Last month American announced their new Entrée Reservation service that lets premium class passengers choose their meal before their flight.  At first it was only available between JFK/LAX and DFW/LGA, but last week the service was expanded and is now available on all of these routes:

Chicago (ORD) and:
— Los Angeles (LAX)
— New York LaGuardia (LGA)

Dallas/Fort Worth (DFGW) and:
— Los Angeles (LAX)
— New York LaGuardia (LGA)

Los Angeles (LAX) and:
— Boston (BOS)
— Ft. Lauderdale (FLL)
— Miami (MIA)
— New York Kennedy (JFK)
— Newark (EWR)
— Orlando (MCO)
— Washington Dulles (IAD)
— Washington Reagan (DCA)

New York Kennedy (JFK) and:
— San Diego (SAN)
— San Francisco (SFO)
— Seattle (SEA)

Miami (MIA) and:
— San Francisco (SFO)
— Seattle (SEA)

American is planning to offer the service on all of their domestic flights by the first quarter of 2013 and on all of their international flights by the second quarter of 2013.

It’s easy to pre-order your meal, all you have to do is access your reservation online at least 24 hours before your flight and place your order.

Here’s a look at how it works (click an image to view a larger version in a separate window) :

Go to AA.com and access your reservation.  Look for the “Entrée Reservation” button under the “Flight Option” section bar.

Select a passenger’s name.

After selecting the passenger name you’ll see the dining choices.

Make your selection and save.  You’re able change your mind up to 24 hours before your flight .

I decided that the chicken looked like the more healthful option; it’s really nice being able to make that choice.

My prediction is that this service is going to be really popular.  What do you think?

It was about a year ago that American began the process of improving the customer experience, and one of the first things they did was introduce new premium cabin amenity kits.

Now that they’re about to update the American Airlines brand and take delivery of new aircraft, they thought it was time to upgrade the amenity kits again.

Just like the one it replaces, this new kit was designed by Eames Office, but in an effort to make the new one more useful it was designed so that it can be used as an iPad case!

Something else that’s different is that unlike the previous kit, the new kit doesn’t display the “American Airlines” text as logo, or the American Airlines “Scissor Eagle” or “AA” branding: it simply reads “American” in Helvetica.

The new kits become available early next month.

You’ll also be able to find one on this blog when I give one away in December during the AAdvantage Geek Holiday Reader Giveaway!

Here’s a look:

I’m a fan of history and admire many traditions, and one that I’m most fond of is the buttonhole in the dinner napkin that accompanies American’s First Class meal service.

The purpose of the buttonhole is to attach the napkin to your shirt to help keep your clothing from getting stained. And even though today half of the passengers in first class are likely to be wearing a T-shirt rather than a shirt with buttons, I appreciate the buttonhole, even if it’s probably a bit of a throwback to another time (sort of like the soft, butter mint American serves at the end of every flight).

Not only is the napkin quite fashionable, I’ve found it to be quite useful (especially when eating the beef fajitas with salsa).  I know I’m not the only fan either: The Weekly Flyer has praised its utility, and I know a couple of other American Airlines frequent flyers that also make a point of using the buttonhole.

Anyway, I don’t know that they have made any change to the napkin, but I was on a couple of flights last week and the napkin didn’t have a buttonhole.

Maybe it was just a catering issue.  I hope they’re not going away.

Has anyone else noticed this?

(Editor’s note: I know on the list of challenges facing the human race, this isn’t at the top, but it’s a slow news day).