American Airlines launches meal reservation program

[FA Mikey]

Hungry American Airlines’ premium class customer (first class or business class) can pre-order in-flight meals under a program announced today.
The service is available only on certain two routes right now (flights between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and New York’s LaGuardia Airport and between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International), but more routes will be added on Nov. 15.

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/american-airlines-launches-meal-reservation-program.html/

 

[eolesen]

Will be interesting to see if AA can deliver on this. DL tried it with Song, and others have tried this, and it all hinges on what the FA's have in their hands onboard...

 

[FA Mikey]

I think they got the ordering positions lined up and would seem to be a major plus for AA. Since what is being ordered and is on the menu, mistake should be few.

 

[jimntx]

Well, perhaps you are having better luck with the caterer at MIA than we have at DFW. We have recurring problems with the DFW caterer. When I would write up things on the catering papers--such as more inserts delivered to F/C galley than would fit in the carts or in the "cubbyholes" and would just be left on the counter because "the f/a will find a place for them" (a no-no); or, 3 inserts of ice for the whole a/c on a DFW-LAX flight; or, catering papers saying one thing about the dinner entrees and when you took the foil off the dish, it would be something else entirely--the person handling catering reports told me that the catering manager was saying that "these things are not happening. The f/as are lying." I started taking pictures with my phone and sending them to the person responsible for catering reports. One of my favorites was the double-catered flight on which we were catered (just in First Class) with 15 liters of water and 48 nut ramekins (16 passengers each way).

I expect this is going to end up like the domestic special meals that were eliminated after 9/11. Reservations allowed customers to reserve kosher meals (for instance) on domestic flights for several years after they were eliminated. A lot of bad feelings ensued--mostly toward the f/as.

 

[jersey777]

I expect this to be a disaster. I have no faith in anything this company tries to manage. Last night on my 757 flight there was no row 11 because of main cabin extra, yet the computer that kept spitting out the boarding passes said there was....total chaos on the airplane during boarding. This is the sloppiest I have seen this airline in 21 years and there is no way on earth that this new "concept' will have any more success because this is a terribly managed company. Life is all about expectations and when someone doesn't get their meal that they order it gives them one more reason to change airlines.

 

[FA Mikey]

The airline allows you to pick ahead of time what you choice of entree for dinner. It pretty easy, I dont see a problem. There is no adding different meals prior to a flight. It gives people a choice of knowing what they want ahead of time. It seems popular with the customers.

 

[jersey777]

Uh...you ever worked a flight where someone ordered a special meal and it wasn't there? Imagine that times 10!

 

[BarryG]

I expect this is going to end up like the domestic special meals that were eliminated after 9/11. Reservations allowed customers to reserve kosher meals (for instance) on domestic flights for several years after they were eliminated. A lot of bad feelings ensued--mostly toward the f/as.

The special meals were stopped (at least by American) in February 2005, it had nothing to do with 9/11. The problem wasn't that reservations still allowed you to order them. The problem was that the meals were eliminated in the first place. It's not right that someone paying for a meal in first class can't order a special one, especially given that it's much harder for someone with those needs to get a meal while traveling (e..g at the airport).

One of the excuses for elimating the meals was that they couldn't guarantee to get them right. Now with this Entree Reservations service (an idea which I suggested to senior American management several years after they stopped the special meal service except I suggested being able to pay extra for nicer meals), the same risk of meals not showing up applies, so now they should bring back special meals. I am even willing to pay extra for mine.

 

[BarryG]

Uh...you ever worked a flight where someone ordered a special meal and it wasn't there? Imagine that times 10!

It's funny but I've never seen a plane take off without fuel because they forgot to deliver it. For that matter I've never had an international kosher meal go missing either, interestingly the problem always seemed to be with domestic meals. If the service provider considers their service to be important enough, then they will make it happen. This is not directed at the airlines but rather at the caterers although airlines should have been stricter with the deliquent caterers. As it happens, in my 10 years of travel before kosher meals were eliminated, I was tracking when the meals did and did not show up, and the reliability increased substantially.

 

[eolesen]

Hey Barry, good to see you over here.

 

[jersey777]

The special meals were stopped (at least by American) in February 2005, it had nothing to do with 9/11. The problem wasn't that reservations still allowed you to order them. The problem was that the meals were eliminated in the first place. It's not right that someone paying for a meal in first class can't order a special one, especially given that it's much harder for someone with those needs to get a meal while traveling (e..g at the airport).

One of the excuses for elimating the meals was that they couldn't guarantee to get them right. Now with this Entree Reservations service (an idea which I suggested to senior American management several years after they stopped the special meal service except I suggested being able to pay extra for nicer meals), the same risk of meals not showing up applies, so now they should bring back special meals. I am even willing to pay extra for mine.

I don't know what you are talking about. We never discontinued special meals. If there was a meal served in any cabin then you were able to order a special meal...ie ..international flights, and business and first on domestic. The only change made was a vast reduction in the different types of special meals. We never stopped Kosher, Muslim, diabetic meals.

 

[jimntx]

The problem wasn't that reservations still allowed you to order them. The problem was that the meals were eliminated in the first place.
One of the excuses for elimating the meals was that they couldn't guarantee to get them right

Wrong. For several years after all domestic coach meals were eliminated, we were still getting questions from people in coach about where were their special meals--especially kosher meals. When they called reservations to book their flights, they were told that yes they could order special meals. Reservations never seemed to understand that there is a difference between domestic and international. I once tested it myself, by calling reservations about booking a JFK-LAX transcon. I was told that yes I could order a kosher meal in coach. This was after we started Food for Sale in coach. As someone who spent a number of years in Information Technology, I find it appalling that the company cared so little about the issue that they didn't even bother to program the computer to prevent the special meals choices from even appearing on the screen when booking a domestic flight. Either that or the people in reservations were lying to the customer rather than explain to them that meals were not offered in coach at all--other than food for sale.

Yes, you are correct that we never seem to leave the gate without enough fuel, but then you have someone in authority (the pilot) who can delay the flight if the fuel is not delivered to the a/c. Neither the pilots nor the company care whether or not the meals are delivered to the a/c, or that the ones delivered are the correct ones. (Well, the pilots don't care unless it is THEIR meal that has not been delivered. )

More than once, I have left the gate for short flights (say, DFW-AUS) with the catering from the inbound leg because there was enough ice unmelted to do a sorta-kinda beverage service. The fact that we had more tonic water than Diet Coke didn't bother the cockpit, or anyone in management, in the least. The important thing is that we pushed on time.

P.S. Special meals will not be offered. The deal is that those who are booked in F/C can reserve one of the offered entree choices in advance (think some alleged chicken dish or pasta). There are LOT of things this airline should be doing, including offering special meals--especially on flights over 2 hours. But then, after 5,000 years of fighting among those Semitic first cousins, there should be peace in the Middle East.

 

[FWAAA]

Amazing the arguments that result from such a simple additional feature, made possible by technology.

Initially, passengers can select between the Chicken Achiote or the Beef Pot Pie or a special meal on JFK-LAX transcons or to select between the meat or pasta on DFW-LGA. Theoretically, it permits passengers to vote on the meals and if nobody chooses the Beef Pot Pie, AA shouldn't load any of them on that flight. Seems smart to poll the passengers well in advance rather than right before they're served. Do you want the beef or chicken?

Will their special meal be loaded? Who knows? Who cares? Before this, the passengers had to call and ask. Getting their special meal was hit or miss. This won't change that at all. Now they can log onto aa.com instead of calling. Maybe they'll get their special meal, maybe they won't. It's just airline food, for chrissakes.

All this really means is that AA isn't going to pay someone to sit at a phone all day and listen to customers request special meals. And theoretically, the FAs may see slightly less disappointment if AA adjusts the meal orders based on the pre-orders and if the caterers do their job and deliver the meals customers ordered. Sure, there's still a lot of human involvement that can gum up the works. If the data isn't accurately transmitted to the right people, or if those people drop the ball, passengers won't get their preferred meal. That's what happens right now, and this automation won't change that.

A long time ago, domestic upgrades had to be requested on the phone by talking to an agent. Then, AA added an automated phone upgrade system that worked ok. As computer usage grew, AA eventually added a little box on the reservation page of aa.com that asked which segments they wanted to upgrade. And that works ok, too. Still, if your upgrade didn't clear in advance, you had to ask to be put on the airport upgrade standby list when you checked in. Now, aa.com has an automated feature that asks if the passenger if they want to be placed on that list when they check in online. And that works ok, too. But mileage and SWU upgrades still require human interaction - there's no way for passengers to do that online. Seems like technology should be able to automate that process.

Same day standby for earlier or later flights is still free for elites (and various others) yet the harried gate agents all too often snarl when passengers ask to be placed on that flight's standby list. "There are already too many people on the list and you don't stand a chance" is sometimes the response. Standby priority is ordered by status and time of checkin, so generally, if I want to standby, I'm usually going to be #1 or #2 on the list no matter how many names are already on the flat screen monitor (status and checked in 24 hours in advance). It's long past time to automate the standby list. If you want on the standby list, swipe a card at a kiosk and add yourself. AA has cut the number of agents and is going to cut them further and outsource many of them.

Before the mid-1990s, you couldn't get an airplane ticket unless you talked to a travel agent or called the AA 800 number. Technology changed that. We now get to buy tickets and select our seats all on our own. Allowing the passengers to pre-order their meals online is a very simple advancement.

 

[FWAAA]

P.S. Special meals will not be offered. The deal is that those who are booked in F/C can reserve one of the offered entree choices in advance (think some alleged chicken dish or pasta). There are LOT of things this airline should be doing, including offering special meals--especially on flights over 2 hours. But then, after 5,000 years of fighting among those Semitic first cousins, there should be peace in the Middle East.

Special meals are offered on the nonstop transcons (and, of course, on certain longhaul international flights), and this new feature permits passengers to select their special meal if they don't want the Beef Pot Pie or the Chicken.

 

[WorldTraveler]

good response, FWAAA, but it also highlights that alot of the automation around food has not been launched because onboard food policies have been continually changing. Perhaps the reason is focusing on the premium cabin is because the likelihood is that there will be food served up there for quite some time....

but your post also raises the issue of where AA is in its one-time planes to replace Sabre and upgrade alot of its technology... E, perhaps you can speak to where AA is WRT to a res system replacement and what they are focusing on for Sabre upgrades right now.