Flying American Airlines out of London Heathrow has been a mixed bag lately, especially if you were hoping for a proper meal. The airline's workaround for its catering chaos — loading meals for return flights onto planes in the US, so one aircraft carried food for two long-haul journeys — meant galleys crammed beyond capacity, fewer meal choices, and pre-orders that never materialised. That experiment is finally winding down, with the full fix expected by October 28.
The solution came in stages. By March, American had brought in Austrian caterer DO & CO to improve premium cabin food, and the feedback on that switch was strong enough that the airline made the relationship permanent in August. The real bottleneck, it turns out, wasn't the kitchen — it was the trucks. Specialised catering vehicles are the only way to get meals onto planes, and American simply didn't have enough of them at Heathrow. Working with DO & CO, the airline added five trucks and expected seven more, bringing the fleet to 17. That unlocked the final phase of the transition.
The rollout timeline is mostly done by now. Boeing 777-200s already resumed normal local catering in both directions. The premium-heavy 787-9Ps ended double provisioning in mid-October, with US departures handled on the 13th and Heathrow departures the next day. US departures for the rest of the operation were set for October 27, with all Heathrow departures following on the 28th — the date DO & CO takes over fully for anything leaving London. One quirk remains: beer, spirits and premium wines will still be loaded in the US for both legs, which is standard for international departures.
The most interesting part of the fix isn't the food itself. American is keeping onboard catering coordinators on every Heathrow departure even after the transition wraps. These are staff who board the plane while it's still on the ground — from the start of catering until boarding begins — to make sure carts are positioned correctly and flight attendants actually have everything they need to serve. It's a rare bit of investment in catching problems before passengers do, rather than shrugging when a service falls short mid-Atlantic.
For anyone with an American flight booked out of Heathrow this winter, this should mean complete meal services, correct pre-orders, and cabin crew who aren't hunting for missing carts. It also signals the airline is prioritising getting the product right over shaving minutes off departure times — a shift from previous practice. And with DO & CO now handling the operation permanently, the quality bar for premium cabins should hold.
If you're flying transatlantic premium on another carrier this winter, this raises the bar across the route group; American's Heathrow operation is one of its biggest international businesses, and it finally seems to be treating it that way.
