American Airlines : Airline’s Flagship Burger Isn’t Just Classy — It’s First Class

As the official airline sponsor of NYCWFF, American was onsite all weekend celebrating with attendees in its Flagship-themed lounge and participated in the annual burger competition Friday. The popular rooftop party, where chefs and restaurants show off their burger skills, included more than 30 of NYC's best burgers and featured American's Flagship Burger.

'We knew we had something special with the Flagship Burger and were excited and proud to be the first airline to have its burger entered into the New York City Wine & Food Festival contest,' said Janelle Anderson, vice president of Marketing for American. 'The Flagship Burger was created with local professional chefs and first launched when we opened our restaurant style lounge at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) last year. We had fun being a part of the competition and know we put up a good fight.'

The NYCWFF burger competition has two awards - a people's choice award and a winner picked by a panel of judges who participate in a blind tasting. This year's judges included Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, Geoffrey Zakarian, Rachael Ray and Andrew Zimmern. The people's choice award is decided by the festival attendees who have the chance to taste all of the burgers participating and vote for their favorite.

Professional chefs designed the Flagship Burger using locally sourced ingredients, and the burger made its debut in May 2017 at Flagship First Dining at JFK. American celebrated the opening of its premium lounge and showed off the Flagship Burger to customers and media, including Travel + Leisure who called it the 'best airport burger.'

The Flagship Burger is available in Flagship First Dining locations at JFK, Miami International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. Flagship First Dining is open to customers traveling in first class on a transcontinental or long-haul international route.

American continues to invest in the premium experience and plans to open the next Flagship Lounge and Flagship First Dining at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in 2019.