American Airlines Expands Espresso In First & Business Class

I guess its a good thing that AA can serve espressos in F and J, though I dont understand why its such a big deal with US / EU airlines. Most passengers are tired, jet-lagged and possibly hung-over after a trans-Atlantic flight and serving good coffee seems like an easy win for an airline in terms of customer experience.

I had an espresso on an AA 788 three months ago in biz.

Flew on one a few days ago and they were also serving Boizel Brut Reserve Champagne. Not sure why all the AA shaming, it’s a solid experience. Perhaps the catering is much better out of HND (better than the flight there on ANA), but the food has also been well above Polaris as well.

"Now, I do hope that the espresso machines are properly maintained, and actually work a majority of the time."

Like the soft serve ice cream cone machines at McDonald's I am guessing.

I am with you Lucky, I am more interested in an airlines coffee offerings than wine/champagne selection!

Which is why I find it disappointing that so many top league airlines still do not serve espresso based drinks in biz (looking at you JAL and ANA). C'mon, if Iberia can do it you can too!

Am a bit confused. Thought American was planning on eliminating first class?

What I would much prefer is when I ask for a cup of tea, the beverage given to me does not smell or taste of coffee.

Wonder how long it will be before they set up a tip jar for their special coffee? LOL

Flew on Flagship business twice recently when they stated 'Espresso available on request' and on both times, guess what: 'machine is broken'. Very American-based thinking, over-promissing and under-delivering.

Here’s the thing. Espresso is a method of preparing g/extracting coffee. It, in itself, is not better or worse than other methods. AA is using this for marketing purposes (fair) and we shouldn’t get too excited.
In many cases, a bad espresso would be the worst coffee possible, as it burns and also runs in pipes filled with burnt residue. I have never had a decent espresso in the air. Not once.
If you ask me , cold brew and filter coffee are much safer options for air travel and do not require machines.

So, espresso coffee on these flights (and not even a mum-and-dad café level of options) is pretty much like a complimentary upgrade for an EP. Theoretically possible, but you buy a lottery ticket when it actually happens? There are airlines that seem to manage to offer it consistently even if not on all flights.

I'm not sure if getting attendants to use pod machines is really a way of serving 'good coffee'. It seems incredibly labor intensive for what would presumably be a very mediocre drink.

Airplane coffee made in huge vats with rancid water from the tanks is a good way to both wake you up and clean out your system.

It's pretty ridiculous to get excited about machine coffee from a pod that I'd avoid drinking in a lounge or hotel, just because I can now get it with my 2000-dollar-plus plane ticket.

A reminder of why you should never waste money for business class on U.S. carrier. I can't think of a single European or Asian carrier who hasn't been serving a cappuccino in business class for at least a decade, and here is AA just adding basic espresso.

Wow, just, wow.

It won’t be done. We don’t have the cabin staffing. Period. And the expression pods are manufactured in Texas. No thanks.

The entire world knows American coffee is $hit. Nice perk but I’m waking up in business class before landing for the pre landing meal. A mug of tank water black coffee or cappuccino ; I just wanna perk up and prepare for landing.

I can always grab a cappuccino at Starbucks. Once you arrive at your destination you can have your first amazing coffee drink even before leaving the airport. Maybe the crew can enjoy the espresso machine.

Wow, just wow…you are a snob.

I asked the flight attendant to make me one on the Etihad A350 AUH-YYZ. It was meh...