American Airlines Expands Preorder Meal Window, Launches New European Menu

American Airlines is updating its inflight menu ahead of the busy European travel season.

Starting tomorrow, June 11, American will offer a new menu to passengers flying from the U.S. to some of Europe’s most popular destinations.

Along with the menu change, American is extending the cutoff time for preordering onboard meals. Effective this month, the airline is expanding the preorder meal window to 20 hours before departure, up from the current 16 hours.

American says the change gives more flexibility to passengers who receive upgrades closer to their departure time, “ensuring they have enough time to select their inflight meal,” the airline said.

New Menu Items

Travelers flying American to Europe this summer will get access to a new inflight menu inspired by some European cities. The new menu will be available to those flying Flagship Business, Flagship Suite Preferred seats, or Flagship Suite seats on routes to cities in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The menu will vary depending on the destination. Here are some of the highlights:

• Flights to Paris (CDG) and Nice (NCE): ratatouille or porcini short rib with polenta.
• Flights to Rome (FCO), Milan (MXP), Naples (NAP) and Venice (VCE): short rib with a butternut squash medley and pea risotto.
• Flights to Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC): spaetzle tossed with grilled zucchini, cremini mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes or schnitzel.
• Flights to Barcelona (BCN) and Madrid (MAD): mar y mar paella or seared paprika sea bass.
• Flights to Dublin (DUB), Edinburgh (EDI) and London (LHR): mustard-crusted lamb served with turnips, peas and baby carrots or a peppercorn short rib dish.

Afternoon Tea Service

Along with these menu updates, American says it will continue to test its afternoon tea service across all cabins on flights departing from London Heathrow (LHR) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airports this summer. American made that announcement at the beginning of May, unveiling that the service will include “tea service and carefully curated accompaniments that include finger sandwiches, scones, crème and jelly.”