From Vine To Decline: American Airlines Drops Printed Wine Lists From Business Class

Printed wine lists are out in American Airlines long haul premium cabins. Instead of a menu listing options, the printed meal menu given to business class passengers now says “We invite you to engage with our flight attendants to learn more about the selection of wines available for your enjoyment.”

Flight attendants, of course, have been given no extra training on the wines being offered. You can ask, and maybe they’ll show you the bottle.

When I flew American Airlines Flagship First Class last summer to Sydney and back, the wine program was shockingly bad. I’m not surprised they’re not putting it in writing.

  • Noble Vines 446 Chardonnay, an $8 retail bottle
  • Most of the wines were in the $15 range
  • Only the Cuvaison Pinot Noir was a bottle where I’d say, sure, I’d drink that

American Airlines first class champagne has been more respectable, the one place they’ve been willing to invest: Drappier Grande Sendree Brut (on my flights last June the 2012 vintage). In business they moved to an Italian sparkling, not even proper champagne.


Predeparture champagne from Sydney wasn’t even in proper glasses

On the return flight, the $8 chardonnay was replaced with the less-embarrassing Louis Latour Macon-Lugny Les Genievres white Burgundy. But departing Australia there was not a single Australian wine.


Photocopied menu and wine list, Sydney – Los Angeles

Such a contrast from when American first re-started Sydney service and they invested in an elevated product to align with joint venture partner Qantas. They were serving some proper $25 retail bottles in business class, and a very nice $60 Shiraz in first. On the Sydney inaugural in each direction they even served Penfolds Grange in first.


2016 American Airlines First Class Wines

In first class Australia flights you’d think they’d serve Penfolds St. Henri, though (at least a proper carrier might), and Bin 389 in business.

However one casualty of the pandemic was their contracted name wine consultant. On board wine selection is a function of (1) budget and (2) adapting to dulled taste buds at altitude. Selection is bounded by what an airline is about to source at scale.

I certainly don’t expect American Airlines to install a pressurized tasting room, like Singapore Airlines has, in order to choose wines based on how they will perform on board. But the depths to which American’s wine program has fallen is still shocking.

Nonetheless, we can at least expect printed menus to return. According to American Airlines, the lack of a printed wine menu in international business is temporary – though will continue for several months.

For the next few months, customers will be able to learn about our beverage options that are available in premium cabins by speaking with a flight attendant, rather than through a printed inflight beverage menu.

This is a temporary change to the inflight dining experience while we transition beverage suppliers. We look forward to bringing back the printed onboard menus in spring 2024.

American hasn’t clarified further, but I take this to mean they’ll be sourcing wine from someone other than Intervine, and that in the meantime wine choices will vary as different stations move over at different times and as they draw down stock.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. To most cabin staff the distinguishing characteristics of various wines end at red or white, so good luck “engaging.” Then again the cabin environment’s effects on your tongue and palate makes an inflight “wine program” look like pretentious, fatuous playacting, so maybe AA is just acknowledging the obvious here. Drink Champagne if it’s available, or spirits, or water. Most still wines are badly blunted at altitude.

  2. Wine was a big deal on the BA and AF Concorde , where everyone drank Fast . The Concordes were also punctual , and rarely delayed .

  3. The continuing race to the bottom by US air carriers. Our recent flights from DWF to HNL and return had forgettable plonk ‘wine’.

  4. I’m not at all pretentious, wine is wine to me. Most folks aren’t able to tell any difference between wines in blind taste tests @ ($20.00 a bottle or so) Wine does age, so I get that the more expensive wines taste immensely different, However, any wine below about $20.00 taste alike to most people. But….American Airlines is racing to the bottom. AA is an embarrassment to its country and seems proud of that. They keep getting worse. Too bad for a flagship airline.

  5. If people wanted to pay full fare, I am sure AA would offer a product that people demanded. Instead, most people want a free upgrade or a cheap buy up offer. This is part of the reason premium economy is popular and AA struggles to fill the F cabin with full fare pax.

  6. @Gary: Trentodoc is not a Champagne, so it is not “improper” in any sense. It is a distinct wine in its own right and the wine currently used to toast Formula 1 podium victories.

  7. @Gary: Why would you want a soiled paper wine list? A QR code is easier, always current, and a more versatile way to present the information.

  8. At least on AA I have never had to sit next to drunks like I sometimes do on Singapore, ANA, Delta and certain European airlines that think the best way to keep people happy is to let them drink to much.

  9. The subject of wine in Inflight Service is laughable. Airline companies, flight crew, mechanics, ground crews do much serious work. Get real and appreciate airline safety over a wine list or wine offerings. What a facade!

  10. Gary
    Maybe you should go to a 5 star restaurant for all your wine and champagne and fine glassware.
    Like I told you many articles ago.
    The time of fine dining in the air is way gone!! Especially AA , United, Delta.
    Airlines these days are just people movers. Nothing more nothing less.
    Once you realize this point you will not be disappointed with your travel !!!
    Wine list, really !!!!!
    Grown adults Whining.
    Unbelievable.!!!

  11. From my experience, almost no one — even elite-y people — knows anything about wine. I know a little, and I suspect I know more than 99% of travellers. I would suspect that fewer than 1 percent of int’l biz class travellers could detect the difference between a $20 bottle of wine from a $60 bottle at altitude. Other than snob appeal, there is little reason for an airline to serve wine about the $25 price point. Obviously, almost all flight clues are clueless about the wine selections, and asking them anything about the wine would be painful. For those few who know anything, though, it’s nice to be served $25 wine from a printed wine list so we have a shot at identifying something we’d like to drink.

  12. When you say that they moved in Business to an Italian sparkling wine and that it’s not a “proper champagne”, you obviously don’t realize that champagne is a sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. Of course an Italian sparkling wine isn’t going to be champagne. Your wine knowledge seems to be on par with AA flight attendants. That might, however, be too critical of those flight attendants. SMH.

  13. I have come across some pretty nice wines in airline clubs; rather start the drinks there and then drink less at altitude.

  14. I suppose none of you folks who say you can’t taste the difference in $60 bottle wine and $20 actually ever spend $60 on a bottle please don’t project your ignorance onto the rest of us.

    And one can get a decent $20 bottle in France and Italy. But not $8.

  15. An old joke:

    The difference between a $12 bottle of wine and $40 bottle is remarkable- Everything is typically smoother with better/balanced taste.

    The difference between a $40 bottle and a $200 bottle is…. $160.00. 😉

    As has been mentioned, it is somewhat hard to taste ‘better’ at 35,000 feet. I also see why AA is simply drawing down their stock, or even just outsourcing (at slightly higher prices) from local suppliers until they have their main contract fulfilled. All make reasonable sense to me.

    Finally, at least AA does a generous pour- as in at least 6+ ounces and frequent refills if you are nice. On a recent flight on United, the wine was poured in thimbles and on a 3.5 hour flight, the FA’s only checked once for refills- the rest of the time they were on their phones.

  16. Before AA bought them, TWA was serving a choice of 3 reds and 3 whites in int’l first class. After, it was “Red or white?”

  17. @Gary: “But the depths to which American’s wine program has fallen is still shocking.”
    I don’t know why you’re shocked, we all know AA is looking to hold pole position in the “race to the bottom” — a term that others have used here and I agree with.
    I have a review of AA’s November Transatlantic wine list (it’s the same out and back) waiting for editing for my YT food and wine channel. The champagne retails for $24, the Port a dollar more. The four whites and reds have retail price spread of $12-$15, none of them were wines I would buy out of choice. The Argentinian Cabernet was watery and insipid.
    On my last flight PHX-LHR AA substituted Cockburn’s port for the Quinto Do Noval listed. I suspect catering loaded the BA inventory by mistake.
    Now, if you assume typical wine markup from wholesale is 50% over wholesale you may quickly work out how much AA is likely paying for these. My best guess is you would have change out of $10 for any of the reds or whites were you to buy them at COSTCO or Trader Joe’s.
    I do remember when AA proudly trumpeted that they had a tame Sommelier picking their wines. That went the way of the Dodo. I seriously think they have a teenage intern doing it now. A few months ago they were offering Dry Sack Sherry as a desert wine when anyone but an idiot knows that it should be served as an aperitif. It’s not a desert wine.
    And while I’m on the subject…..is AA EVER going to change the light meal menu? Mini Pies AGAIN??? I mean, they’re quite nice, but they must have been on the menu for a decade. Had that convo with the FA coming back to PHX from LHR. It’s just lazy, and that’s giving AA the benefit of the doubt which I don’t think they deserve.
    I am at the point where, once I have used up my copious AA miles next year I am going to try someone like Lufthansa. The big three US airlines are becoming really bad value for money, especially if you buy over-priced nonstop tickets.

  18. Gary, it is time for you to move on & bash another airline. If you don’t have anything nice or truthful to say? SHUT UP! Don’t let the jet bridge door hit you in the Arse. BA-Bye

  19. I recently got to use SWUs for the first time. It’s also the first time in a long time I got/had to fly AA international business – I’ve generally been flying BA and Finnair J instead. Bleah. Worst J meal ever. How was it even possible to torture a chicken breast that much?

    I was excited to earn/use SWUs, but they’re difficult to use on a guaranteed basis (C space), and given the need to almost exclusively use them on AA metal (theoretically possible on BA, but only last minute from what I can see), I’ll take miles instead, thank you very much. AA is good enough for short haul, even to the Caribbean where they offer some tremendous award deals, long haul it’s only going to be OneWorld partners going forward, unless I can’t avoid them.

  20. Everything with the airlines is on a razor edge profit margin. So sad to see the decline.

  21. @babs, AA proofs time after time that there is no end to how indifferent and bad the American carrier can be. It is baffling how in every aspect AA fails to even maintain a bare minimum standard of operating and even motivated by corporate have made passenger bashing into an art. Honestly the wine menu temporarily disappearing is one of the least issues with this airline. The issue is that it appears management believes their employees are an inconvenience and the passengers an unfortunate disturbance to endure as they pay the bills. With a few kind ground staff and pax orientated flight attendants excluded, most of the employees waking up every morning to make your life as miserable as possible. Perhaps that’s what you get when the airline’s previous CEO was not much more than under influence driving Texas cowboy missing any sophistication. Perhaps the new CEO will proof AA can become a CX focused company in the nearby future. But since 2019 I am avoiding AA like the plague as I am not going to allow an airline to make my travel experience miserable even when they have the best or shortest connection. The thousands of dollars in compensation I received I never used as no money in the world is worth to deal with the mostly miserable people working for this airline.

  22. Based on some of the comments I read, it appears that AA implements those changes after talking to some of you.

    For those of us, who like good food and good wine, this is an insult. You can taste good wine at any altitude. First it was the missing espresso. AA is the only airline that I know of who doesn’t offer an espresso. The 777 have the espresso machines but according to one flight attend I spoke to, the staff is not capable of preparing espresso, that is why we don’t see it in business or first.

    For those of you who enjoy your Hampton Inn coffee this doesn’t matter, but for the remainder of us who enjoy our drinks and food, this is a joke. AA has an outdated cabin in business, the worst food and drinks of any airlines, the most inconsistent service and among the highest prices of any airline.

    How much would a great bottle of wine, a good meal and an espresso add to a $13,000 business class ticket from the US to Asia? And how much would a
    smile and a proper etiquette and training of the staff add?

    I go out of my way to fly AA international even though I am stuck with them in the US out of
    my hub.

    I would suggest that you contact the advantage desk and let them know how dissatisfied you are with those changes.

  23. KL has good wine from the Western Cape (South Africa), and AF serves free-flowing champagne in Economy Class. EK serves good wine and QR has a sommelier in Economy Class.
    Why anyone would expect any good wine in any AA is beyond me. AA isn’t want a wine enthusiast would choose. AA only is good for friendly laid-back American Union staff. DL and UA don’t know the difference between food wine and flat Dr. Pepper.
    I mean, AA undoubtedly knows where it”s competive edge is on transcontinental routes.

  24. I don’t often agree with Gary, because he seems to have a pathological bone to pick with flight attendants, but seeing a pre departure “glass” of wine served in plastic is a bridge too far. I am one of those that fit into that tiny space that is left of us in this industry that still believes in giving a first class experience, no matter what cabin a passenger is seated in. When I went through purser training, we had more extensive training (for us) in how to serve wine, and what is best paired with what. I’m also a foodie, so I think about what might be better with a dish. But that is also because I enjoy wine, so it’s second nature for me to do this. But flight attendants that are coming onto the line now are not receiving a tenth of the service training that we received, so unfortunately everyone suffers. I am truly scared of where we are heading from here 🙁

  25. After my last year’s AA biz class experience I will avoid as best as I can ..that applies to pretty much all American carriers…

  26. Ask any American Airlines Master Sommelier. While jetting to a holiday vacation location while nestled in a center-row aircraft seat, most discerning college students would prefer spending ten dollars to chug a refreshing plastic cup of Boone’s Farm wine, which will help any passenger maintain an in-flight permabuzz blood alcohol level above 0.10 for 48 hours.

  27. I flew First Class about 5 years ago from Los Angeles to Sydney. And a passenger across the aisle asked some questions about the wine selections, and the flight attendant abruptly answered that she doesn’t drink and knew NOTHING about them!! Just read the menu she said in a very disturbed way!! I’ve witnessed better and warmer service at my neighborhood Denny’s. Which is very sad to me!

  28. On four recent flights, they were pouring champagne in business. I believe it was Nicolas Feuillatte, or some equivalent not-at-all-memorable label. But champagne is champagne to me.

  29. After American Airlines stopped printing their wine lists, will American Airlines Master Sommelier offer two-buck Chuck from Trader Joe’s as their ultra-premium wine to be served in a recycled paper cup?

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