After years of benefits cuts, American bucked the trend and brought back complimentary meals on routes east of Dallas to Hawaii. Then Delta responded with a similar offering. More recently, Delta upped the ante and began offering complimentary meals on 12 more routes. Not to be outdone, American Air complimentary meals offerings are expanding too… Sort of.
Delta’s Complimentary Meal Offerings
On March 1, 2017, Delta began offering complimentary meals on 12 routes. These routes are include a large number of destinations on both the east and west coasts. This addition compliments the Airline’s existing complimentary meals on routes to Hawaii from destinations including and to the east of Salt Lake City. And while Delta’s expansion of service is still limited in scope, it’s a big improvement over what was previously offered. At any rate, it is a step in the right direction, especially since transcontinental and Hawaii flights tend to be quite long. So even a small, free meal on these routes are definitely appreciated.
American’s “Expanded” Complimentary Meal Routes
Last week, American announced that beginning May 1, they’d be adding complimentary meals to select flights. Unlike Delta, however, American’s routes that’ll include complimentary economy meals is extremely limited. As you probably already know, American is adding complimentary meals to just two routes: Los Angeles and San Francisco to New York JFK. That’s it.
American’s expansion of complimentary meal service pales in comparison to Delta’s. Which is funny to me, since American loves to copy Delta’s more negative changes… But when Delta makes a positive change, they won’t rise to the occasion.
American Air Complimentary Meals Final Thoughts
American was once on a track to become a premium airline. But once Parker and crew took over, the focused on turning American into a bigger US Airways. Just, you know, with slightly more frills. But now American is half-heartedly trying to bring back some its premium vibe, thought Delta completely blows them away. The double whammy, of course, is the fact that not only is Delta more premium, but it has MUCH greater operational reliability. Of course, we’re still waiting to see what United will respond with. But with Kirby now at the helm, I suspect their response will be more in line with American’s.