One of the more recent innovations on some flights is the ability to pre-order your meal before you fly. It cuts down on waste and lets the airline know how much of what to stock on board.

American Airlines allows you to do this when flying domestic first class. Of course, it is only available on flights with a meal service and not all flights do have this.

Pre-Order Your Dinner

I’m flying from Washington DC to Chicago later in the month. Pre-order is available 30 days prior to travel and this is the menu that was presented.


There are two hot options and one fruit and cheese plate. As I always like a hot meal, I decided to go for the chicken. While I like Ravioli, I think some vegetables will be welcome at that time of day.

Pre-Order Your Breakfast

A little later I will be flying from Denver to Charlotte. As this flight is breakfast time, the meal choices are designed to fit in with that time of day.


The very first biscuit I ever had was on board American Airlines and I really like them. Therefore it was a no brainer to choose the biscuit hot option with scrambled eggs, rather than the fruit plate.

Other Flights

Unfortunately meals are not available on all flights. The rather long sector from Chicago to Denver has no meal service as it departs at 8:20pm which is outside the dinner window. That is a bit of a shame really.

My other one is a short flight from Charlotte to Washington DC. Considering European airlines often provide a meal even on a short flight, this should be addressed in the USA.

Overall Thoughts

Eating on board a flight is one of the highlights for me. I’m interested to see whether I will be proactively given my meal choice or if I will be asked.

In the past on British Airways, I have made my pre-order before the flight yet was asked on board what I wanted. That sort of made the whole thing a bit redundant in my eyes.

Do you pre-order your meals when given the opportunity, or do you just order on board? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by BriYYZ from Toronto, Canada via Wikimedia Commons.