American Airlines is letting economy passengers lock in their meal choice before they fly again. The 'reserved buy on board' programme returns on 20 October on select flights between Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Los Angeles (LAX), with preordering opening a week earlier, on 13 October. After a trial period on the LAX route, the airline plans to roll it out more widely.

Eligible passengers will get a notification in the week before travel and can order via the American website or app, from seven days out up to 20 hours before departure. Your order is reserved and loaded specifically for your flight, and you're only charged when the food actually reaches your seat — so if your flight changes or the meal runs out, there's no charge and no refund chase.

The starter menu is fairly modest but covers both snackers and the properly hungry. A fruit and cheese plate costs $13, a chicken, turkey, bacon and ranch wrap with pasta salad and a churro is $14, and the Inflight Bites snack box is $10. Lighter options include Nuts on Clark mixed nuts ($11), BoomChickaPop kettle corn ($5) and Doritos Minis in Cool Ranch ($6). Top-tier loyalty members — AAdvantage Executive Platinum and ConciergeKey — can preorder for free using the same process.

Preordering is old hat at some rivals: Singapore Airlines has long run its celebrated Book the Cook service, Emirates and Qatar Airways offer preorders for premium cabins, and United lets passengers preorder across all cabins via its Preorder Portal. American's version is aimed at economy travellers on domestic transcontinental flights, which is rarer.

The airline also benefits: knowing demand in advance makes catering and stocking more efficient, and it fits into a broader push to upgrade the onboard experience. American has been adding Venmo and Apple Pay for bookings, refreshing its app, rolling out new Admirals Club locations and improved Flagship dining, and introducing the 787-9P with lie-flat seats, privacy doors and faster WiFi. There's also talk of extending Starlink connectivity from the Airbus narrowbody fleet to the entire mainline fleet, including Boeings.

For travellers, the practical win is simple: if you're on a DFW–LAX flight from 20 October, you can guarantee you won't be staring at an empty snack cart. If the trial proves the concept, expect the option to appear on more routes — and for anyone flying in economy on a five-hour transcon, knowing your wrap is waiting beats gambling on whatever's left.