How To Preorder Meals on American Airlines [By Class, Special Meals]

When you’re stuck in a metal tube at over 30,000 feet in the sky, mealtimes suddenly become the highlight of the next few hours, so it’s understandable if you think ahead about what you get to eat.

American Airlines lets customers preorder meals in premium cabins on most meal-eligible flights within 30 days of departure, allowing you to ensure your preferred meal is reserved for you. American was actually one of the first airlines to implement this system, and it was a fan favorite among frequent flyers.

But there are actually a few intricacies to the preorder system you should be aware of, so we’ll guide you on when you can preorder, when you can’t, and how you can do so.

Preordering Basics

When you preorder a meal on American Airlines, you ensure that that specific meal is loaded onto the plane. If you don’t reserve in advance, you have to take your chances when the flight attendant passes through the cabin asking what each passenger would like — depending on where you’re seated, you may not get your first request.

If you can reserve your meal, you should definitely take advantage, especially if you’re a picky eater, have medical dietary needs, or are a vegetarian who needs to ensure a specific meal is ready to go in your name.

Premium Dining

On a typical domestic flight in first class, there will be 3 or 4 preorder premium dining meals to choose from, including a meat entree, a vegetarian meal, a wellness meal, and a fruit and cheese or similar platter. One of the benefits of selecting your meal in advance is not being stuck with a meal you do not want. The minimum number of meal choices you’ll see for preorder is always 2: 1 meat and 1 vegetarian dish.

What you’re actually selecting is just the main course. You may also get an appetizer, side salad, or dessert, but you can’t choose what you get for these. The flight attendants plate these on board the aircraft, and although the appetizer you receive could depend on which entree you select, you can’t view or choose these courses in advance.

One thing to keep in mind, based on my experiences, is that some flight attendants seem to ignore that you’ve preselected a meal and come down the aisle asking for your preference, even if you already preordered online.

I’m not sure why this happens, but I sometimes chalk it up to technical difficulties and the crew not getting the preorder instructions. If this is the case, you may want to let the flight attendants know you preordered your meal sooner rather than later in case your desired meal runs out.

Special Meals

In addition to choosing from the 2 to 4 regular meals available, you can also request a special meal, which is a dish specifically curated to specific religious or dietary concerns.

American Airlines offers the following special meals, though availability may vary based on the route:

• Asian vegetarian: spicy vegetarian meal with limited dairy
• Baby: for children under 2
• Bland: no spices
• Child: intended for ages 2 to 5
• Diabetic: low in sugar
• Gluten intolerant: without wheat, rye, barley, or oats
• Hindu: prepared according to Hindu dietary practices
• Kosher: complies with Jewish dietary laws
• Lacto-ovo vegetarian: may include dairy or eggs
• Low fat: high in fiber and low in fat
• Low sodium: without any added salt
• Muslim: without pork or alcohol
• Non-lactose: without any cheese or dairy
• Vegetarian Jain: fresh fruits and vegetables grown above ground, excluding onion, garlic, or other root vegetables or animal products/by-products
• Vegetarian and vegan: without meat, fish, eggs, or dairy

As you can see, there are a ton of options. In most cases, if you can order a regular meal, you can also order a special meal.

There are a few things to keep in mind about these special meals:

• Anyone can order any special meal, so you don’t actually need to prove you have the specific dietary limitation noted in order to order that meal.
• Many customers report these special meals being better than the regular meals, likely because they aren’t as mass-produced.
• You should be prepared if the special meal isn’t available. Catering mishaps can always happen, so your specific meal may not be loaded on board for one reason or another. If you have a concern, be sure to have some backup snacks to munch on.
• If you miss your flight and are accommodated on another flight, your special meal does not carry over to that new flight, and you’ll need to choose from the regular meals.
• Booking special meals in advance is available for all classes.
• Passengers are advised to let the gate agent and flight attendant know that they’ve ordered a special meal.

What Flights You Can Preorder Meals For

American Airlines lets you reserve meals on most meal-eligible flights. If your flight is only scheduled to serve a snack or refreshments, you can’t make a meal reservation, as no food will actually be catered.

Flights over 900 miles schedule meals during traditional meal times. This includes both domestic and international flights.

As a reminder, for any flight that has a meal scheduled, you can book a special meal regardless of class.

What Flights You Cannot Select a Meal For

There are a few flights you can’t preorder on:

• If you’re departing in the early morning from an outstation without a catering facility and your flight is only scheduled for a continental breakfast, you can’t preorder because the breakfast will be shelf-stable and flown in the night before on the incoming flight.
• If you’re on an American Eagle meal-eligible flight, you receive a cold or boxed meal, which is not part of the meal reservation program.
• In rare circumstances, your flight may not be catered and only offer shelf-stable foods, in which case you can’t preorder.

How To Preorder a Meal

If you want to preorder for a meal-eligible flight, log in to either the American Airlines mobile app or website and go to your reservation. About halfway down the desktop page is a Passengers section and, under that, a Meals box. Click the pencil in that box.

Once you select that box, you should see a pop-up with your choices.

Premium Dining

For this example, I chose a flight from New York City (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX). This particular flight was in first class, the highest cabin class on the plane. There were 5 meal choices, and to see all 5 fully, I had to scroll down the page.

Special Meals

To order a special meal, click the Special meals tab on the left.

Once you do that, you’re presented with all of the special meals for your flight. Scroll down the page to select them.

Additional Details

In all cases, once you select your preferred option, click the save button. You can go back in and change your choice up to 24 hours prior to flight departure. After this, your meal choice is locked in, and the system will not display an option to change the meal. At this point, your selection is in the queue for catering to load the correct meal.

This is especially important to note for elite status upgrades that may clear within 24 hours of departure. If this happens, you will not be able to preorder a meal.

You can start selecting your meals within 30 days of flight departure. Prior to this, no meal options will be available. Depending on the time zone of your flight, you may need to wait until within 29 days to actually see the list of choices.

It’s worth noting that there’s no advantage to selecting a meal earlier within the preordering window. As long as you save your pick more than 24 hours before departure, you’re good to go.

Final Thoughts

Selecting your meal in advance on American Airlines is one sure way to make your flying experience more premium. The American Airlines meal selection process is straightforward, and it is easy to choose which entree you fancy.

It’s important to have a meal that you can actually eat during your premium experience, especially for those with dietary concerns. However, don’t forget to order over 24 hours before your flight, or you’ll miss out!