American Airlines debuts new wellness menu, brings back preorder option

American Airlines has made some welcome investments in its onboard service in recent months, and more are on the way.

Beginning on Oct. 12, the Fort Worth-based carrier will roll out a new wellness menu for its premium-cabin flyers, a carrier spokesperson told TPG.

These health-forward choices include breakfast frittatas in the morning and a harvest vegetable and grain bowl served during lunch and dinner. The wellness meals were created in partnership with the James Beard Foundation, American's culinary partner, along with award-winning nutritionist Ellie Krieger.

In addition to the aforementioned choices that'll join the regular entree rotation for onboard meals, American will also add wellness-focused meals to its preorder menu. They include:

• Harvest vegetable and grain bowl.
• Golden roasted chicken.
• Mushroom and asparagus frittata.
• Dip duo.
• Note that this dip is an appetizer that will be offered alongside the preorder wellness entree.

You'll find these new choices on select domestic, transcontinental and international flights. If customers enjoy these items, American Airlines will continue serving them for the foreseeable future, according to the spokesperson.

Along with the debut of healthier meals, American will also reintroduce its preorder-only program on Oct. 12. While American already offers a preorder option for most flights, the menu picks were identical to those that would be served during the flight.

Throughout the pandemic, preordering your desired entree just guaranteed that it would be available for you on your flight.

However, as of Oct. 12, you'll soon see new options on the menu that will be exclusively available to those who preorder. This is essentially a watered-down version of Singapore's famed "book the cook" service, which offers premium-cabin flyers a range of additional entree options available by preorder only.

While you won't find a lobster thermidor on American's preorder menu, you will find new options that might be interesting to you, especially if you're a frequent flyer. In addition to the new wellness options mentioned above, I'd expect to see lighter choices, such as a charcuterie board and fruit and cheese plate, return to the preorder menu.

Adding wellness meals and bringing back the preorder-only menu are the latest upgrades coming to American's onboard catering. The carrier was one of the first to bring back hot meals to domestic first class, and many of the food options have been tastier and better presented than they were before the pandemic.

Hopefully, this investment continues to expand to other areas of the carrier's operations, including to the economy cabin and to Admirals Clubs nationwide.