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American Airlines introduces new food and drink, including first non-alcoholic beer
American Airlines is starting the new year with refreshed menus and new drink choices. I personally find AA well worth considering for long haul travel. You know that you will at least get a 1-2-1 layout with some being new suites in business class. The service is not always that friendly, but I do find them very efficient, and the food is generous, with pre-order available. AA is definitely trying to up their game – my only complaint is that the wine selection is usually poor.
Beginning at the start of February customers can enjoy Athletic Brewing Company’s Free Wave Hazy IPA on board as American’s first inflight non‑alcoholic beer option. Athletic’s non‑alcoholic offerings are already available in Flagship® and Admirals Club® lounges, and have been received well.
In addition to the new non‑alcoholic option, American is expanding its in-flight beverage lineup with even more choices. Q MARGARITA MIX (which can be paired with Socorro Tequila) is always a nice change from regular drinks ,and now they will add Q TONIC WATER and Q CLUB SODA. AA will also change from Mrs T’s Bloody Mary mix to Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix. I definitely welcome a new Bloody Mary mix to try. Apparently, it is pretty spicy, so that sounds right up my street. If you want something more refreshing, there will be two new LaCroix Sparkling Water flavors — Lime and Berry, two of the brand’s most popular varieties. I do feel that many airlines put BA’s boring non alcoholic offerings to shame now and I wish they would think of some more interesting drinks other than non-alcoholic beer or standard sodas.
Also starting in February, Main Cabin customers on select flights within the U.S., Canada, Caribbean, and Mexico will be able to enjoy some refreshed onboard menu items, including a chicken salad and Boursin cheese wrap, served with coleslaw and a lemon shortbread cookie for a sweet finish. Customers can purchase this new offering on mainline routes for $13 or for 1,300 AAdvantage® miles.
On international routes there are new Premium Economy and Main Cabin entree selections:
- Barbecue chicken with grits
- Beef fajita bowl
- Hoisin chicken
- Chimichurri chicken
- Vegetable yakiniku noodles
- Honey mustard chicken
Virgin Atlantic offer double tier points and Virgin points with their sale
Virgin Holidays sale ends on 26 January, but there are a couple of extra offers on. The sale gives you No1 Lounge access for two for non-business class passengers when you book by 26th January for three hours before your flight. The lead passenger must be a member of Virgin Flying Club and you must have entered the membership number into the booking by 30 January 2026. The total price of the booking must exceed £4,000 with flights departing from London Heathrow between 16 January 2026 and 31 December 2027. Bookings must include flight and accommodation, or flight and car hire.
The complimentary lounge will be added to qualifying bookings within 72 hours of the booking being confirmed and the Flying Club number being present on the booking.
As well as getting double tier points with Virgin Holidays, which came in last March, you can now get double Virgin Points too with the same offer.
Double Virgin Points will be added to members’ accounts once the holiday has departed within 28 days. Points awarded:
- Red status: 4 Virgin Points for every £1 spent
- Silver status: 6 Virgin Points for every £1 spent
- Gold status: 8 Virgin Points for every £1 spent
Virgin Points will be awarded to the lead booker only.
You can also take advantage of the low £75pp deposit offer on holidays. Book between now and 2 February to travel from 12 March 2026.
Delta introduces basic business and first class fares
I’m not generally a fan of basic fares for business as it usually means charging people more than the current prices to keep the same benefits and penalising leisure travellers more.
Delta had previously indicated that they were planning to introduce basic fares in all cabins, but have now provided more details during the company’s 2025 earnings call yesterday. It is expected that all of Delta’s cabin products will have basic fares before the end of 2026.
Delta was the first US airline to announce basic fares in business class, but I am sure they will not be the last!
Delta president Glen Hauenstein said “We’ve talked about having three categories for every product, which is basic, main and extra. And that continues to evolve.
“We put those products in place for Comfort Plus, and that implementation is producing results that are actually slightly above our internal projections.
“So, you’ll see us continue to bring that and move that up the ladder to give customers choice not only of the seat, but the actual product that they want to buy with that seat and disaggregating that out.”
“And hopefully, those exceed our own expectations of how people select because I think that if you were offered a $500 ticket, there was no reason for you to ever want to pay more than $500 because it was fully loaded. Now we have that seat is $500, but you can buy it for $450 if you’re willing to get the seat assignment at 48 hours, if you’re willing to have it nonrefundable and then all the way up to extra where it’s fully refundable and you get the best seats unlocked at that time. So I think it’s the seat and then it’s the product attributes, and we’ll be bringing that in ’26. That’s one of our ’26 initiatives.”
We don’t know exactly what the basic fares would require extra payment apart from seat choice, but I would suspect lounge access, change fees, and priority check-in/security to be other areas for consideration or even free baggage. It get smore interesting when you consider that Delta has a joint venture with Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic across the Atlantic, and with Korean Air across the Pacific. So how would these changes be integrated with their partners, such as Virgin? Virgin already has several levels of economy with a basic level, so it is feasible that Virgin may choose to adopt something similar.
Delta has also announced it will add 30 new Boeing 787s to its fleet for transatlantic routes, with deliveries expected to be complete by 2031.
