For all the pictures that go with this report, please click here!

Thursday, 31 May will remain in my memory for a long time. First, I had to change my flights DEN-CLT-DCA as the original DEN-CLT was cancelled. Luckily the new flights were an hour later which was no big deal. After that rolling delays meant an unusually stressful day due to the next flights in the sequence.

This flight turned out to be quite okay of course, being breakfast time and first class. Before flying I checked the menu online. American Airlines allows you to select your meal in first class before you go. They were offering biscuits with scrambled egg and chorizo, so that was to be my choice.

Of course, with the flight change it meant my pre-order was gone, but I managed to get them anyway.

AA1785 – Denver to Charlotte (DEN-CLT)
31 May 2018
Airbus A321 – N173US
Seat: First Class 1F
Departure: 08:07 Arrival: 13:24

After spending some time in the Admirals Club in Denver, I went to board. Since I was flying to Charlotte, I would be flying on one of the ex-US Airways Airbus A321 aircraft. This means no place to recharge your device and less legroom in the bulkhead seat than on the Boeing 737.



First Class board first so I settled in quite quickly. The friendly cabin crew member came around and offered pre-departure drinks and I selected the sparkling wine. After tasting its hideousness I vowed to switch to Mimosa’s for the rest of the flight.



Just in case we had a long taxi to the runway or some kind of delay, I decided to hit the bathroom before take-off. While clean, the basin has certainly been through the wars. It looks a little sore to me!



After heading back to my seat, we soon finished boarding. The flight attendants delivered the safety demonstration and soon enough we were climbing out of Denver.



Morning flights on clear days in summer in the USA can provide some spectacular views and today was no exception. This is why a window seat is a must! Hot towels are handed out once the crew are up and about. Mine was fairly dry, so it wasn’t overly useful. Drinks orders were taken and I asked for a Mimosa and a sparkling water with ice.



Please note the two Mimosa’s in the picture. One has a little in it – that is mine. The other belongs to the person sitting next to me. For some reason, the flight attendant constantly gave me one third to one half as much as the person beside me. Very strange indeed!

My favourite part of any flight is eating the meal and this one I was excited about. Biscuits with scrambled egg and chorizo, vanilla yoghurt and fruit. The crew offer you bread from the basket and naturally I took another biscuit! So, what did I think?



Well they were certainly very nice and I enjoyed the scrambled egg and chorizo on top with a little pepper. The extra biscuit I smothered in jam and inhaled that. Really good! Both the fruit and the yoghurt were great too, so happy days. There is one disappointment – when I asked for another biscuit they had run out. Looks like everyone else is a fan too.

Once breakfast was cleared away, it was time to relax for the rest of the flight. Another Mimosa came, this time with barely a splash of anything in the glass, plus my water was topped up which was appreciated. Snack mix was given out with drinks later on in the flight.



Wi-Fi was available on this flight but I decided not to pay for it since I had no way to recharge my device. Therefore it was a chilled experience enjoying the view and resting. Eventually we landed in Charlotte safe and sound.



Biscuits are brilliant and I am pleased they don’t screw them up on American Airlines. Interestingly, that very first biscuit I encountered flying AA looked quite different to the current ones, which is curious.

First class on American Airlines is generally quite good at breakfast time. I wish they would replace the dreadful sparkling wine with something drinkable and update the woeful domestic cabins on the old US Airways aircraft, but otherwise it was pretty good.

What do you think of biscuits in First Class on American? Brilliant or not? Remember, for all the pictures, please click here!. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

Looks nice. Except for the vanilla yoghurt. I suppose if you mix the fruit in it's OK.

Looks a pretty standard breakfast, had the same meal SEA-LAX on October 2017.

With the state of the US domestic market, you guys must be easily pleased Economy breakfasts in my country are similar.....

I had basically that same breakfast on a US 757 PHX-PHL in 2001 in Y.

Glad you enjoyed it but compared to what LAA served until the alignment it’s way below par.

Good looking Breakfast on AA! I find airline breakfasts to be some of the best in-flight food served. Thanks for sharing!

ClassicLover wrote:

For all the pictures that go with this report,

I'm sure we'll not forget to see the pictures, thanks for two links just so we don't forget.

This breakfast looks pretty average, economy class in my country serves this, and maybe sometimes a bit nicer. And this first class looks pretty old fashioned, like an old Qantas 767 business class from a long time back.

I'd personally skip breakfast if that was served to me - or get a simple toasted ham and cheese croissant and a coffee before the flight if I knew they were serving that.

I have not flown on a LUS A321. I see the seats have volume and channel controls. Can you still listen to in-flight music, even though they no longer have overhead screens.

lychemsa wrote:

Looks nice. Except for the vanilla yoghurt. I suppose if you mix the fruit in it's OK.

Yes, usually it's best just to mix it with the fruit. It was totally fine

ba319-131 wrote:

Looks a pretty standard breakfast, had the same meal SEA-LAX on October 2017.

Standard is right - I guess once something works, they tend to stick with it. It's plenty of food for a flight of a couple of hours.

Kent350787 wrote:

With the state of the US domestic market, you guys must be easily pleased Economy breakfasts in my country are similar.....

What country is that?

I don't come from the US myself.

Ionosphere wrote:

I had basically that same breakfast on a US 757 PHX-PHL in 2001 in Y.

Do you have a picture of it, by any chance?

I always see people saying, "I had this exact thing in economy back in 1954" - but no-one ever has a picture for comparison.

PRAirbus wrote:

Looks like a basic "bare bones" USAirways service standard on a USAirways "spartan" A321...nothing to write home about. :/

To be quite honest with you, I would rather not have flown back on an ex US Airways aircraft, however it was cheaper going back via Charlotte than another way. I look forward to a time when American has a harmonised domestic product across the fleet.

N983AN wrote:

Glad you enjoyed it but compared to what LAA served until the alignment it’s way below par.

Do you have a picture of that?

I've heard the same, that the food on American was better before the merger, so it would be interesting to see what you are referring to.

767747 wrote:

Good looking Breakfast on AA! I find airline breakfasts to be some of the best in-flight food served. Thanks for sharing!

That's interesting - I find breakfast to often be the worst meal of all on board. Mainly because when it comes to eggs, they tend to suck.

The best breakfast eggs when flying seem to be poached eggs. They reheat really well and are tasty. Some versions of "scrambled egg" are dubious at best, and don't get me started on the "omelette" which is always dire on any airline.

Glad you like it though

cpd wrote:

ClassicLover wrote:

For all the pictures that go with this report,

I'm sure we'll not forget to see the pictures, thanks for two links just so we don't forget.

This breakfast looks pretty average, economy class in my country serves this, and maybe sometimes a bit nicer. And this first class looks pretty old fashioned, like an old Qantas 767 business class from a long time back.

I'd personally skip breakfast if that was served to me - or get a simple toasted ham and cheese croissant and a coffee before the flight if I knew they were serving that.

Hahaha! I always put the pictures thing twice - you know, people and short attention spans

Are you from Australia then? That is where I'm originally from. Lunch in economy class on Qantas on a flight like Cairns to Brisbane looks like this -



I think the AA breakfast looks a hell of a lot better than that. Can you refer me to a picture of where economy class is like the AA first breakfast? Maybe it's on the Perth routes?

Agreed though, the seats do look like the old Qantas 767 business class seats from ages ago. That's the ex-US Airways aircraft for you. Cheap looking!

I still stand by the fact the AA breakfast was nice

HWC1977 wrote:

I have not flown on a LUS A321. I see the seats have volume and channel controls. Can you still listen to in-flight music, even though they no longer have overhead screens.

I didn't try to use the "inflight entertainment" I'm afraid... so I don't know if it works or not to be honest. You'd hope it does, but you never know

N983AN wrote:

Glad you enjoyed it but compared to what LAA served until the alignment it’s way below par.

Do you have a picture of that?

I've heard the same, that the food on American was better before the merger, so it would be interesting to see what you are referring to.
[/quote]

Plenty of pics in the thread on FT, granted the difference is most stark for dinner but plenty of pics here:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22201289-post61.html

All of the servicewear and non-transcon domestic catering adapted to lower LUS standards, however meals were introduced to a small number of LUS markets when the meal minimum duration was cut from 3.5 hours to 2.75 hours.

N983AN wrote:

All of the servicewear and non-transcon domestic catering adapted to lower LUS standards, however meals were introduced to a small number of LUS markets when the meal minimum duration was cut from 3.5 hours to 2.75 hours.

Thank you for that, interesting information there!

I would love to know the story as to why that was the case... maybe cheaper to do it that way I guess.

i prefer the LUS 321 configuration to American, particularly in coach. the meal service was a bit better pre-merger, but not that much. and they offer meals on flights over 2.5 hours, not 2.75. Better than United, I think.