In this post, I’ll be reviewing American Airlines’ Lite Bites Arugula Pesto and Roasted Tomato Rosemary Square, served in their domestic First Class.
Let’s take a look at the details of the flight:
Route: Washington DC (Reagan) to Chicago, IL
Aircraft: Boeing 737
Meal Window: Refreshment (after 1:31pm)
Meal: Lite Bites Arugula Pesto and Roasted Tomato Rosemary Square
Once airborne, a lite bites snack basket was offered, since this flight fell outside of a traditional meal window. Among the offerings was the Lite Bites Arugula Pesto and Roasted Tomato Rosemary Square. There were other sandwich offerings, but this is the one I chose and will be reviewing.
It comes pre-packaged in a brown wrapper, and once unfolded, unveils a small (very small) square shaped sandwich.
My thoughts:
- The sandwich itself was actually very good, but would have been better if it was larger and included more filling inside (pesto, tomato, etc.)
- The sandwich was slightly soggy from the inside filling, but not terribly so to be enough to not enjoy it.
- The filling inside is quite taste, and tastes like an antipasto you’d receive at any Italian restaurant.
I far prefer the snack service on the “old” American airlines where it was a full sandwich on a plate, but for now, this looks to be the type of sandwich on offer.
If you’re on a “lite bites” flight, and are hungry, I hope this helps you better decide what to take out of the snack basket once it is passed around!
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
Hi Jamie, Aaron here again. RE: first class snack basket sandwich.
1. The “old” plated version will never return.
2. Filling amount is small I agree, however, neither myself nor my fellow fas ever see the quality improving or amounts increasing to a larger sandwich. Ever.
Welcome to the “new” AA.
AARON DCA FA US
Had one of the turkey (well actually two) versions of these the other night on my flight from DFW-YYZ. It was a bit of a shock as I’ve taken the evening flight several times over the past year and we’ve always received a full dinner. And that’s what two others in F had also been expecting. AA moved the flight from 7:35p to 8:05p, so just outside the dinner catering period, though this was a 3 hour+ flight. (Earlier in the week I had been on an AA CR7 on a flight from LGA-ATL departing at 4:30p and received a very satisfying “snack” of a larger sandwich with a side of potato salad.)
While the new sandwich was nicely executed, it is far too small to satisfy as even a light snack…and the basket offering it had no other savories that could accompany it, such as potato chips. Also missing from the inflight service was the customary warm nuts with the first drink offering…not to mention a rather lazy FA who made no effort to offer a preflight drink to the 7 of us in the 8 place F cabin of the A319.
This coincided with the new realignment of flight waves from DFW and is a big mistake, particularly with this flight which must arrive at YYZ before 12:30a due to an airport curfew. Inevitably the flight has been late in departing and this time was no exception and we barely made it in before the start of the curfew.