Q Shoe Guy

Well there are health inspections (how often are AC galley's inspected by Transport Canada?) at most restaurants YMMV. Do AC crews get certification on food handling, is this taught as a module as part of the training? Not a slam, BTW !

bakersdozen

Restaurant cooks wear clothes specifically worn in kitchens. Flight attendants wear clothes that can be contaminated anywhere in the plane, in the airport, or prior to the airport sitting on the bus/subway on the way to the airport. Cooks in restaurants don't restock or clean toilets, wipe up throwup, touch dirty airplane seats and seat belts or handle random passenger jackets/luggage, etc. It is against food handling regulations to wear outside clothes in a proper kitchen. Is AC going to make all the FAs wear hair nets or hats when plating food so stray hairs do not fall in the dish?

Kitchens have proper hand wash stations where soap is plenty and the water stays on for a good cleaning (not little levers that you must hold down to get water like on the 767). I was on a flight two weeks ago where the J galley on the a320 sink was COVERED WITH CARDBOARD. All there was was hand sanitizer in there to wash up! That situation WILL happen again if AC lets aircraft fly like that and this program is moved to domestic. All AC needs is one person have fecal particles on their hand from using the bathroom and unlock the door without washing and it spreads.

The situation improves with auto sinks in the new planes but still issues with using the door handle in the bathroom and unlocking mechanism. Will they be trained to use paper towels to unlock the door?

I understand the potential visual appeal of having them plate food but lets not pretend the FAs are professional food handlers who wanted a career preparing food. Especially when their numbers are being cut increasing their workload already... And now expecting them to do even more.

I understand there is not much that can be done on a plane about some of this stuff. I would have expected an answer in the realm of "we will try to mitigate and train staff in proper sanitary food handling" but defensive response of how hygiene in an airplane is no different from a kitchen scares the hell out of me and makes me think that almost no thought have been put into the hygiene side of making the FAs deal with food.

I am all for increasing quality and value and commend any improvements that can be done as the cuts and quality decreases have certainly been large the past couple of years.

rbphilip

It sounds like a good idea to me.

Now ... is my flight YYZ-IST in 4 weeks considered "Asia"?

Stranger

Ah. IST is the only place in Turkey that's in Europe. Rest of the country is in Asia.



(Which BTW regarding their application for EU membership, membership probably ought to be restricted to Istambul.... )

rbphilip

Well, Istanbul and the part west of there that borders Bulgaria and Greece...

But I wasn't asking if Istanbul *is* in Asia, I was asking if AC considered it to be part of Asia for this change...

Ben Lipsey

Many of our competing 4* carriers have done galley plating for years and there are no adverse affects; frankly this is why many of them receive higher scores on meals/meal presentation in surveys and industry awards (e.g. Skytrax). We will serve this food with the same high level of service, quality, and care as we always have, nothing will diminish as a result. I'm afraid that if you are that concerned about your food not getting contaminated onboard, my only suggestion would be for you to pack your own.

Chiro1979

When I flew the IST-YYZ route, I was surprised to receive the daytime amenity kit on this route (I know they have gotten rid of these in J now), so despite the 11 hour flight time it was treated as a daytime European flight. Hopefully when you take it, it has moved to Asia!

ACYYZ/SD

As a matter of fact we have covered food handling and hygiene and galley plating gloves are provided. We couldn't possibly handle and prepare burning hot food from ovens with our bare hands.

ACYYZ/SD

Was this recently? Amenity kits have been standardized on all J/C International routes. The previous "day" kits are the standard for PY.

Lllahim

I am sure you can afford to be much nicer. The poster raised coherent issues. If I am in your position, I will do my best to reassure over his concerns. That other Airline receive higher marks because they plate on board is not reasurance enough. Is it possible their FAs received the training the poster is asking for?

bakersdozen

Ben, you asked what was the difference between a plane galley and a restaurant kitchen which was frankly quite scary and i provided answers. I am disappointed in your attack.

Max007

On one hand I can appreciate that for once a real person is representing AC and interacting with us as opposed to the usual PR mouth piece.

On the other telling a paying customer (in J class no less) to essentially suck it up ain't exactly good form. And I won't say anything of the usual "but others are doing it so we'll do it" justification....At least they are not trying to further nickel and dime us this time as is the case with the recent baggage fee.

Still, AC has a lot to learn on how to use social media effectively....

Max

winnipegrev

Keep in mind those often criticizing AC J service are not necessarily those who regularly pay for it, so if you think AC is telling people to suck it up they likely aren't directing that to the people these service changes actually impact.

Criticizing AC for plating meals is a new low. Concerned about how AC views sanitation, really? I'll bet the conditions on ACs aircraft in the galleys are cleaner than the vast majority of Canadian restaurants. ACYYZ/SD has already said they undergo training for handling, plus they want to use gloves anyways as to not burn themselves - that should be the end of the story and any concern. Straight from the horses mouth (sorry ACYYZ/FA, you're the horse!). The nitpicking of AC and its FT representatives to death over a service improvement is extremely lame.

Wondering what difference replating has over the previous warm-and-go meals are you serious? Do you really just eat for calories, is eating not an experience for anyone? At a restaurant would it make no difference if your meal was served on a McDonalds wrapper instead of a proper dish? Andrew pointed out presentation makes a big difference to enjoyment, and that he views hygiene concerns on an aircraft no differently than a restaurant. What is wrong with that explanation? Do you honestly expect him to provide you with the PDF memo for FA food preparation directives? Frankly I'm surprised he'd respond at all.

You'd think from peoples reactions here that FAs are scooping portions with their hands and replating them. I'm sure Andrew Yiu and Ben's reactions are sarcastic because they are in disbelief some here think hygiene wouldn't be taken into account.

theseatbelt

In Ben's defense, you do not want to know what goes on in a restaurant kitchen... lol. Especially the "really delicious / good" ones.

Also, ever ate food at a hot dog stand before?

Ever been to a chinese restaurant kitchen in Chinatown?

As Ben said... this is no different from other top tier airlines providing food so I don't see any difference. I have got sick from restaurant food before, but yet to have get sick from airline food. While I complain a lot about things like boarding queues and carry on luggage sizers, I have confidence in AC providing safe to eat meals.

Now..... about those European J routes... :P

PLeblond

I believe Ben answered the question very well before his last statement

I have never ment Ben, I do not know Ben and I am not a mindreader, but here is what I believe he meant to say by the last line in his comment is that he is flabbergasted that people would not think that food safety is analyzed, controlled and monitored throughout the industry, let alone Air Canada.

It came out much nicer than if I would have said it, that's for sure.

Can we please chill a little here?