Retro??? How about actual food!!!
American Airlines is marking its upcoming 100th anniversary with a nostalgic nod to its past.
Capitalizing on today’s popular retro food trend, the airline is introducing luxury menu offerings inspired by the Roaring Twenties. Beginning Feb. 9, travelers are able to preorder special dishes, with menus appearing on select flights starting in March, the airline said in a news release.
Adding decadent dishes like beef Wellington and prawn cocktail isn’t just a step back in time. The move also apparently addresses a growing frustration among travelers that in-flight dining has been less than satisfactory in recent years.
Full article, HERE from Fox News.
After literally YEARS of peanuts/pretzels, the itty bitty glass of water or coke, and the occasional bag of chips, they are supposedly bringing back ‘retro’ foods, of course, they will only be on long distance/international flights, and only in 1st/Business…
I am old enough to remember getting actual food in coach between DC and Chicago on a 727! Served on a plate with real silverware, not an unknown food item in a tub with the cheep Chinesium knife/fork that bent if you stabbed your ‘meal’ too hard.
I’ll bet this promotion doesn’t last more than 90 days either…
And the bean counters will be crying over every $.10 of lost profit.
Hell, I’d bet most folks would just be happy to be treated as humans, and not cattle shoved on the airplanes. Personally, ‘I’ am thankful I no longer have to travel at least monthly for work. Now, I only travel when I want to, and only by air if I can’t drive there more cheaply than the plane ticket (including gas, and hotel on the road).
What do y’all say?
By the time I flew in my first commercial air liner (about 30 years old in 1993), airline food was a TV dinner pretty much. Snack bag of peanuts and that was it. Never saw a real meal, but I’m not to bent out of shape. Hell, a 6″ submarine sandwich would have been my preference.
Yeah, I remember when flying was fun… and something of a special occasion. Once the accountants took over from the aircraft people running the airlines the business was doomed to mediocrity.
I remember flying as a kid and later as I grew up with good food and space. It ended. Going to the airport, check in, waiting, the flight and if you meet another flight in another city to catch the second part it is a total mess. I have on many business flights over the years had problems due to weather causing me to make the next day or very late night, or loss of luggage.
Now the reports of DEI hires for Plane Captains and second seat plus DEI hires in Air Traffic Control under Obama and Biden ended my want to fly. I will spend the time and money to rent a car and travel the roads vs flying.
I remember a story from back in that time where a bean counter got an award for saving the airline $40K by removing 1 olive from the cocktails.
And the service has progressively gone downhill from there.
I don’t care about price or time…if it’s personal travel, I’m driving.
For work, you can travel anywhere in the US within a day by air, so I can’t drive if it would take me more than a day to get there…but if I can drive it in 13 hours or less, I’ll do that in a day. Essentially anything within about 700 miles or so, I’m driving it.
The bottom line, though, is AA isn’t doing this to compete with other forms of travel, they’re doing it to compete against other airlines. Hey…if I’ve gotta fly somewhere anyway, I may as well go with the Airline that’s going to offer me a decent meal right?
Unfortunately, my company won’t spring for “business” class most of the time, so I’d have to pay for the upgrade myself. Which means their newfound enthusiasm for feeding their higher-end customers has no impact on me.
Not to mention my last couple of experiences with AA have been nightmarish. It tends to go in cycles. One airline will be decent for a while, then they’ll go to crap and another will rise to the top. I preferred AA for a time, but now it seems Delta is the one doing things best so that’s who I’ve flown with the past few trips. That’ll last for a while and they’ll start slacking off, maybe next it will be United, or even Southwest.
I’m only partial to the airline that gets me where I’m going reliably, on time and with all my bags and cargo.
That’s their only job. If they can’t do that efficiently and reliably, I’ve got no use for them or their “retro” meals.
I recall flying to St. Louis from Kansas City 50+ years ago. No sooner had we gained altitude then the stews started wheeling out the chow. And legroom!
I’ll take that back another 10 years ago. Detroit to Chicago (ORD), full meal with real plates and silverware. Plus the little 4-pack of Winstons with the meal. Of course, I was 11 years old, and didn’t start smoking for a few more years, but it was a memorable touch.
And it was on a DC-6, so there was actually time to have a decent meal. (The SFO to Munich trips had their moments in 2001 & 2; Lufthansa was a decent airline. Haven’t flown since.)
When comparing benefits and service options from then and now, it is important to also consider the relative COST from then and now. Prior to airline deregulation, air travel was hugely more expensive compared to average income and thus much less traveled than today. What used to cost 5-10% of an annual income now costs 1-2%. In many cases, it is cheaper to fly several hundred miles than it is to drive that distance. Considering the standard IRS mileage rate of @$.70 per mile (all costs – gas, insurance, tires, repairs, depreciation, etc), a cross-country drive from FL to CA costs about TWO THOUSAND dollars (3000 miles x $.70) one way! Compare that to a cross-country economy flight from FL (MCO) to CA (LAX), which I can get for about $400 round trip!!
“Oh those darned bean counters, forcing me to buy a $15 sandwich made just the way I like it at the airport and take it on the plane with me, instead of charging me $3600 more and requiring me to spend two weeks on the road in my car.”
You think you can buy a $15 sandwich at the airport? Well, you can, but not for $15.
Also, last year when I flew all the restaurants and concession stands closed long before the last flight and didn’t open til long after the first flight, so didn’t even have that option. Couldn’t buy a cup of coffee when my red-eye landed, even though the car rental counter didn’t open for another hour and a half. It sucked.
Always like this piece of artwork.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/winniezazu/669728896
“Now, I only travel when I want to, and only by air if I can’t drive”
I don’t care if driving costs more. I loathe the whole terminal experience. The one trip I make most often is 1,600 miles each way with one motel night. Retirement means I control my time, thank you very much.
ditto. even when i go cross-country.
First flight was 8/15/1963, New Orleans to San Antonio, having been sworn in a couple of hours before boarding. Don’t remember any food, but I do remember our little group of inductees was obvious. Among the others, all ladies were in nice dresses and all men were in suits.
My 1st flight on an airline was about then. HNL – SFO – ORD in a DC-6. I don’t remember it being loud. I was a young boy excited and fascinated to look out the window the whole way.
They’re a bit early – 10 yrs – for their 100th birthday. This gimic won’t last. Maybe it’s am advent of what’s to come.
AA was the flagship for the DC-2 and DC-3.
One year ago I took my last flight on an airline. Never again except if some very urgent thing comes.
I’ve flown in only one commercial flight. I was about five, and it was with my family on a short flight to Dallas. I don’t remember much, and feel blessed I haven’t had to fly that way since then. I don’t think I’d like it, since commercial bus rides have convinced me I don’t care for such experience.
I have flown in private planes, and helicopters. Those I don’t mind. In fact, I’ve found them a pleasant experience. Like an automobile, if you survive the trip, you can always jerk a knot in the butt of the driver if they are incompetent.
My first airplane trip was around 1983, on Piedmont, from Newark to Tampa, and not direct either direction. Each leg of the trip, even if it was only 60-90 minutes, they served a decent sandwich, chips, and beverage.
First airline flight was courtesy of Uncle after finishing AIT at Ft Hood in 1960. Convair 240 with some age on it with some third tier air transport company. Don’t remember the meals or even if there were any. Some little airstrip somewhere around Ft Hood to somewhere close to Ft Dix on the way to the troop ship docked at New York. Good times.
X2
DC-4 Ft Leonard Wood to Dix then an all inclusive cruise on the General Maurice Rose.
Westjet has just cancelled 10 US destinations from Canada. As there are not enough willing travelers wanting to go there. Humph. Oh hey we’ll give out free dill pickles too!
“Please please fly the friendly skies” snort, hork spit.
All- Yes, things are different, including the prices. But I do agree that the bean counters have impacted what we get to eat or don’t get… My first flight was 1969, Dallas to Atlanta, to Rome. Stretch DC-8. And we got fed on every leg.
Polimath- Makes travel ‘interesting’… Drive or???
Oh my, their food is revolting and sick making. I made the bad mistake of eating their horrific food on a flight from DFW to LHR in September. Awful. On the way back? Supplied my own food.
Of course it didn’t used to be this way. First Class luxuries like actual cutlery where there for us all. I remember, even though a child at the time.
What money grubbing crooks.
LSP- Yep! That they are!
“Unions, airlines, FAA, they’re all crooks. Every last one of them.’
-Capt. Ouver
Try to understand the airline business. Seriously, go ahead and try. Some years ago I read a bunch about ticketing, revenue seats, the whole ball of wax. First a throbbing headache. Then your eyes will bleed. You will get angry, then positively baffled.
It is one severely twisted racket. I’ve talked with airline insiders. Decades of experience and still they don’t understand. No other industry is as incomprehensible as the airlines. What a mess.
Earliest flight I can remember was aboard a Connie in 1959. Being a cute 4 1/2 year old I even got a tour of the flight deck.
Later in life I discovered asking for a “Diabetic Meal” got me a tray of real food. Flying from HNL-SYD in 1986 I enjoyed 3 excellent meals. Last international flight was in ’90 on Aer Lingus. Don’t know what was more tasty; the meal or the stewardesses. Last domestic flight was May, ’24. Pretzels and soda. The following September Smarter Half and I traveled between the same cities (Knoxville, Tn and SEA) and back via car. Fuel, food, and motels cost the same as 2 first class round trip tickets.
As little as I think of Amtrak, I have to give them this. Even travelling Amtrak coach, one gets real food beyond what airline First Class presumes to even imagine.
The problem with Amtrak is that it costs as much as air travel and takes longer than driving. Sometimes a LOT longer.
I had a vehicle stranded at a mechanic’s shop a little less than 300 miles away a few years ago. 4 hour drive. I was trying to figure out the best way to get there to pick it up and drive home.
Amtrak would have taken me 18 hours. The only route would take me north all the way to DC before turning back south to where I needed to go with multiple stops and a layover.
The least expensive and least time option turned out to be a one way car rental. Still wasn’t cheap, but at least I got there and got my truck back home in a day.
Remember when people dressed and acted like civilized human beings to fly? Today the norm is pajama pants, flip flops and all of your worldly possessions stuffed into WalMart bags as a carry-on.
Mrs LFB and I just spend the money to fly Business or First Class. There we get treated a little better. Not much, but a little.
As far as food goes, did anyone have the chance to fly Midwest Express out of Milwaukee? That’s all we would fly when we lived there. Two across big leather seats throughout without a class distinction. Meals were delicious and served on real China with real silverware and small, personal glass salt & pepper shakers. After meal service, you could start smelling something. The planes had a friggin’ oven on board where they baked and handed out fresh, warm chocolate chip cookies!!!
Yeah, you paid up to fly with them. But boy oh boy, it was worth it.
Now even the best airlines are just Greyhound busses with wings.