Catering delay - is food required?

Old May 18, 2019, 9:32 am
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by Transpacificflyer
In fairness to AC, the disorganization related to catering is the catering contractor's doing. It's not as if airlines have many options either. What is there? LSG/SkyChef or Gate Gourmet (sic)?
Are you sure the issue is entirely with the catering contractor here? Catering issues could be that the airline did everything correctly, but the caterer messed up. Or it could be that the airline hadn't properly spec'd or ordered the catering in advance, or miscommunicated to the caterer, and is scrambling for a last minute order. YYZ-YQM is a new rouge route, and it seems like catering has been frequently missed or not provisioned for those flights. I'm a bit skeptical that AC had their plans in order and despite AC doing everything correctly, the caterer has been routinely missing catering on this specific route for the first 2 weeks of operation.
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Old May 18, 2019, 2:36 pm
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Catering schedules reflect scheduled routes and the stocking is planned in advance. Whether the route has been operating for years or only a week does not matter because the requirements will have been provided in advance. The caterer has its standing orders. Air Canada doesn't make meal selections at the last minute substituting pretzels for an entree. Rather it is the caterer that does that. Air Canada provides its stocking requirements and it is up to the caterer to fulfill the order and to deliver that order to the right aircraft on time.

How many times have we been on flights when the caterer doesn't provide sufficient wine or leaves off the snack bags or part of an order? The failure to deliver the order as agreed upon ontime is the responsibility of the caterering contractor. Where a miscommunication can occur is when gates change for the aircraft, but these changes are supposedly updated in real time. If pax know which gate an aircraft will be at, then the caterer knows too.

We all lament about the airline monopoly in Canada. How about the catering monopoly? As a tangent, Air Canada is to be commended for giving Newrest a try out of YUL. Since, the change over, on my limited number of flights, my experience has been positive.
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Old May 18, 2019, 3:30 pm
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Perhaps I'm missing something here, but for such a short haul flight, why is catering such a big deal? Heck, even for long-haul domestic flights like YYZ > HNL, AC does not serving catering in Y (it's just BOB). Heck, I'd even be happy if AC dropped catering on their regional YYZ > LHR route if it meant they would stop selling this nonsense Basic Economy fare!

-James
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Old May 18, 2019, 4:39 pm
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When AC operated the route with Q400s and CRAs it was never catered. Now, it's a requirement? Evidently the rogue pilots belong to a more powerful union than Jazz/Sky Regional pilots do.

No wonder the pax were irate. I would be too.
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Old May 18, 2019, 7:37 pm
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Originally Posted by Transpacificflyer
It's not as if airlines have many options either. What is there? LSG/SkyChef or Gate Gourmet (sic)?
Nothing says catering can't be done in house.

Originally Posted by Transpacificflyer
Whether the route has been operating for years or only a week does not matter .....
Unless the person responsible for ordering meals hasn't figured out the flight is now operated by a two cabin a/c.

Originally Posted by Symmetre
Now, it's a requirement? Evidently the rogue pilots belong to a more powerful union than Jazz/Sky Regional pilots do.
There is no evidence it was crew meals that weren't ordered. It would be faster for the crew to walk into the terminal, order and expense the meal to the employer.
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Old May 18, 2019, 7:42 pm
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by tracon
Nothing says catering can't be done in house.
Given AC's OTP I wouldn't be so sure of that



Originally Posted by tracon
Unless the person responsible for ordering meals hasn't figured out the flight is now operated by a two cabin a/c.
How big is the catering ask though on these regional flights? IIRC on flights of this length, J cabin passengers are served a pairing of grapes, crackers, cheese and perhaps a bottle of red. Worse case offer them BoB unless it's also the BoB items that weren't catered either. In which case a 10 minute trek to Relay should do the trick


Originally Posted by tracon
There is no evidence it was crew meals that weren't ordered. It would be faster for the crew to walk into the terminal, order and expense the meal to the employer.
Whenever there's a catering issue it takes time to clean up the mess so to speak. Word has to travel down the chain of command and the kitchen is who knows how many clicks away from the plane being catered. That being said, I've heard of other airlines who shall remain nameless but let's just say have a Unified strategy for handling this : ask the passengers if they want catering or want to arrive to their destination on time. For a trip this short I suspect many wouldn't mind forgoing the stale dates if it meant getting to see their loved ones an hour earlier.
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Old May 18, 2019, 8:06 pm
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Originally Posted by Symmetre
When AC operated the route with Q400s and CRAs it was never catered.
Water and drinks weren't available? That doesn't seem right.
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Old May 19, 2019, 5:41 am
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Originally Posted by cedric
Water and drinks weren't available? That doesn't seem right.
Water and canned pop are one thing. The description above suggests food items were also involved, which would be a new change.
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Old May 19, 2019, 6:14 am
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1502 shows breakfast for J which would most likely be hot breakfast.
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Old May 19, 2019, 7:42 am
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Often times Catering also brings other items such as crew water, garbage bags and some minor equipment. While they may have been okay departing without drinks and food, its the other items that may have been more important.

Part of our CA states we (pilots) are required to have water boarded for us. Those pilots may have been operating back to Toronto. I think its unfair to ask them to operate without water. That being said it looked like a colossal fu(k up by catering after another delay. FYI pilots are not fed on north american routes anymore. We are given a perdiem instead. Most of us are sick and tired of airplane food and rather pack a healthier, fresher meal from home or buy food from the terminal.
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Old May 19, 2019, 9:34 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by tracon
Nothing says catering can't be done in house.
Unless the person responsible for ordering meals hasn't figured out the flight is now operated by a two cabin a/c.
There is no evidence it was crew meals that weren't ordered. It would be faster for the crew to walk into the terminal, order and expense the meal to the employer.
Catering can be done in house but it would be an expensive option for Air Canada and would increase operating costs. Western airlines outsource catering to reduce their costs and to increase operational flexibility.
The "person" ordering the meals will most certainly know that there is a two cabin configuration because the flight will have been subject to planning months in advance. An airline doesn't just add a route willy nilly. The preparation will have involved a review from the onboard experience group and this includes a review of catering needs.
On any given day there will be delays or changes or swaps and the contractors are prepared. There are "contingency" snack/meals prepared that the caterer can rush into place on an aircraft on short notice.

However, what the catering company cannot stop is human error. Have a look at who works the catering trucks and the kitchens of the airline catering companies in Canada. These are not positions which attract the best educated or most cognitively sharp workers. It's a struggle to have these workers comply with basic food hygiene regulations. There is a supply chain from the ordering of ingredients to the preparation to the dispatch to the delivery of the order. The instructions have to be provided in an easy to follow format. Despite all the bar coding and tracking software, the orders can still get botched. And that screw up is often due to the worker who makes a mistake. In some cases it is because the worker has deficient reading and writing skills (in one of Canada's official languages). In other cases, the worker is sloppy and just forgets that there was a delivery, and there was inadequate supervision to catch the error.

Where you can rightfully blame Air Canada is in the lack of oversight of the catering at the kitchen level and the absence of effective spot checking to identify weaknesses and deficiencies. There is no excuse for rotted fruit or the use of low quality beef or fish which has gone bad. If Air Canada had a tighter oversight of its catering contractor(s), this would not occur.
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Old May 19, 2019, 11:56 am
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Originally Posted by Transpacificflyer
Catering can be done in house but it would be an expensive option for Air Canada and would increase operating costs. Western airlines outsource catering to reduce their costs and to increase operational flexibility.
The "person" ordering the meals will most certainly know that there is a two cabin configuration because the flight will have been subject to planning months in advance. An airline doesn't just add a route willy nilly. The preparation will have involved a review from the onboard experience group and this includes a review of catering needs.
On any given day there will be delays or changes or swaps and the contractors are prepared. There are "contingency" snack/meals prepared that the caterer can rush into place on an aircraft on short notice.
I would be surprised in this day and age if there is a person ordering the meals. In all likely hood it is an EDI message transmitted from the airline computer system to the catering computer system.
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Old May 19, 2019, 12:39 pm
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Originally Posted by j2simpso
How big is the catering ask though on these regional flights? IIRC on flights of this length, J cabin passengers are served a pairing of grapes, crackers, cheese and perhaps a bottle of red. Worse case offer them BoB unless it's also the BoB items that weren't catered either. In which case a 10 minute trek to Relay should do the trick
They get a hot breakfast, just like every other AC flight longer than YYZ-YOW.
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