Pre-Order Meals In American First & Business Class

In this post, I’d like to take a look at American Airlines’ meal pre-order program, for premium cabin passengers. We’ve seen the meal pre-order concept become increasingly common with airlines, as a way to ensure that passengers can get their first choice of meals, without airlines having to cater excess meals.

This is something I take advantage of almost every time I’m on an eligible flight, especially since it typically offers access to a larger food selection as well. In separate posts, I’ll cover how to pre-order meals with Delta Air Lines and how to pre-order meals with United Airlines.

Reserve your meal before you fly American

There aren’t many areas where American surpasses Delta and United when it comes to tech, but meal pre-ordering is an area where the airline leads the way. American has been offering the option to pre-select your main course on many first and business class flights for over a decade, well ahead of its peers. So, how exactly does this work?

For which flights can you pre-select your meal?

American allows first and business class passengers to pre-select their meal. This is available for all first and business class flights where a meal is served. This applies on American Airlines flights, but doesn’t work on codeshare flights on other airlines. It also doesn’t work on flights where just refreshments are served.

When can you pre-select your meal?

You can pre-select your American meal between 24 hours and 30 days prior to departure of a particular flight segment. So be sure that you make your selection before the check-in window opens.

How do you pre-select your meal?

Pre-selecting your American meal is easy. Just go to aa.com and go to the manage your booking function. You can do this either by entering your six digit record locator, or by logging into your AAdvantage account.

Once you’re on an itinerary management page, scroll down to the bottom, under the heading that says “Passengers.” There you’ll see the passengers listed, and you’ll see a section that says “Inflight meals.” Click the little pen next to that, and you’ll be presented with the available options.

If you’re using the American Airlines app, the process is largely similar. Just log into your itinerary, click “Manage trip,” and then you’ll be directed to a webpage that shows the same information as above.

What are the pre-select meal options?

Are American’s meal pre-select options simply what you’d otherwise be offered onboard, or do you get access to more options? It depends on the flight. The pre-select option will always give you access to the options that would otherwise be available onboard.

However, in most cases you also get access to additional options (sometimes up to three). For example, there’s often some sort of a greens and grains bowl, as well as some sort of fruit and cheese plate, which might not be available onboard.

Another nice thing is that the meal pre-order page actually explains the details of each dish. When you’re onboard, a flight attendant might only describe a dish as “lasagna,” or something, while you can get a better sense of what’s being served online.

How does this compare to ordering a special meal?

Separate from American’s option to pre-select your meal, the airline also has special meals for passengers with dietary restrictions. This can be reserved through the same method as above.

Special meals are available to all passengers on long haul international flights. It’s also available for first and business class passengers on select domestic flights. I haven’t fully figured out the pattern as to which flights have special meals, because sometimes you’ll find it available on a two hour flight in one market, but not on a flight of a similar length in another market.

If you select a special meal, that will encompass the entire meal, including any appetizers, desserts, etc. While the primary intention is that this is for those with special dietary needs, I do sometimes order special meals just to mix things up from American’s otherwise boring choices. In particular, I’ve had pretty good experiences with Asian vegetarian and Kosher options.

Why I always pre-select my meal with American

Unlike some foreign airlines, American generally loads exactly as many meals in premium cabins as there are passengers (especially in domestic first class). If you don’t select your meal in advance, expect that you’ll get what’s left over, and not your first choice.

That’s because a significant number of people pre-order meals, and unless you’re the first to be asked for your meal preference, they may have already run out of your choice by the time they get to you.

American’s catering is nothing to get excited about (to put it politely), but there are definitely some options that are better than others (or at least less bad).

Bottom line

If you’re flying American in first or business class, you can pre-select your meal between 24 hours and 30 days of departure. While American otherwise isn’t great with tech, it’s awesome for how long American has offered this feature.

It’s something I’d highly recommend taking advantage of, since you’re otherwise not very likely to get your first choice onboard. For that matter, it even gives you access to options that may not be available onboard.

If you’re an American flyer, do you always select your meal in advance?