expert7700

In theory, yes. Sitting in Y, yes.
Sitting in J, maybe. In mainline J our prepaid or latitude knife-and-fork BOB meals often gets refused. Rouge crews always seem happy to provide the snacks or meals from the back.

I can only imagine that seldom-used disruption vouchers would be rejected on mainline J the same way our credit card is often rejected ("so they have enough left for Y"). The voucher option IS programmed into the handheld payment devices.

yyznomad

Ok, you knew what I was getting at.

But since these are vouchers, don't they have a monetary value attached them for charge back purposes, even if against AC products? I would hazard a guess and say "yes" to mainline J SD would allow for use with Y BOB.

expert7700

The terminals can only take one $15 or $20 vouher per transaction, but I assumed we could also have bought stuff like earbuds or a model plane from duty free since they use the same handhelds. Or blankets. Rouge having no blankets in J, and only offering them for sale from the back is pretty lame when they have the cabin in the mid 60s.

SparseFlyer

Only times I've gotten my credit card rejected were the times I was told I didn't have to pay.

I find that approaching an FA saying "I want x, y, z" will have a higher likelihood of getting a credit card requested. But when I say "hey, when you guys are done with BoB in the back, do you think I could buy x, y, z", I usually get it free.

Matter of fact, I always ended up getting specifically what I requested too.

But I only fly 0.00001% of what posters on FT fly, so who knows. Although that's still more than 99.9% of regular people.

I have to say though, I've never tried like Cow and just straight up buy booze, so I don't know.

Edit: Actually, the wife always orders the fake champagne on non international J. I think she's 50-50 with that.

canadiancow

It doesn't happen often to me, but I have been told, on several occasions, that they can't even sell BOB in J.

On breakfast flights, I will ask for a mimosa (with no mention of payment). When I want the rum, I ask if I can buy some Captain Morgan from the back.

The mimosa request usually results in "we don't have champagne on domestic". If that's the case, it turns into the rum scenario.

Then the result is about 42.5%/42.5%/5% for free/paid/not-happening.

I've done numerous experiments. I have my credit card in my hand when I ask. I say "I have to pay for alcohol in business class?" I mention payment. I don't mention payment, and just ask.

I find none of it changes the outcome. The SDs who will do it for free are going to do it regardless. Although there was one flight where I think I asked for 5 items from the back, and I suspect there would have been no charge if it were 1 or 2. But I only wanted one transaction (much less work for everyone), and I was ordering for 2.5 people.

yyznomad

While performing these "experiments", did you also make note (or at least try to make note) of who else was on board the flight? Was there a service manager on board? Other AC employees of the corporate variety? Other AC employees of the crew variety? etc. etc. etc.

canadiancow

That's too hard to track.

There was certainly no one special in uniform working any of the flights though.

yyznomad

I'm not asking that you make an exact note of who is where and what, but more of a hey, someone over there was wearing RAIC ID... even just one such employee may cause the SD to respond differently to a request such as yours.

I notice this quite often where the SD I have had in the past does things slightly differently and seemingly "to the book" when there is visible RAIC in J.

Jumper Jack

I think maybe it has more to do with whether SD cares about good service. I had the exact crew on the way back to YYZ the next day and the first thing he asked me when I came onboard If I want one of those drinks cow mixed.

yyznomad

My point was, given that cow tends to be more objective, or tends to maximize objectivity in a conversation or debate (at least, from what I perceive), this would/could be a control for further testing. I often notice employees with RAIC (some plain-clothed, some in uniform, some in formal business attire, etc.) in J and find a correlation to the behaviour of the SDs that I see a few times in the same week.

canadiancow

I want to stop you right there.

The drink I mixed on our flight was a sangria.

Fresh fruit (J)
Grand Marnier (J)
Wine (red or white) (J)
Orange juice (J)

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but in Jack's specific case, the drink I made on our outbound was comprised entirely of components that are free to all passengers in J.

Sangria is often a punishment for breakfast SDs who won't give me a mimosa.

A mimosa is easier to make, but requires Y sparkling wine.

D.J.

Dead on right.

24left

In the international J meals thread, I posted about how the HOT main meals are served on COLD pates, thus turning a hot meal into a cold meal, or lukewarm at best.

But there is also the difference in cooking.

I was thinking about this when comparing 2 recent transcons where the exact same meal was prepared and served differently - simply due to the different aircraft.

In the first photo below, I had this salmon meal on a 320. Due to the ovens, the hot meal is served in it original casserole dishes. I found it nice and hot and tasty.

The second photo was take a week later on the same route on a B789, where hot meals are plated.

The food was not hot, but was warmer than on the TPACs. The sauce was everywhere, the pasta was mushy, not firm, and it just wasn't as nice a meal - even if it was plated and served as if one were in a restaurant.

I have no objections to plating and the concept does offer visual appeal, but I'm not thrilled with the cold food.

Anyway......just my own data points

.

longtimeflyin

As I alluded to in my reply to your post for the international meal thread, the difference here is that meals on international flights are plated onboard, versus meals on domestic and transcontinental flights are just heated onboard (food already plated on the ground). The entire meal gets put in the oven (food and plate) hence why the meals are hot versus international flights where trays are not heated.

SKYEG

YYC-YVR flight right after breakfast cutoff time, a few grapes and a couple pieces of cheese with crackers. Haven't seen a hot snack on this route yet