As we barrel into the summer season, American Airlines is working on its inflight experiences – both in soft product and connectivity.
Inflight food
There are updates both in the premium cabins with new menus. These include:
- Customers flying on transcontinental American Flagship service flights have a new premium entrée to choose from with American Airlines’ new Plant-Based Bulgogi Noodle Bowl. The entrée comes with yakisoba noodles, stir fry vegetables and plant-based beef crumbles — offering a new meal option that is both nourishing and delicious.
- Customers flying in premium cabins to Europe from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport this summer can enjoy dishes from Avli on the Park, a MICHELIN 2023 honoree Greek restaurant based in Chicago. From a Greek Beef Orzo Stew to a Kagiana Egg Scramble for breakfast, American worked closely with Avli on the Park to bring a new summer dining experience to the skies while flying nonstop to six different destinations in Europe: Athens, Barcelona, Dublin, London, Paris and Rome.
- For those on domestic flights, the Buy on Board option gets a shake-up, with a Fruit and Cheese Plate and Breakfast Bag beginning flying in the Main Cabin this month. The Fruit and Cheese Plate features cheese, grapes and chocolate for a perfectly balanced taste experience while the Breakfast Bag has a healthy and delicious combination of yoghurt, granola and a fig bar.
The new items are available for purchase on flights (1,300 miles or more) that depart between 9:46 a.m. and 9 p.m. and between 5 and 9:45 a.m., respectively.
Inflight Connectivity
American is connecting customers to high-speed Wi-Fi on more aircraft than any other carrier and delivering innovative, exclusive and diverse content directly to your personal device. Enhancements for the summer months include:
- Complimentary Wi-Fi for T-Mobile customers: By July, 100% of American Airlines Wi-Fi-equipped regional and narrowbody aircraft will plan to offer T-Mobile In-Flight Connection On Us. With this new enhancement, eligible T-Mobile customers can enjoy complimentary connectivity with streaming during their domestic flights.
- Summer streaming: While in flight, customers connecting to Wi-Fi expect reliable and fast connectivity. Customers travelling the globe to their dream international destinations should be able to enjoy faster Wi-Fi speeds and more reliable service for all their connectivity needs thanks to a planned increase of bandwidth for American Airlines’ widebody aircraft.
American Airlines leans on ViaSat, Panasonic Avionics and Intelsat for inflight connectivity.
In Quotes
Kim Cisek, Vice President of Customer Experience said:
“Our customers are the inspiration behind everything we do, and American is committed to consistently deliver a world-class experience for them,” said
“We know customers want a convenient travel experience throughout their journey on American and to arrive at their destination satisfied and ready to explore — a focus we keep in mind when refreshing and creating new experiences for them to enjoy on the ground and in the skies.”
Delivery will be key
We’ve all been there when it comes to inflight food – and in a lot of respects, American Airliens is in the hands of its caterers who have been tasked to deliver the experience to the catering trolleys, then being warmed as needed and passed onto the customers.
Like most collaborations, they would have been tested for delivery (and costed to the penny).
It will be interesting to see how the delivery goes – as well as the new Wi-Fi upgrades. At AIX this year, it has been interesting talking to the big vendors about how airlines are choosing to offer”free” connectivity.
It’s worthy of a post much later down the line.
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