David Slotnick/Business Insider
- American Airlines recently announced a partnership with the James Beard Foundation to redesign the meals in its Flagship airport lounges and long-haul Flagship first and business class cabins.
- First and business class ticket sales yield significantly higher margins than main cabin tickets, which incentivizes airlines to try and attract customers, most of whom are business travelers.
- Although it may not seem like a food program would be what convinces those customers to choose one airline over another, we spoke with American's VP of global marketing about it. She explains that the investment in the "holistic" travel experience actually does attract customers. It's not just about the seat and the on-board Wi-Fi.
- Sign up for Business Insider's transportation newsletter, Shifting Gears, to get more stories like this in your inbox.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Often, a business traveler flying in a spacious premium cabin seat - first or business class on a long-haul flight - will plan to spend the flight working on a laptop, or, in the case of a red-eye, sleeping in order to arrive refreshed and ready to work.
Depending on how long the flight is, they might eat a meal, or have a drink or two while watching a few minutes of a movie, but the prize is productivity. For people in major markets with more than one airline choice, a comfortable-enough seat for sleep, adequate Wi-Fi, and, when possible, a direct flight are the necessities.
But pre- and in-flight dining options and other soft amenities: Think bedding in business class, or brand-name headphones to borrow. These things go a longer way than one might expect in attracting that high-yield business traffic, according to Janelle Anderson, vice president of marketing for American Airlines.
Food and beverage especially make a difference.
Bringing James Beard-affiliated meals to the front of the plane.
Chef Sarah Grueneberg, the first featured chef in American Airlines' partnership with James Beard.
Chef Sarah Grueneberg, the first featured chef in American Airlines' partnership with James Beard.
American Airlines made a big publicity push in late November when it announced a new partnership with the James Beard Foundation, a nonprofit culinary organization.
With the partnership, American would become the official airline partner of the foundation and would begin a multiyear campaign of partnering with "award-winning chefs who embody diversity, modernism and sustainable practices in the culinary world today," the airline said in a press release.
Along with the partnership, the first chef was announced. Sarah Grueneberg, a "Top Chef" alum and owner of Chicago's Monteverde. American also announced a variety of menu items for the airline's Flagship First airport lounges, and on long-haul flights in first and business class.
Although there are exceptions, most grander service improvements seem to come to the front of the plane, rather than the main cabin. That's because the airlines depend heavily on higher-margin premium cabin ticket sales.
Other than a relative handful of wealthy leisure travelers and honeymooners splurging on a special treat, the majority of business class passengers are business travelers. These passengers are often even more valuable, since they frequently book flights last-minute when tickets are more expensive. It seems unlikely that James Beard-branded food served on board would singularly be enough to convince these valuable customers to pick one airline over another.
But Janelle Anderson, the airline's vice president of global marketing, said that the "soft product" actually plays a bigger role in convincing business travelers to choose the airline instead of a competitor.
There's also a branding effect. Even if the majority of passengers will get, at most, a whiff of the new cuisine as its brought to passengers in the front cabin, the introduction of top products and heavy marketing in premium cabins elevates an airline's overall brand. That's evident in the reputations of glitzy Middle Eastern and Asian airlines.
For long-haul vacations and busy passengers racing between meetings around the globe, food and beverage is an important feature of flying.
According to Anderson, the recent dining emphasis in American's Flagship lounges is not simply meant as a luxury feature; it's about offering flexibility to those passengers who may be planning to lay back and go straight to sleep after takeoff.
"It's our way to say 'if you want to eat while you're still on the ground, that's a choice you have, because we value what you want to do with your time,'" Anderson said.
"You are able to have a full course meal experience with us, on board, if that's your choice. Or we offer a shorter service," with all the courses served at once to expedite the meal, "if that's your choice."
Anderson said that even if business passengers prioritize things like the seat and efficiency over the food, something which she does not necessarily agree with, customers' choice of which airline to fly doesn't just come down to a single factor or two: "The whole entire journey is important."
American uses food, beverage, lounges, and other amenities as part of its marketing and service strategy.
David Slotnick
One of the several types of business class seat across American's 777-200 fleet.
There are airlines like United which can offer a new, rebranded experience like Polaris, complete with a custom-designed flagship business class cabin in its marketing to customers. Of course, that can backfire when passengers who expect to be in the new seat end up flying on a plane that hasn't been updated yet. Or ones like Delta, which, despite having a diverse range of seats available, have a degree of branding commonality across every seat in its premium fleet, even as it focuses on one or two new marquis products like the Delta One Suite.
For American, this can be a little more difficult. Its premier products, known as Flagship First and Flagship Business, were never part of a big rebrand like the rollout of Polaris and Delta One, due to a variety of factors ranging from merger timing, fleet renewal and maintenance timelines, network strategies, and supplier delays.
Consequently, the airline offers a few different on-board hard products that can feel relatively disconnected. There are a few different versions of business class seat on its 777-200 and 777-3ooER jets, made by several different brands, such as Zodiac and Rockwell Collins. Its fleet of 767s, 787 Dreamliners, 757s, and legacy US Airways A330s are all even more disparate.
The overall "holistic" travel experience is an even more crucial part of marketing the airline's premium products, Anderson said. Food and beverage play a big role in that.
"Food and beverage, if you look at our data, actually drives a big portion of how people feel about our products and services, and our airline in general," she said.
"But we try and look at the whole consumer travel journey s0 that we can see where there are places that we can invest," she added. "Sometimes it's food and beverage, sometimes it's hard product, sometimes it's the booking process, or our mobile app."
Even business travelers planning to work or sleep care about enjoying a meal, or treating themselves.
"The reason we went for this partnership is that food and beverege is a key experience for people on the travel journey," Anderson said.
American and other airlines have found, too, that in many cases a business traveler will want to take some time during a longer flight to relax, or treat themselves. That's part of the reasoning behind offering premium food and beverage on board.
Plus, there's the fact that business travelers also take vacations.
Grueneberg, American's first partner chef through James Beard, said that she takes advantage of both approaches to travel meals, depending on the type of travel.
"If it's a business trip, I'll prefer something light like a kale salad, or a quick bite to eat on board," she said. "If my husband and I are going on vacation, we're going to do the whole culinary experience, all five courses if that's available."