Good news for all those gaping spittled maws flying the friendly skies. No I’m not talking about the recent decision to overturn the federal mask mandate on airlines made by a soundly furious federal judge with questionable credentials. I’m talking about American Airlines recent decision to bring back in-flight espresso drinks.
As reported by One Mile At A Time, an airline travel news website, American Airlines is re-instituting service of espresso and espresso-based drinks—cappuccinos, lattes, etc—on their fleet of Boeing 777-300ERs and Airbus A321Ts, used primarily for international and transcontinental flights, respectively. Well, not for the entire cabin, espresso drinks will just be served in first class (not to be mistaken with first class espresso, which these drinks most certainly are not. It’s AA espresso, just not Kenya AA).
Per Simple Flying, the pod-based espresso machines were originally removed from planes in April of last year, “to help conserve fuel and prevent confusion about what services are currently offered.” But the perky perk has made a comeback one year later, thanks perhaps in no small part to the crew, who were the most frequent users of the coffee machines.
Even with the return of espresso service, don’t expect AA to make much of a big ado about it. Even before it was originally removed, the existence of in-flight espresso machines wasn’t very advertised; first-class passengers were never offered espresso drinks, they would have to be in the know or be one of those people—you know the type—who just asks for things even when they aren’t on the menu. Good thing we’re rewarding that sort of behavior.
So while you elite status chasers are gonna be maskless chugging espresso swill up in first, I’ll be riding in the back with my Covidisor on, sipping specialty instant coffee I made with myself. We are not the same. And why don’t you go ahead and leave a few extra of those Biscoff biscuits while you’re at it.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.