My move from Delta to American, Part I: The meal service

After being a loyal Delta and United flyer the last few years, I made the decision at the start of this year that I’d challenge into American’s AAdvantage program, and move my loyalty to American. This isn’t a decision I regret, and one I wanted to share, as I think many are contemplating their choice of frequent flyer program as adjustments are made across the board.

I thought I’d write a multi-part series on my move to American, why I’m happy with my decision, and the things that influenced my move. This year, while I could only challenge into the Platinum level, I’m hoping to qualify for Executive Platinum.

This post will focus on the all important “warm nuts,” or, in summary, the meal and onboard service I’ve received onboard American’s aircraft.

I’m genuinely impressed with American’s crew, and while I had good flight attendants on Delta and United, I can’t say that they’ve competed with the folks at American. In all, I think the folks at American care, want to please the customer (though, keep in mind, I’m generally upgraded to First Class using my Platinum status), and the service standards are higher than other airlines. Unfortunately, in the last few weeks, American has announced a scale back in its First Class meal service offerings. When I’m flying 30,000 feet above the sky, a small glass of warm nuts is a mark of hospitality. The full meal service on short flights American provides (though, will discontinue effective September 1) is one less thing to worry about when traveling through the airport, and was a service standard that set American apart from other airlines.

While I’ll rave of American’s service, I’ve noticed some inconsistencies, too. While Delta was fairly regular about pre-departure beverage service, I notice American isn’t. I’ve noticed that it depends on the flight, and on the crew. Interestingly, though, I’ve notice pre-departure service on some regional jets, and not mainline jets, and vice versa. I’m not sure of American’s policy on this, though I do wish their was more regularity.

I think that American’s merger with US Airways will hurt some of these standards in the long run, but I’m hopeful that more of the standards will be moved to American’s level, rather than simply being “merged” or met in the middle with US’s.

I’ll be covering American’s hard product, entertainment system and more in future posts.

What do you think of American’s onboard service standards?