American Airlines is upgrading its inflight and lounge experience with a new partnership that brings Lavazza coffee to passengers both on the ground and in the air.
American Airlines Partners With Lavazza For Inflight And Lounge Coffee
American Airlines has announced that it will begin serving Lavazza coffee across all cabins and in its Admirals Club and Flagship lounges starting in early 2026. The Italian coffee brand, founded in 1895 and still family-owned, is known for its polished blends and wide international presence.
According to American, the goal is to create a consistent coffee experience both on the ground and in the air. Heather Garboden, American’s Chief Customer Officer, said the airline wanted to focus on “every aspect of the customer experience,” noting that “a quality cup of coffee is an important part of that journey.”
Lavazza’s Americas President, Hossam Ashraf, said the partnership allows the company “to bring the true Lavazza experience to travelers around the world.”
The Importance Of Coffee
It’s easy to roll your eyes at airline coffee partnerships, but they matter. Coffee might not determine what ticket you buy, but it does shape how the flight feels once you’re onboard. A good cup doesn’t make up for a delay or a tight seat, but it adds a bit of normality, even dignity, to the experience.
United Airlines serves illy coffee both onboard and in its lounges, offering one of the most consistent brews in the sky. Alaska Airlines took a similar path with its partnership with Stumptown, which has become a small but defining part of its brand. These choices do signal care and attention to detail and they do build loyalty.
American’s coffee, by contrast, has long been forgettable. Lavazza is hardly my favorite brand, but this update could change that. Whether you’re ordering a cup after takeoff or grabbing one in a lounge before an early flight, it’s a welcome upgrade over the brown water currently served from Texas-based “Fresh Brew.”
Air Canada has Lavazza coffee in its lounges and it’s terrible, which I blame on the machines, not the coffee itself. We may run into the same problem with AA, but it will still be better than the current blend. Hint to AA: use bottled water onboard…it makes a HUGE difference.
Finally, it’s interesting that AA chose to use the picture above. Can we expect barista-made lattes onboard in 2026? If AA really wanted to go the extra mile, installing espresso machines on more aricraft would be a big value-add.
CONCLUSION
American Airlines’ new coffee partnership isn’t a marketing gimmick so much as a quality correction. Passengers may not choose their airline based on coffee, but they’ll certainly remember when it’s bad and notice when it’s good.
A better cup won’t redefine air travel, but it will make mornings at 35,000 feet just a little brighter, so kudos to AA for this positive update.
American will find a way to make Lavazza (which I love) taste like dirty dishwater.
I hope not, but it also wouldn’t surprise me.
That’s funny because it was my first thought as well, currently sitting in an Admirals Club and the garbage in the airpots is old and nasty. And I’m not even that particular about my coffee brand.
Guess it’s time for a beer, they can’t screw that up, can they??
So much for your 12 step program Douchebag Dave Edwards.
Douchebag Dave Edwards & Sch*tt Hsuan, proving with your every (too frequent) comment that your nicknames are absolutely accurate and completely deserved and that you each have nothing better to do with your pathetic waste-of-oxygen lives than to post abhorrent and revolting comments here over and over again every single day. Thank you for confirming once again that you and other MAGAs are stupid hateful racist cretins. Trolling or not, the extent and frequency of your comments are indicative of severe psychiatric and/or addiction problems. Your insults, undoubtedly projection, speak much more to your lack of character than to anyone you attack. Hope you each get deported back to whatever rocks you crawled out from you SHPOSs.
So much for your 12 step program Douchebag Dave Edwards.
Douchebag Dave Edwards & Sch*tt Hsuan, proving with your every (too frequent) comment that your nicknames are absolutely accurate and completely deserved and that you each have nothing better to do with your pathetic waste-of-oxygen lives than to post abhorrent and revolting comments here over and over again every single day. Thank you for confirming once again that you and other MAGAs are stupid hateful racist cretins. Trolling or not, the extent and frequency of your comments are indicative of severe psychiatric and/or addiction problems. Your insults, undoubtedly projection, speak much more to your lack of character than to anyone you attack. Hope you each get deported back to whatever rocks you crawled out from you SHPOSs.
@RJB
Exactly. It would depend how it’s served and how proper the coffee machines in the galley and lounges are maintained. At home I wash my $8.99 Mr.Coffee with lemon juice and water followed by two cycles of just water every two weeks . I have Starbucks italian roast currently at home and it’s great.
Let’s add that the quality of the water used in preparing coffee, both in airport lounges and on aircraft, is also highly important…
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
They really need to focus on changing, refitting their planes with more legroom in econ. and econ. plus,
than changing a stupid brand of coffee; comfort is much more important than a brand of coffee or tea.
“Hint to AA: use bottled water onboard…it makes a HUGE difference.” Ok, what bottled water? Delta serves Dasani water on its flights and I rather be thirsty than drink that s..t. BTW, Delta’s coffee sucks. I think they use Starbucks which is garbage.
As for the coffee itself, you probably know that by just serving Lavazza as a brand means absolutely nothing in terms of the quality and taste you will get. It will all depend on what blend AA choses to serve. Note that no Italian coffee brands produce a single coffee bean but they have mastered the art of buying great coffee beans from many different sources, amazing roasting capabilities and then the creation of specific blends.
Illy is a more upscale brand than Lavazza. Lavazza is more known for grounded coffee while Illy is well known for their espressos. Lavazza usually blends Arabica and Robusta beans which delivers a richer, more robust flavor with a fuller body. Illy focuses exclusively on 100% Arabica beans delivering a a smoother, more consistent, and less bitter flavor profile.
Note that bottled water with a pH of 7-8 (slightly alkaline) can balance coffee’s natural acidity. Very acidic water might make your coffee sour, while very alkaline water could make it bitter. For the best results, use bottled water with a pH between 6.5 and 7.5.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Should have leaned into La Colombe. The drip in the lounges was good. They have canned products that they could have sold on board. Owned by Chobani a NY company and other opportunity there.
This signals premium though and ticks a unticked box. But probably will just be average.
I find La Colombe pretty bad…but that’s just me.
Fair! I find anything not freshly ground pretty bad at this point. But La Colombe sells pumpkin spiced lattes in a can – you’re telling me that American flyers wouldn’t buy 100% of that inventory on every flight? Lavazza doesn’t do canned products, do they? Would be nice to buy a canned cold brew or something.
If they could have gotten Intelligensia that would have been amazing, agree. Blue Bottle would also have been plausible being owned by Nestle now.
Illy is better. The best coffee I ever had on American was on a flight to São Paulo. The FA just crushed it and made it with gusto. Brazilians know coffee. Italy does too. With the exception of a medium roast sourced locally from a Hawaiian plantation American coffee sucks. The American coffee culture is an embarrassment to the rest of the world. Sorry to burst your bubble hipsters.
Depends on where you get your coffee, though. I can assure you that if you know the right places, American coffee culture is quite superb.
Was saying at OMAAT (when Ben posted about this topic earlier) that a truly premium airline would partner with Blue Bottle, based out of Oakland, CA, and having about 100 cafes around the world, mostly in the USA, about 20 in NYC.
I think AA could have done Chicago-based Intellegnsia. That would have been amazing.
Intelligentsia Coffee… Such an epic brand!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Big news! AA seems to be making a solid move in customer satisfaction. May it always continue like this!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün