Slight rant re Finnair..

Reguarly fly HEL/RVN/HEL with the domestic snack of Filled Roll and beverage service. Machine rejects any food requests.

Why is it that AY cannot carry a mix of 'sandwiches' on these domestic flights to cover such vegetarian needs. like LH with choice of Ham or Cheese.

Rather they always reject my request for Vegetarian snack. In the old days they would offer a muffin if cheese was not the selected snack of the day.

Yesterday they offered me one chocolate sweet. Fine I have now reached the point that I bring my own fruit snack but feel there is simply no need for AY to fail to meet the needs of its customers. By offering a meat or cheese choice they cater to the VLML customers.

Any comments or thoughts on the matter. FYI intl flights VLML's can be of good quality if somewhat bland.

Slight rant re Finnair..

Reguarly fly HEL/RVN/HEL with the domestic snack of Filled Roll and beverage service. Machine rejects any food requests.

Why is it that AY cannot carry a mix of 'sandwiches' on these domestic flights to cover such vegetarian needs. like LH with choice of Ham or Cheese.

Rather they always reject my request for Vegetarian snack. In the old days they would offer a muffin if cheese was not the selected snack of the day.

Yesterday they offered me one chocolate sweet. Fine I have now reached the point that I bring my own fruit snack but feel there is simply no need for AY to fail to meet the needs of its customers. By offering a meat or cheese choice they cater to the VLML customers.

Any comments or thoughts on the matter. FYI intl flights VLML's can be of good quality if somewhat bland.

Agree with you; should not be too tough to have two options.

Cheers,
T.

When you take into account how short the flight is, and the fact that few European airlines serve anything at all on such a short flight (free of charge), I'd have to say I disagree with the OP.

I would not like to see the price of MY ticket go up because of increased catering costs at AY when they have to have several options for people who just don't like this or that.

Regarding special meals as a whole, they are costly to make, and if the reason for wanting such a meal is something else than allergy, health or religion, in today's world I'd very much like to see people paying extra for the extra service they demand.

I do agree that that snack that Finnair offer on domestic routes is hardly anything to worry about missing!


I would not like to see the price of MY ticket go up because of increased catering costs at AY when they have to have several options for people who just don't like this or that.

Regarding special meals as a whole, they are costly to make, and if the reason for wanting such a meal is something else than allergy, health or religion, in today's world I'd very much like to see people paying extra for the extra service they demand.

However, this seems quite a selfish attitude. Why do you believe it is acceptable that someone should have a choice of meal for religious reasons, but not for personal ethical ones? I should highlight that I do not request special meals, but having seen the pathetic Finnair vegetarian offering (sometimes just the literal interpretation - a plate of vegetables!) I do not believe that the added cost is significant.

Where would you draw the line? Do you get upset when a disabled passenger is given a wheelchair escort or a child is given games or an activity pack on board? These all cost money. If you don't want to incur such costs then I suggest you start looking for low-cost carrier options, such as Ryanair.

AY has chenged catering details before after pax feedback so just keep sending your complaints and wishes. ^ I will mention this to my AY friends as well.

Where would you draw the line? Do you get upset when a disabled passenger is given a wheelchair escort or a child is given games or an activity pack on board? These all cost money. If you don't want to incur such costs then I suggest you start looking for low-cost carrier options, such as Ryanair.

As I am sure you noted, I stated that allergy, health and religious reasons are perfectly acceptable in my opinion.

Being a child is not a medical condition. Nevertheless it is not a personal choice or matter of taste either so let them have their fun packs. However, refusing to eat meat for "ethical" reasons is a personal choice. That's the difference.

To have an option of an vegeterian (cheese) or standard (meat) snack on domestic flights wouldn't cost anything. Of course there are people with coeliac disease and vegeterians with lactose intolerance. I still think that loading a couple of Dôle fruit bowls wouldn't be a cost to anyone. They could easily predict the consumptions.

However, KLM doesn't offer any special meals on any of their European routes (AMS-LIS, AMS-MOW, AMS-LIS included). In this respect Finnair is quite good. On the other hand the longest domestic flight can take nearly 1 hour 30 minutes.

In conclusion: I don't have any clear opinion so I better not have posted at all.

Of course they could offer only the cheese sandwich if two different varieties of sandwich would be too costly? That would be ok for most of the people. And I doubt that they would receive too many complaints because of the missing ham...

To have an option of an vegeterian (cheese) or standard (meat) snack on domestic flights wouldn't cost anything.

I am just wondering: Since when is cheese a vegetable? If AY would have a vegetarian option, wouldn't it be better to have one with no animal-related ingredients whatsoever?

Or maybe those who don't want to eat meat could just pick out the slice of ham off the roll and eat the rest?

I am just wondering: Since when is cheese a vegetable? If AY would have a vegetarian option, wouldn't it be better to have one with no animal-related ingredients whatsoever?

Or maybe those who don't want to eat meat could just pick out the slice of ham off the roll and eat the rest?

Actually, AY Catering already has a product that could be used as a substitute. It's a Mexican style vegetarian burrito of sorts and been served on the European Embraer routes for some time now.

As I am sure you noted, I stated that allergy, health and religious reasons are perfectly acceptable in my opinion.

Being a child is not a medical condition. Nevertheless it is not a personal choice or matter of taste either so let them have their fun packs. However, refusing to eat meat for "ethical" reasons is a personal choice. That's the difference.

Yes, I did note that. But I don't see why a religious choice is more important than someone's personal belief. Anyway, it would be a rather pointless move as vegetarians would just request a 'Asian vegetarian' meal (provided for some Hindus)!

I know that in Finland vegetarians are few and far between and it you don't eat meat or fish you are viewed as being a freak! You have got to realise that in other countries the situation is quite different. Finnair is an international airline so needs to cater for a range of consumer needs.

Your arguments are flawed - a child cannot help being a child, but could their parents not take responsibility for providing entertainment? Yes, but when travelling on a full service airline people expect value adding services, whether this is an activity pack for a child or a special meal on request. For goodness sake - Finnair flights are not cheap - when I am paying €750 for a European flight I would object to being told I had to pay an extra €10 for a special meal!

I am just wondering: Since when is cheese a vegetable? If AY would have a vegetarian option, wouldn't it be better to have one with no animal-related ingredients whatsoever?

Or maybe those who don't want to eat meat could just pick out the slice of ham off the roll and eat the rest?

I think you are confusing vegan and vegetarian beliefs!

I know that in Finland vegetarians are few and far between and it you don't eat meat or fish you are viewed as being a freak! You have got to realise that in other countries the situation is quite different.

This is not actually true anymore. At least among urban Finns aged between 15-40. I have several colleagues and friends who are either vegetarians or vegans - and no, they are not viewed as being freaks. When we made a roadtrip to Central Europe we often had problems finding restaurants with at least something vegetarian (btw, veggie pizza without cheese is not that good). This is not the case in Finland, where just about every restaurant has something for vegetarians!

However, we were discussing domestic flights here. And while I agree that a vegetarian option could be easily offered, I don't see this as that big a problem. Domestic flights are rather short and seriously, no-one's paying €750 for a domestic flight! Which other carriers offer a vegetarian/vegan option for their domestic flights?

My responses related to ffay005's viewpoint that vegetarian special meals should not be offered on any flight without a surcharge being paid. So I was going off-track slightly.

BA do generally offer a veggie option on all flights. On domestic flights it is not pre-booked or guaranteed, but generally they will have veggie options on board and available on request.

I think you are confusing vegan and vegetarian beliefs!

No. I know the difference. Just trying to suggest a special meal that can cover more than one group.

as a flying 'veggie' I was pleased to see FinnComm serve rye bread with cheese last weekend, especially as last time around on the same domestic route (HEL-JYV) they were appalled by my suggestion to move from rye bread with ham to rye bread with nothing or to plain old nothing at all..

Although BA has been highlighted as good example of serving veggie options on domestic, on the whole I don't think it offers such a good comparison if you think about its offer on intra-europe mid-range Y class - bird feed or a biscuit - kosher anyone? Even more confusingly some BA domestic routes to Gatwick will offer full cooked breakfast, but LHR destined flights will have the most horrid warm baguette. BUT on both you usually do have the veggie option if you sit near the front..

the point I was trying to make with the above remains unclear - even to me ;) perhaps I'm trying to say that there are some veggies among us who don't care too much about the options on short-haul

This is not actually true anymore. At least among urban Finns aged between 15-40. I have several colleagues and friends who are either vegetarians or vegans -

I agree, about 60% of my colleagues are vegetarians...

However, we were discussing domestic flights here. And while I agree that a vegetarian option could be easily offered, I don't see this as that big a problem. Domestic flights are rather short and seriously, no-one's paying €750 for a domestic flight! Which other carriers offer a vegetarian/vegan option for their domestic flights?

It is not a problem for me personally, since i usually don't eat on domestic flights anyway, but I (my company ie) have payed more than 500 eur for a short domestic flight on several occasions and I think for that amount of money passengers should get some service.

It is not a problem for me personally, since i usually don't eat on domestic flights anyway, but I (my company ie) have payed more than 500 eur for a short domestic flight on several occasions and I think for that amount of money passengers should get some service.

But then again, should they provide service also for vegans (no cheese or butter), coeliacs (no bread), lactose intolerantics (lactose free cheese and butter), muslims (no ham), people on Atkins diet (only the ham :D) etc? They are paying also the same 500 eur for their flight.

Of course the vegetarian population is probably higher than any of the minorities I mentioned, but still they're paying the same.

My point is: where to draw the line? Probably there are enough vegetarian people flying, that providing a cheese sandwich instead of ham sandwich should be an option. If they want to have only one type of sandwich onboard, why not just serve the cheese sandwich for everyone. Or would that lead to another "bad service from Finnair - no more ham on the flights!" thread? :)

But then again, should they provide service also for vegans (no cheese or butter), coeliacs (no bread), lactose intolerantics (lactose free cheese and butter), muslims (no ham), people on Atkins diet (only the ham :D) etc? They are paying also the same 500 eur for their flight.


The line certainly has to be drawn somewhere.
My point and question was however, that because it very often is cheaper to fly to e.g. Barcelona than to fly to Kuopio from HEL, should the Kuopio flight have better service comparing to what is offered now? I think it is a valid question even though I perfectly well know the reasons for things being as they are.
Btw, I am very impressed with AY:s preorder meal choices in general on international flights.

Please don't underestimate the need for catering on short flights. Maybe you all have civilized travel habits, but some of us sometimes have to wake up at 5 am to catch the 6:30 am flight to some obscure destination and then rush to the airport after a prolonged meeting with a customer at 6 pm. In those cases I'd eat an old shoe on the plane. (well almost)

The discussion here would lead to also Finnair introducing a BoB concept "due to popular demand", with later deteriorating options at a higher price. Have you flown Blue1 lately?...

The choice of meals is a weak point at Finnair (long-haul C is an exception).

If you read the trip reports on FlyerTalk or Airlinequality, you see quite often complaints that that the food was disgusting (not my personal opinion) and no choices were available on short haul C even though the passenger hates fish etc. Well, on those occasions you have the option of preordering a special meal (you can even say that you have allergy for fish). On longhaul Finnair flights (Y class) you don't here the common question: Chicken or pasta?

I would predict that it is more likely that they will once again offer special meal option for domestic flights than there will start to offer options.

But then again, should they provide service also for vegans (no cheese or butter), coeliacs (no bread), lactose intolerantics (lactose free cheese and butter), muslims (no ham), people on Atkins diet (only the ham :D) etc? Finnair catering has apparently followed Flyertalk, because on my recent flight to OUL they had a couple of muffinses as an alternative to the cheese sandwich. This was probably aimed at the coeliacs and/or lactose intolerants. ^