American Airlines is reversing what to many seemed like the cheapest of all cheapskate decisions, the 5-year-old decision to ditch pretzels and other small snacks in economy. Starting today on transcontinental routes and expanding to the whole system by April, the snack is back.
Early morning flyers (before 9:45) will be offered Biscoff cookies with their beverages; after that there will be a choice of cookies or pretzels. American will continue selling other snacks and meals in coach.
The airline is also upgrading its inflight entertainment; on planes with in-seat entertainment systems in domestic service there will now be a choice among 40 movies, 60 TV shows and 300 albums. For international flights on 777s and 787s, there will also be four live satellite TV channels.
And of course, AA hasn’t forgotten the folks in the front of the plane: they get new designer-label amenity kits with brand-name cosmetics “with each of the skincare products differentiated by cabin and class of service.” See? Even the rich have class distinctions among them…
Regarding “that annoying checked bag fee”, the problem is not the fee, it’s that you aren’t going far enough. Fly internationally and don’t pay a fee. Or is that not true between Canada & the US?
American Airlines have been giving excellent service since their merger.
I’ve only flown UK to US and back but their cabin staff have been courteous and charming. Must mention Bernie by name – what a wonderful charming man. Not so young, but he came back later into the flight to thank me for complimenting the crew.
No charges for luggage – free drinks AND ice cream.
I’m flying with them again in 10 days.
Then Frontier to Miami. Am I in for a shock ?
It’s only 3 hours but I guess I’ll be hammered for my luggage !
Most of my flights on American have been international, and the crews have been excellent (and you get snacks as well as meals.) On domestic flights, they’ve been just as nice, and usually my credit card has waived the baggage fee.
That’s never what I hear from people flying Frontier!
By the way, one AA oddity: there’s no free baggage on some international flights; Mexico City is international, but Cancun is domestic for baggage purposes. Caught me blinking on that one!
Nice to hear that American is doing something to improve the experience of its economy customers. Now if only they got rid of that annoying checked bag fee.
Baggage fees apply for most airlines flying between Canada and the USA. The ‘free bag’ is for intercontinental flights, so far as I can tell.
Yes, Garry. I expect the last leg of your flight will be somewhat of a shock after your American pampering.