It has been a while since I have been around...my traveling dropped off steadily over the last two years to the point I only qualified for Silver (gasp! LOL) on NW last year.

But this year brought me a new contract, one that has me about to cross 50,000 EQM's after only 6 months - all domestic, some at 50% (CO metal) and a couple of flights on WN. Added to that I am TX based, so most of trips are fairly short.

SO yes, I am flying quite a bit again.

But that is only part of the story.

The new contract has me working, almost exclusively, for Gate Gourmet - one of the largest plane caterers in the country. We are doing work at many of their kitchens at many of the major airports domestically...

What is interesting to me was the sheer amount of effort that is required to service a plane with something as basic as drinks and snacks, much less the First or Business class hot meals. Even stripping a plane and removing the trash, washing the dishes, and cleaning the carts requires quite a crew of people. There are so many things that go into such a production...things I never really considered. For example, the int'l trash must be boiled, incinerated, or otherwise safely disposed of due to agricultural/biological concerns. Or, all the duty free carts are handled by the catering company, kept locked away...and some have had video cameras, with mini hard drives, installed in the actual carts, due to theft.

It is quite an orchestrated dance of man and machine in these kitchens. And you can imagine how many headaches are created when irregular ops come along...

Just thought I would share a bit about my glimpse into the world of the caterer. I figured many here might share a bit of interest in something that is so much a part of our lives, albeit behind-the-scenes...


-K