that as an emergency, they could be a quick fix on some level....especially when BA must be down an equal number of flights to the Mid East? This greatly impacts BA as well.
This happened out of LAX years ago on AA, and I remember having Econ meals plated in Biz. It was horrible.
JohnBoy, you know absolutely nothing of what you post and read like an EskimoBot clone too.
Wouldn't an airport like LHR have more than one catering company? Sure, it might mean a higher costs to switch immediately but isn't LHR considered an ultra premium route?
There are multiple multiple catering companies, but no caterer is going to keep a fast-spoiling product just sitting around to waste in case AA (or any airline) suddenly needs catering and they also wouldn't have a supply chain set up to immediately go from 6000 meals per day to 12,000 meals per day.
This idea might work if you're talking about a once a day airline like... I don't know, AeroMexico?
I don’t think the caterer would let AA renege that easily if there were no underlying issues.
Imagine being so bad that you don't meet American Airlines' minimum standards.
Has AA cut prices? I see no price reduction.
I can only assume if the cause were mice infestation, the story would be all over the news and you’d have dozens of airlines at LHR impacted…
Any pax who expects any airline food to be decent is an incurable optimist .
Any pax who spends high airfare costs expecting appreciation is an idiot .
I find the food in F on SQ, AF, and EK to be quite good, actually. Then again, I'm not James Beard, as you clearly are.
While I neither want nor expect it, I find appreciation for purchasing tickets and flying F on SQ, AF, and EK to be very forthcoming. I avoid the other carriers as much as possible, with periodic exceptions for LX if/as needed.
For the money , one would expect at least C-rations and a folding cot .
The more Ben, posts about U.S. airlines, the happier I am that I do not have to suffer their woes. I really do feel sorry for those passengers forced onto some airlines by their company policy or location difficulties.
an ironic post from you given this is an issue with an English caterer, not an American one.
It's spelled moronic, not ironic
Yet “English” and other non-US airlines do not seem to be experiencing the same issue…
1. there's more than one catering company at Heathrow
2. Lack of a social media post doesn't mean other airlines aren't seeing a similar issue with the same caterer and it's a lot easier to double cater within Europe so it's likely you wouldn't even notice if another European carrier had the same issue with the same caterer
2. If AA was experiencing sanitary issues with their caterer and others are letting it...
1. there's more than one catering company at Heathrow
2. Lack of a social media post doesn't mean other airlines aren't seeing a similar issue with the same caterer and it's a lot easier to double cater within Europe so it's likely you wouldn't even notice if another European carrier had the same issue with the same caterer
2. If AA was experiencing sanitary issues with their caterer and others are letting it slide, I'm quite happy AA didn't wait for others to take actions.
Would you prefer AA waited for another airline to notice the rats before taking action? lol
DNATA is from the UAE and it’s not British and is part of the Emirates Group.
That explains it .
We don't know for where the issue lies. There's just an allegation of mice.
This is the moronic comment. Dnata is owned by the Emeriates group. Last time I checked that wasn’t an English catering company
American is the 3rd largest carrier by seats at Heathrow. Given the infestation is at the dnata LHR facility, it's likely that other airlines using dnata made a quick substition with their smaller operations. The other major airline that used dnata was Emirates, which isn't flying.
The other major carriers at LHR all wisely use other caterers. BA use DO&CO while Virgin, Delta, Lufthansa, and United all use gategroup.
Do&Co must have some extra capacity right now with the cutbacks in middle east flying. Get with BA and work something out.
Yeah! And add more MCE while you’re at it!
Is that, like. more MICE ? ... lol
WHOOP, there it is?
Wocka wocka wocka!
This is poor management for this to go for so long on such an important route. Food sitting that long on a plane seems like an invitation for other issues.
And 10K bonus miles? For what they charge in business and first since the prices have not gone down, that should be at least 10,000 loyalty points as compensation.
I will try for that, as I am on aa 735 right now, in first. The FAs are all super apologetic and to a person the entire first class cabin is completely understanding. Though I'm the only one who got pajamas so there's that.
And if it was a mouse infestation, better to be eating basic food that was made 24+ hours ago, than better tasting rodent infested fancier food that was made at the caterer in London on a flight earlier in the week
You would think that they could've gone to BA and come to an agreement with BA around catering the flights for a month or two while they looked for a new supplier. I wonder if it's a question of cost as BA has really good catering from LHR and maybe AA didn't want to pony up for the cost of these meals (especially with a profit margin for BA).
This shouldn't really be a...
You would think that they could've gone to BA and come to an agreement with BA around catering the flights for a month or two while they looked for a new supplier. I wonder if it's a question of cost as BA has really good catering from LHR and maybe AA didn't want to pony up for the cost of these meals (especially with a profit margin for BA).
This shouldn't really be a shock though as AA seem to be the only one of the big 3 that hasn't realised that there's value in keeping your premium customers happy
Was traveling in business class on AA107 (LHR-JFK) on Tuesday March 3. I did not receive an email prior that there is a catering issue. It was an economy class meal served on plates. That's all you get right now. In addition, you can tell it was not fresh (the plane for AA107 came in from LAX), so just imagine how long that food has been sitting around. And, the flight was completely empty (out...
Was traveling in business class on AA107 (LHR-JFK) on Tuesday March 3. I did not receive an email prior that there is a catering issue. It was an economy class meal served on plates. That's all you get right now. In addition, you can tell it was not fresh (the plane for AA107 came in from LAX), so just imagine how long that food has been sitting around. And, the flight was completely empty (out of 52 seats in biz, 39 remained empty) and the service was terrible. Crew did not come around more often to check in with passengers. Only upon landing the FA apologized for the catering. And, I received the standard 10k we sorry miles.
‘we sowie’ LOL
If I was flying in economy (heck, maybe even in business), I might prefer 10k miles in lieu of AA on board food!
Per OMAAT, 10,000 AAdvantage miles is worth ~$150.
I'll take the $10k and boxed wine over the normal "premium" food and wine of any US3 carrier.
Was just responding to you over at VFTW, because I think you've hit on something here.
I agree that on a 3 hour domestic flight, give me the 5-10k / $75-150 in miles instead of the meal (and I agree that 1.5cpm is about what AA miles are worth). In fact, if there was a preorder option “No meal! Enjoy 5,000 AA bonus miles on us!” I’d frequently take it. Just give me some nuts...
Was just responding to you over at VFTW, because I think you've hit on something here.
I agree that on a 3 hour domestic flight, give me the 5-10k / $75-150 in miles instead of the meal (and I agree that 1.5cpm is about what AA miles are worth). In fact, if there was a preorder option “No meal! Enjoy 5,000 AA bonus miles on us!” I’d frequently take it. Just give me some nuts and a drink and I’m all set.
But on an 8 hour LHR-JFK or an 11.5 hour LHR-LAX… I want a hot fresh meal, not 5-10k miles. That’s me though – others might jump at the miles (especially on the red eye flights – eat in the lounge or on arrival, I don’t need two full meals on a 6-7 hour hop, I’d rather be sleeping anyway).
Feels a little like the hotel “don’t make up my room and get $10 credit” or whatever, but I bet it would be a popular option!
that's fair and poor catering is certainly not something that should be normalized but if I knew about the issue ahead of time (which some clearly did not), I'd just chow down at the Heathrow clubs at T3 and grab a sandwich at one of the shops before boarding
Meanwhile, according to TPG, those same 10K miles AA are worth $500! (Why not!)
pretty sure TPG doesn't value AA miles at $0.05/mile ;)
I believe they show $0.017
Well their parent company apparently values AA SWU searches at $240 a year, so…
You are correct. 0.17 each. Just checked.