American Opens Flagship Dining To Business Class—$200 Champagne, A New Menu, And A Very Small Dining Room

American Airlines has dropped “First” from Flagship First Dining, and opened the doors to business class passengers. The new DFW sit down dining menu includes a roughly $200 bottle of champagne. They’re even putting it in a cranberry cocktail, which seems like an oddly expensive way to keep passengers from tasting what actually makes it special. Since September 15, qualifying American Flagship Business passengers have access to the sit down restaurants inside the Dallas–Fort Worth and Miami Flagship lounges. Los Angeles follows when its dining room reopens later this year, after being closed since March 2020. This covers American’s eligible long haul international, premium transcontinental and Flagship Hawaii business class itineraries. Getting into the surrounding Flagship Lounge through elite status doesn’t get you into the restaurant. That’s a real improvement for business class. But it also gives up what made Flagship First Dining the single best lounge experience in the U.S. It was genuinely private dining before. I rated it ahead of Delta One and United Polaris dining when only a handful of passengers were using it. There was excellent food and wine, and you could escape a busy terminal and even a busy lounge for a nearly empty dining room. American is making a real effort with this. And does appear to be making an effort. I the broader DFW Flagship Lounge is also much improved. The buffet is better, the charcuterie is staffed, and food ordered from the QR code menu arrived in four minutes. Granted it was a Tuesday evening so relatively quiet. Now there’s a new menu for the separate dining room and the wine list is the first thing that stands out. American promoted its new KHK partnership, including the Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon in Flagship Dining and the Chelsea Lounge, along with Thomas Keller’s K+M chocolate. The standard KHK Cabernet goes into the broader Flagship Lounges. Hillside lists at $125. Thomas Rivers Brown is the winemaker. What I didn’t expect was Bollinger La Grande Année. American already has a Bollinger partnership in the lounges and onboard. The nonvintage Bollinger is a welcome pour. La Grande Année is a prestige cuvée, with the richness, toast and complexity that make it worth spending time with a glass. 2018 is retailing at around $200. Then there’s the cranberry orange spritz: rosé, cranberry, Cointreau, and La Grande Année. That’s bizarre. The fruit, orange liqueur and sweetness are going to obscure the nuances of the good champagne. Bollinger’s contribution gets reduced to bubbles and acidity, which you can do with a cheap bottle. Definitely ask for the Bollinger in a separate glass. Chateau Montelena Chardonnay is a serious choice, too. We’re fifty years removed from the 1976 Judgment of Paris where its 1973 Chardonnay won the white wine tasting which was dramatized in Bottle Shock. That was decades ago, it was before airline deregulation even, but the wine is still quite good. Montelena’s emphasis on freshness and structure makes it an appealing choice with the crab cake. At roughly $83 retail, it’s a nice inclusion. Donum’s Carneros Pinot Noir is another bottle I’d be gladly try, and a useful alternative to the two Napa Cabernets. HALL and Château Boutisse are respectable selections. Trefethen is a good producer, while the Grüner Veltliner and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc provide lighter choices. Here’s the complete wine page, transcribed from the menu, with retail pricing added. The menu doesn’t specify vintages. FLAGSHIP DINING Wine list and menu description Retail example WHITE WINE LAURENZ V FRIENDLY GRUNER VELTLINERKAMPTAL, AUSTRIACrisp and refreshing, with green apple, white peach, subtle herbs, and a clean mineral finish $29.95 (2023) TIRAKI SAUVIGNON BLANCMARLBOROUGH, NEW ZEALANDCrisp and aromatic, with citrus, passion fruit, fresh herbs, and a clean, refreshing finish $21.99 (2025) TREFETHEN FAMILY VINEYARDS ESTATE CHARDONNAYNAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIABright and layered, with lemon curd, ripe pear, baked apple, and an elegant finish $34.99 (2024) CHATEAU MONTELENA CHARDONNAY [Signature]NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIAElegant and textured, with ripe apple, lemon zest, subtle vanilla, and a clean, lingering finish $82.99 (2023) RED WINE THE DONUM ESTATE PINOT NOIR [Signature]CARNEROS, CALIFORNIAElegant and silky, with ripe cherry, wild strawberry, subtle earth, and delicate spice on a graceful finish $76.99 (2021) CHÂTEAU BOUTISSESAINT-ÉMILION GRAND CRU, BORDEAUX, FRANCEBold and velvety, with ripe blackberry, dark chocolate, and spice $44.99 (2020) HALL CABERNET SAUVIGNONNAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIARich and polished, with ripe blackberry, cassis, dark chocolate, and subtle oak $54.99 (2022) KHK HILLSIDE CABERNET SAUVIGNON [Signature]NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIAToasted peppercorn, blackberry jam, boysenberry, cocoa, sweet roses, and smooth fine-grained tannins $125 (2023) SPARKLING & ROSÉ BOLLINGER ‘LA GRANDE ANNÉE’ BRUT [Signature]CHAMPAGNE, FRANCEElegant and complex, with baked apple, brioche, toasted almond, and fine bubbles leading to a long, refined finish $199.99 (2018) ROSEBLOOD D’ESTOUBLON ROSÉPROVENCE, FRANCEDelicate and refreshing, with wild strawberry, white peach, citrus, and a crisp, elegant finish $21.99 (2025 offer) BOTTLED BEER Rahr & Sons Dadgum IPA Stella Artois Shiner Bock Sam Adams Boston Lager Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA Modelo Especial Michelob Ultra Miller Lite Athletic Brewing Co. Upside Dawn NA The food includes four starters and five main courses, plus a black bean version of the burger. A burger, crab cake, beef filet and chicken breast cover a lot of basic genres. The cheese board and salad are straightforward to assemble, and components such as purées, glazes and pickled onions lend themselves to advance preparation. I’d expect a kitchen to be able to turn these dishes out repeatedly without significant work. Credit: WTXJET That fits a restaurant preparing to serve a much larger group of diners – reliability at scale becomes more important than the more subtle presentation and leisurely pacing of First Dining. Still, the burger and cornbread were already staples. In contrast this older DFW meal included excellent fried Gulf oysters and snapper. There’s still thought here. Sweet corn poblano purée and an ancho-red wine demi give the filet some regional character. The eggplant roulades with piquillo peppers and black olive bagna cauda seems like a thoughtful vegetarian dish. King oyster mushroom fritti could be interesting. Here’s the food and cocktail page in full. FLAGSHIP DINING STARTERS CRISPY KING OYSTER MUSHROOM “FRITTI” [Vegetarian]Spicy heirloom tomato sauce TEXAS PEAR & BURRATA SALAD [Signature]Baby arugula, candied pecans, pomegranate, balsamic vinaigrette, crispy prosciutto CHARRED SHISHITO PEPPERS [Vegetarian; Avoiding Gluten]Smokey sweet glaze, lime, sweet pickled red onions ARTISAN BOARDGourmet olives, aged Gouda, speck prosciutto, crackers BREAD SERVICE TEXAS CORNBREAD [Vegetarian; Signature]Smoked jalapeño honey butter ENTRÉES DFW FLAGSHIP BURGER [Signature]CHÂTEAU BOUTISSE, SAINT-ÉMILION GRAND CRU, BORDEAUX, FRANCEFlagship signature brisket-chuck blend, Tillamook cheddar, caramelized onions, smoked bacon, bacon jam, roasted garlic aioli, iceberg-arugula mix, brioche bunBLACK BEAN BURGER AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST CRAB CAKECHATEAU MONTELENA CHARDONNAY, NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIAFrisée, fennel, pickled onions, mustard vinaigrette SMOKED BEEF FILETHALL CABERNET SAUVIGNON, NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIASweet corn poblano purée, ancho-red wine demi, roasted honeynut squash, crispy corn straw HONEY GLAZED FRENCHED CHICKEN BREASTTHE DONUM ESTATE PINOT NOIR, CARNEROS, CALIFORNIACaramelized shallots, wilted spinach STUFFED EGGPLANT ROULADES [Vegetarian]LAURENZ V FRIENDLY GRUNER VELTLINER, KAMPTAL, AUSTRIASpinach salsa verde, piquillo peppers, black olive bagna cauda LOCAL PURVEYORS Beef – STX Beef Co., Corpus Christi | Cheese – The Mozzarella Company, Adams County | Mushrooms – Texas Fungus | Herbs – Patty’s Herbs COCKTAILS FLAGSHIP LEMONADE [Signature]Jack Daniel’s whiskey, lemon, mint, simple sugar, ginger ale, aromatic bitters BÚHO NOCTURNO (NIGHT OWL)Casamigos Añejo Tequila, Kahlúa, espresso, garnished with espresso powder and chocolate rim CRANBERRY ORANGE SPRITZRosé wine, cranberry, Cointreau, topped with Bollinger ‘La Grande Annee’ Brut, garnished with fresh cranberries and an expressed orange peel HARVEST MULEReposado tequila, pear nectar, fresh lime juice, ginger beer, garnished with fresh pear and rosemary MAPLE OLD FASHIONEDBourbon, pure maple syrup, orange bitters, aromatic bitters, garnished with an expressed orange peel and Luxardo cherry SICILIAN SMASH (CAN BE MADE NON-ALCOHOLIC)Hendrick’s gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, muddled cucumber and oregano, topped with soda water, garnished with lemon wedge SISTER CITY NON-ALCOHOLICOrigami Sake ZERO, Zing Zang strawberry, Fever-Tree yuzu lime soda, garnished with lime twist VEGETARIAN | AVOIDING GLUTEN | SIGNATURE Compared with Delta One lounges this is a less ambitious food offering. Delta has given its dining rooms unique identities, from hamachi crudo and steak tartare at JFK to sushi and rotating bento boxes at LAX and the seafood emphasis in Boston. JFK’s 140-seat brasserie also gives Delta much more room to serve a business class departure bank than American’s little first class restaurants were designed for. But Delta charges extra for its reserve wines and spirits. American putting La Grande Année, KHK Hillside, Montelena and Donum on this list is a real point in its favor. United Polaris is a closer comparison for the food: a compact à la carte menu that includes a signature burger. And United has the capacity problem, too. Even after Newark’s expansion, it clocks long waits for a table. I’d happily take access to this menu and wine list with an American Airlines business class ticket. The challenge may be how long the waits are to get int the dining room in advance of the evening departure bank. Topics on this page