Benner

Anyone else notice that AC is warming the nuts now in J? They were heated on both my rouge flight from LAX to YVR and my mainline flight from YVR to YYZ. Funny enough I think I like them better cold — when they are warmed they are a little soft and almost taste stale. Guess I will have to get used to them.

Glad AC is trying some new things when it comes to food.

jeffypop75

I noticed this too on my recent YVR-YYZ. I had assumed it was just the crew trying to be extra nice (they were a fantastic crew)... but I'm glad to see that it might actually be a permanent change. I prefer them warm .

jaysona

Selecting you special meal option on the AP website is not enough to ensure it is "loaded on the plane". There is really not too much you can do to make sure a meal selection is loaded on the plane. SPML is really hit or miss with AC, I'd say on average 20% - 30% of my meals do not get boarded - 50% just for this pas weekend.

If you do not feel like calling in, you can verify during OLCI that your meal request was added to your booking - shown below.



Just make sure you perform the OLCI no less than 19 hours prior to departure. This will give you enough time to call it in if the meal selection was not added to your booking for one reason or another.

How often do you fly and how many meal requests do you make a week/month/year? I'd say I have anywhere from 10 - 50 requests per moth on average. On the Rapidair flights it is quite a regular occurrence that the meals are not boarded - and most crews and in-charges don't even know that it is offered on the Rapidairs and don't seem to check the PIL. On my longer haul flights, it seems to be a coin toss if I am going to get it or not. I'd say about 20% of time it is not loaded, of that 20%, I'd say about 50% of the crew weren't even aware that I ordered one.

If I'm running late and I know I will not be able to eat a decent meal before my flight - I just bring my own food - that I know I'm guaranteed to have a fully satisfied stomach!

jaysona

This is good to know, that is one of the things I always liked about AA and the reason why I never have the nuts on AC. I'll have to check this out on my next YVR trip later this week.

I never liked the cold nuts, although on AA they never seemed stale, so it'll be interesting to see if there is any difference between the two carriers.

D582

Completely disagree - I'm glad they got rid of Dasani.

Stranger

Ditto. Real mineral water, not chemically treated tap water.

Simon

I'm fine with the _concept_ of Naya, but the taste is of the bottle.

PlainEnthusiast

I flew AC 908 recently and was pleasantly surprised to see 3 entrée options now (as recently as April there were only 2 selections trans-border to FLL).

As others have observed up-thread the nuts are now being warmed on ML.

Thanks for the changes AC.

flyquiet

Mainline YYZ LAX cold nuts, LAX YYZ warm nuts -- I think the nut situation is a coin toss. Lots of entrées. No sparkling wine though. I don't know if there usually is, but I had hoped there would be and there wasn't. The SD was generous encouraging me to try both red wines, so I did get a fair nap in!

Lllahim

No one else seems to be bothered about the oil based balsamic vinaigrette served with every lunch and dinner in J. I swear it was served with a cold breakfast salad in the days when E90 had no oven/microwave. It is not only boring especially if you have it on a domestic leg a few hours before it is served on an International connection, it could be dangerous to your health. They even serve it frozen as they did last December on an OGG/YVR flight. Yes, the FA had to shake the bottle really hard to unfreeze it for some older folks. Can't we have something different once in a while? Most airlines offer a choice. It should not cost any more to have some variety. I asked the Benns about it. Benn L said it will be referred to Catering. Just wish some of you join me in asking for a little variety.

Jasper2009

Why should eating two salads with vinaigrette be potentially dangerous to your health?

Personally, I quite like the vinaigrette. IMO AC has two choices:

1) replace it with another dressing - not sure there are any better alternatives out there that appeal to most pax
2) offer a choice of dressings - I think a light yoghurt / herb dressing could work well (have never been a fan of the heavy thousand island or caesar cream dressings served on some US airlines).

If the "petition" is for #2, sure, though personally I think there are more important issues.

On a related note, I have noticed a slight improvement in the bread quality on some flights, but I'd still like to see a larger variety of breads on int'l flights. How about some garlic bread or maybe some focaccia bread?

Lllahim

I didn't say it is THAT important an issue. I am not even bullish on it as some people are on wine and liquor but they get a hearing. Glad that my issue is so modest. I am all for variety including a light salad dressing. I support the drinkers when they call for change. I don't drink.

Jasper2009

How about a joint petition calling for a choice of salad dressing and better quality wines?

Personally, I doubt there will be any major changes in the catering department anytime soon. AC's offering is quite decent (definitely far from the best internationally, but among the better airlines on TATL routes), so I don't think AC intends to focus on that area.

Stranger

I support the latter.

As to vinaigrette, I actually like it. It is definitely a better quality product than most commercial dressings, which are all downright crappy.

At home we don't touch commercial dressings; everything homemade.

Coming back to vinaigrette, some time ago they switched to the French A l'olivier brand to a (likely cheaper) Spanish one. I noticed that the French one remained alwast liquid on board while the spanish one would usually be half-frozen. Looking at the contents, turns out the more expensive one uses a mix of olive oil and (I think) canola (or some other cheaper oil). Spanish one is pure olive, hence the freezing.

Not sure really which one I prefer. However if they continue using the current one, some measures ought to be taken to thaw it.

flyquiet

I really enjoy the vinaigrette, actually, but the salad often is strewn with bell peppers which I can't eat in confined spaces. It doesn't take much to liquify the olive oil. My homemade olive oil vinaigrettes turn solid in the refrigerator (it's not "frozen"). Just hold the little bottle in your hand a few minutes and it should liquify - though I agree they should un-refrigerate it on time in the galley.
I also like the breads but the whole heat-up-the-bread task seems to be too complicated for some crews, and what we end up with is biscotti. Warm = good, overarmed = stale. Like unrefrigerating the vinaigrette, timing seems off for some crews.