How American Airlines Makes 15,000 Meals A Day
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- čas přidán 13. 05. 2024
- Food service on domestic airlines has drastically changed in recent years.
Nearly 3 million passengers fly every day in the U.S. Post pandemic, airlines have seen an increase in passengers buying up to premium seats - putting pressure on airlines to offer better food options and more of them.
American Airlines just built this 214,000 square foot facility at Dallas-Fort Worth International airport. It prepares up to 15,000 meals a day, with the help of robots, for more than 800 flights daily. The new kitchen features more automation to keep up with demand and to minimize catering delays as the number of people traveling breaks new records and globally demand is expected to double by 2040.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
01:54 - Evolution of airplane food
04:05 - American Airlines kitchen
07:07 - The future
Produced, shot and edited by: Erin Black
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Editorial Support: Leslie Josephs
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How American Airlines Makes 15,000 Meals A Day
I’m a flight attendant for American Airlines and I can tell you with 100% CERTAINTY… the food does NOT look like this when you fly with us lmao.
what domestic flight have food instead of peanuts and a cup of soda?
Maybe around 15 years ago it use to be great food not anymore 😂
Hope they sack you
I agree 100%. I am a retired flight attendant. It’s a joke today.
I love how their marketing and PR staff paid so much attention to detail! They’ve even made sure that not a single US Airways-branded beverage cart could be seen!
I mean, it is important to see airlines seamlessly transitioning from past (through acquisitons, mergers and the lot) to present. I often fly Brussels Airlines, since I live in Belgium, and some of their aircraft (mostly A320 and A330) still have catering trolleys from the Sabena, the ancestor of Brussels Airlines, which went bankrupt in 2001.
A lot of people don't realize that the lower air pressure in the cabin actually affects our sense of taste. Food just isn't going to taste as good in an airplane cabin, period.
Yup....that's why airplane food is often loaded with salt and other seasonings.
@@ajs11201just give me some Cholula 😅
I used to believe that until I started flying Premium Economy. They can make it taste better.
Weird cause the food I bring on tastes good! The still frozen chicken they give you must taste like crap because of the cabin pressure. 🤔
@@adriandrelles1701 Cabin pressure makes any food taste differently.
Majority of airlines outside the US have a meal service no matter the class or length of flight which was a pleasant surprise. They are actually pretty good.
Its true, I'm the consumer
tried it and its true 😝
same in europe depends on low cost or national carriers. Internatioal flights over 5-6 hours you get food served.@@sebdcord
@@sebdcord this one is correct. European Airlines are cutting down benefits but increased the price
That's a big fat lie. Here in Southeast Asia, most airlines don't serve anything, not even water. In europe, they only served some drinks.
I actually always think that airline food tastes rather decent - given the circumstances I probably perceive it differently as well but yeah.
LSG Sky Chefs actually the ones doing the catering, not AA. They just own the building so the catering company can cater the food exclusively for AA at a very close proximity.
it's almost like they said that in the video
@@augustuspetrov7844 They did but a lot missed it. Many just don't really pay attention.
As long as you’re repeating things said in the video, tell us something else.
Exactly!! 😂😂 edit: AA made it seem like they were preparing the meals!
Funny, after finishing my undergrad I worked for less than a year at sky chefs, in accounting.
When something is not up to standards for a major ariline, they offer it to budget lines like Spirit - if they get no takers, they throw it out 😂
Notice they didn't show a single person cooking or preparing a main cabin meal lol
Notice how there's no kitchen and the meals are all cooked and prepped off the plane.
Microwave
it's all prapaganda anyways, its funny they say demand when really there is non the demand is for leg room and less fees yet moronic CEO's with that greed make it worse
lol pay more if you want fresh meal
@@pkdrew1 They don't use microwave ovens on planes. If you listened to the video you'd know any ovens on a plane are convection ovens.
I don't even remember the last time I had a meal on a flight.
International flights have them all the time they are uncommon for domestic flights unless the flight is longer then 4 hours in which case more common. Also as touched on your seating selection matters. As well as the airline that you choose to fly with. I always fly delta which always includes some kind of meal option or snacks
@@dennisp8520 True if you unfortunately have to travel in economy.
Must be flying low cost airlines. I fly internationally 4-7 times a year. Even in economy I get some kind of meal.
@@joser1853 Long haul international is different
You don’t ever leave the country, right? 😅
Air Asia has some great economy food boxes. Ya you pay $2 when you pay for your ticket but it beats most north american food.
$2 is not bad.
It's now up to 6$
Thanks for this fantastic video, I really appreciate it
When I was a sales rep for a safety equipment company in Northern California I was invited to tour the LSG Skychefs facility at SFO (I believe around 2015-2016) and meet with their management in preparation for submitting a bid for their business. During the meeting with the operations manager I caught the tail end of a conversation with him and the purchasing agent from Virgin America Airlines (now part of Alaska Airlines), and I clearly the conversation they had when he told the LSG manager that if they removed just 3 grapes from their $9 fruit and cheese tray, that the airline would increase the profit from the sales of that one item aboard to something like $160K annually. The margins on those meals are super high, but a lot of those "Airline" kitchens have now pivoted to serve as commissaries for convenience stores where food can be prepped and shipped to local stores to sell items like sandwiches and salads cold to customers or to be heated up in appliances in the store to sell hot food items like pizza, chicken, wings, and eggrolls.
That $160k number isn't unreasonable. Assuming $2/lb for grapes that would be around 640,000 trays just on the 80,000 pounds of grapes you'd not be serving. As the price of grapes goes up the number of trays drops quickly.
Interesting and informative, thank you
I lflew to Asia with Singapore Airlines and the food was great even for economy class. it had fresh salmon and shrimp. I enjoyed the food.
gross
No North American or European airlines can compete with the service and onboard experience of Asian carriers like Singapore, Qatar, emirates, ANA, Asiana.
Which Asia?
@@senagst6510 Singapore 😅
@@daniel11111 well said, for money value fly SQ, ANA, Jal and Cathay - the last ones is more money
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing airline life in our industry.
We flew Delta to Europe last summer and Pizza was on the Menu…..it looked like a Pizza Hot Pocket…..but wasn’t that great…..We don’t fly much and my wife told me to NOT eat Popeyes at the airport because the airline was going to feeding us aa meal…..so disappointed in that Pizza….I was craving Popeyes for the rest of the flight….
I went to Italy this summer. I stopped by Georgia bc it was a connecting flight. ✈️ I got Popeyes and boy is your wife right DO NOT GET POPEYES. The chicken tasted weird like stale
Grow a pair and eat what you want.
Ha! Their idea of pizza IS a hot pocket. Gross. I always eat at a restaurant before boarding. Then I also take snacks with me like chips, crackers, candy.
You should always choose to fly foreign airlines whenever you leave the country. Aero Mexico even served free beer or tequila in economy 😅
The first time I flew first class I was surprised how they served 3 course meals, and we even got silverware not plastic
It's similar in business class.. had a great experience flying Air France from SFO to CDG..
Korean airline, Turkish airline , Emeritus airline, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore airlines all served with real silverware in economy showing a real menu
@@jamesreynolds5776bro i got that in economy
They really make it worth it. Some people fly all the time but for those of us who fly like once a year or every few years, it's definitely worth splurging just for the comfort. I did all economy for a series of international flights and I swear I needed a neckbrace. I'm still physically recovering from the sleep issues, but I got super lucky on the last flight where I somehow got the whole row to myself and could actually lie down to sleep. thank goodness cause I was up 23 hours straight by then and wouldn't land until 7:00 a.m.
This is a very amazing video and it is all thanks to everything that has happened
Gotta love documentaries like these they bring an insight of the issues and problems airlines today. It's not just American Airlines but all airlines
Apparently outside the US everyone on a plane gets a free meal because everyone but the us is a socialist wonderland
It does help shed light on things and stop all the idiot commenters saying stupid things like "Man I miss the 50s when people got full meals on all flights" forgetting that back in those days, flying on a plane would've cost as much as a small car in today's money and you can still pay that today for first class...to get the same kind of hot meal service you did 50 years ago. (bonus points usually those commenters are people who were born recently acting like the world was rosier back then, forgetting that back then, no one had an iPhone to film their personal life, so the few times someone could publish a film were reserved for the wealthiest of documentaries, 95% of which was propaganda to make the US look better than it really was).
Still with people getting more aware today and seeing more reality, documentaries have to be more honest or careful with how they present information to not be called out.
Could an air fryer not work?
It's an incredibly informative and fascinating video. It's amazing to see the level of detail and care that goes into preparing meals for such a large number of people.
No thank you to airplane food. I buy my own food and snacks before my flight.
I asked an AA flight attendant what she recommended on a flight from Philly to Zurich. She said "Eating at the airport"
Of course US based airlines are 10 years behind the curve. Most airlines over seas already serve quality dishes even in Coach.
I once got tasty sea bass in economy flight from Hongkong to Shanghai with dragon airlines , and don’t even mention the all you can order and eat A la carte real nice presented food on JAL. Business class meal in all 3 big US airline are only get by. 😅
Err... Considering the size of AA as compared to SIA, SIA does 120,000 meals a day
Airline food is usally just URGGHHH 🤣
I like y'all's peanuts and pretzels 😂
………QANTAS built a six-storey Catering Facility at its’ Jet Base, in SYD, in the early ‘80’s. To see six HUGE cauldrons’ full of beef, & chicken stock was fascinating. Bread loaves’ floor to ceiling in a very large freezer. Dessert’s being assembled on a production line. One floor for inwards dirty cutlery, dishes’, & glasses’. One floor for outwards of same, onto galley pallets’ for the departing jets’. All fabulous to learn about………
As someone who works at dfw airport, this is so cool to watcg
American Airlines are possibly the worst in the world when it comes to in flight food. This is a PR piece.
The worst airline food on American from LAX to LHR in August! The crew response, “ I don’t know!”
I can't get over how the CEO's and CFO's in AAL don't get the fact that responses like that from their employees has such a deleterious effect upon their customers. Then again, AAL stock and P/E ratio is also pathetic......
Dude American Airlines gave me a Turkey sandwich with ice still on it going to japan lol
😂
The domestic business menu for American , the charcuterie plate. It’s an appetizer made a meal. Or even less than an appetizer
I had á lasagna on Ryanair once that was delicious!
That's for shorter flights without full domestic meal service. It's not meant to be a full meal.
airline food or the lack of it. I just bring my own sandwich and grab a coffee from the airport.
How are you bringing your own sandwich you would have to chuck that before you even got inside the airport
@@dennisp8520 That's not true if it's not liquid.
@@dennisp8520They don't seem to throw away food as long as it's sealed properly. I was able to bring dried beef jerky through check out, even internationally, as well as packs of peanuts I bought myself. Just make sure it's stored properly and you'll generally be good to go. But say good bye to the water bottle. Plus many airlines have shops you can buy food in at the boarding stations. Course either way you're still "paying" for the meal separately so mileage may vary.
Can you guys please make a video about the auto worker union strike
I love emirates airlines food always good
Never understood why they don’t let people in coach pre order meals and pay for them on long flights. We’re stuck with water and peanuts even on a 6 hour flight.
Pay more
Not worth the complication and expense for economy
Not to mention you will get disgruntled passengers. Jetblue had sandwiches you paid for, on cross country flights, they are gone by first ten rows, cheese and crackers is all that is left. The passengers complaining. If competition started meals in economy then others would follow, but that is highly unlikely to return.
Or how about warming up a food dish I bought??? Yeah! If I bring say McDonalds or Chik-fil-A on board, I would like to have them heat it up for me a bit.
@@boohere2how are they going to make money from that. Unless they charge you like a $5 warming charge (which most ppl won’t pay for) I don’t see it happening.
a lot of talk here, but how come international airlines serve better food ???
Because you pay much more $$$$?
Not true, British Airways food sucks.
Air Transport Command used supermarket type TV dinners. Not great, but good enough and much cheaper.
Congress should pass legislation that requires an airline to have a minimum seat width/recline, provide free meals, and ban baggage fees. Instead of doing trivial stuff that only scores points with their base.
it's fascinating to see the difference between Airline Meal documentaries on CZcams. Some are more clear about the problems and issues relating to costs, people, etc; while others prioritize quality, effort, and bang for the buck. I find it interesting how different countries emphasize different things.
It just depends on the market in general, just like real estate. Here in the states, we're all the same customers so it's hard to "impress us" with high quality service, but if an American is flying in a poorer country, you'll likely be treated like royalty because you're able to afford the higher quality services. That's likely why international flights really try their best to cater to Americans or wealthy passengers to show that "See? Our service is top of the line, please fly with us again". That's where most of thier profits would come from, BUT domestic flights know us so well, they know that we'll fly domestically even if all we get are a pack of peanuts for a 4 hour flight, so they instead focus on filling up planes so they waste as little fuel for city hopping as possible. We're not going to pay $5000 for a domestic flight if it takes 2 hours to just drive to the city ourselves or take the train at the cost of a few more hours of travel time.
It is really good for me and you too.😊😊😊😊
Finally, we know what is up with that stuff
I've flown economy and business class... Honestly the upgrade is not worth it (unless you're not paying). On long haul flights I would just sleep for the most part. Short flights a few hours is just that... a few hours.
The best airlines 🎉
It’s surprising to see that AA makes food; maybe it must be for another airline because I have never seen food sold or served on their flights.
It's for first class customers.
Why there's no one information here of the explosion in Tashkent, Uzbekistan?
Probably cause this isn't twitter, where every post has to explode into a political war zone.... Still hope the people you mention are okay. I try not to say much about things I don't know about so I avoid sounding ignorant.
I drive by that building everyday and now I know what it's for lol
If you have time to eat before your flight. Do so. Imagine having a non-stop 16 hour flight and you forgot the food add-on for your ticket.
I eat at the delta sky lounges buffet for free but even if I didn’t I would still just eat on the plane
On American, we’ll feed you more than once on a 16-hour flight, even in economy class. This is true on most major airlines. Still a good idea to bring snacks with you.
They don't offer buy on board on such a long flight. Any of the LLCs don't fly such long routes.
Very very surprised that American makes / prepares the meal themselves. I thought it was all done through caterers - at least it seems that way in Canada
They don't. They just own the building. The catering is done by LSG Sky Chefs.
They own the building however the actual cooking is contracted out to LSG Skychefs
@@makeawishkid8039 We know.
"It really doesn't matter what you serve, the number one outlier that is important to our customers is running an on-time operation"
Seems kinda off-topic for a food video...
Kind of true, I did 6 flights back to back and the only thing I really cared about was getting to my destination on time. the food was more a bonus than a breaking point for me. I was asleep most of the flight (or tried to sleep...my neck still hurts).
i flew international business on AA from Dallas.. they food was sooo bad.... lay flat is amazing on a 14 hour flight but food was horrible..
I'll just buy something and bring it on board.
why is the lady speaking in such a hurry
Wow yuummy food!❤
I have never had a good airline meal.
Travel Emirates
I have, on American and British.
British, Lufthansa, Qatar all offer excellent in flight meals!
Ever been on British Airways? Full roast beef, mashed potatoes, veges and Yorkshire pudding. The beef was not cheap dry slices. It was real roast beef.?
@@lynnroney1234I had steak on a first class American Airlines flight back from the Caribbean. Quite nice ☺️
Chef Mic needs a job.
I couldn't care less about food on an airplane... I just bring my healthy meal anyway.
When your can of soda explodes on you now you will know the reason.
I love airline food
Hilarious- I just flew with them last night- pretzels!
Surprising airlines don't offer a paid upgrade for a premium meal.
I used to work here
It won't be Michelin Star quality or whatever, but I think now a days in my recent experience airline food is tasty enough and does the job, but then again I'm not a super picky eater. People love to complain about anything.
The really amusing ones are those paying economy fares and expecting good food.
6:29 This guy has no idea what AI is.
So for you AI is just chatgpt?
I’ve had good meal but that was international flight to Europe
A long time ago the airlines' meals were good and I also remember when you flew for 2 hours or more you automatically got food and it was good chicken steak.
I flew delta this summer for a big trip to Italy and that food was disgusting. It makes school lunch look like a real meal. I prefer school pizza over delta food.
Sounds like you were economy. Shouldn't have expected good food.
@@johniii8147right, people in economy are low class and get the leftovers.
@@yordanpopov You get what you pay for ( or don't pay for).
I ENIOYED the field trip but was touched when we visited the kitchen. Who can I talk to NBC turkey?
Interesting
It's been years since I've had a meal on a flight, but I remember it not being bad at all nothing extraordinary but pretty good.
Take more foreign vacations and fly foreign airlines 😅
@@___beyondhorizon4664 I’ve flown on British Airways and their food is frankly worse than not eating on a 15 hour flight. Not every airline serves good food.
@@thetrainhopper8992The thing that worries me is when they serve food you can't eat due to allergies or conditions. I can't eat mayo and the sandwich one place served had mayo on ham and cheese. I get really sick if I put mayo in my mouth so I just had to hold off. Fortunately it was just a snack because I slept through dinner and didn't get a food tray and the flight wasn't that long.
Hmm I just got an idea of a restaurant who has seating like an airplane and offer meals in trays exactly like on airplanes. I will call it the airplane experience. I think people who can't afford to travel but wants to feel like travelling will enjoy that.
I can't say I've ever had a bad in-flight meal, at least internationally. I've even asked for and gotten seconds many times and the FA's are more than happy to do so as it's all getting tossed at the arrival destination which is a shame. I'll always remember fondly the glory (pre-9/11) days of flying when it was fun, now...as we all know it sucks. Leslie Josephs is a babe too!
They want "passengers to demand first class"? At $10k a pop, exactly which passengers are they trying to attract?
I think, they said 'business travelers' - but I still don't see why a company would say 'of course we'll pay however much it is just so you can have a little better meal', especially given you can take a lot of food from the duty free area onto the airplane. * (But many seem to do so - so, yeah..)
The restaurant industry standard is that the cost of food is between 12-18% of the cost of the dish on the menu. For catering I would imagine the cost of food is even lower.
More people can't fit in economy seats and want more food to enjoy during the flight. Fascinating.
The video includes a hamburger. But hamburgers don't taste very good at the 8,000 foot equivalent pressure in the cabin (6,000 on a 787/A350 may be a different story). The fries are wet and soggy because of how they must be cooked. Even the President of the United States doesn't get a meal like that on Air Force One if he wants it. It would be interesting to see how convection cooking evolves over time to deal with that.
Please release new menus, I just ate a meal I had 4 years ago in business class twice this year so far. Why!!
Probably because it's a popular choice and well suited to being plane food.
I rarely think about food when flying. Too nervous
Glad that I ate in the Charlotte airport before my flight to Munich on American. The chicken barely looked like chicken and had no taste. When the government allows most airlines to merge, don't expect competition to force better options from domestic airlines.
nice AA infomercial
Took a flight from John Wayne to Chicago O'Hare very good pilot nice ride and all that and then on my way to the tiny bathroomI passed through the curtain on first class and they were all eating and they did not look all that tasty.. they didn't give us anything except for some peanuts and some funny cookies in coach ...the bottom line as we got there safe and got back safe so that's all I care about
I usually avoid food in my 22 hr flight. I dont one to be the one that destroy airplane toilet
It looks strange seeing people cooking all these different meals in a huge kitchen, where nobody on-site is even eating the food
Well no one's paying $8 for some crackers and a cup of fruit. XD
My meals I’ve had on flights to Europe in economy have always been tasty!
Worst thing is having an over cooked steak, or a dried out burger
Airplane food is good! It wasn't always that good. most of time it was like really mushy, pretty bland. Now its pretty good. Especially when u go on airline and its Foreign trip, its awesome bc u get to taste like culture or cuisines that are norm for other countries like arab or european or italian or INdian or Persian.
@0:36 no, it’s American air carrier food that’s known for being bad.
Whats the meals/ lunch menu in American Airlines? 😄
are these like those tv night dinners?
Bravo AA for the initiative in making better airline food! I am actually a fan of airline food especially because these days I travel mostly on Business Class or above. It’s not that airline foods are inherently horrible, it’s the fact that people in Coach class are not willing to pay so what do you expect when you pay KFC prices - for Michelin star experience? Come on!
People in economy don’t choose a carrier for the food anyway
I carry chocolate bars on my person. On my last flight the dude in front reclined his seat and I was trapped in my seat twice for 5 hours each time. I just had to deal with the dehydration, and didn't dare eat as there was no way I could get to the bathroom.
Meals are included in the fare
Not always--that depends on the length of the flight and the class of service the passenger bought.
Not a vast majority of domestic flight in the US in economy. They usually don't even have a meal other than a few transons.
What happened to just a bag of nuts and a drink?
That's economy
Whoops, they forgot how the prepare a meal.
We have flown a couple of times and we didn't get served a meal on Southwest Airlines. Every Airline passenger was served just a cold drink and peanuts 🥜. So, therefore, we would like to know has All of the Airlines started serving back meals on the Aircraff?
Usually, you don’t get full meals on US domestic coach flights-especially when you fly LCCs (low-cost carriers). On transcon flights, you may get a sandwich on legacy carriers.
On a side note, during COVID, AA only offered snack boxes (probably cost them less than $7) in domestic first class-even transcon. We all knew that was a cost-cutting measure rather than the reason they all gave: passenger safety.
1.5 million passengers a day and 15k meals… food fight?
One name . Flying Food Group.