American is trying to become more competitive with Delta and United, given the massive profitability gap between the airlines. The company’s management is finally realizing that the only way to succeed is by investing more in the passenger experience.
Continue reading: American Upgrades Lounge Food With A La Carte Dishes, Cheese-Monger Carts
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Yay.
New lounge food to go along with the new 40% refund policy for flight downgrades. That screams premium.
I agree w/ Ben.
this is further reason to believe that AA is on the right track w/ its plan to become more premium.
They are investing in their lounge products and these are increasingly important customer attraction centers.
whether AA can come up w/ the finances to support the investment in its product remains to be seen but they are trying
Cheese-Mongers are usually overweight from gobbling down all that fat . They are also usually loud and abrasive in voice .
The only "track" the airlines are on is : over-compensation for executives , paid for by over-the-top fares and fees leveled on the pax .
Given how much more permissive the Flagship lounge access policy is compared to its competitors, these improvements are extra-welcomed. I live in fear that improvements that are "too good" could result in this elegibility being tightened. Hopefully AA finds a sweet spot as Flagship lounge access is such an enormous differentiator!
I agree w/Ben - pigs are great.
My wife has always told me I'm not allowed a pet pig. She's soon to be my ex-wife. These two facts aren't necessarily related.
That hand roll sushi looks totally appalling. Definitely not restaurant style and it is offered at the more premium AA lounge? Looks like it was sloppily done at a run down mall food court.
You forgot to bring in race and gender into your cheese comment. Don't squander an opportunity to be racist and sexist and offensive and cruel.
Nice to see these enhancements. I still miss the Flagship Lounges at JFK and LAX. JFK had nice runway views and their menus were far more inspiring and flavorful than the Chelsea lounge has been in my view. While LAX lacked views, it still offered privacy and a good menu.
simplistic labor nonsense.
Executives might be heavily compensated but the percentage of total labor expense for execs is mere fractions of the total.
People have proven they will pay for what they value. The ULCC model has failed in the US while legacies and their higher fees are succeeding.
AA is going for premium as DL showed the industry what can be done and UA copied. WN is right behind AA and it will be four truly competitive premium-chasing airlines that will be very interesting to watch.
It's no surprise why UA execs continue to smack talk AA and WN; both carriers have substantially more overlap with UA than UA does with DL.
You're such a hack. AA is no where near the place financially where they have to start pinching pennies and wouldn't be able to "come up with the finances to support the investment in its product" and YOU KNOW THIS.
JFK, LGA, BOS, PHL AC’s get nothing and JFK nothing on the premium front. Looks like north of Philly is going to start to be ignored (and they only get a dessert). What’s sad is the JFK AC is awful and needs something. They want to compete in NYC maybe start with a refresh of the AC in the new footprint and go head to head with DL.
Wonder if Greenwich and SoHo lounges will get à la carte… embarrassing as heck & a massive joke when Delta One is down the hall and to the left..
Wonder if Greenwich and SoHo lounges will get à la carte… embarrassing as heck & a massive joke when Delta One is down the hall and to the left..
I wonder if the food offerings will change at the Admiral's Club at HNL. AA shares the space with JAL, but the food offerings are mostly Japanese food (which I don't mind), but having more variety would be nice.
I say factually that the chicken they use at the admirals clubs in many Admirals Clubs including JFK & LGA use canned, pre-cooked chicken in all of those chicken dishes.
Alaska puts Admirals club to shame. The quality and choice of foods, drinks and service at in Alaska Clubs make the Admirals Club look and act like a fast food stop.
The problem with the lounge food is whoever comes up with the menus now is picking gross things. This past week it was sweet and sour pork. That's unappealing to many travelers and low brow. Meanwhile on the cold station it's all pork cold cuts, and they eliminated the hummus and healthier items. Then both soups had cream. The selection a few years ago was superior. Anything with a cart that creates a line creates a bottleneck, sounds good in a press release, but doesn't work. Oh, they need to wash the apples, which we hope they keep. The lotion in the rest room needs to go too. How many people mistake that for soap?
United really needs to improve their United Club food situation. AA is clearly investing in their base lounges and Delta has had great lounges for a while now. United will be far behind in 3rd place with the United Club situation and if they want to increase membership and get more United Club credit card holders, they need to invest in better food for their clubs...
This is now live at the LAX T4 FL, fyi: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/37789559-post336.html