TommyC80

I know that Florida flights out of EWR get limited catering....but, I just got my upgrade for Friday and my reservation says "None" for meal.

I'm just wondering if this is a fluke or does this flight really have nothing. No snack plate, no salad?

I took a EWR-CLT flight a few weeks ago in F in the afternoon and it at least had a chicken salad....and it's only an hour long.

bocastephen

None will mean nuts or pretzels and drinks - that's it.

LukeSkywaiter

Florida markets are an exception to the standard mealtimes/service. You will be getting pretzels with all the alcohol your little heart desires.

TommyC80

Mmmmm, as much as I love pretzels it sounds like I will be stopping for some carry on food to soak up that alcohol.

SkyTeam777

This is one of the things that always amazes me about CO in FC...Im flying ATL-IAH in FC and it is listed as a snack. I dont know how DL thinks it can compete for FC traffic on routes like this when they serve nothing but the basket of pretzels/fruit...what does CO mean by snack in this case? Is it a chicken salad plate? or more like cold cuts and some bread?

Thanks!

cjgibson

In my experience, a snack in F for ATL-IAH means...
During breakfast hours: warm croissant, yogurt, bowl of fruit
During lunch and dinner hours: salad with chicken or shrimp, cheese and crackers, bowl of fruit, and a package of cookies
Every once and a while, you might see the "cold plate" with cold cuts, crackers, cheese, etc. during lunch and dinner hours

For ATL-IAH flights that depart after lunch, but before dinner, it's pretzels

TommyC80

what a joke

JerseyCityS

I'm really tired of CO doing this on Florida routes. How do they get any right calling it F class?

Imagine paying for it, and getting absolutely nothing. I'd be furious.

And if you get an elite upgrade, it's a nice way of CO saying "thanks".

Other shorter routes get food.

A friend of mine just flew TPA IAH PHX for a whopping $85.00 one way, and was upgraded, and got food on IAH PHX at "off times", that flight is the same length as EWR Florida markets. So, they can't say it's low fares.

Bad service - at LEAST offer the cold plate - I mean, that can't cost more than $3 or $4 a person.

JerseyCityS

I'm really tired of CO doing this on Florida routes. How do they get any right calling it F class?

Imagine paying for it, and getting absolutely nothing. I'd be furious.

And if you get an elite upgrade, it's a nice way of CO saying "thanks".

Other shorter routes get food.

A friend of mine just flew TPA IAH PHX for a whopping $85.00 one way, and was upgraded, and got food on IAH PHX at "off times", that flight is the same length as EWR Florida markets. So, they can't say it's low fares.

Bad service - at LEAST offer the cold plate - I mean, that can't cost more than $3 or $4 a person.

OrlandoFlyer

As somebody that flies MCO/EWR quite a bit, I have often wondered why CO provides food service on this route that does not seem to follow it's own rules (of course they always have a out in their rules on meal services). Their breakfast in F is always a "light" continental breakfast on a 2 hour plus flight instead of a real breakfast.

I can live with it as airline food is not the most important thing in my life travelling, and one can always bring one's own food (always better than airline food) but I just do not get the FL to EWR CO meal services. It just does not seem to follow their own CEO's propoganda segment at the beginning of the safety movie on a flight, especially when some of these flights carry the same flight number as a TATL flight.

ssullivan

How is it a joke? CO's "snack" between IAH and ATL is far more service than I've seen any other airline do in domestic F for similar length flights — and it's really more of a meal than a snack. Serving pretzels and drinks on a flight that leaves ATL mid-afternoon, and lands at IAH just before dinnertime, is not a joke. It's keeping squarely within the meal service parameters CO has outlined on their website. And, as has been previously posted here, CO serves light meals (salad with chicken/shrimp, fruit, crackers, cheese, nuts, cookies) on flights that cross meal times on that route all day long. That's far more than the competition serves on the same route.

EWR764

CO's lunch and dinner service from EWR-Florida is exactly what you would receive on virtually any other CO mealtime flight of similar duration. Breakfast is the only in-mealtime inconsistency, instead receiving the AM equivalent of a cold plate.

Case in point, for August, a lunchtime EWR-RSW flight featured a fruit cup, tomato-basil soup, chicken fajita or shrimp(?) salad, and a brownie. I was served precisely the same meal on a similarly-timed LGA-IAH trip a few days prior.

However, an early AM EWR-IAH receives fruit cup, yogurt, eggs with potatoes/assorted meats, or cereal. EWR-RSW gets a fruit cup, yogurt, and a (warm) croissant.

Another note is that CO's meal service EWR-Florida is all-or-nothing. Either you fly at mealtimes and enjoy a full service (as described above) or you're getting pretzels. I've never seen a cold plate on EWR-Florida and v.v.

They certainly exist when IAH is in the mix, and for the most part, those are shorter flights, especially to Florida's Gulf Coast. Another interesting quirk of CO's Florida meal service.

Can't complain because I appreciate the food regardless of its quantity, but lunch/dinner flights to/from Florida are definitely catered to a higher standard than the respective breakfast flights.

While we're on the topic, the breakfast muffin in Y to Florida is a complete joke. Obviously the folks in CO's catering department don't subscribe to the theory that breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

ijgordon

I find that most of the EWR-Florida flights that do not serve any food in First Class are often at times that I wouldn't want to be eating anyway. Others may disagree, but I don't think I need to eat an airplane meal for the sake of eating an airplane meal, especially when I'm not paying the first class fare. And if I do anticipate that I'll be hungry on one of these flights, I'll spend an extra $10 in the airport or maybe snag a few granola bars from the PC.

TommyC80

It may very well be within their service paramaters -- but I think those are a joke. If you are flying in F, you should not simply have a bag of pretzels thrown at you. Think about it from the perspective of the normal consumer, not a fellow FTer. They would probably be infuriated if actually paying for F and getting this level of "service"

ssullivan

So every flight in F should get a meal, regardless of length, or time of day?

For the record, I've never seen those pretzels "thrown" at a passenger. They are usually offered off a tray, with a beverage served in a real glass. And food isn't the only thing you get up front. There's also a much larger seat, a lot more leg and knee room, and usually more constant attention from flight attendants. Then there are the other benefits that come with a paid F ticket, including priority access at check-in, security screening (where available), boarding, and priority luggage handling (when it works). And there's also an increase in the checked baggage allowance.

As for the "normal consumer," they're not in F. If they were, the ratio of F/Y seats would be the opposite of what it is.

I fly in CO F all the time. It's extremely rare that I see someone complain about a lack of a meal on a 1.5-1.75 hour flight that's completely outside of normal mealtimes. And more often than not, the non-FT member "normal consumer" I see in domestic F is surprised when a meal is served on a flight of that length during a meal time.

On the other hand, I've been on domestic F flights operated by UA, US, and DL in the last year and seen passengers in F complain about the lack of meal on a 2-3+ hour flight that happens at a normal mealtime.