Back in February I wrote that American Airlines would trial sliders as a first class pre-order meal out of Chicago, accompanied by French fries. This proved popular, and last month they announced a nationwide rollout.
Credit: American Airlines
I still haven’t tried the sliders, though I’ve been looking forward to it. I have a couple of upcoming American Airlines domestic first class flights. I pre-ordered the sliders out of Chicago for next week. But my flight after that, between two hubs, didn’t offer it as an option.
Instead here’s what I was presented with:
I asked American what was going on? A noon departure from a hub should offer the sliders, but they were conspicously absent. It turns out that “the sliders will be cycled out on May 14.” No more sliders!
Prior to the pandemic burgers were a first class meal choice at lunch. First introduced in November 2018, here’s my spring 2019 report. They did not include fries, which are notoriously tough to manage inflight.
Two years ago United started serving a burger and fries and I found it to be genuinely awful. The fries were undercooked, limp, and not even served warm.
In the fall, Delta launched Shake Shack burgers as a domestic first class pre-order option.
Posts from the delta
community on Reddit
On the ground I’ve always given American a lot of credit for doing a nice burger in Flagship First Dining. It’s much better than the Polaris burger. But inflight poses far greater challenges.
A great burger starts with quality beef and you need to cook it properly, ideally grilling it. You should get a nice char on the outside, while leaving the meat rare-to-medium rare on the inside.
It should have processed cheese that melts well. And it should be inside of a potato bun. Brioche and ciabatta are not well-matched to a burger. The bun is the delivery vehicle for the burger, big enough to contain it but not so large that it overwhelms the contents. Everything you put on the burger needs to fit inside so it doesn’t fall apart when you eat it. You want to balance the flavors inside, getting a combination of everything with each bite.
United first served a cheeseburger in first class back in 2001, shortly before 9/11. It was controversial then, even though it was genuinely a gourmet burger with high quality meat. It was still such a downgrade from the standard of first class fare at the time. Now it’s exciting compared to what the airlines serve. But it’s hard to do a good burger, reheated in an airplane galley. Still, it’s offered as a pre-order item and no one has to preorder it!
‘Woe is me!’ When historians write on 2025… this… this shall be their focus. Sliders. Bah!
I’ve had them and they were ok. Remember this is domestic first and most of the meals are on the quality of Wawa food. I’m surprised AA is phasing out the sliders, maybe there’s wasn’t much demand. I believe the sliders were Pre Order only.
Wow that was fast and considering how methodical they were at testing and how much went into publicizing them.
I didn’t get the hype doesn’t feel appropriate for first class and scaled down vs a burger.
More appropriate as a buy on board item.
They were so popular they couldn’t keep up with demand and had to cancel them…
White Castle restaurants offer an excellent alternative to the American Airlines First-Class hamburger sliders.
https://www.healthdigest.com/477260/the-real-reason-you-should-avoid-the-sliders-at-white-castle/
https://www.whitecastle.com/
I preordered in the first week or so they were offered. The burger was like a slightly warm hockey puck on a shingle. The fries were limp and disgusting, more like pasta with no sauce.
So bad I complained to AA by email, and they gave me 2500 miles.
Did anybody ever order this twice?
Rather wait until I’m on solid ground for a decent burger. #SteaknShake
Gary coming in clutch getting to at least try them once before they are discontinued
I say grab the (figurative) pitchforks, don’t let this “slide”! I kid, I kid.
Junk food for lunch. Such a premium offering! It screams “you made it, baller”!
Had the sliders and fries Sunday. The sliders were so-so: better as a protein than the nasty short rib/piece of gristle, not as tasty as the chicken parm.
The fries were warm, crispy, and tasty. But AA didn’t serve ketchup with them, which was bizarre. That alone would have kept me from ordering again
@1990 — Nice analogy and I too am a fan of a good game of Catan! On that theme a random thought that just came to my head is it’s like airlines are playing Scrabble and instead of playing “LISTEN” as in listen to what their customers and staff want they often just play “SILENT” as in not do anything so I’m glad it worked out in this case.
Whooops wrong post. How embarrassing, how embarassing /yoda
Sounds like that might be why they were discontinued… one pair came out as a hockey puck with limp fries, and one with OK fries (but no ketchup) and so-so sliders. If they are theoretically excellent but in practice hard to have come out right, well there ya’ go.
So what are ya’ going to get? I’d get the schwarma seasoned grilled chicken, that sounds tasty. A good swcharma can be exceptional, and even if it’s not so much the tumeric rice and labneh would go nice with it. The short rib would be my second choice (but maybe not based on what @BosFlyer says LOL, I wouldn’t object to either of those salads.)
@L737 — “The greatest teacher, failure is.” Fear not! I found the replies on both posts. Excellent references, all-around. “He who laughs most, learns best.” Bah!
@GaryThere is no such thing as ‘processed cheese that melts well.’