United Airlines made us stare at teddy bears, oranges, wood grain, and a 5XL shirt earlier this week to figure out its new routes. Now American Airlines wants to play too, teasing its summer 2027 international network through a rather bizarre restaurant menu.

American Airlines Hid Its 2027 Route Clues In A Menu…Here Are My Predictions

I had far too much fun decoding United’s route announcement earlier this week, and we actually did pretty well.

Now American has released a menu that it says is not for ordering, but “for decoding,” with its summer 2027 international routes to be revealed tomorrow.

So let’s play again…

First a reminder that AA listed the 10 destinations below on its wishlist earlier this year:

• Berlin, Germany (BER)
• Bordeaux, France (BOD)
• Brussels, Belgium (BRU)
• Cape Town, South Africa (CPT)
• Casablanca, Morocco (CMN)
• Cordoba, Argentina (COR)
• Mallorca, Spain (PMI)
• Seville, Spain (SVQ)
• Shannon, Ireland (SNN)
• Vienna, Austria (VIE)

Philadelphia – Quito

American lists a “single-patty hamburger” described as:

“Featuring 321 individual pickled red herring strips on an all-American patty. Served with a toasted UIO bun.”

You can also add:

“1,776 sesame seeds for $2.15”

Ok, that one seems easy.

• 321 = Airbus A321XLR
• UIO = Quito
• 1776 = Philadelphia and the Declaration of Independence
• 215 = Philadelphia area code

So I can’t help but to guess PHL-UIO on the Airbus A321XLR.

That’s an interesting route. American currently serves Quito from Miami, but an XLR from Philadelphia would give the airline a convenient northeastern gateway to Ecuador while providing substantial connecting feed throughout the eastern United States.

The use of the words “red herring” also makes me wonder whether American is warning us that not every number and ingredient should be taken literally…maybe instead of Quito the route will be to a literal red herring destination like Oslo?

New York – Brussels

New York Strop with French Fires make me think JFK-BRU.

Philadelphia – Reykjavík

Another menu, smoked fish soup, item appears to point quite clearly toward Iceland.

There is a smoked fish soup, and the numbers associated with it appear to correspond to the latitude and longitude of Reykjavík/Keflavík.

That gets us to KEF.

But from from where?

My guess is Philadelphia. American previously flew Dallas-Keflavík with a Boeing 757 and actually planned to move the route to Philadelphia in 2020 before the pandemic intervened.

The A321XLR is almost tailor-made for bringing that idea back.

So I’ll guess: PHL-KEF on the A321XLR

Iceland is hardly an exotic new dot these days, but from Philadelphia this would provide excellent connectivity without requiring a widebody aircraft.

Philadelphia – Porto

The first letters of words in another menu description (Pristine Octopus Ravioli with Truffle Oreganata) spell:

P-O-R-T-O

and that asterisk leads to: corkage fee may apply.

So that seems clear enough, though this one is not exactly breaking news.

American already announced Philadelphia-Porto earlier this year, with daily summer seasonal service on the A321XLR beginning in 2027.

So why include it?

Perhaps American is simply reminding us that Porto is part of its broader 2027 XLR expansion, or perhaps the clue contains something else we have not yet decoded.

But PHL-OPO itself is already confirmed and I doubt there would be additional service added from another hub.

Philadelphia – Vienna

Several people studying the “specials” page believe one of the dishes points to VIE – Vienna (shifting each letter in YLHQQD backward by 3 positions in the alphabet decodes to Vienna).

This immediately caught my attention because Vienna appeared on American’s internal international route wishlist earlier this year.

At the time, I was skeptical. Vienna is a Lufthansa Group fortress, with Austrian Airlines offering substantial nonstop service to North America, and American historically has not done especially well trying to penetrate Lufthansa Group hubs.

But perhaps the A321XLR changes that calculation?

If Vienna really is one of the clues, my guess is that it will be from Philadelphia: PHL-VIE.

The XLR would allow American to serve a large and attractive European capital without committing a 787, while PHL provides far more connecting feed than JFK.

And remember, American itself put Vienna on that wishlist only six months ago.

I’m putting this one in the “quite possible” column.

Philadelphia – Genoa

Another airport code people are pulling from the menu is: GOA, the code for  Genoa, Italy.

Genoa currently has no nonstop service from the United States, and it fits perfectly with the strategy American appears to be developing around the XLR: secondary European cities that do not justify a widebody but can draw affluent summer leisure traffic.

United has gone all-in on this strategy with places like Bilbao, Madeira, Dubrovnik, Bari, and now Olbia and Catania.

American needs to start doing the same thing with those 50 A321XLRs it ordered.

I could absolutely see: PHL-GOA

Genoa also offers easy access to the Italian Riviera, Portofino, and Cinque Terre. This would be exactly the sort of route that generates demand once the nonstop exists rather than relying solely on historical passenger traffic.

Edinburgh…But From Where?

EDI also appears to be hidden on the specials page.

But American already flies to Edinburgh.

In fact, it currently serves Edinburgh from Philadelphia and JFK, with the latter operated by the A321XLR.

So if EDI really is a clue, we must be looking at either another gateway or an extension/change to existing service.

Could Chicago-Edinburgh return?

Could Charlotte-Edinburgh make sense?

Or does American simply intend to expand the season or make more Edinburgh flying year-round?

American has already extended Philadelphia-Edinburgh deeper into the winter using the XLR, so perhaps that is what the clue represents.

I’m less confident that EDI represents a truly new route.

Mango-Infused Almonds = MIA…But Where Is Miami Flying?

This one is clever:

Mango-Infused Almonds.

MIA.

So I think one of these announcements originates in Miami.

But where?

The dish apparently has Italian cues, leading some to conclude that this is another Miami-Italy route.

American already flies Miami-Rome and launched Miami-Milan this year.

Naples would be an intriguing possibility. MIA-NAP would fit American’s enormous South Florida customer base, particularly considering the cultural and leisure ties between Florida and Italy.

But I’ll also keep Genoa in mind here rather than automatically assuming every European XLR route originates in Philadelphia.

If the clue is MIA + Italy, my first guess is: MIA-NAP

Could The Smoked Fish Be A Return Rather Than A New Destination?

This is one reason I’m being cautious about counting routes from menu items.

American’s July teaser already appeared to point toward five cities:

• Quito (UIO)
• Naples (NAP)
• Munich (MUC)
• Copenhagen (CPH)
• Santiago (SCL)

But American already serves several of those cities.

That suggests the game may be about new routes, not exclusively new destinations.

For example:

• Quito could be PHL-UIO
• Naples could be MIA-NAP or perhaps JFK-NAP
• Munich could receive a new PHL route
• Copenhagen could receive a new JFK route
• Santiago could return to JFK or gain another U.S. gateway

That July teaser is important context when trying to understand today’s menu.

What About Copenhagen?

This is particularly amusing after my failed prediction that United would return to Scandinavia.

American already serves Copenhagen seasonally from Philadelphia, so if CPH was indeed one of the five destinations teased last month, there must be another route involved.

JFK-CPH?

I could see it.

The XLR allows American to attack a market like Copenhagen without tying up a Dreamliner, and unlike United, American can rely on its joint venture and oneworld relationships rather than Lufthansa Group feed.

But historically American has preferred Philadelphia over JFK for routes like Copenhagen because PHL can feed the flight with dozens of domestic arrivals while JFK is heavily dependent on local traffic.

So I’m not ready to call this one.

Munich?

American currently serves Munich from Charlotte.

If MUC really is part of tomorrow’s announcement, Philadelphia-Munich would be the obvious addition….a fight I took on US Airways in Envoy Class many years ago.

American actually flew PHL-MUC in the past, and the XLR provides a much more efficient way to restore it than the old widebody operation.

PHL-MUC would therefore make sense.

But like Vienna, Munich is dominated by Lufthansa Group, and American has historically struggled in precisely these sorts of markets.

Possible? Absolutely.

My favorite prediction? No.

Santiago?

Santiago is the least clear to me.

American already serves SCL from Miami and Dallas.

JFK-Santiago would be the obvious “new” route, considering American flew it previously.

Could it return?

Potentially, especially as American rebuilds some relevance at JFK with its new premium-heavy 787 operation.

But I would not wager much on this one based solely on what we’ve seen.

My Final Predictions

Okay, American, here’s my best attempt before tomorrow.

The routes I feel strongest about:

1. PHL-UIO – A321XLR
2. PHL-KEF – likely A321XLR
3. PHL-VIE – likely A321XLR
4. PHL-GOA – likely A321XLR
5. MIA-NAP – my best guess for the Miami/Italy clue

Plus the already-announced:

• PHL-OPO – A321XLR

And then I think one or more of the previously teased cities will receive a new gateway:

• Copenhagen
• Munich
• Santiago
• Edinburgh

If I have to go out on a limb, I’ll add JFK-CPH and PHL-MUC.

I’m much less certain on Santiago and whatever EDI is telling us. One destination conspicuously absent from my decoding is Cape Town, which was on American’s earlier international wishlist. I cannot find a convincing clue pointing there, though I would not completely rule out a surprise.

> Read More: American Airlines Signals European Growth With New Route Wishlist, But Asia Remains Absent

CONCLUSION

American’s game appears easier than United’s in some places and maddeningly vague in others.

PHL-UIO looks about as obvious as these puzzles get, while the smoked fish and coordinates strongly suggest Iceland. Vienna and Genoa are showing up repeatedly in the collective decoding effort, while the mango-infused almonds look like a very deliberate MIA clue.

The bigger question is whether all of these dishes represent new routes, new destinations, aircraft assignments, or some combination of all three.

We’ll find out tomorrow.

What are your predictions for the latest AA routes?

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