Originally Posted by
pptp
One thing unique about ATL flights, unless they've changed recently, is that they're often downline catered. The outbound flight deadheads the food to ATL where it is unwrapped and served on the way back. It has happened many times in the past that the food was served on the wrong leg, leaving the true meal flight nothing to serve but pretzels. Back in the day, I may have even done it...ONCE. Because if you're the one who made the mistake and happen to be working the return leg, you're also the one who has to try and explain to the PAX why they don't have their expected meal. After that, you tend to make double sure you're serving the right meal on the right leg.
Well, this was an IAH-ATL flight that was being discussed, so it's not like the food was served on the wrong leg, leaving the return flight with nothing. And, this is a flight that leaves IAH around 7:00 PM and arrives at ATL around 10:00 PM, and the plane overnights. So it should be pretty obvious on that flight that a salad is to be served on the evening flight. My experience with this has not been that the crew served the meal on the wrong segment; it has been that catering didn't load the meals at all, and in some cases, that the website and timetable say one thing, while the information the flight crew and catering get says something different.
Has IAH-ATL always been downline catered? It has been a while since I've been on an ATL-IAH flight with a meal, but I've seen catering loading meals into the F galley many times over the past couple of years.