Apparently, passengers flying in first class on American Airlines are not entitled to meals (despite the advertising), only transport. That leaves me wondering if full payment for flights can also be a “complimentary convenience” rather than a requirement.
Claim: First Class Meals Are Merely A “Complimentary Convenience” Rather Than A Requirement On American Airlines
When you buy a first class ticket on American Airlines, you are not just buying the larger seat. You are instead buying a basket of benefits that makes the travel experience better, including:
- priority check-in queues
- complimentary checked baggage
- priority security lines
- priority boarding
- a wider seat with more legroom and recline
- in-seat power
- complimentary meals (on flights over 900 miles)
Most do value the seat as the primary benefit of first class, but the seat is only part of the package. Meals are part of the package too and something that I look for when choosing a carrier (since the seats are often similar no matter which airline you choose).
A man was flying from Newark (EWR) to Phoenix (PHX) on American Airlines. His flight was delayed for five hours. When it finally departed, flight attendants informed first class passengers (once in the air) that the flight had not been catered with hot meals and the only choices available were among the snack boxes onboard.
He sent American Airlines a note of complaint, pointing out that meal service was part of the package. His response was surprising:
Hello:
Thank you for contacting American Airlines Customer Relations.
I sincerely regret that your trip to Phoenix on October 1, 2023 did not go smoothly. I can certainly understand your frustration with the handling at the airport. That’s not at all the kind of experience we want you to have with us.
It’s kind of you to take the time to share your perspective. Please know that the specific concerns you’ve shared have been thoroughly documented for further review by the appropriate leadership teams here at American. It is never our intention to disappoint our customers and we are grateful to you for giving us the chance to improve as we look ahead.
I know you were hungry and, I’m sorry to hear you’re disappointed that you didn’t receive a meal on your flight. Complimentary food service is offered in our First Class cabin on all itineraries system-wide that operate within traditional meal windows (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and have a fly time of more than 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Our ticket price reflects the cost of transportation. Any meals and snacks served on our flights are considered complimentary conveniences.
I want you to know that we care about the negative impact this had on your trip. As a gesture of goodwill, I’ve credited your AAdvantage account with 15,000 bonus miles. This adjustment will be reflected in your account soon.
Again, I apologize for any inconvenience you encountered, and we value your loyalty being an AAdvantage Executive Platinum member. We are all working hard to ensure that every flight you take on American is enjoyable. Please continue to travel with us, you are appreciated.
Did you catch that bolded part? It reminds me of the old Reading pipe case, Jacob & Youngs, Inc. v. Kent in my contracts class. American Airlines is saying it got the job done and that meals are a trivial part of whether the contract is fulfilled. But whether important or not, the implied contract based upon the way in which American Airlines advertises its first class cabin is that meal service is included.
View From The Wing says this is like an “eBay seller that promises something they aren’t allowed to sell, but claims they’re really only selling ‘a white envelope’ and the contents of that envelope are just a free gift.” I think a more apt analogy is selling a car but then saying at closing that the seat belts are not included. Oh, it’s still functional…but you will have to pay extra for those items.
The good news here is that this was a catering snafu on a delayed flight rather than any policy change on American Airlines. But the bad news is the premise that a promise to serve a meal really means nothing at all. It sets a dangerous precedent for other service shortfalls that can merely be dismissed as not critical to the substantial performance of the contract, i.e. transport from A to B.
CONCLUSION
American Airlines believes that a ticket cost includes transportation and that any extras like meal service “are considered complimentary conveniences.” That’s quite an outlandish statement to make considering the way in which American Airlines adversities its first class cabin and explicitly promises hot meals on flights over 900 miles.
Anybody notice the pattern with American? You are not entitled to a meal in first class (even though it’s advertised). You are not entitled to a seat. You are not entitled to the flight you paid (they will just refund you the original amount). They don’t have to rebook you on a another carrier if they can’t fly you. American is the most unaccountable airline. I know this and this is why they are the last of the legacy carriers I will book because of their insane policies and attempts to shed any responsiblity to deliver on what they promise.
What Endlosluft is pure garbage.
On this flight it was a catering issue. Should AA have cancelled the flight? You are “entitled” to a seat If you paid for first. If IRROPS first is rebooked on other airlines if they cannot put on reasonable flight first.
Sounds like a right wing extremist pulling his ideology into the airlines sector.
Road warriors KNOW what AA and other airlines will do for them. And 100% would 0reder not to cancel cause catering had issues.
This, kids, is why we don’t become vegans. I think the carbs have fried whatever brain you had, missy.
Stop saying ‘right wing extremist’ because you have a different opinion.
You cannot hide from the truth in the real world.
You need to put the oxygen mask on your face and breathe normally because it seems like your brain is starved for air.
I’m far from being an attorney so my depth in this subject is very shallow, but doesn’t this mean that it is false advertising? It states on the website that first class pax get a meal during meal hours for flights over 900 miles, and no where does it state that it’s a “convenience” but rather a “service included.” Could be wrong though.
Regardless, it’s a shame that the carriers here in the US are really trying to outdo each other for hitting a new low in aviation. They would salvage some respect by admitting that they’re trying to cost-cut as much as they can, just like KL or AY.
Exactly so . However , all I expect is safety , actually .
I had a “similar” experience recently. I am an EXP on AA and was traveling in coach. I thought one of the benefits of being an EXP flying in coach was a free snack item from the purchase menu. Due to work reasons, I didn’t get a chance to get any food before boarding my 1389 miles flight from LGA to DFW. During beverage service, I was told the same thing about no snacks had been catered. I wrote to AA about it and got the same exact email without the offer of any miles. Just getting people from A to B is all this airline is claiming responsibility for while charging $500+ for a crappy coach experience.
Wow. Thats’s just…wow. And then they whine when people compare unfavorably to other airlines.
Myself , I go into a plane with zero expectation of an edible ( for me ) meal . I both detest asian fishy and western cheesey dishes , as well as eggs and sweets . So , I arrive early , both to negotiate my ticket purchase with leg room , and to try to swing an upgrade , Then I seek out edible airport food . I have also packed edible accessory snacks in my carry on . For me , a plane journey consists of alcohol and then sleep . =
This is what happens when you allow bozos who can’t shake their AmericaWest ULCC dna to run a full service airline.
Whine whine whine. Poor little elites who just can’t stand the thought of not being treated like royalty.
So to clarify, you don’t have an issue with companies advertising something to you, accepting your payment, not offering it, and not offering compensation?
That seems unreasonable to me, but I suppose I’m just an entitled consumer.
Thank you for teaching us how to whine properly.
American do keep giving people reasons to fly with a different airline.
All airlines have “screw-ups” whatever the reason. Should American have cancelled or delayed the flight (for 100+ passengers) so you have a meal in first class? I’m sure the flight attendants wanted to wait until the flight was catered but most passenger would rather forgo a “meal” and not miss a connection. The airline did apologized and gave you 15K miles for their mistake.
TWA delayed a 707 flight to Rome so the spilled wine sauce for the beef entree could be replaced .
So, fly TWA then.
Is it me or did that response sound like it was AI generated. “I know you were hungry……” Sounds like a parent talking to a child.
I’d take the 15,000 miles any day.
I would too…but the response is still galling.
I believe that has been the contractual position of all airlines on the matter since time immemorial. Lufthansa may well have taken a similar approach to lounge access in 2021- I remember being unable to access the BCN one flying as Star Alliance Gold on a paid business class ticket. The lounge had been open as normal but they just didn’t pay for access despite what had been advertised as both business class services and *G benefits. I am not sure as to whether it’s ever been tested in court though (and I was so overjoyed to have been able to circumvent the prohibition of travelling outside the UK that suing them didn’t even cross my mind).
They told me the same thing 5+ years ago flying bwi to phx when the flight was delayed 6+ hours. Essentially the same wording. They did give me a few miles.
I stopped flying AA (was EXP/CK at the time) partially because of a similar tactic with First fares. There were a few times that I bought a First class seat (that’s where the CK came from) and due to IROPS ended up in Coach so I called up Customer Service to see about maybe getting a refund as the First fare was higher than Coach. I was informed that even though the fares were listed as First on the website, what I ACTUALLY bought was a Coach ticket with a free upgrade. Only full F fare counted as a purchased First seat. Since there were no “upgrades” available I got the Coach seat I paid for. One Agent went as far as to say I was lucky they didn’t charge me for the difference between the full Y fare I was rebooked in and what I paid for my “discounted” First seat. Crazy. I moved to Delta and they make sure we are rebooked in “your ticketed cabin at purchase.”
This is a great example of the power imbalance between an airline and its customers. Their heavily advertise a particular product and then draft their contract of carriage in such a way that not only are they under no obligation to deliver any part of the experience at all (and in Americans case if transporting you gets hard or expensive they can simply dump you open the street mid trip and say have a nice day) and there is nothing you can do.
That needs to change
Another sad, clickbait headline. Perhaps we should be glad/relieved that it isn’t accompanied by a photo of a passenger stealing another’s meal from them?
I am sure not many elitists here have any experience working in a restaurant or any service industry for that matter, but this is an example of a dish getting “86’d”. Well, since ALL the dishes were 86’d, this is more like a restaurant getting shut down for a plumbing issue or the health department. Except the restaurant in this example is really an airplane, and you haven’t paid for Duck Confit, you’ve paid to be transported from Newark to Phoenix.
What Shutuo and others above have posted is the most reasonable: Would you have preferred the flight to be delayed FURTHER? What if the aircrew timed out while waiting for catering to arrive? How upset would you be then, and what would THAT headline read? “American decides new policy is to cancel flights due to lack of catering”?
The agreement between an airline and their passenger is called a “Contract of Carriage”, NOT a “Contract of Degustation Menu”! It is understandable that a customer would reconsider flying AA or any other disappointing airline (there are many, no?) after one, two, or many of these disappointing experiences. That’s capitalism and competition in a nutshell. What surprises me most are the sheer numbers of “experienced” travelers who “do this all the time” and still expect everything to go perfectly for them, taking no measures for their own personal needs, safety, or responsibility.
This is a strawman argument. The fact that I carry with me a couple of bags of almonds/peanuts (hello, allergy suffering fellow pax!) and some biltong (got to keep the customs/biosecurity dogs around the world well-fed) doesn’t mean that I am happy to allow an airline to get away with not delivering a service for which I have paid. They would need to offer me appropriate compensation if they don’t fancy a trip to the County Court. Offering miles as compensation seems to be an easy way out of this, but it gets a lot less easy if you happen to be collecting miles on the FFP of an alliance partner.
Didn’t say you shouldn’t be disappointed for a fault in catering or service in general. And props to you for being self-reliant and forward-thinking… biltong is delicious! But I agree with John who framed this as complaint—>lame response—>meager compensation, and call foul again on yet another clickbait headline Matthew generated.
I don’t disagree with the sensationalisation angle, however I still think that this approach to contract law is an interesting discussion topic. As per my previous comment, I strongly suspect that AA wouldn’t have offered someone 15k Avios or 20k AY+ points in compensation. therefore leaving the pax out of pocket unless and until there was a real threat of legal action.
I think there is a simple legal explanation. If the meal is part of the ticket, then there is a breach of contract and an entitlement to monetary damages or even rescission for the failure to perform. American (and I suspect all other airlines are protecting themselves from those claims.). You may not like it but that’s the world we live in
If the flight was delayed 5 hours it may well have been outside of normal meal hours.
Additionally I would have expected American to offer a meal voucher for use in the airport.
Catered meals have a limited hold time and the caterer probably closed. I’d say a box lunch and 15k miles was fairly good compensation.
I’m reminded of a mobile phone sales brochure I picked up at Radio Shack about 8 years ago. I’m quirky and sometimes like to read the fine print for fun (yeah, I’ll seek professional (psychiatric) help!). On the front was a picture of a phone in an aquarium with a goldfish staring at it and the text “You’re covered if ANYTHING happens!” I thought that was a pretty bold claim (pun intended) so I cracked it open, got on reading glasses, and went to the fine print and it said something such as ‘negligence such as phones dropped in water aren’t covered” or something such as that.
I just had a great application for chatgpt: Feed it the scanned text of contracts and ask it to look for unpleasant loopholes and reverse-disclaimers on EVERYTHING we’re asked to sign or agree to. Renting a car? Take a snapshot and have it review the agreement for you in seconds. Heck, this probably already exists.
Being OLD, I never was a fan of deregulation and now it’s really gotten out of hand service wise. I’m all in favor of bringing back regulation but that’s just me.
Honestly should I not care about safety, could I get the flight attendant to be optioned out since I don’t get any value when the plane crashes anyway. Or perhaps opt out the pilot since planes can fly themselves.
All the commenters trying to excuse the lack of service as “you only paid to get from A to B!” and “flight attendants are there for your safety, not to feed you!” are part of the reason major airlines in the US have a reputation for crap service.
How dare the passengers complain when they’re advertised food and don’t receive it!
Here is another example of American Airlines’ lousy behaviours. I booked a flight from SFO to PHL departing SFO around noon time. Out of the blue AA emailed me to tell me that the flight time has been changed to sometime in the early morning, without any apology or explanation. It is creating problems for me. I can’t sort it out until I return to the US in a week’s time.
It was a screw-up by AA. The passenger complained, got a lame computer-generated letter and received some compensation. End of story. Get over it.
I tell this same story again and again when there’s post about AA: I was in first class traveling home to St Louis and when they ran out of turkey (despite asking me what I wanted for dinner) I was offered a scoop of granola as an alternative.
AA offered me no points. The granola splat did come with a few tasty grapes I guess. Shit airline.
So then take a thousand dollars off the airfare for the NO MEAL
Not catered out of the backwater EWR? What were they expecting? Everybody knows Newark is in the middle of nowhere! What kind of rubbish BS is this claiming there was no catering for a flight out of a major hub? You bet if one of AA’s C-suite was aboard that flight that catering WOULD have been available. BASTA! Keep raking in the profits, profiteers…