New inflight food purchase options in Y

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Jun 9, 2010, 5:43 am

#46

CDKing

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Quote:

Originally Posted by johnp012001

AS 220/221 SFO-PVR-SFO are each scheduled at greater than 3.5 hours, yet no meat or veggie plates. Why?

Its most likely related to some rule about transporting fresh food in and out of Mexico.

Jun 9, 2010, 7:33 am

#47

marksskram

Join Date: Mar 2010

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These options sound good and all.. but do they live up to the marketing blitz?

Jun 9, 2010, 10:36 am

#48

formeraa

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Alaska F/A

It's currently a work in progress as this is moving into new territory for BOB food. Give them a little time to get the numbers fine tuned... the starting numbers were a bit of guesswork (understandably so with no previous hot food sales on many of these particular flights) it's a bit of dark magic trying to accurately provision a flight with fresh food without overloading to the point of sheer waste. They try to hit the sweet spot of what we need (sales trends) and balance that with potential sales without too much excess.

Thanks for the update. Initial provisioning is always a shot in the dark. However, I would rather have a few leftovers than have many passengers disappointed at first. It gives a better picture of the true demand for the products. Over the long term, of course, it's a question of building a good forecasting model that predicts demand with reasonable accuracy.

Jun 9, 2010, 3:10 pm

#49

AS Flyer

Join Date: Sep 2001

Location: Seattle, WA

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Quote:

Originally Posted by marksskram

These options sound good and all.. but do they live up to the marketing blitz?

The fruit and cheese platter and the meat and cheese platters are really nice and seem to be very popular. I was very pleasantly surprised. They sold out of each on each flight I was on and could have sold another 10 probably. The company is increasing the quantities boarded as they get a feel for the demand so hopefully running out won't be a problem going forward. The quality is excellent and they are fairly substantial. I think they're a good value. The chicken ciabatta sandwich is good. It's of good quality and tastes good. It's $6 and does not come with chips. I think the quality of the sandwich is such that to add chips would require an increase in the cost of the sandwich or they would lose money by offering it. As for the picnic and snack boxes, I think they're fine if that's what you want to eat. Personally, I don't think I would want a box of prepackaged snack items, but that's just me.

Jun 9, 2010, 5:58 pm

#50

marksskram

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Thanks for the thorough review!

Jun 14, 2010, 9:14 am

#51

eponymous_coward

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I had the chicken ciabatta sandwich last night (AS 469, LAX-SEA). It was quite tasty.

Jul 5, 2010, 12:17 pm

#52

EIPremier

Join Date: Aug 2001

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Looks like there are some new menu items on offer this month. Kudos to AS for offering us some new BOB options.

Breakfast Skillet - $6 USD
Scrambled eggs, chicken-apple sausage and French toast served warm with a side of syrup.

Breakfast
Sandwich - $6 USD
Eggs, cheddar cheese and bacon on a wheat ciabatta bun. Served warm.

Turkey and Smoked Gouda Ciabatta - $6 USD
Wheat ciabatta with pesto spread, smoked Gouda, spinach and roasted peppers.

http://www.alaskaair.com/as/www2/hel...ice-coach.aspx

Looks good!

Jul 5, 2010, 12:50 pm

#53

beckoa

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Quote:

Originally Posted by EIPremier

Mmm! Love somoked Gouda

Jul 5, 2010, 1:45 pm

#54

bakedpatato

Join Date: Jun 2010

Location: LAX/SAN/TOA(primary)/MYF

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Quote:

Originally Posted by EIPremier

Looks like there are some new menu items on offer this month. Kudos to AS for offering us some new BOB options.

They also explicitly state that the cheeseburger and the Turkey/Gouda Ciabatta are available on HI flights...I was worried that I wouldn't be able to steal(I mean buy

) a cheeseburger on my trip so that some poor hungry sod in Y goes without

I wonder if this Ciabatta is as good as the last one...

Jul 5, 2010, 2:36 pm

#55

AS Flyer

Join Date: Sep 2001

Location: Seattle, WA

Posts: 5,956

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakedpatato

They also explicitly state that the cheeseburger and the Turkey/Gouda Ciabatta are available on HI flights...I was worried that I wouldn't be able to steal(I mean buy

) a cheeseburger on my trip so that some poor hungry sod in Y goes without

I wonder if this Ciabatta is as good as the last one...

if you're in F then you can only have one after sales in Y are complete. Whether you want to pay for it or not. Hopefully there will be one left for you.

Jul 5, 2010, 2:59 pm

#56

bakedpatato

Join Date: Jun 2010

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Quote:

Originally Posted by AS Flyer

if you're in F then you can only have one after sales in Y are complete. Whether you want to pay for it or not. Hopefully there will be one left for you.

Yay! Well..let's hope they're aren't too many hungry sods on my flight then!
Mmm...the breakfast skillet looks nice too.

Jul 6, 2010, 1:44 am

#57

johnp012001

Join Date: Jan 2004

Location: Portland, Or USA

Posts: 1,800

Is anyone else finding the websites descriptions of when things should be available inconsistent at best? I noted above SFO-PVR-SFO is > 3.5 hours yet didn't have the new items either direction. Now this week PDX-LAX is LESS than 2.5 hours, yet had the Chicken sandwich. LAX-PDX at 21:05 AND less than 2.5 hours, as expected, did not offer the Cheeseburger. I would very much like to know what to expect before my flight so that I can plan accordingly. I have no problem paying for the food if I know it's going to be, or not be, available.

Jul 7, 2010, 10:59 am

#58

kirklandguy

Join Date: Dec 2008

Location: Seattle

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My wife and I each had the chicken ciabatta sandwich on MSP->SEA a few weeks ago and thought it was excellent.
Normally eat in the airport but had a 35 minute connection at lunchtime in MSP and basically walked off one plane and onto the next, so we thought we'd try it out.

Definitely worth the money in my opinion, and probably one of the very few in-flight food items on any airline that I'd buy.

Jul 7, 2010, 12:37 pm

#59

longdrelation

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Quote:

Originally Posted by johnp012001

I can't remember where it was posted (I'm sure someone has the link), but it was explicitly stated by AS that the new food service options would NOT be available to bay area destinations.
The same link (and the card in your seat-back pocket) differentiates between available menu options, which are determined by your route travel. I.e. traveling east you get a cheeseburger, but west you do not.